On pp. 64-65, Chanthavar, spokesperson for the Technate, presents the exact opposite of my argument in the previous post. However, he argues not only against (my idea of) "liberation" but also against any kind of democracy so I hope that blog readers who disagree with me will not fully agree with him.
He argues:
throughout history, giving everyone a vote has always failed because, within a few generations, the worse politicians drove out the better;
this happened because half the population is below average intelligence and the average is low;
the Commons, "'...these apes..,.'" (p. 65) as he calls them, are not fit to decide public policy;
war, poverty and tyranny are the human condition;
golden ages are transient freaks;
they collapse because they do not fit recent descendants of cavemen;
life is too short to change the laws of nature;
natural law is "'Ruthless use of strength...'" (ibid.)
Well...
Intelligence can be encouraged and increased. The Commons are not "apes." Chanthavar's class is not fit to decide public policy if it thinks like that. Chanthavar is always accompanied by slave guards to protect him from his peers. This is regarded as a good way to keep the ruling class on its toes! Technology can certainly eliminate poverty. Life is long enough to make some changes, both shorter and longer term. Even if I became sceptical of "liberation," I would certainly oppose Chanthavar's contempt for his own species.
7 comments:
No, intelligence can't be increased much, beause it's very largely genetic -- in the same sense that potential for, eg., long-distance running is.
You could have increased my long-distance endurance in my youth by training, but all the training in the world wouldn't have let me equal my father; he was a runner up for the cross-country event in the Commonwealth Games in the late 1930's.
I take after my mother more physically... except for extreme short-sightedness, which I got from him.
(My father had the same belt measurement at 90 that he did at 18, and into his 80's could work me into the ground.)
Likewise, a great many personality traits are inherited; witness the similarity of identical twins who are raised apart.
I knew even as I wrote it that basic intelligence cannot be increased much. Someone with very low IQ cannot become Einstein, after all. But good teaching can draw out hidden potential in almost any pupil. I was bad at Maths with one teacher but good at it with another. That is more what I meant.
Paul: certainly, you can realize more of your -potential- with good teaching, that's indisputable. However, after a certain point that reaches diminishing returns.
Life is necessarily a set of choices about allocating resources. Needs are infinite, supply is not, there has to be some mechanism to decide who gets what.
I could have done better at math if I'd tried harder; I would never have been really good at it.
So I just decided that my (limited) resources of time and attention were better directed at things I was good at and which would help my career -- history and literature, for example. I got just enough math to be able to function.
Of course. Beyond a certain point, we need to specialize.
Kaor, Paul!
I give a qualified agreement to what Chanthavar said about voting. Ever since 1912 we have been getting a lot of evidence for how flawed democracy can be, in and out of the US. Democracy is mostly good as a means of transferring power, because its better than just shooting your way into power. A democracy can also act as a means for providing feedback for gov'ts on what ideas and policies might work or be palatable.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Churchill put it rather well, I think, when he said that democracy was the worst of all forms of government... except for all the others!
Human beings being what they are, no system of government will consistently work well.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And Churchill was right, besides having an enviable talent for making apt points. Such as how he mordantly said the Germans injected Lenin like a plague bacillus into unlucky Russia.
A democracy will only work if all parties and factions are willing to abide by the rules needed to make it work.
Ad astra! Sean
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