I am writing this post as I am hoping to get various views and opinions on the subject. I am not a specialist on the subject whatsoever. I have been reading about the concept recently as I find it of interest. I also find that it fits in very nicely with the post that I have written earlier today.
I have written an article recently Free Society - I might have taken the red pill. Since then I have been researching the subject in a bit more detail.
In his book - Foundations for a free society, Eamonn Butler, make a lot of good points. I am not questioning his points, but I will have to question if us as humans, has the capability of actually living in a free society.
a free society operates on the basis of mutual trust and cooperation between individuals, not on the basis of power and coercion. Its citizens share deep cultural, personal and moral ties. They accept rules of interpersonal behaviour voluntarily, for their mutual benefit, not because these rules are imposed on them. Their governments have the consent of the governed, and are themselves governed by rules to prevent them exploiting their authority. A free society unleashes human talent, invention and innovation. That enables it to create wealth where none existed before. People in a free society do not become rich by exploiting others, as the elites of less-free countries do. They cannot become rich by making others poorer. They become rich only by providing others with what they want and making other people’s lives better.
Now all this sounds very wonderful, but this can only work if all of us have the ability to live in peace and agree to all the rules. I am just exploring and studying the subject at the moment. I might be totally missing the point.
I am now at the point where I ask myself the question: Who will decide what rules to implement, and secondly will we be able to accept these rules as a race?
We are used to the way we are living. The dog eat dog life, survival of the fittest, be on top of the game type of life. I am a very open minded person, who do not judge anybody against my personal believes, as I know that each and every one of us, had different experiences in life and as a result we have different believes.. Remember what I said in an earlier post. I believe we are all a result of our own history and experiences. Each of us have different personalities, religious believes, different cultures as a result of where we grew up and live … we are just different.
I love the way of thinking, to unleash human talent, invention and innovation, but as a result of the way we are currently living thing we are used to, it will be close to impossible to implement. One of the key areas where a system like this will experience problems from an implementation perspective, is that people are in general jealous by nature… And like the old saying goes … Jealousy makes you nasty :)
Another beautiful aspect in this conversation is that people can only become rich by providing other with what they want and make other people's lives better. Now this is a statement I love, as I live in a country where many of the poorest of the poor, do not have a chance to better their own lives. Our corrupt government is stealing their money and hiding everything from them. They do not have the ability to buy themselves bread, so why will they buy a newspaper to read … if they can read, as their childhood education was also stolen from them. The poorest of the poor do not have any means of educating themselves further, or even have the ability to watch television to have a better understanding.
I believe in the concept of a free society, but I am not 100% convinced that we as a human race will be able to adapt to the environment due to our histories and resistance to change
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"Now all this sounds very wonderful, but this can only work if all of us have the ability to live in peace and agree to all the rules."
What are the rules? Common-sense Moral Truth that can be understood with greater depth of comprehension into soci-cooperative reciprocal concerns for others as well as ourselves, and not only our own self-interest, self-concern.
"survival of the fittest", like your Darwin quote says, means survival of those most able to adapt to change. It has NOTHING to do with strength, power, etc. Fit is adaptability to change. The most fit are the smallest biological life-forms, bacteria, which can adapt to many harsh environmental changes. The CHANGE that needs to happen, is to change, evolve, heal, and better ourselves towards higher, truer, realer moral potentials of living.
Moral Truth is the key. People to to learn, learn how to learn, and learn how to think more effectively to unferstand moral truth in greater degrees an depths. Truth needs to be sought after, cared for, and not compromised.
Not enough people actually want to seek truth, and learn. 99.99% of people do not. They just want to have fun after they go to work, and escape into various entertainments and intoxication. People need to wake up an evolve, that's how change is going to happen, when we each decide to change and get onto the path of moral truth and walk it in life.
Take care. Peace.
Thanks for your reply @krnel. Love your argument an I believe we are taking steps in the right direction to free society if we start speaking about Moral Truth. The question however: What is the definition of moral truths? Can this be explained to everybody in the society, and more importantly is there an absolute definition for Moral Truths that will work for everybody in the society, and will this be accepted by all of us from different religious and cultural backgrounds. I think I am one of the 0,01% that loves to learn :)
Yes, there is. It involved more complexity as you understand how our actions affect others. It is basically: do no harm, do the least harm you can, survival is not a justification for harm to make something moral it would still be immoral, don't steal, don't violate the other's freedom life of peace. Apply that as far as you can. Probably some more specific way, or some nuances to add, but essentially that's what I cam up with in 1 minute. :)
Take care. Peace.
Thanks @krnel . I will do some research and post about this subject as I believe this can be something worthwhile to discuss in more depth. Still believe that various cultural backgrounds will not all subscribe to the same Moral Truths... Just look at the following statement One countries freedom fighter is another countries terrorist... Like your comments by the way!
Study more, especially the "infection" of moral relativism. Then once you figure that, that its complete BS, then you can move forward. If you still accept moral relativism, then you can't move forward, and you can't figure it out because you will be blinded.
Here is a post that you may learn from: Statism requires the root of all evil; moral relativism.
Peace.
@jacor
Freedom is a relative term for each and everyone. In my book
FREEDOM = VOLUNTARISM
Yes , now this is something to think about.
I think that Freedom in human society is always going to be a relative term. As our ability to trust one another and cooperate with one another grows, we will see a growth in freedom. But it will remain (at least as far as I can see) a work in progress.
@jacor Love this post, your message, and points to be shared! The case for society is very strong.
Love to write more on this sometime. Maybe sooner than later. As I have researched numerous aspects of such thought off and on. Also interested and working on a concept that we have called @thegame #thegame which partly aims to introduce some form of free society means on some level that may co-exist with other societies in a fluid coexistent manner. :)
I agree that "we are all a result of our own history and experiences". This result is that of a mind that is not free. Free society needs free minds and most minds are educated and taught otherwise...
a Free society by virtue means that you are free to do as you like, otherwise you cannot be free. Most comments state that all will have to abide by the rules. If you must follow rules you are not free.
I don't think a free society is possible, because what I think is right might not be right for the next person, because of the fact that we all have our own history and culture that taught us different on what is acceptable or not from our own perspective.
I also agree with the concept of a free society. And like you I wonder if it's possible. I like to think so. I big problem I see is with the statement "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". How do you implement rules, and oversee the running of society without having some form of power base (whether government or not) that becomes corrupt, making rules to suit themselves.
I agree. A good friend told me the other day that everything in life is balanced... Each of the extremes on the side will take life out of balance. And power at any of the ends will surely take this out of balance as well.
Great post @jacor
Hi jacor we had an interesting lecture today and the professor also said that each culture has different rules and each family as well , that is why we sometimes can not understand why certain persons acts on rules in a certain way. If we can just start to take that into consideration we will be able to treat each other with a lot more understanding.
Bill Gates said the golden words. I love them.
I think that people are not perfect, many people do not commit crimes only because of fear of punishment. If there is no state coercion through government authorities and society to turn into chaos, where the strongest survive, and the weak have no chance.
If people are not perfect (and I agree), then how could we hope to have government authorities that aren't also imperfect, since they're made up of imperfect people? I do not think many people do not commit crimes only because of fear of punishment. I think many, many, many more do not commit crime because they just want to have a job, family, friends, and peace. I would argue that many who do commit crimes may be attributable to the government's economic policies which has caused poverty to soar alongside war.
Hmm. You sound like a Myers-Briggs ENTP personality. Are you?
You can take a free test here: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test
LOL ... I posted on this weeks ago ... Our personality - a result of our history and experiences
Oh, heh, I didn't see that. I believe this was the first post of yours I have read.
Our personalities all have ways of shining through, don't they? I had just finished up a piece about the 16 personalities and income/frugality - so the characteristics are fresh in my mind.