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> Thought of the Month | > November 2020 |
Continued from Undeniable difference of good vs evil...
PART 2 - Releasing the brakes on the emergence of better moral standards.
If we compare humans against simpler animals, we see the root of some human problems. Animals have limited ability to communicate or cooperate, so when they run into conflicts over territory or mates, they fight. There is limited ability to form large groups of varying sizes, so typically such fights are evenly matched and the competitors can't kill each other. Humans have those same instincts, but also they have wider capabilities to learn and communicate. Humans long ago began forming larger groups, in clans and later agricultural societies. While that offered some benefits, mismatched group sizes arose, and when the primitive behavior was perpetrated it resulted in wars and large-scale death.
At such times, humans were operating at the limit of their intelligence and knowledge. Different groups had different languages and cultures. They were separated by ignorance, inability to communicate, and fear of the unknown. In their ethical standards, killing within a society was an unacceptable murder, but killing outside of it was deemed an acceptable war. It's how a society would expand, to have a common ruler, and more opportunity for travel and trade within the larger nation.
That was the attitude of many nations for most of history, but it gradually began to change about a hundred years ago. At the end of the First World War, the devastation was so great that many people felt there should be no more wars. But old attitudes often linger, and those attitudes enabled Adolph Hitler to take that same age-old approach as he started the Second World War. He didn't promise happiness for the people of his nation. Rather they were called upon to sacrifice themselves, to achieve their destiny in a battle to climb to the top of the pig pile. What he achieved in attacking the nations round about, was to bring the whole world down on them, resulting in ruination for all.
This kind of behavior was never wise, and since the invention of the atomic bomb, it's even more imperative now for people to learn better ways. Fortunately, we do have the knowledge available now for a better way. The ancient philosophers did the best they could, but now we have a whole array of social sciences covering psychology, artificial intelligence, law, economics, political science, business administration, etc. All of those contain information relevant to better decision making. The knowledge we need for a better world is available.
Fundamentally, that's what ethics is about. Each person can imagine the kind of world that he (or she) wants to live in. Each action each person takes acts like a vote for his choice of world. Combined with the knowledge of cause-and-effect demonstrable through science, and the accumulated discoveries that are our heritage, people invent strategies and standards that bring to us a better world.
Also, we need to work on overcoming some of our old limitations. Humans to a large extent are herding animals. We follow fads and fashions. When we aren't sure what to do, we do what others around us are doing. And that doesn't always take us to a desirable outcome.
Among animals, examples of this can be seen among herding animals like gazelles, bison, deer, and cattle. When a lion wants to prey on one of these, even though the lion is out-numbered, he just picks one off near the edge of the herd and the rest run away. Another example I particularly like, from my homeland in Canada near Buffalo Pound Lake, is the story of how the First Nations people here hunted bison long ago. The lake is in a valley surrounded by tall hills, that adjoin prairie at the top. The First Nations people chased the bison down the hills. As they ran down, the bison would fall and break their legs, and the hunters would finish them off with spears.
The interesting thing here is that the bison have horns. When they are cold, they stand in a circle with their tails inward and their shaggy heads outward, which also means that all horns are facing outwards. But it never occurs to them to defend themselves that way. Instead of running, if they formed a defensive circle, it would be very difficult for a human or a wolf to kill any of them. But it's beyond their intelligence to organize themselves that way. Even if one bison should figure it out, he can't communicate it to the others. And if a lone bison leaves the heard, that will be the one the wolf picks off. So, he runs with the rest and the tradition perpetuates.
Herding behavior sometimes occurs in humans too, although we call it "the pressure to conform." People tend to do that even when there is no danger from taking a different path.
An example of herding behavior among humans is the fad of smoking, which reached its peak in the 1950s and 60s when most adults smoked. Yet way back in the early 1800s, people already suspected it was harmful. Children were not permitted to smoke because of worries it would affect their growth and development. Mormon settlers colonizing the North American mid-west in the early 1800s resolved among themselves to not smoke at all, due to health concerns.
The proof of the harmfulness of it came in the 1950s and 60s, when technology enabled the gathering of statistics, and it became apparent that smoking led to an early death. But why would millions of people adopt an unnecessary habit that was even suspected of being harmful? And why would so many continue for decades after the proof was known. And why would some do so today using cigarettes or vaping?
What we see here, is that although a better standard of behavior evolves eventually, its progress is hindered by the herding behavior. It is well known that if a parent smokes, his (or her) children are more likely to smoke than the children of non-smokers. It doesn't matter that the parent tells them not to, or that they learn about it in school, they do it regardless. Parents sometimes think that their teens might not respect them as the teens seek increased independence, but their teens copy them anyway in most cases. It becomes part of the child's culture; it's part of the herd he follows.
In the modern world, the herd is moving away from smoking, but marijuana use has picked up to the point that the government has had to make it legal in some countries, notwithstanding that its problems are as bad or worse. And the non-medical use of alcohol and other drugs continue as fads and traditions, rather than as carefully thought-out decisions. We also continue to pollute and use up non-renewable resources even when we have alternatives. Herding behavior continues.
For parents, there are two important take-aways: First, it is important to become knowledgeable, to take advantage of the incredible wealth of knowledge available in libraries and on the Internet, particularly in science and the social sciences. Secondly, it is important to change one's own behavior and habits based on what you have learned.
In the world today, children are prohibited from doing many of the stupid things that adults do, some of which I have listed. Smoking was the main example, but there are others. They are just waiting for their 18th birthday to do all those stupid things too, so they can be thought as adults. But what if the adults set a good example, and did everything the very best way they knew how? What if they carefully selected among the traditions, to perpetuate only those that were beneficial? That would make a remarkable difference to the world!
To progress faster than the slow, evolutionary emergence of improved morality, we need to apply intelligence. Yes, there really is a difference between one kind of behavior and another! It's not just a matter of opinion. Moreover, we've come a long way in the progress of human knowledge, and the information is available readily for those who really want to know.
The world still has plenty of problems, both across the world and in individual lives of people. But often there are known solutions to the problems, or solutions that at least go part way to a solution. Moreover, much of the misery that people suffer from are things they bring upon themselves. Even more effective than solving problems, is preventing them!
Toward that end, I have undertaken a hobby of finding helpful and informative advice sites on Internet, and posting hyperlinks to them as a collection on my own site, UniversalEthics.org, that is available to you along with everything else out there. So, beyond making use of that incredible source of knowledge in the world, and applying it in your own life, I also encourage you to pass to me any URLs of sites you find to be particularly useful. Education is the key to a wonderful future, and it is my goal to play a part as best I can to help spread it.
Return to part 1.
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