Humans have developed from tribal groups then toward a civilization. All require human interaction. Binding the group together and providing a vision for living in a new and different way was necessary. This methodology has been experimented with and changed over time. The central themes are to create a group identity. This was accomplished AFTER the cognitive revolution. It is necessary for communication to exist between creatures to produce this systematically.
Stories and myths helped foster the binding of humans to accept a wider group and exclude “Others”, not like us. As stated in “Stories and Early Religion”, The simple need for humans to understand how or where they came from is incredibly powerful. Those humans can become the people of something greater than themselves, the people of the creator. If one makes this creator a god or God, the people are the children of God. If we are all children of God, then we are bound together. We can defend ourselves, our beliefs, our tribe. But defend against who? Anybody or thing NOT like us!”
This persists to the present and has fueled reactionary groups especially within countries to slow or stop immigration. Immigration can be viewed as a diminishing of the group values because it introduces different beliefs. Different beliefs are the seeds of considering new ways of doing things. There are those who would manipulate this to enhance their own power over the group. “Reliable information about who could be trusted meant that small bands could expand into larger bands and develop tighter and more sophisticated types of cooperation. The gossip theory might sound like a joke, but numerous studies support it.” (Harari, Sapiens, A Brief History)
Manipulation of human motivation is the basis of power. More detail is in the section on “Happiness - What Motivates People?” Appealing to what Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests a framework for how this works. It can help explain everything from dictatorships to democracy. Dictatorships appeal to the Physiological, Safety, Love and Belongingness and Esteem needs. Democracy appeals to all those and Self-actualization needs. A dictator does not care much for satisfying the realization of a person's potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences, except his/her own.
In Basic Economics, the point is made “Economics is central to survival. As a society, we cannot consume more than we produce.” If we consume less than we produce there is a surplus, potentially for others to steal. This can be known as a redistribution of wealth. It affords many possibilities, including the specialization of tasks. Not everyone has to produce one’s own food, shelter, medical, and other needs. As stated in Basic Economics, “Trust has long been seen as an especially important support for economic efficiency. Trust among participants is an asset vital to dealing with the many contingencies that lie beyond the power of contracts to envisage. It also helps to ensure that contracts themselves will be reliable. As will be discussed later there are Extractive and Inclusive Economic systems. Simplistically Extractive are command and control economies with rigid hierarchies that limit the individual to benefit from their own innovations or labors. Inclusive are more lassiez faire allowing individuals more benefit from their own innovations or labors.” Ultimately humans can be motivated or forced into labor which produces goods and services. The higher the level of trust in a society the more likely people will be motivated rather than forced into labor. There was a joke in the old Soviet Union, “They pretend to pay us, we pretend to work.”
Personal finances, how one manages ones money and wealth is a function of:
For an individual for a
period of time:
Income (I) minus Expenses
(E) = Savings (S)
If E (expenses) exceeds I
(income) for a protracted period debt grows and may become overwhelming. If S
grows it can be a source of future security and its availability allows for
investment in deferred present consumption to the future.
The following is discussed
in more detail in the 3 Power sections.
Power is the social
production of an effect that determines the capacities, actions, beliefs, or
conduct of actors. Power is not just about force. It is widely
defined as the capability of doing or accomplishing something through action.
It can be done individually or in a group. Power is based on
information and the way it is disseminated. The greater the access to
information and the verity of that information is critical. Information can be
manipulated and hence increase the power of those who do it successfully can
gain increased power.
Humans being social animals had to coordinate their activities. This required directed activity. It did not come instinctively. It had to be directed by an individual or elite. Today, we may call this leadership. Leadership requires power. A leader needs to influence or force individuals to a certain task. Power is
what holds a group together. This is true of a gang, a tribe, a sports team, a
high school clique, a nation, a corporation or any collective. Power is a
translation of an ideal to appeal to the Maslow Hierarchy of needs so that a
critical mass of the group supports a leader and his/her vision.
Before there was Government
(and after), some people dominate others by superior intellect, technology,
guile, better stamina (including disease resistance) and luck. These people can maintain recognition through skilled persuasion and wisdom,
ultimately this translates into Power.
There
is a reason to cede power - to effectively do more stuff more efficiently. Not
everybody can the boss. With power can come oppression. Who wants to be
oppressed? No rational human unless there is a benefit to that individual or
group. Those that support power often feel that if they withdrew support the
power would fade.
The Physical (Real) and
Metaphysical (Imagined) explains there exists the hard reality of the physical universe defined as all of space and time (collectively
referred to as spacetime) and their contents. Such contents comprise all of
energy in its various forms, including electromagnetic radiation and matter,
and therefore planets, moons, stars, galaxies, and the contents of
intergalactic space. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe Closer to
home it is the
Earth and everything on or in it – namely rocks, soil, water in oceans, rivers
and lakes, the living things like plants, bacteria, animals etc.
Metaphysics seeks
to find if there is any reality beyond our universe and whether there is any
creator… a continuum from physics that relates us to may unresolved concepts of
our universe. It probes the whole of reality, not just the physical part that
is observable and quantifiable. So, it talks not just about simple reality but
also unconditioned reality, infinite reality, intelligible reality and a
spiritual reality.
Physical reality seems like
what we can observe through our senses. Well not so!
For example, familiar visible light makes up a minuscule fraction
of all the information surrounding us. Most of the Universe is completely and
utterly invisible. (Bothwell, Matthew. The Invisible Universe).
Instruments can observe what
humans cannot.
Religion remains as a major factor that
determines the ethical basis of most cultures. Whether or not people are devoted
to the dogma of religion is not as important as the overall effect that
religion has on a culture and the evolution of how people see themselves as
different. It is the influence of religion that creates the divides and the
similarities. Religion attempts to explain some of the unexplainable.
Human understanding of science has changed with new information and so has the human perception of reality (in the Human Reality section). This is akin to the sun rising in the East and setting in the West. That doesn't really happen. The Earth spins each day around the sun giving the impression that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. This piece of information may change one’s perception of the universe, but we still (mostly) get up each morning do our stuff and sleep at night.
Concepts like fairness, justice, freedom, respect, happiness, equality, fraternity, love, etc. are also metaphysical. They exist because people say they do. They are not like hydrogen or iron.
HUMANS DETERMINE THE METAPHYSICAL REALITY, and the players are the bad guys, the good
guys, the indifferent guys, EVERYBODY.
Risk is the potential of losing something of
value, weighed against the potential to gain something of value. Values (such as physical
health, social status,
emotional well being or financial wealth) can be gained or lost when taking
risk resulting from a given action, activity and/or inaction, foreseen or
unforeseen. Risk can also be defined as the intentional interaction with uncertainty. Risk
perception is the subjective judgment people make
about the severity of a risk, and may vary person to person. Any human endeavor
carries some risk, but some are much riskier than others … The essential
feature here is uncertainty. Without uncertainty there is no risk, only clear
danger.
Risk = ∑ (probability of accident occurring) X (expected
loss in case of the accident)
Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” is discussed in the Conflict section and sets the stage for the Conquest section. It is an application of Risk and Sun Tzu’s theory with Pizarro’s conquest (and looting) of the Inca Empire.
There was an attempt to avoid any moralistic overtones in these
discussions and stick to outcomes. Pizarro measured risk and reward. He set
about a plan to plunder and used manipulation of human motivation to inspire his followers. Pizarro
“executed the Inca ruler Atahualpa and exploited the widespread
discontent with Inca rule by indigenous South Americans. Things then fell apart
for the invaders when they began to fight amongst themselves for the glittering
riches of a crumbling empire. Pizarro was murdered in his home in Lima by a
rival Spanish faction in June 1541.” https://www.worldhistory.org/Francisco_Pizarro/#:~:text=Pizarro%20captured%20the%20Inca%20capital,riches%20of%20a%20crumbling%20empire.
IMHO, The Incas lost an empire, Pizarro ended up murdered. Sounds like a lose/lose situation, except Spain ended up with tons of gold and silver. It helped them fund wars and expansion that ultimately reverted.
Picture below is where some of the plundered silver ended up in a
Catholic Church, Cadiz, Spain.
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