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OfflineStrumpling
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Uncommon Sense
    #1517957 - 05/03/03 05:06 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

http://www.chaos-works.com

I've been reading the book that is free on this website, called Uncommon Sense, and think that this guy has a great perspective on Earth's current situation. I highly recommend EVERYBODY at least read the preface :wink:

The more problems the government tries to tackle, the more problems we see rising out of the woodwork. Is organized, centralized government going against the grain of the Universe's unique ability to carefully balance and evolve all things? Are our leaders overlooking something when they attempt to stop people from doing what they feel they should do? Can we dig ourselves out of this metaphorical hole, or are we going to dig straight down into a literal Hell?


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Insert an "I think" mentally in front of eveything I say that seems sketchy, because I certainly don't KNOW much. Also; feel free to yell at me.
In addition: SHPONGLE

Edited by Strumpling (05/03/03 06:00 PM)

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OfflineStrumpling
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Re: Uncommon Sense [Re: Strumpling]
    #1518234 - 05/03/03 07:47 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

In an attempt to gain some interest, here are a few pieces form this online book:

Quote:

After many years' consideration it now seems clear to me that whilst one person's actions can demonstrably plunge chunks of the world into war and disorder, a state of peace can never be constructed or created by the action of a single person. It may come as a surprise to discover that a state of peace is as much the natural condition of our world as is the stability that develops in the natural rain forest. A state of balance and harmony arises as the eventual result of billions of people's activities and interests interacting with each other, and the rest of the world, in a free condition. One person or group of people, however chosen and however enlightened or inspired, cannot determine the specific route to this state of peace. And somewhere in our soul we know that peace is a possible condition - something that our species is capable of achieving, notwithstanding our lengthy catalogue of failures.

I suggest that is not a natural condition of being human that we must kill and maim each other for really unnecessary reasons. After meeting thousands of people in travels across different continents, cultures, and sub-cultures, I have formed the opinion that the vast majority of humanity are not natural-born killers.

Our incessant attempts to forcibly put order into the chaotic and constantly changing mix of our civilization is the reason, I suggest, that we experience so much disorder, suffering and what is often referred to as "chaos". For too long society has been "run" on the basis that we are actually able to govern and control something so complex by setting ever more complex rules and regulations - linear controls which often serve to obstruct the natural evolutionary changes that a successful development of our species demands.



Quote:

our development of self-governing techniques within society has eroded over the generations in which the state has assumed more and more legislative responsibility for our morals and behaviour. Many would like to believe that the state can take care of everything from their health and social security to their food purity and air standard. In practice, the state has not done a good long-term job of any of this, and indeed has often obstructed efforts to improve them by suppressing reports, silencing scientists and subsidizing polluters and land-clearance programs.

Look at what we have evolved without confrontation but by ourselves - human to human. We have music from classical to techno, with jazz, rock, bebop and whatever you like in between. You can buy any, all or none of them - one has not had to supplant the other, even though they may "battle it out" in the marketplace. Though we can choose from wholewheat bread, white bread, French bread, naturally leavened bread, rye bread, rolls, buns, croissants and many other forms of flour and water to have with our meal, most in this country have chosen the sliced white loaf, for better or worse. In India the same options are possible in a city such as Bombay, but the over-riding choice is chapati, paratha or puri. Or, you can choose rice instead. There is no need in society for one choice or decision to confront and beat all the others as some separate process. However, in the affairs of the state this is the basic mechanism at play, one group opposing another in each decision-making process - unless some compromise is reached whereby we all have slightly brown bread sliced half way through the loaf. The state specializes in making decisions of an EITHER/OR nature whereas in society we manage much more successfully with a BOTH/AND* policy, allowing individual decision-making to play the major part in shaping order. When I visited East Berlin, just before it rejoined its other half, the results of these different approaches were apparent in the comparative restaurant menus on offer.




Quote:

Why do we think it natural and right that the state should be the agent through which society deals with its more difficult problems, such as unemployment, bigotry, child abuse and homelessness? Their growing involvement began as a bold experiment early this century, probably with the very best of intentions, as the state began to take responsibility for society's problems. We forget that towards the end of the last century society became increasingly concerned about "social" issues; many early institutions and organizations were set up by rich industrialists with bags of money, or individuals with devotion and bags of time. The days of having bags of money, spendable locally instead of offshore, have long gone and fewer individuals have much free time, as we all scrabble to support both ourselves and the enormous machine of the state. We cannot assume that the problems of the 19th century would have remained static and unsolved had the state not become responsible for them, as we cannot know how successfully society would have evolved to deal with them. We do know that in the past eighty years, the state - putting its "terminal toolbag" to use - has spawned countless agencies to deal with the problems, as most of them have become more entrenched.

Much of our decision making, consideration, and life-planning is now bound by the assumption that the state should provide a safety net protecting us from ourselves, instead of just protecting us from those like them across the red line on the map. For many thousands of years the state was not charged with looking after many of our problems and, as far as I know, the overall levels of homelessness, unemployment, burglary, mugging, broken families, murder, assault and date-rape were lower then, and have been increasing ever since. The works of Charles Dickens and their impact upon millions of readers were probably more responsible for changing the social attitudes and practices of 19th century England than was any subsequent growth in the law and its enforcers.

The state has no God-given responsibility to look after us all, whatever may befall us. It is neither any law of nature nor a practice used by any other species on this planet. Once we accept the flawed view that being cared for by an all-powerful state is the natural order of things, we accept a severe restriction of our freedom.




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Insert an "I think" mentally in front of eveything I say that seems sketchy, because I certainly don't KNOW much. Also; feel free to yell at me.
In addition: SHPONGLE

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Offlinegrib
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Re: Uncommon Sense [Re: Strumpling]
    #1518259 - 05/03/03 08:05 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

OK, I just skimmed your excerpts.... but this part peaked my interest,  "The state has no God-given responsibility to look after us all, whatever may befall us. It is neither any law of nature nor a practice used by any other species on this planet. Once we accept the flawed view that being cared for by an all-powerful state is the natural order of things, we accept a severe restriction of our freedom." 

Thanks.  :laugh:
 


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<~>Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake <~>

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OfflineStrumpling
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Registered: 10/11/02
Posts: 7,571
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Re: Uncommon Sense [Re: grib]
    #1518264 - 05/03/03 08:10 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

hehe no problem man :smile: I tried to pick a few interesting ideas that didn't really require back-reading..


--------------------
Insert an "I think" mentally in front of eveything I say that seems sketchy, because I certainly don't KNOW much. Also; feel free to yell at me.
In addition: SHPONGLE

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OfflineStrumpling
Neuronaut
Registered: 10/11/02
Posts: 7,571
Loc: Hyperspace
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
Re: Uncommon Sense [Re: Strumpling]
    #1519687 - 05/04/03 03:00 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

Here's a bit more interesting stuff from this book:

On Voting:
Quote:

Voting is an ingenious and well-meant attempt to translate the wishes of the people into the actions of those who govern them. In practice, however, this rarely happens and the voting system has led to neither freedom nor true democracy wherever it is used in the world.
...
Very few of the active voters actually vote FOR a person or party. They usually vote tactically AGAINST the other side, seeing their vote as supporting the lesser of two or more evils. Another motivation might be purely personal and based upon promised handouts to single mothers or more spending on the military, rather than the full range of policies being put forward.

In our real-world voting with the pocketbook, we drink Guinness because we prefer it, not to penalise the other brewers or put them out of business. And if enough of us become disenchanted with a product then the company producing it has either to diversify successfully or die. With the electoral vote we don't get to stop buying the product, nor do we get to buy a new product; we simply get to change the manufacturer of the product and do so on the basis of sweeping promises that they are under no actual liability to fulfil, and which in practice they seldom do.

Consider for a moment to what extent the body of the state remains constant: its volumes of regulation and law with its enforcers and interpreters; the military and defence establishment; total taxation (relentless in its rise); and the countless departments and offices filled with the vast armies of bureaucrats who run this sorry ship. Are we really to believe that even a major re-sculpture of the tip of the iceberg will make a difference to the passengers of this Titanic?

"Vote for the man who promises least; he'll be the least disappointing."
-Bernard Baruch, 1960





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Insert an "I think" mentally in front of eveything I say that seems sketchy, because I certainly don't KNOW much. Also; feel free to yell at me.
In addition: SHPONGLE

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Anonymous

Re: Uncommon Sense [Re: Strumpling]
    #1519722 - 05/04/03 03:17 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

i think i'll buy it.

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OfflineStrumpling
Neuronaut
Registered: 10/11/02
Posts: 7,571
Loc: Hyperspace
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
Re: Uncommon Sense [Re: ]
    #1519754 - 05/04/03 03:37 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

yeah I've been digging through it online here and really dig what this guy is about - I also really dig that he has it free on his website so once I get some cash I'll send some his way and get myself a copy :smile: - the more money he has, the louder he can speak.


--------------------
Insert an "I think" mentally in front of eveything I say that seems sketchy, because I certainly don't KNOW much. Also; feel free to yell at me.
In addition: SHPONGLE

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