
I uploaded a video called “Defining Evil”, which went
through the reasons that evil can be defined as a belief that power is what
morality is drawn upon. As such evil people believe that anyone with power
controls morality, and any moral standard outside of this is for the weak. Ethical
egoists often make this presumption with a false air of sophistication, as they
childishly insist that morality as a religious lie. To believe this one would have
to first assume that religion was thought up in a vacuum, with nothing to influence
it. But in fact religion has always attempted to explain nature, making some profound
claims along the way, and some claims that are nothing more than appeals to
authority - namely that without god there is no morality.
This insinuation has become so deep-rooted that, as soon
as science began to explain the natural world, nihilists came to the false
assumption that if god doesn’t exist then neither does morality. Thus nihilists
are committing a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy (after this, therefore
because of this). Like everything, our sense of right and wrong comes from
nature. To truly live in harmony we must avoid the conflict that often occurs
in parts of nature, and transcend to a world of positive sum trade, where all
advanced life stems form. There will always be setbacks caused by those that
prefer perpetual conflict, the nihilists that want a moral free-for-all, where
mere whim is what sets the parameters for engagement. But this philosophy will always
be the destruction of civilisation, forcing us to regress to the primitive state
we evolved from.
The very existence of civilisation shows that humanity is
more than a mere beast. Humanity is capable of rising above the tundra of the
jungle, and shaping something unique. Equally, there will is an ever-present
threat of predators in our midst, working towards bringing down order, so that
chaos and disorder can ensue. In this setting there is no positive sum trade,
just a zero sum game of winner takes all. There are no limits to what can be
enacted – if you have the power, you have the authority. This is a cruel world
where those with power believe they have the right to coerce people into sacrificing
their lives and liberty, but as we saw under feudalism, there is little
difference between this and living in a state of nature.
People regularly band together to protect themselves
against the predators of humanity, but with this comes the inevitability of
hierarchy. There is little point trying to change the emergence of these exceptional
qualities; as long as there is diversity in nature there will be those of us
gifted enough to rise higher and further than others. But it’s what you do with
your power when you get there that makes all the difference.
You could spend your whole life, and many have, trying to
solve the problem of corruption in authority. But in truth there is no solution
that will stay in place forever. There are only temporary remedies, and they
usually revolve around great people that have a deep sense of moral fibre,
which they use to do good. In a second video of mine, which elaborated on the
subject of good and evil, called “Will Good Always Triumph Over Evil?", I used
the movie “Man of Steel” to lay out how Superman became such a morally
upstanding individual, who could not only avoid the temptation to use his power
for evil, but actually use it to fight evil.
There is one scene in the movie that I wanted to bring up
in the video, but omitted it due to time constraints. In it the young Kal-El was
reading Plato’s Republic. There are many philosophical side-plots that people seem
to have missed within the script of this movie, and this is one of them. Plato
was (in)famous for his depiction of the Philosopher Kings, benevolent dictators
that would have no earthly belongings or loved ones to tempt them into becoming
self-serving. From a young age they would be taken from their families and
raised to be impartial and wise rulers. They would have nothing in their lives
other than the robes they wore, and would be dedicated to the life of ruling
over the masses. Think of these individuals as monks with absolute power. While
these rulers would be dictators, the idea is that they are well schooled in the
ways of the wise and fair, free of the temptations of power due to their own
humble lives.
In reality this would be nigh on impossible to realise,
for who watches the watchers? As the saying goes; power corrupts, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely. As ever, there will always be someone who cannot resist
temptation when no one is looking, and while some might be able to resist, no
one lives forever, and we do not know if the next supreme ruler could behave as
nobly. What was so profound about the young Kal-El reading the Republic is that
anyone who knew what this book set out would likely wonder whether he was
tempted to become a dictator, possibly believing that he, unlike all those that
came before him with absolute power, could avoid the temptations that came with
this position.
I often tie myself in knots wondering what it would take
to make a perfectly good system, and the truth is that it would take some sort
of benevolent, completely altruistic force to exist, able to fight off all
attempts to horde power. This scenario is often called the Deus Ex machina.
This has been set out in the game series of a similar name; Deus Ex. So it
comes as no surprise that the game series, as well as the plot device, is
derived from the idea that some sort of force, whatever that might be, is
introduced into a setting, with god-like potential. This force is then able to
control all within its purview, for better or worse.
I have begun to realise that no utopia can exist unless a
Deus Ex machina, or a Superman, can come about, absolutely committed to a set of
ideals, never becoming corrupted by the power being wielded. There are no people
in history that have even come close to this, and Superman is, of course, a
fictional character. What this means for humanity is that the best we could
ever ask for is that good continues defeating evil again and again and again,
resetting the balance every time. This might sound horrendous to some. But
there is no alternative. As soon as someone believes that a utopia of absolute
power is possible then it will inevitably become corrupted, and with it, untold
misery will follow.
Humans are most certainly fallible. They have desires,
yearnings, insecurities, and many other weaknesses. In Star Wars this was
outlined through two opposing sides of the force; the Jedi and the Sith. The
Jedi were trained from a young age in much the same way as the Philosopher
kings would have been. They were stripped of all worldly desire and belongings,
and put to the service of liberty. The Sith however were driven entirely by
their egos, much like nihilists. Given that all their values were derived from
such hedonistic desires, they give in to the dark side, a path of hate, anger, and
suffering, believing that these destructive emotions and actions make them
strong. But as ever these dark sides of life destroy everyone they touch.
Absolute power is impossible without levels of stoicism
that would be almost superhuman to achieve (like Superman?). When people truly
learn that utopia is always out of reach they must then make a commitment to
the service of good, so that evil can never reign supreme. But as soon as one
believes that good can defeat evil once and for all bad things happen, for evil
is always using arrogance to tempt the foolhardy.
Hi MrE :) You always seem to have great insight into the current state of things so I thought you might be interested in this video: YouTube "Lisa Arbercheski - Feminism as Psychological Warfare & Harnessing Human Resources". Scary stuff.
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