hmmm a couple of points to think about (mostly rephrasing things Its about sharing has said):
1. an argument for central authority enforcing rules is that it can theoretically protect people from murder, theft etc. by enforced legislation. (I say this, because as it turns out people in positions of power have little incentive to actually do so) In my eyes this is debatable but I'm willing to grant that this may be so. Now let's look at the other side of the coin: what about crimes of theft and murder perpetrated by those very same authorities? Concentration camps, Gulags, Ethnic cleansing, wars for profit, devaluation of currency, outright confiscation of gold and/or currency, taxation - all those are impossible to commit by individuals, you need an institution like the state for this. With this argument I think the proposed remedy is much worse than the illness it is supposed to cure.
2. another argument for central authority enforcing rules boils down to references to "human nature" - usually portraying it as base, savage, selfish and violent. I see several problems with this: first of all "human nature" might be much more variable than we have been led to believe by living in a relatively stable cultural environment. People have been known to live in monogamy and polygamy for example. Which one is human nature? Human nature gets shaped mostly by genetics and environment. And I say that environment has a much bigger impact on your behavior and values than it generally gets credit for. So referring to "human nature" as something fixed means overlooking historical diversity as well as the potential for further evolution.
3. connected to the human nature argument is a point which Its about sharing has touched on: darwinism and survival of fittest. "natural order" usually gets associated with "survival of the fittest". This is an incomplete picture, though. If you study the behavior of various biospheres you will see your fair share of predators depending on their individual strength to survive. But the more developed and complex the biosphere, the more organisms you will find, who don't fall into this category, but rather ensure their survival by being essential to that biospheres functioning. In other words, survival of the fittest (competition) is a valid evolutionary strategy but
so is survival of the most valuable (cooperation). Let's not forget this. Viewed through this lens a potential lawless society starts looking less scary.
4. we don't really know. This is important to fully realize. I don't know if and how a society without a central governing authority would work in todays technological and cultural environment. I freely admit that. But neither do YOU. Statements like the following:
In any scenario where theres an absence of central authority or rules people will revert to their original sociopathic state.. people will kill each other for petty things because now they will not be questioned for the crime..
simply assume perfect knowledge about elusive concepts like human nature and what exactly would happen. I view this as arrogant and foolish at best.
But as has been mentioned - our reality grid gets shaped by the culture we live in, one could say that
culture is our collective operating system. Today most people don't know how to program their own operating system. Most of them aren't even aware that such a thing might exist, they simply accept whatever prevalent cultural norms there are as "reality". Their operating system and thus view or reality gets to be programmed by media and public schools and it's easy to see how these sources of programming might have an interest in preserving the status quo.
5. Because there always have to be 5 points (see
The law of fives for clarification): In the end it's in our hands how we want to live our lives. If you want to submit to a central authority dictating how to live different aspects of your life for whatever reason (maybe you feel insecure about your own sense of judgement, are afraid of deviating from norms because of ostracism or just don't like to take responsibility) that's your choice. but PLEASE for the love of everything that is dear to you: let those who don't want a life like that be FREE to not join your game. As it turns out there's a big chance that the next major inventions and technological improvements will come exactly from these people.
This is a great post, good to see the bitcoin community has so many people with this kind of free and forward thinking mindset. I wouldn't be here otherwise.
