Social Behavior

By Leon Felkins

(Written November, 1994)

(Revised July 20, 1999)

Note: this section is under constant revision!

[OK, before you dismiss this as being so much 'Pop Psychology', let me beat you to it by admitting that yes, this a layman's view of human social behavior. On the other hand, I have to point out that the learned psychological texts while sounding quite technical and incomprehensible, have not had quite the success in explaining human behavior as, say, the physicists have had in explaining the behavior of our solar system! Still, if there are glaring errors here, I would appreciate knowing about them and if I agree with you, I will correct them.]

• Why we act the way we do

  There is a very simple reason why people act the way they do and it is given by the following maxim:

  Maxim #1: Individuals tend to do the things they are rewarded for doing and tend to avoid the things they are punished for doing.

  Before you discard this simple maxim as being too simple to be of any use, let me explain just a bit. For a given situation, this maxim puts you one step closer and in the right direction to understanding why people behave as they do. Let us try it on a simple example: Why do government employees waste money? If you want to know the answer to this then see if you can determine how government employees are rewarded and punished. You will then have the answer to your questions and you will find that government employees are just acting according to this maxim -- just as we would do if we were in their place.

  Our responses to the environment and activities around us are determined by our current psychological makeup. While much could be said scientifically about this psychological makeup, for convenience in this essay, I will break down all those forces into two categories: "genes" and "memes". Genes are physical "blue prints" that determine our physical and mental make up. "Memes" is a word coined by Dr. Dawkins that I will use to represent the learned portion of the forces that guide our behavior. An analogy is most appropriate from the computer world: genes correspond to the hardware or the "ROM" - memes correspond to the software or the "programs". Genes and memes will be discussed briefly further on in this article but pointers to more detailed information are in the Common Sense section.

  • Psychological Forces

    Following are a set of characteristics of humans that seem to reasonably define or influence the way we behave.

    • The assumed human

      The following statements are assumed to characterize the human being:

      • We are entirely governed by the physical laws of the universe.

      • We are composed of a physical body (which we understand fairly well) and a mind (of which we are almost clueless).

      • Our actions are determined by our environment and the state of our mind at the moment.

      • Our mind is heavily influenced by genes, memes and the environment but also has the ability to develop logical extensions.

        • Genes are the "blueprint" for our makeup and do not change in an individual's lifetime.

          Genes correspond to the "Read-only-memory" (ROM) that is hardwired into every computer. The ROM allows the computer to start and perform primitive functions from which higher level operations can be performed. Likewise, genes provide the basic programming from which higher level learning is possible.

          While an individual's genetic preferences can't be changed, they can be ignored. The best example of that is probably the genetic sexual drives, many of which have been suppressed by memes.

        • Memes are chunks of 'programs' or beliefs that we acquire after birth

          Memes correspond somewhat to the application programs that the computer contains at any instant that tells it what to do and how to approach problems. And -- like computer programs and unlike genetic psychological forces -- memes are subject to change at all times.

        • Our actions are determined by the interaction of our psychological make-up and the environment

          "Accept your fate as the stream accepts the stream bed. The bed forms the stream; the stream forms the bed." William Markiewicz, in Extracts of Existence

          Our internal programming reacts with our environment, in the same way a computer's program reacts with input, to determine what action we will take next. The environment can result in changes to our memes and genes. Genes do change, of course (by the process of evolution), but it takes centuries and many generations, whereas memes can change daily in response to changing circumstances. For example we may harbor the meme that humans will always act kindly to someone in distress until one day we actually see a human brutalize a person in distress. For most people, this particular meme will be discarded or at least modified.

        • There is no "magic" and there is nothing "sacred" about humans

          To believe otherwise is to reject science. Science and mysticism are not really compatible. If you believe in religious spirits and other magic, then you have no need for all this discourse on why things are the way they are. To base any part of your beliefs on magic is to reject science in total. For a belief in magic is a rejection of the logical process altogether - which the scientific process is based upon.

    • Genes

      Our genetic psychological factors are powerful forces that tell us what to do but, unfortunately, are slow to change. They are not adequate for humans interacting with a rapidly changing world.

      Genes have been evolving for millions of years. They change very slowly. We are struggling today with emotions that evolved for the caveman.

      Genes cause problems because they provide psychological directions for a particular situation that may no longer be appropriate.

      A serious shortcoming of genes is that the controls and influences that they provide are simplistic. Our genes drive us to eat and store fat when doing so is likely to do more harm than good. The genetic drive to have sexual intercourse, so as to have more offspring, continues to function when having more children is likely to endanger the health of those already born, due to lack of food and resources.

    • Memes

      While genetic forces have evolved over many centuries adapting to a particular problem, memes can evolve in a lifetime with no chance for correction when they may be in error. As a result, the behavior they evoke is not necessarily best for humans. They just evolve, mainly based on short term phenomena, limited information and often, ignorance.

      Unfortunately, memes generate psychological forces and emotions that are just as powerful as genetic forces. Sexual and political mores best illustrate the power of memes -- both of which are the basis for a lot of grief for humans.

    • Selfishness and Altruism

      "Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish." Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

      Generally, the actions we take, as we struggle through each day, are driven by self-interest. Much of our self-interest can be satisfied by a direct individual action, but other self interest can only be satisfied by group collective action. An example of the first would be something like raising my own garden and an example of the second would be the provision of public roads. While the connection between reward and effort is straightforward with direct individual action, it is extremely confused and complex when it is achieved by collective action.

      While self interest is the primary drive of the higher animals, including humans, it should be noted that humans also sometimes take actions to help others without any apparent thought of personal reward. However, a case could be made that even these so called altruistic acts are ultimately selfish in that the acts tend to give the person doing the action a good feeling. We may further classify an action contributing to the "common good" as being selfish or altruistic. A particular activity, such as the sandbagging of a levee that is in danger of breaking, could be selfish for some (their own house is endangered) or altruistic for some (other people's houses or lives are endangered).

      In summary, individual actions can be classified first as being selfish or altruistic and second as being a direct individual action or a group action. It is important to note that an action made in support of the group can be either selfish or altruistic.

      According to the social scientists, while our genes would have us always looking after our own self interest, we can be taught to look after the interests of the group we belong to. For the most part, members of the animal kingdom are always acting selfishly. But there are exceptions. The ants, wasps and bees - the "social insects" seem to act for the group's best interest rather than the individual's interests. In particular, soldier ants routinely sacrifice their lives to save the colony. (Even this action can be explained in terms of pure selfishness -- selfishness of the genes. See Dawkins' book).

      What about humans? Do we humans generally act to promote individual interest or do we act to promote the interest of the group (like the social insects)? The answer has to be "both", since we do not just follow our instincts but also are motivated by what we have learned.

      While we are instinctively selfish, we can be taught to think and act altruistically. Selfish instincts are driven by our genes while altruistic activities are generally "meme" driven. Acting through the group for selfish reasons may also have some genetic motivation but is more likely driven by memetic forces.

      In summary then, humans are always or nearly always acting selfishly. Accepting this fact of life will help you to put in proper perspective the actions of the government, the press, your fellow workers, and yourself. In particular -- as I will discuss in more detail in my essay on "Motivation" -- essentially all of the activities that the individuals in the government, the press, the universities, etc. are involved in, are being done for their own benefit -- not yours. That you may also benefit from their actions is of secondary importance to them.

  • What is "natural"?

    "Natural" activity is defined here as gene driven activity. It is difficult to classify our actions by what is natural and what is learned as the two are very intimately intertwined. Natural activity can best be determined by watching primitive societies or higher order mammals.

    • Why should we care?

      Human actions and characteristics that are natural, that is, based on evolutionary genetic forces, have evolved because they were most suited for survival. While it is acknowledged that these natural forces may not be appropriate when the environment is quite different from that which the natural forces evolved in, it is prudent to assume that they are still likely to be more appropriate for survival than a lot of the nonsense now fostered by our society. Unfortunately, many of the memes have not been tested by time as genes have.

    • Some examples of Natural Behavior

      Many activities that a human would naturally do are no longer socially acceptable in most modern societies. Religious and other socially generated memes have replaced -- at least partially -- these natural inclinations. Examples include:

      • Sexual Activity

        If we simply responded to our genetic forces, we would be having sex on the sidewalks -- especially since both sexes tend to dress in ways to make themselves more sexually attractive than normal.

      • Prejudices

        According to genetic theory, genes are very selfish and therefore encourage the host (you and me) to look out only for ourselves and immediate family. Prejudice against others that look different is normal.

      • Male Dominance

        It is easy to conclude from observation of the higher mammals and man, that a man naturally wants to dominate his female and is hostile towards other men. A pecking order must be established in the normal state.

      • Territorial Defense

        Males of the higher order animals are always trying to establish their territories and to expand them if possible. This translates to war for humans.

      • Nurturing

        Human females have the same genetic drives to nurture their young as do other animals. That female humans have more compassion and forgiveness than males typically do, is perfectly reasonable. I am suspicious of their desire to join the military, however!

      As you can see from the above, very limited, list of natural human responses, there is good reason to replace, or at least inhibit, some of the natural forces with memetic driven forces. For the modern civilized society, there is no doubt that memes are necessary. Too bad that they must be created by man as they really should be carefully designed before implemented.

  • Influence of the Family

    Alright, I'm not a sociologist but I do have some experience. I was raised in a family and, in turn, I raised my own family. What I say here reflects that experience and other personal experience with other families. That's all.

    • Socialization

      "There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if only you begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity."
      - Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

      From the time we are born, we start learning how to deal with the world around us. We learn what is acceptable behavior and what is not. At first, we don't know why, but after a while we tend to just accept the rules and not worry about it. What we do know is there are rewards and punishments associated with doing things the way the family wants them done.

      I quote from my friendly encyclopedia:

      "Socialization is perhaps the most basic and important function of the family because it teaches its members the rules and expectations for behavior within a given society. Although families perform many functions, nurturant socialization is universal. This involves the care, protection, and nurturing of infants. It is doubtful whether infants could survive much less develop into mentally, physically, and socially healthy human beings outside the intimate network of the family.

      The family not only is more permanent than other social institutions but also usually provides the care and love best suited to teaching children the skills, values, and norms of the society and subculture. Regardless of the excellence of hospitals, child-care centers, and nursery and elementary schools, they cannot perform the socialization and learning functions as satisfactorily as the well-adjusted family.
      ---------------------------------------------------------
      Excerpted from Compton�s Interactive Encyclopedia
      Copyright � 1994, 1995 Compton�s NewMedia, Inc."

    • Character

      The family is of great importance in building character of the human child. How a child is treated determines, to a great extent, how that child will feel about herself as she develops. She will have confidence or she will be insecure based on the nurturing her family gives her as a child. In my view, building confidence and self-esteem is what is most important. That differs a bit from the modern view that we should be constantly telling a child how much we love him or her. Providing an atmosphere of love is conducive to building confidence and self-esteem, but it is not the end goal. To build confidence, we need do much more than just saying "I love you" every five minutes. We need to help and guide the child into accomplishing things on her own. We need to not be over critical but still be honest. One of the first thing a child learns is how to detect bogusness in the family adults!

      My own experience has confirmed to me that it is extremely important to be up front and honest with your children. It often results in tragedy when children can observe that their parents lead lives that are bogus and insincere. Children really need to have respect for others, especially their parents. It somehow helps their own character develop in a positive way.

    • A Shelter from the Storm

      What the family provides more than anything else -- even a dysfunctional family! -- is a place where the members of the family can always go if they are in trouble. Families put up with crap that is totally unacceptable anywhere else! When the family members see that the parents let the wayward and worthless bum teenager come back home after being away for a year without ever bothering to communicate, they all get a good and important feeling of reassurance. That is not to say that the parents have to put up with any kind of disruptive and unsocial behavior. No, they just need to put up with a lot more than anyone else would.

    • Family Social Activities

      How much the family plays together as the children mature varies a great deal from family to family. It is wonderful to see a family that continues to meet, have dinners, have parties, whatever, every chance they get. The closeness and mutual support that results from these social gatherings can be quite supportive to all the members. Of course, it can't always be this way -- some families tend to do a lot of fussing when they get together. But if it is possible, it has great value.

    Unfortunately, family life often does not quite work out so nicely. That this is so is a major problem with our society today. Many children are raised with practically no family nurturing. Many children have powerful memes placed in their minds from the community and other external sources that totally disrupt the family life. Such a situation did not exist in the past but today we must accept the realities of external societal pressures and influences. The television, the school and the friends of the child, often have far more influence than the family does.

    The parents, quite typically, are themselves blindly following memes that result in the destruction of the family environment. They do what they have been told to do and thinking wasn't part of it!

    Such is life at the dawn of the twenty first century.

  • Group Behavior

    Another simple maxim will help to understand why groups behave the way they do:

    Maxim #2: The actions of a group are simply the accumulated actions of the individuals making up the group.

    Of course this is obvious: the secret is to use it when you are wondering why some groups act in ways you think are strange. If you want to know why "Congress" continues to spend us into oblivion, then examine the motivations to the individual congressman. You will have your answer and it will not be so complicated. The point is that it is pointless to worry about congress: instead determine what motivates congresspersons. Congress will follow.

    Group behavior, then, is determined by the individuals in the group. [Note 1] The individuals in the group are influenced primarily by laws, propaganda (memes), economics and persuasion. Each of these methods will now be examined in detail.

    • Laws

      "To live outside the law you must be honest." - Bob Dylan

      Laws and the legal system that attempts to implement them have a major influence on our behavior. Most humans do not attach any ethical significance to laws. Rather, laws are often a codification of accepted ethics. In any case, we generally have no moral qualms about drinking liquor in an area in which it may be legally forbidden - we just concern ourselves with the possibility of being caught.

      There are two factors involved in the decision to comply with a law: the probability of being successfully prosecuted and the punishment. A state may pass a law with significant punishment but with little chance of any prosecutions. An example would be a law against drinking in your own home on Sunday. Not much chance of a person getting caught and therefore would be ignored by most people. On the other hand the law against the writing of bad checks may have a relatively trivial punishment but you are most certain to get caught. So most people don't do it.

      It is difficult to analyze the legal system because it is such a mess. Because there are so many laws - many of which are in conflict - it is difficult to know what the applicable laws are. Furthermore, the legal process is so messy that just getting involved in it is a rather severe punishment in itself. This results in much injustice since many people will violate their principles and avoid a confrontation even when they are right, to simply avoid the legal process. "Winning" the case could still result in an expenditure of a lot of money and time - some of which could even be spent in jail! The best examples of this kind of legal confusion and fraud are the cases brought against the citizens based on the so-called "forfeiture" laws.

      • "They may be wrong but they got the guns"

        Whether you are right or wrong it is best to avoid a confrontation with the legal system. You will pay a great deal, either way.

        Laws and their prosecution vary a great deal between nations and even between different areas of the United States.

      • Why and How we get Laws

        It is important to recognize laws for what they are: the imposition of the will of a group in power over the rest of the people. Laws aren't sacred, just, or necessarily useful. They just are. The reasons they are passed do not necessarily include the welfare of the people and often don't. (To find out more about why politicians pass the laws they do, see my essay on "Public Choice".

        • The Business of Creating Laws

          What is the basis for having a constant full time staff creating and modifying laws?

          We, the public, employ thousands of people (the entire legislative arm of the government) to just create laws. In a rational world you would have to conclude that we have somehow decided that our present laws are not adequate and they are so bad that we need thousands of full time employees working constantly trying to create better laws. Where did that concept come from? Will we ever get enough laws? Is there a possibility that more laws will only make things worse. Do we know that these people are better qualified to make laws than the last crew we had?

          But it is not a rational world and we have never made those decisions. All those people in congress are there because they want to be. And we don't have a clue as to what we can do about it - if anything. (See my "Helpless" essay.

        • The Basis for Laws

          Why do we need laws? Apparently, it is because humans can't trust each other to do the right thing. Of the alternatives available for controlling humanity, it does appear that laws at least have the potential to provide the most dignified method. Other methods that play upon your stupidity, suspicions and emotions are obviously dishonest.

          But the problem is that laws are created by people! Anytime you have people involved you're going to have corruption. It is unavoidable.

        • More Problem with Laws

          Indications are very strong that we are not smart enough to make a set of laws that will "fairly" govern human beings. Even if the process was not corrupt, it is doubtful that humans can ever be smart enough to make laws to govern humans. We truly need a Moses to go up on the mountain and bring down a set of laws created by a super-human; someone superior to the day-to-day goings on and unaffected by it. But unless we are lucky enough to have some space aliens come in and take over, we are not likely to have that happen here.

        • Laws require violence to enforce

          We constantly hear our neighbors expressing "there ought to be a law" against every little annoyance they have. Not only is the concept an impractical solution to most problems, laws also imply violence. What if the government passes a law against people eating ice cream on Sunday afternoon. What is the government to do if someone repeatedly violates that law. They must use force to try to take the person in custody. If he further resists, they they may have to use deadly violence against him. No matter how minor the law is to society, it has to be enforced or else government loses (even more) credibility. Therefore, all laws carry with them the threat of deadly force.

        • Every law passed takes away freedoms from the honest citizens

          The government is quick to pass laws against the whole population to correct a problem created by a small portion of the population. For example, because some people may use guns in a way unacceptable to society, when guns are banned, all must give up their guns. Another example would be a road block by the police. All suffer because of a small number of people who are disruptive -- who will, no doubt, avoid the roadblock!

        • The cost to the honest citizens is often far more than the damage to the criminals

          In many cases, the loss to society is far greater than the benefits gained. For example, the protection of the rights of the person accused of a criminal act, often result in a greater loss to society as a whole, particularly the victims of these criminals.

          The fact that laws are often stupid and do not solve the problem is a serious issue that will be explored further in another part of this essay. What I would like to point out here is that there is a cost for every law and that cost often exceeds the benefit. The reason this is so is that the law and the associated sacrifice applies to all citizens while the crime the law is supposed to prevent only affects a few citizens.

          Let me give you a simple example. A common solution applied by a frustrated leader is to punish the whole group for the crime of an individual when apparently the individual will remain unknown. We all know examples of this from the military, schools, and government. A teacher might warn the class that the next time a dirty word is found written on the wall, the whole class will stay 5 hours after school. The good is that the perpetrator is punished; the bad is that the punishment received by the whole class far exceeds that good.

          Our lawmakers do the same thing. They pass laws that frustrate everyone's constitutional rights to get at the drug dealer. The cost of the law is the loss to each individual multiplied by the number of individuals. The gain is the punishment to the drug dealers multiplied by the number of drug dealers. The cost exceeds the benefit by monstrous proportions!

          Another example: Suppose that the government passes a law that says that an accused wife abuser can be immediately thrown in jail without due process (it has happened!) The fact that all of us now have this threat over our heads that can be used by any unscrupulous person to make serious trouble for us far exceeds the value gained in getting a timely punishment for the real wife-beater.

          Finally, the Forfeiture laws that were invoked supposedly to help in the drug war have cost all of us dearly in the loss of what we thought were constitutionally guaranteed rights. It will be difficult to regain these rights.

        • The threat of the application of a law can intimidate a law abiding citizen.

          Many people naively think that they are protected by our legal system. They feel that if they are unjustly accused, they will simply go to court and defend themselves. Well, it doesn't quite work that way! Simply being brought to court can be devastating financially and emotionally to most people. If a private citizen should bring a case against you, you have trouble enough, as it will be necessary to spend thousands of dollars to defend yourself. But consider the situation where the government brings charges against you. They have, effectively, unlimited funds to support their side, while yours are very finite. Therefore the mere threat by a government official (or a person threatening to use the government against you) to bring charges against you, can be extremely intimidating. Not only are you and I intimidated, but so are persons of wealth and large corporations. We all know we are helpless against the power of the government.

        • Laws are inconsistent from area to area.

      • The Application of Laws - the Legal System

        [Later . . .]

        Does it work - some statistics

        Exactly how is justice administered

        What happens in a typical breaking of a law

        The arrest

        The incarceration

        Bail, no bail and other activity while waiting for a trial

        The trial

        After conviction, fined or placed in jail

        Life in jail

        Appeals

        The uncertainty of the application of justice problem

        The parole mess

        What effort is made to rehabilitate

        Statistics

        What kind of people run our prisons and other legal operations

        Who should be punished and how much?

    • Psychological Group Control

      The key to controlling people is through the use of a class of memes called "political memes" (pemes by one writer), usually established by means of propaganda. There is no doubt that the genes also tend to encourage individuals to get involved in group activity -- after all we are social animals -- but since genes are difficult to manipulate, memes are the weapons of choice for group control. I will discuss how each of the self-appointed leader groups attempt to control by the use of the memes, starting with the most active in this field -- the politicians.

      • Political Psychological Methods

        All governments seek to control the masses by psychological methods as well as by force (legal or otherwise). Psychological control has many benefits over force. It is generally cheaper, but more importantly, it is more effective. Force loses its effectiveness when the citizens are out of view of the enforcers or their agents. On the other hand, if you can somehow convince the citizens to do your bidding it works whether they are out of sight or not. Why the politicians would want to control you is discussed in the Political Science essay. You can be assured that they do want to have some control.

        Of course politicians use the power of memes to keep us in line. Political memes are usually referred to as propaganda and is used by all governments. We are well educated as to how the 'bad' governments such as the Nazis and the Communists use memetic control but little is said about how the 'good', democratic, governments use such methods. It is reasonable that democratic governments actually have more need for memetic control than do the dictatorships.

      • Some Popular Political Memes

        Memes can be good or bad and those listed below could be either depending on your point of view. I probably am biased to view most of them as bad because, if for no other reason, they are used to manipulate my activity and to inhibit me from 'making up my own mind'.

        This list is, by no means, complete.

        • Patriotism

          The patriotism meme is absolutely essential for a country that may get involved in wars from time to time. Highly patriotic groups make a far better fighting force than one that is there only by the threat of punishment -- as we saw in the Vietnam war. But patriotism is useful in other areas too. If we are patriotic we are more likely to promote the economic interests of our country, for example.

        • Devotion to Duty

          The concept of duty and the meme that you must do what is your duty have similar value and function as does patriotism. Soldiers will fight wars and expose themselves to deadly harm even if they know that their leaders are stupid and/or selfishly motivated if they can be convinced that it is their duty to do so. For good or bad, the patriotism meme usually works.

        • Use the System to Correct the System

          The truth is that mechanisms within the political system are often inadequate to correct political abuses. We are taught that the constitution will insure that government is restrained and will provide methods of corrections -- which is another meme, of course. It doesn't take much research to find that essentially every government ignores the constitution when it sees the need to. The only practical method of correcting the political system in most cases is to go outside the system -- commonly called a revolution -- so you can see that it is most convenient to plant in our minds that to do so is very evil. Recent comments of President Clinton on the militia movement (in which he admonished that such movements were not patriotic, etc.) was an effort to enforce this politically useful meme.

        • 'All men are created equal'

          Well, of course they are not, but they can be made politically equal by allowing only one vote per person. Given that rule, then it is logical for politicians to direct their efforts toward the large group of ordinary, easily manipulated, folks -- which there is usually an abundance of. For more on this meme, see my essay, "The Equality Myth".

        • Compassion for the Needy

          The needy represents a very large block of our population and have very significant voting power. That being the case, each politician appeals to them for their vote and the most effective method being to provide them with largesse. However, to do so, the not-so-needy must be taxed heavily to bring in the required revenue. The not-so-needy are not going to take to this real well unless you can somehow plant the meme that compassion is good and a person with compassion is a good person. "Implementing your compassion through the government is better than doing it yourself" is also part of this meme.

          The USA and many other of the highly developed democracies of the world have been very successful in establishing this meme.

        • The Government is the best solution to all of Your Problems

          This is a very successful meme in the USA and most industrialized countries. It is obviously self-serving to the politicians. It allows the government to not only stay in business but to continuously grow, providing more and more government jobs and reasons to spend money. So, government now controls every aspect of our lives including what kind of oil we can use on the popcorn at the movies.

        • Government services are Free

          It is incredible how many people in all walks of life -- including highly educated college professors -- that are taken in by this meme. Rarely, in the discussions of the more and more services that the government should provide for us, is it mentioned that all government activities must be supported by taxes. Somebody, somewhere has to pay. This meme is one of the best examples of the power of memes to replace logical thinking in our minds.

        • We need a Constant Supply of New Laws to Correct the Ills of Society

          Another self-serving memes that costs society greatly. The more laws, the more lawyers and government operatives will be needed. Most new laws are not needed and do more harm than good. Think of this meme every time you hear some poor soul say, "There ought to be a law . . ."!

        • Etc.

          I could go on and on, but surely you get the picture. Check my "Meme List" for a few more.

      • Psychological Control by Other Groups

        [Later . . .]

    • Economic Methods of Control

      [Later ...Here I will discuss Economics as it impacts life, both from a normative and positive perspective]

    • Persuasion

      [Later ...]

      Conformity

      [Later ...]

  • Love and Sex or "Be glad your mother never told you anything"

    See my essay, "Love, Sex and Marriage".

  • Stupidity and the Human condition

    Why do we humans appear to be so stupid? And stupid with respect to what? Are we not smarter than the rest of the animals?

    There are a number of factors in explaining why humans, as a class, are often accused of being stupid:

    • A problem in terms

      Part of the problem is that terms like stupid, intelligent, smart, ignorant, and so on are not precisely defined. Generally, they are relative terms applying mostly with respect to other humans. In any case, in casual conversation, it is not clear what people mean when they refer to others as being stupid. It seems that what they usually mean is that the people they are referring to are stupid with respect to some imagined standard that humans ought to meet. In fact people often apply this judgment to themselves, in these complex times.

    • Genetic programming for an ancient time

      Most likely, the reason we appear so stupid, even by our own assessments is that our genes were programmed for a world that we no longer live in - the Stone Age. Our genetic makeup is incredibly slow to change. There is little difference between the way we are today and the way we were 5000 years ago. Imagine yourself in a little village with folks running around grubbing for roots, hunting for food and not knowing that the world was any bigger than what you can see and you will have a pretty good idea of what your genes are prepared to handle.

      What your genes haven't a clue on is even more frightening. Things like, television, explicit violence and sex -- visually and audibly presented by movies and television, slick preachers with a pitch precisely tuned to appeal to your most primitive senses, psychiatrists playing with your mental peculiarities, etc. etc. The genetically determined aspects of our personality are quite confused by all this so the memes must pick up the challenge. But memes have the potential of being a total disaster. As we discuss in other parts of this document, memes are used by self-appointed leaders to control humans to their way of doing things. Others, often in influential positions (teachers, reporters, bureaucrats, etc.) are infected by these memes and spread them further. When this happens, we have "the blind leading the blind".

      Genes also are not going to help you in dealing with the rapid technological advancement. Genes are of little help in such problems as how to program your VCR. In itself, this is not such a big deal. The problem is that not being able to program our VCR makes us feel stupid. And when we have to call the repairman and he says that the problem is that your transvidicron has munged the vendatris and it is going to cost you $200, you haven't a clue as to what the hell he is talking about. You are totally at his mercy and you sure as hell ain't comfortable about that. No wonder there is so much frustration and feelings of inadequacy. It is not healthy.

    • Wide range of intelligence in Humans

      Due to various reasons, most of which is not understood, we humans develop with a very wide range of intelligence and capability. Some of us can't do the simplest functions and some of us are absolute whizzes. So who cares? Unfortunately, the fact that some people are extremely intelligent with respect to the rest of us creates both good and bad for the rest of us. The good is that they are responsible for all these wonderful technical things about us, as well as easy access to things like books, magazines, televisions, movies and even a camping trip in the Rockies.

      The bad is that we are totally incapable of understanding how these things work and must depend on these whizzes to get by in everyday life. It is often said that we live in a technical or scientific age. Maybe so, but that doesn't mean all of us know what is going on. Most of us don't have a clue. Most of us are still in the stone age as far as what we know about what is going on.

  • They know what is best for us.

    • Our Leaders:

      • The Press

        We need the news media. Freedom of the press is the greatest defense we have against total subjugation by the government. Without free press, all these wonderful politicians and civil servants we so adequately support would have us in chains. Our country would be no different than the former Soviet Union. But where there is good, there is also evil and corruption. Unfortunately, there is also much evil and corruption in the news media. We will all live better if we understand what the press is all about and that the "press" and the "freedom of the press" are two different things.

        • Their Motives

          To understand the press we must apply Maxim #1:

          Individuals tend to do the things they are rewarded for doing and tend to avoid the things they are punished for doing.

          News media people are, like the rest of us, looking after their own agenda. The news media is a highly profitable operation and it is driven by profits - not idealism for the truth. The "anchor persons" you see on the evening news are actors selected by the managers of these huge corporation's to maximize the corporation profits. Does this affect the news you get? Well, of course.

          Basically, we get what we want to hear. How else could it be in a free market? There does seem to be a liberal bias in the press, more than what can be justified by market forces, or so it seems.

          So what do we of the ignorant masses want to hear and see? Garbage mostly. We want to be entertained more than educated. We could get a better ratio of information to entertainment if we would watch public television, which of course we stay away from in droves.

          The television newscaster would not survive if she gave us straight factual reporting without embellishments. She must give us the sensational, the "feel goods" and the pleasant personality if she expects to keep her job.

  • Religious Influence

    [Later . . .]

• How we can Modify Our own Behavior

  Assuming that you have taken stock of the way your life is going and you're not real happy with it, how might you change it? Of course, this subject could fill a book (something like Harry Browne's How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World!) I will just try to hit some of the highpoints here.

  • Enhance and Develop Your Ability to do Logical Thinking

    It is my understanding that schools do not emphasize math and logic as much as they used to. That is very unfortunate. Without the ability to do some level of logical analysis, you are at the mercy of every bogus meme that someone wants to implant in your head (and that includes your teachers). If you have no training in logic, then take a course, read a book, talk to your grandparents, do something!

    Logical thinking is not going to give you an answer to every problem, by no means. What it will do, though, is tell you when there is no known answer. For example, logical analysis will not tell you how it is that radio waves can travel through a vacuum but instead, it will leave you with the conclusion that we just don't know.

    You might want to avoid the mindless computer "action" games and instead play games that exercise your logical ability. Like chess, for instance. I'm not a big fan of computer games, but I would bet that there are several that would exercise your brain.

    Learn to be skeptical. When the TV advertising person says, "You know our cold medicine is better because it has an awful taste!", think about it before you let it into your brain. What has taste got to do with how well a cold medicine can relieve symptoms? When the TV newspersons makes derogatory remarks about one political candidate and praises another, think about it. Why is she making subjective comments in the first place? She is suppose to only be reporting facts. Further, what qualifications does she have over you on such matters? She's just an actor.

    Replace your meme driven actions with actions based on logic. Learn a little bit about the science of Decision Making -- it might help.

    The Scientific Method is based on the use of logic. Logic provides the structure that allows comparison of competing ideas and rejection of those that do not fit a consistent and rigid structure. Science and knowledge advances when people can discuss and argue about concepts, using the framework of logic. Without that framework,we make little progress and may actually regress.

  • Do a "Spring Cleaning" of your Mind!

    If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. - Rene Descartes Principles of Philosophy

    If you are an adult (you decide what an adult is) then you need to take inventory of all your beliefs, call them up one by one, and subject them to a sanity test. You have nothing to lose by doing this, you know. I'm not saying that you should chunk your beliefs -- just take a look at them and see if they make sense. If then don't, trash them.

    For example, maybe you have always believed that you should be a Republican. Your family are all Republicans and many of your friends. But you don't want to just be a Republican just on blind faith or custom. That's being dishonest -- mainly to yourself. If being a Republican is good, then it will survive a careful evaluation.

    So, you study the policies and activities of Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and whatever. Maybe you decide that in the big picture, it really doesn't make much difference. So, you look at other things. Your family is Republican, your friends are Republicans, there's a nice Republican Social club nearby, etc. In view of these other factors, you might decide that being a Republican is still best for you. Fine, now you have made a rational choice instead of living with a choice that someone else made for you.

    Continue on with this process until you have examined every belief that your community, your school, your family, and your friends have stuffed into your mind and decide on each whether they are worth keeping or not.

    Follow your Intuition -- but Cautiously!

    [Later . . .]

  • Learn to Live with and Accept You

    'The classical formula "I am me plus my circumstance" means that you can neither divorce yourself nor divorce your circumstances. You can only operate with whatever is within you and around you.' William Markiewicz in Extracts of Existence

    "Take what you have gathered from coincidence." Bob Dylan in the song, "It's all Over now, Baby Blue"

    Each of us is a product of random selection. In spite of what you have heard all your life, the concept of "fairness" is unknown by nature or reality. The talents you received were pulled from a grab-bag by a blind man (see The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins). Consider the following experiment. Fill a large pail with an equal number of white and black marbles. Mix up thoroughly. Have several of your friends come up and draw 8 marbles without looking. Now examine what they each got. A few will get half and half (about 27%), others will get more or less than 50-50. Some might even get all black balls (about .4%). Call it luck or call it probability, what your friends will draw will certainly not be the same.

    And such is life. What talents you have, what personality you have, where you were born and your ability to comprehend complex arguments will be determined by the luck of the draw. Given that, now we can understand why it is so terribly wrong to teach that we are "all created equal". What a terrible burden and guilt trip that concept puts on those who drew too many "black balls". It would be so much better if we taught our young to "make the best of the hand you were dealt".

    Yes, continuing on with our allegory, life is much like a one shot stud poker game. We are each dealt a hand. No matter how much we would like for the hands to be equal the chance of that happening is very remote. In fact there will be good hands, bad hands, average hands, and even disastrous hands. Which leaves only one thing to do: play the hand you have been dealt to the best of your ability! To sit around and whine about your lousy hand is to play your hand badly. A skilled poker player can still win with a lousy hand. Really, you have no other choice.

    This, of course, implies making rational choices about how you live your life. That is not necessarily a settled choice, it turns out. See my essay, "Rational: To be or not to be?".

    [to be continued . . .]

Notes

Back to "Common Sense".

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