In this week's instalment of
The Climate Trials, we learn a little more about the trials themselves, why the help Mikhail has received from Isabeau isn't more widely available, and, some hints about who the Old Ones are.
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Court Procedures
Used By the Climate Trials
Preface by Conrad Splitzer, JD,
Phd, Monash University, Australia.
The “Climate Trials” that marked
the end of the “age of destruction and desolation” and the
beginning of the present time of “preservation and restoration”
were a radical departure from the jurisprudence traditions that
reached back to the Roman Empire. The essential differences came
about due to the following changes in emphasis and court structure:
-
No attempt was made to try individuals. Instead, the
defendants consisted of ideas and institutions.
-
Court proceedings did not follow the dictates of case law,
but rather that of inductive and deductive logic.
-
Decisions were presided over not by individuals with a
background in law, but instead in science and philosophy---who had a
proven expertise in inductive and deductive logic.
-
The verdicts rendered had no actual direct impact on law,
but were designed to exert maximum force of moral suasion throughout
the entire human race.
The Climate Trials were
specifically based on the idea that the best way to change human
behaviour is not through the coercive power of the state, but rather
through the persuasive power of culture. They literally were trials
in “the court of public opinion”.
The people who organized
the trials realized that humanity was not only facing an
unprecedented existential threat in the form of climate change, but
that as a result it was also facing an equally unprecedented rapid
change in human culture. This was the emergence of a universal human
civilization based on the World Wide Web.
The first element of
human civilization to understand the importance of the Web was the
academic and scientific community. But shortly thereafter it became
recognized by the forces of international capital as being a new
community that could be colonized and exploited for financial gain.
Almost immediately afterwards, reactionary forces desperate to
preserve the supremacy of the nation state recognized that the Web
could be weaponized as a means of controlling mass populations. This
was not done by restricting the information “signal” (which was
impossible to do in the Web), but by “jamming” it (like jamming a
radio signal) in an avalanche of nonsensical pseudo-information
“noise”. As political commentators pointed out while this was
happening, the aim of the populist/neo-fascists wasn’t to keep
people from finding out the truth---it was destroying people’s
belief that there was any such thing as truth at all. This was widely
manifested in a general, non-specific belief that “all politicians
are the same” and “all news is bullshit”.
If everyone thinks all
politicians are the same, then no new political movement can emerge
to threaten the status quo. And if all news is bullshit, then no one
bothers to pay attention to what is happening around them.
In
retrospect it is now obvious that the rise of the populists happened
because the so-called “neo-liberal consensus” had out-lived it’s
usefulness. (Indeed, if it ever did have any utility at all.)
Politicians all over the world had no answers to the problem of
wealth-stratification that became “super-charged” in the
Web-based, tech “gold rush”. Nor were they capable of providing
any sort of answers to the climate emergency. Finally, under
neo-liberal leadership, democratic institutions proved incapable of
predicting, reacting, or, dealing with the threat offered by the
culture jamming signals emanating from organizations like Cambridge
Analytica and the Russian-financed “Internet Research Agency”.
There
were several reasons for this failure to respond. For example, the
neo-liberal consensus was based on a fundamentalist belief in free
market solutions. In fact, this ideology was so “locked in” that
most government leaders were psychologically incapable to understand
the importance of redistribution for a functioning democratic
society. Moreover, their commitment to the status quo meant that they
were bound to always choose incremental over radical solutions. The
result was a seemingly infinite number of “baby steps” that led
nowhere but to a cliff that was increasingly obvious to anyone
outside of the ruling class.
Liberal democracy was especially
incapable of dealing with Web-based propaganda because one of it core
principals---freedom of speech---had become “weaponized” through
the creation of an implicit doctrine of “free-speech absolutism”.
This ceased being about allowing the down-trodden the right to speak
“truth to power”, and instead became about allowing the wealthy
and powerful the right to drown out any other voices. It was as if a
New England Town Hall Meeting had decided to allow a heavy metal band
to come in and crank it’s amplifiers to “11” while the
community was trying to work out it’s school budget.
It became evident
to the people who organized the Climate Trials that what was needed
was not a return to the old, discredited, and, obsolete mechanisms of
neo-liberalism, but rather a new set of institutions that were
egalitarian, post-capitalist, and, based on the Web. To that end,
when Mikhail Bookchin created his web-channel, there was a tremendous
hunger for anything that could break the logjam that stopped reform.
He did this through the simple idea that the outward form of a
criminal trial could be used show that the existing system was
strangling humanity’s future. The fact that he had assembled a team
of brilliant communicators to act out this drama allowed billions of
people to clearly and precisely understand the core problems that
humanity now faced. And this---finally---released the blockage and
swept away the old “culture of destruction”.
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Here I am putting out my begging bowl. I know many people are down-and-out right now. I don't want anything from you. But other folks are doing OK. For you, why not buy a subscription? It's easy to do with Patreon and Pay Pal. This blog is an attempt to prove that it is possible to create an independent media that isn't beholding to corporate sponsors, government bail outs, and, doesn't have to hide itself from low income people by using a pay wall. Whether or not this business model proves itself all comes down to you---the readers.
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Mikhail received another essay from the Old Ones expanding on the
previous one.
Sub-Populations in
Altruistic Species
One of the implications of selfish
gene theory is that within large populations of altruistic species
there may exist sub-populations of parasites that take advantage of
altruism while not reciprocating. This is called the “free rider
problem”. Popular language describes the altruistic instinct as
being “a conscience”. Free riders are, in effect, people without
consciences.
This won’t happen with species like
ants or bees, where the entire hive has the same mother. This is
simply because none of the truly selfish individuals (as opposed to
the genes) have the opportunity to reproduce because all workers are
sterile. And any queen termite or ant that produced significant
percentages of selfish workers would place her colony at a survival
disadvantage, so evolution would select against that specific genetic
trait.
In species like humans, however, the
free rider problem comes into play because selfish individuals are
able to reproduce. In small tribes where each individual is known by
every other, this doesn’t become a problem because it soon becomes
apparent who is working for the good of the tribe and who is not.
Individuals without an instinctual altruistic conscience either learn
to mimic the helping behaviour of other individuals, or, they end up
banished from the tribe---and thereby removed from the gene pool.
Free rider parasitism only became a
significant issue when humanity started the transition from tribal
organization to larger groupings such as cities, empires, and,
states. From this point onward it was possible to effectively hide
past and present behaviour from other individuals, allowing free
riders to hide their true intentions. In effect, among other
developments, civilization facilitated
the ability to convincingly lie to other human beings.
From a strictly evolutionary point of
view, free riders have the ability to steal more resources than they
are entitled to from the general population. This increases their
ability to survive periods of scarcity. In addition, they are able to
shirk dangerous duties, which also increases genetic viability.
Finally, the males are able to reproduce with females when they have
no intention of ever helping raise the offspring (either through
seduction or rape.) While it’s true that this will decrease the
survival rate for the children, and the mother’s genes---it will
increase the number of children that the male will be able to
produce---which increases the success for his genes.
It must be understood, however, that
there is a specific maximum percentage of free riders in any
population. This is because lacking a conscience is only an advantage
in a population where the majority of people have one. Any population
that consisted of a free rider majority---or even a particularly
dominant minority---would spend so much of its energy in wasteful
competition that any group of genuinely altruistic people who bonded
together would be sufficiently efficient to out-compete it. (Think
about, for example, a military contest between a functioning modern
democracy and a third-world “kleptocracy”. It would obviously be
a totally one-sided contest.)
Unfortunately the hierarchical
structures of cities, empires, and, states have created further
problems beyond anonymity. That is to say, people who lack a
conscience have an advantage in the political power-plays that
control access to the top decision-making positions. This can cause
disastrous problems when the culture is under stress---such as the
current Climate Emergency. People without consciences lack the
ability to consider the good of the entire community when they make
decisions.
Fortunately, there is another
sub-population besides those with no conscience. These are others who
have a super-abundance of altruistic instincts. These individuals
almost always put the good of the community ahead of their own
well-being. The popular language identifies these people as “saints”.
This would not appear to be a winning strategy for reproduction, but
because the altruistic genes do have an overall value in the whole
population, another mathematical equilibrium asserts itself the same
way it does with free riders. Saints will never be more than a small
segment of the population, but the advantage altruism conveys to all
individuals ensures a high enough percentage of the necessary genes
to ensure that there will always be saints in any population.
(Remember, benefits accruing to the entire population will also
result in increased reproduction of the genes carried by brothers,
sisters, nieces, and, nephews. All of which overlap to a greater or
lessor degree with those of the “saint”.)
And like the free
riders, civilization has also created a mechanism that allows saints
to assert influence beyond their mere numbers would indicate.
Culture, in the form of philosophy, religion, literature, and so on ,
which allow saints to amplify their influence through memes.
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Who
are the Old Ones?
One
day Mikhi asked Isabeau exactly who the Old Ones are. She explained
that she wasn’t one of them, so what follows was speculation based
on her own personal observations, but she didn’t think that they
were “superior beings” or possessors of anything magical. They
were simply people who were part of a tradition that reached back for
thousands of years.
“I
suppose you could say that in the beginning they were something like
proto-scientists who never made the transition to using the modern
scientific method. What I mean is that modern science is objective,
whereas what they do is subjective.”
“Think
about your arthritis. If you’d gone to a regular doctor, she’d
have probably prescribed some sort of medication. As a general
rule---actually sort of an gross over simplification, but just forget
about that for the purposes of this discussion---the pills she could
prescribe would work equally well for everyone. The exercises I’ve
given you would only work for about one person in 1000. That’s not
because of anything that can be seen in your physical body, but
rather because of your particular personality. Most people wouldn’t
do the work. And even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to grasp
the subtle details that make them really effective. Instead, they’d
just consider it something to rush through---like the push-ups they
endured in their high school phys ed classes.”
“Seen
from the totally objective viewpoint of modern medicine, the
exercises only have something like .1% success rate. That makes them
fundamentally worthless for modern scientific medicine. But what if
someone was able to identify the one person in 1,000 who would be
able to actually benefit from the exercises? If everyone they taught
the exercises to had their arthritis helped, wouldn’t the success
rate be 100%?”
“The
problem is, however, that it takes a special type of insight---that
personality thing---to be able to recognize those particular
individuals who could benefit from the exercises. Again, let’s say
one person in 1,000. If only one person in 1,000 can identify the
people who would benefit, then we’re back to only 0.1%
effectiveness.”
“And
there is a significant wrinkle that you need to consider. How does
someone who is one of the 0.1% that could benefit from the exercises
know that the person who is telling them to do something---like the
exercises I taught you---is actually one of the 0.1% who actually
knows what they are talking about? There aren’t any universities
awarding special diplomas to people who can recognize and teach stuff
like this.”
“Let
me correct myself, there aren’t any credible institutions
awarding diplomas. There are, however, schools that do purport to be
run by “Masters” of esoteric wisdom. The problem with the concept
of ‘Mastery’ is that once it steps beyond the very mundane
examples of ‘Master plumber’ or ‘Master of science’, the
title becomes a trap. Pretty much all human beings---to a greater or
lessor degree---have an instinct that pushes them to have their ego
reinforced and built up. In addition, human beings---also to a
greater or lessor degree---seek someone that can answer all their
questions and save them from the uncertainty and ambiguity of life.”
“These
two innate tendencies create very unhealthy group dynamics. They are
so unhealthy that even if the teacher and the student both are
members of that one in 1,000 types that I am talking about, they will
inevitably waste most of their potential dancing around the
“Master-student” relationship. Even if a person is a “real
Master” and has genuine insights to teach they will often succumb
to the temptations that come from being surrounded by students that
will do anything that they say. Similarly, students who might benefit
greatly from learning a real esoteric teaching are often---at least
partially---also looking for a “big daddy” that will tell them
how to live their life. Things could start out well, but they usually
degrade over time and the group becomes more and more dysfunctional
and counter-productive. This is how most cults and the world’s
religions came into being.”
“The
original Old Ones identified this problem and found themselves stuck
on the horns of a dilemma. If they tried to spread what insights
they’d gained widely, they knew that they would quickly become
twisted into something that was at best worthless and at worst
down-right destructive. But if they kept what they had learned to
themselves, they knew that it would eventually die out with them.
This would mean that the human race would have no opportunity to
build upon the work of previous generations and create an advancing
historical movement.”
Isabeau
quietly poured both of them a cup of tea to let what she had said
sink in.
“So
what they decided was to be content publishing clues and hints in a
few books and remain a totally secret group otherwise. The books are
out there, and really bright individuals are able to figure out bits
and pieces on their own. If members of the secret society of Old Ones
came across an individual that seemed to be able to understand what
they had to say, they were approached and tested to see if they could
become part of the group. Slowly---very slowly---the Old Ones spread
across the world and became embedded in every culture on the planet.
But they have always remained a tiny fraction of the population.”
“Then
the Internet came along. This gives the Old Ones a new ability to
communicate among themselves and reach out to potential new
members---like yourself. Unfortunately, at the same time the human
race is going through a bottle-neck in it’s evolution. Our
alienation from the ecosystems that sustain us have reached a crisis
level. We need to deal with the Climate Emergency, dramatically
shrink the human population, preserve and restore wildlife, deal with
imbalances in the nitrogen cycle, and so on. The Elders have
initiated crash programs aimed at engineering “fixes” to our
culture that will make these projects a priority. They want you to
help just one of many---although there is a hope that it might be
particularly useful.”
Mikhi
was pensive for a few moments. He then decided to ask what he feared
might be a “career limiting” question. “Wow. This sounds like a
real conspiracy. How do these guys decide on what to do, who to talk
to, etc? Is there an election? A governing committee? Annual
conventions?”
Isabeau
smiled. “Nope, nothing like that. Or at least nothing I know about.
(I get mysterious information by email just like you.) But there’s
no coercion. And I’ve never been asked to do something “just
because” and the explanation why it needs doing always seems to
make perfect sense. And it’s never been anything of a sinister ‘the
ends justify the means’ sort.”
“I
asked the same question as you when I was first recruited. As it was
explained to me, throughout most of its history the group was under
threat of being denounced and destroyed as a danger to the rulers.
There have been Old Ones who lived in empires, theocracies,
totalitarian states, etc. And most of these governments were
protected by paranoid, brutal security apparatuses.”
“Did
you know, for example, that the late Roman Empire was so afraid of
citizen-based movements that it outlawed volunteer fire departments?
In most states any rumour that the Old Ones existed would have led to
pogroms, crusades, witch-hunts, etc. Indeed, how many of these stains
on history may have come about because of poorly understood stories
about the Elders that leaked out to the general public? Indeed, how
many Old Ones did end up burnt at the stake while being denounced as
being something very different?”
“As
a result, information has tended to be spread simply on a ‘need to
know’ basis. Luckily, the Old Ones really do seem to believe that
people shouldn’t do anything unless it makes sense to them. This
means that I’ve never seen anything like an ‘order’ in the
sense of something I have to do without explanation. Another
important issue is that when they ask people to do something it’s
not because the person has proved to be obedient, but rather because
they have a known level of expertise. This means that they get asked
to do something, not told how to do it. (To do otherwise would go
against just about everything the Old Ones stand for.) So I’m told
to help someone with their arthritis, not told how to do it. This is
very different from how terrorist cells operate---if that’s in the
back of your mind.”
She
smiled at Mikhi.
“And,
of course, it should be.”
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Moreover, I say unto you the Climate Emergency must be dealt with!
