Premise
This is the first post of a series of articles aimed to share my opinion about society, power and future.
Sometimes I might look as a pessimist but I'm actually the contrary. I invite you to ignore the feeling for now. Soon, after I've published the basic material, I'll start share what I consider to be a "solution". Hopefully you'll feel it as liberatory as it is for me.
Social stack
I've lived, heard, read, done, worked and understood enough to know what society is and what it is for.
Some might say that I'm describing nothing new. This is correct but hold on for now.
This picture shows how society is layered.
The stack is rather self explanatory but I want to highlight some points.
I'm not using a pyramid because there is no vertex.
I'm not showing any percentages because none knows them precisely and because they can vary geographically. However the surface of layers does indicate the amount of people belonging to it, just to give a rough idea.
What is the social stack for
Our society is an enslaving machine based on convenience with only one purpose: to make life comfortable to some of us.
Due to the fact that Nature is uncomfortable some of us decided to have slaves doing what they don't like. These "some" are the masters. All the others, the vast majority of us, are slaves or ants.
It has always been like that since when we switched from a matriarchal society to patriarchal one (about 14/15 thousands years ago, at the end of Pleistocene), introducing violence among brothers in order to make the stack work and heritage to protect elderly masters.
Since then masters have invented all kind of stories to justify this behavior.
The most incredible one is the "divine right". Some still believe in it in 2019 like religious people.
The most irreverent one is the concept of "noble line" which has made unusable a wonderful word like "nobility".
How masters operate
In most of the chances masters don't operate as a single lobby or group. Often they operate as separated lobbies and they are many scattered across the globe. However, in general, there is no need for any lobby or group because the stack does all the job by itself, automatically. The stack is a brilliant, efficient and autonomous machine which doesn't require any conspiracy theory or lobby to stand. Lobbies or groups are much more a form of competition among masters than anything else.
Insects operate via instinct. Hardware works thanks to firmware. Similarly the stack relies upon established assumptions. The behavior changes a little in each layer but, in general, ants are ruled by a brutal competition aimed to enslave other ants.
Enslaving others is the firmware, the universal rule driving the stack.
Ants want slaves too, not just masters, for Nature is loved by none given its implications.
Each ant tries to climb the stack by stepping on someone else head but almost none can see the upper "master layer".
After such a long social journey (more than 14000 years) ants can't see anymore that there are masters. All they can see are other ants and they fight among themselves.
The final result is that no ant is a threat for masters. Exactly as it should be. Isn't that brilliant?
Take the example of a secretary in an ordinary company: her salary can not be easily calculated because it's hard to see how much she produces therefore it's just assumed. She takes the salary that is given because that's how it works since ever. Her salary keeps shrinking until she complains. She doesn't renegotiate her salary on monthly basis. She doesn't take part on profits. Take a politician: her salary keeps growing until tax payers complain or riot.
In both cases there is no connection between productivity and remuneration.
In a society in which everything seems to be regulated by economic laws, remuneration is instead determined upon conventions or assumed.
Why? Because.
Are we good with that? Yes. Why? Because.
The deeper one dives into the stack mechanisms the more often why has because as an answer.
I will explore concepts like "convenience", "discomfort" and "heritage" in future posts.
Who's who
Puppets
Back in the days masters could be identified with people of power like kings or queens. Not anymore. They have understood that it's far easier to operate in the shadow. Public exposure often leads to troubles (like in case of riots) or demands to make annoying decisions (like doing something to improve ants life or keep them calm so that they can keep producing).
They've then hired puppets to play that role on their behalf while they operate anonymously and in secrecy.
False democracy and parliaments (the only one we know) are a genius invention made by some masters just a few dozen years ago. It's an evolutionary step in the stack mechanism: letting ants believe they are in control while freeing masters from any boring activity. Chapeau, it's simply brilliant.
Puppets are politicians and anyone involved in the governmental ladder starting with the president or prime minister and ending with the lowest public officer, police and army included.
This happens in any country in the world, independently from their form of government, but it's more evident in the most primitive and brutal ones like USA.
Puppets are fueled by fame. They adore the feeling of (false) power and to feel special though they aren't at all. From the psychological stand point they all suffer of "short dick syndrome" or "princess syndrome" (describe in a future post).
They are actors playing a role and they obey to the stack rules, just like any other ant.
They are secretly envied by other ants who fear them.
Puppets are required to take public blaming and to make sure that the other ants keep producing for the masters. This is the price to have pay for the "privileges" they need (yes it's a need for them, because of the above mentioned syndromes).
President Trump is the incarnation of the perfect modern puppet. Best example ever.
Some of the other ants truly believe that puppets have the moral duty to help them. This is the funniest joke ever told but it shows the level of deep ignorance existing among ants, completely drunk after centuries of lies, conventions and assumptions, social-scheme in one word.
In the 60s some ants really believed that they could change society and make it a fair place for all. They were called hippies. Many of current puppets are former hippies and they behave worse than those before them usually because they are ignorant and, therefore, more dangerous.
To be continued
The real question is: "is there hope?" If you are born an ant, can you raise through the stack to become a puppet ? If you are born a puppet, can you become a master ? If you are an optimist, you believe there is hope. I am an optimist, I believe there is a certain degree of "social mobility".
I don't think society can be changed, I am of the opinion that it's a "Nash equilibrium" in Game theory parlance.
I believe there is hope which is the very reason why I'm writing.
The current social stuck already grants social mobility. Here I have a showcase.
I believe that society can be changed. It has often been changed over the time and there several examples of currently existing and fully functional societies which are very different from the "western" one. Check the Mosuo matriarchy.
I see why you think that change can't happen: our social stack core changed little over the last dozens of centuries (with many important improvements though) but now there are new tools: crypto, robotics and AI which have the potential for a consistent change as @sorin.cristescu covertly mentions in his post.
It's all in our hands. We can drive a change. Will it be good? Hard to tell. Society changes follow the "butterfly effect": a change can happen but it's hard to tell its impact and the counter reaction that will take place.
However, considering how enslaving is the current predominant social stack I see no other option. Doing nothing is a form of collusion.
There are IMO only two types of society which are working adequately at scale: the Western one and the Chinese one. Others may exist but they are unproven at such scales and for such long periods.
Funny you should mention matriarchy. Western society is quite rapidly evolving toward a matriarchy I think. Not sure it's all good but nobody can stop this evolution.
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I agree on several levels. The current western social stack has evolved till here in this way because of historical reasons and some barbaric treats of human nature. In facts, it is very efficient but only for some. Elitist.
Many things have changed though and now IMO it's no more the best we can do.
Matriarchy: I agree. We are going there and I welcome the idea for most of women have high emotional intelligence.
Unfortunately we are increasing the amount of superstructures, consequently more overhead, more institutions, more laws. Far less freedom. I wish for a change in direction: less rules and less authorities. This must go along with "increased culture" and deeper understanding.
About Chinese culture: I know little about it. What do you think should be taken from it? What's positive?