Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Anarchy

Mark Lapierre · 04-10-2007, 05:09 AM

Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn series (I'm mentioning this series a lot on these forums aren't I?

) tells of the separation of the human species into two distinct groups, the Edenists and the Adamists. The Adamists could be considered a continuation of the original human species, and the Edenists a genetically engineered branch. The Edenists embraced biotechnology and used it to develop a form of telepathy, called affinity.

Affinity allows the kind of immensely scalable communication that would be necessary for a truly effective form of self-government by the people. And this is exactly what occurs in Hamilton's universe; When a decision must be made which affects the race as a whole, the Edenists form a Consensus, which in this case is a race-wide communication via affinity. But despite being comprised of many minds, it decides as one entity. Consensus can also be formed of smaller groups of individuals.

So, complete fantasy, but a good illustration of the utopia we're discussing.

Though if Kevin were still around I wouldn't doubt that he'd think it's pointless mentioning this because it's fantasy

I agree that a more achievable form of self-governing society is feasible, but I doubt we (referring to those on this forum) will achieve it if we can't raise the consciousness of someone like Kevin.

I certainly don't see it as inevitable, because, as one example, despite 2000 years of progress since Christ, who many believe was the epitome of a highly conscious individual, and who so many profess to believe and follow, we still see daily evidence of those same people demonstrating how very low their consciousness truly is. And yet they also believe they're living life the 'right' way, and that it's other people who are responsible for anything deemed unsatisfactory. It's people like those who I believe are capable of creating the destructive anarchy Salt Bake Sun mentioned.

However, I'm optimistic. I'm regularly surprised by how many people follow a path of raising consciousness, especially when they're people who I wouldn't have expected to take that path. Regular people, not the smart people Steve aims his message at

By the way, Salt Bake Sun, currently many people have little to no faith in human government. And the common perception is that computers are unreliable. How do you foresee the technological system replacing government? If we agree that a major function of government is to be the final authority, how would that authority be granted to a technological system when we currently have as little faith in technology as we do in politicians?

04-10-2007, 05:09 AM	#39 (permalink)
Mark Lapierre Family Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 1,061	Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn series (I'm mentioning this series a lot on these forums aren't I? ) tells of the separation of the human species into two distinct groups, the Edenists and the Adamists. The Adamists could be considered a continuation of the original human species, and the Edenists a genetically engineered branch. The Edenists embraced biotechnology and used it to develop a form of telepathy, called affinity. Affinity allows the kind of immensely scalable communication that would be necessary for a truly effective form of self-government by the people. And this is exactly what occurs in Hamilton's universe; When a decision must be made which affects the race as a whole, the Edenists form a Consensus, which in this case is a race-wide communication via affinity. But despite being comprised of many minds, it decides as one entity. Consensus can also be formed of smaller groups of individuals. So, complete fantasy, but a good illustration of the utopia we're discussing. Though if Kevin were still around I wouldn't doubt that he'd think it's pointless mentioning this because it's fantasy I agree that a more achievable form of self-governing society is feasible, but I doubt we (referring to those on this forum) will achieve it if we can't raise the consciousness of someone like Kevin. I certainly don't see it as inevitable, because, as one example, despite 2000 years of progress since Christ, who many believe was the epitome of a highly conscious individual, and who so many profess to believe and follow, we still see daily evidence of those same people demonstrating how very low their consciousness truly is. And yet they also believe they're living life the 'right' way, and that it's other people who are responsible for anything deemed unsatisfactory. It's people like those who I believe are capable of creating the destructive anarchy Salt Bake Sun mentioned. However, I'm optimistic. I'm regularly surprised by how many people follow a path of raising consciousness, especially when they're people who I wouldn't have expected to take that path. Regular people, not the smart people Steve aims his message at By the way, Salt Bake Sun, currently many people have little to no faith in human government. And the common perception is that computers are unreliable. How do you foresee the technological system replacing government? If we agree that a major function of government is to be the final authority, how would that authority be granted to a technological system when we currently have as little faith in technology as we do in politicians?