Calvin and Danny are walking in a forest with cameras.
Calvin: I think you would enjoy the Jordan Peterson podcast. He talks about human behavior and philosophy. He's a clinical psychologist, a researcher, and a professor. He's a fucking genius. He talks as if he's thought about whatever it is more than anyone else has. It's like he's going out of his way to explain complicated things in a way that most people would understand. He uses metaphors and stories to illustrate ideas.
Danny: I love Peterson. He's great. I was just listening to the one where he is talking to a researcher about income inequality. And how it isn't inequality in general but relative inequality that causes more crimes. If men feel like there is no hope of making it up the hierarchy then they resort to violence. They double down on the virtues of strength and courage by intimidating others and robbing and killing.
Calvin: They show everyone how important they are by rising in the physical strength hierarchy instead of the financial one. That is a problem for sure. People have to have hope or they become disillusioned with life and begin to resent it. The really poor don't have much to lose if they steal or do other violent shit. Especially if it means they can make some money.
Danny: I think we need to have lots of job opportunities and we have to legalize or decriminalize all the drugs. Make drugs legal and allow people to sell it and the government can make a little off the top like they always do and teach people the dangers of drugs and teach kids to be choosy who they fuck because if you have a kid with a meth addict, good luck paying for that kid. Gotta get rid of easy access welfare for shitty moms and dad's who can't afford children so that there are consequences to making bad decisions.
Calvin: More jobs, more accountability, and more freedom.
Danny: And less taxes.
Calvin: Yeah. Give me my fuckin money back. That's why I think we should go to a flat tax for people above a certain level. It's the fairest and it forces the government to determine what is really important and keeps them as big as the rest of society. They get to be 20% partners for managing the public's shared assets. Or whatever percentage makes sense.
Danny: I think that no matter the tax rate there is no mechanism for a revolutionary idea like that take be implemented and the people who would implement it would be the most negatively affected by it so there is no incentive for them to do it. The government does not make drastic changes. The government is huge and slow and not designed to make big "scary" changes. It could be disastrous, by the way. Who knows what would happen with all that wealth just piling up in free people's hands.
Calvin: But what happens when the rich decide to overthrow the government? If a really fucking rich guy decides to create an army of robot drones to take over the government then doesn't the government have to, at the least, have a big enough military budget to stop anything like that from happening? In order to maintain power in a region, a government has to maintain physical superiority and some regulation on the use of violence. Either it maintains a monopoly on power or it has to highly regulate the production and possession of guns and bombs and militaries and such.
Danny: And such. I agree. So there is nothing we can do to change the government system?
Calvin: Not really. Maybe you can vote on a few things or people and locally you matter more but the system has deep roots and a lot of support. And revolutions mean violence so that is not a good alternative. I think the only way is through time and patience and people will gradually steer toward peace. I think we all long for peace but find ourselves amongst violence and dangers. So we adapt and survive.
Danny: As long as people choose negotiation over force there can be peace. Do governments, with their monopoly on force, create a safe space for commerce. Since they enforce laws they make sure that people pay their debts or steal or murder their competition. How do you have a foundation for the creation of free trade without some sort of authority?
Calvin: Maybe humans can grow out of the instinct to survive at any cost or things become so good and people have so much hope for the future that they don't need to fight. I don't know.
Danny: I don't either. Oh, look at that!
They two pull their cameras to their eyes and start snapping photos of the deer running through the meadow.
No comments:
Post a Comment