Amerika

Establishing what is true presents a problem because “true” appears to change over time. Some say this occurs because our philosophy changes. Others point out that technology advances through ladders and plateaus, and when we see more, what is “true” also changes.

True determinists like Nietzsche argue that “truth” is a phantom because people assert what they need and then rationalize it. Others point out that truth is unequally perceived, so everyone has at best an approximation, and when forced into a group, this “truth” becomes an oversimplification.

Regardless, we can see that not much is known of the human condition, very little is being done to investigate this, and therefore when we wave “truth” around, we are most likely validating lies and inaccuracies simply because we need some agreement on the basics in order to move forward.

That humans do not know what they do not know was already expressed by Michio Kaku when he said: “we know nothing” which was after he pointed out that Einstein did not solve the Universe and then he went on to predict humanity’s future. It is all perhaps a bit of attention seeking in the metaphysical context and does not identify the truth. In fact, it is quite possible that he was reaching out to the stars out of a desperation caused by his lack of life knowledge.

Academia benefits society by assuming the role of investigator into societal failures, so that better and more realistic outcomes can be achieved in the future. One way of doing this is to perform longitudinal studies over time by monitoring defined variables for a few decades. Historians can also research archives to establish how specific parameters have changed, such as weather for example, and these can cover hundreds of years of experience. Maybe someone should do this on the human condition.

Another discipline keeping track of truth over time is the legal profession. The American Constitution is held up by Constitutionalists as the truth, while immigrants do not have to swear by it anymore. One can say that the Constitution is being pidginized or inverted because words have different, even opposing meanings these days.

Going back to the Roman civilization, it was found that one of the reasons they lasted such a long time was that their judicial system or laws were updated (cyclically) every so often to accommodate and re-direct social conditions/changes. This means that they at least tried to bring the truth forward in time, but this amounts to the same result as changing interpretations. Whatever original intent existed was lost.

The exact way Romans did this is not known to the writer, but it is assumed that the original law was taken as the truth, compared with the verdicts expressed over time to assess its sustainability as regards the truth, and then re-calibrated it to maintain social fabric in future. This indicates that instead of controlling truth on a continuous basis, at least one previous civilization calibrated life or truth to re-direct the human condition. It is also very clear that those re-calibrations were not voted for, and it worked for a few cycles because those who did it were smart people. If I must guess, the failure of Rome was not so much legal, as it was bad succession.

It is clear from above that not only is humanity an earthbound species, but as is visible in the present time, we have not been able to adjust to being the animals we are. This failure has unintended outcomes, one of which is typically in the psychological realm such as with depression. This also affects our future to a large degree, even more than a planned future would, such as what Michio Kaku or Elon Musk talks about. Obviously, politicians never talk about a planned future because they are controlling (backwards) or manipulative (forwards), such as the German Foreign Affairs Minister who said somewhere that there is no such thing as “we the people.”

What some social scientists have been picking up is that bad experiences would cause a person to enact different outcomes to those the same person would’ve enacted had those bad experiences not happened. This idea may also explain the concept of accelerationism to a small degree as well as the inability of e.g. conservatives to fix society (over the past seven odd civilizations).

What people do when they have a bad experience can range from getting intoxicated to spending large sums of money, or even to start something new such as a new life in a different city. This may be insignificant at the lowly worker level but becomes quite pronounced when leaders do it.

No research is done on this but the Egyptian Pharoah that followed on after the last pyramid was built, could not build another one, so he distracted himself with all kinds of things while his society restructured itself resulting in many little-pharaohs taking up the power vacuum that ensued.

It is also well known that one Roman leader had himself baptized, because, you know, what else is there? This search for the Gods is a human condition looking for answers to stress they can’t get on earth. Despite it being a good thing, it is just that sometimes it is a bad sign because the person that does this does not realize what he/she is doing.

Wider examples are Hindu gurus in India that teach on timeless experience where the world and the person become one. In Africa a similar tradition is visible via the witch-doctor making potions and beating the drum to search for answers for his stressed-out King. In the Western world a person suffering stress can go for a Swedish massage that will quickly elevate you to nirvana and make you forget about what caused the stress in the first place.

That humanity is unable to organize itself, is a no-brainer, and the reason is psychological reactions to difficult circumstances causing unintended searching for answers that then deviate from the truth that resulted in those historically difficult circumstances, but causing more difficulties in future, hence a snowball effect.

Tags: metaphysics, symbolism, truth