From my earliest memories I have been interested in how things work, leading to my lifelong interest in science and mathematics. A question that had arisen to me at various times in my teens, that of “why am I here, what is my purpose?”, took on a new form during my freshman year in university—it became the question of “How am I here?” That is, how is the subjective, experiential, me attached to the objective, physical, universe?
This has been a question that I have returned to repeatedly since then. It is a question that has seen little or no progress since as far back the golden age of the Greeks, or the days of the earliest Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, or even before that. To investigate this question I have employed elements of quantum physics and cosmology, neuroscience, existential and epistemological philosophy, and basic empirical observation.
My investigations have lead me to additional questions concerning the current condition of our species in its various cultures and societies. Questions concerning not only how did we arrive at the present condition, but how might we improve on that condition. Our history presents us with various societal structures along with efforts to change them, some of which aimed at improving the condition of each individual within that society. Many such attempts failed to achieve those intentions, while those that did proved to be temporary, experiencing either a sudden end or a slow degradation and perversion of the goals they had achieved.
Some of my investigations into creating equity in social organization, through either both political and economic structure, working with hypothetical alternate structures while considering the lessons of the past, has indicated that the individual is an integral component of the system. As a component of an equitable system, the individual is not only the beneficiary of the equitable environment the system provides, and her or his role goes far beyond that of having a vote in the selection of leaders.
The actions of every individual in a society has impact on other individuals around her or him. This is the core of the pervasive role each individual plays within a society—while an individual must suffer (or benefit) from the consequences of his or her own actions, the society itself suffers (or benefits) from the consequences of the actions of each of the individuals therein. Therefore, it behooves each individual member of the society, each of us, to attempt to predict not only the consequences our actions may bring to bear on ourselves, but also the consequences our actions bring to bear on the society in which we live as well as the global society of all people.
While it would be a tall order to expect all individuals to analyze the possible societal consequences of their every act, the proposal is not of such an all-or-nothing variety. If sufficiently many people can sufficiently often take sufficient care to have the impacts of their own actions on society be sufficiently beneficial, the impact of society on us each individually will improve by leaps and bounds. That is my thesis. I hope these writings assist in more of a shift in that direction.
Random Thoughts 