Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Reform democracy - use the information technology for human-self governance

Shreepal, a Concerned Global Citizen: A call to create New Civilization Zones !
Yes, dear a-d, we are working to create a new civilization by our conversation. I appreciate your stand that to you the most important aspect of any subject matter is how it defines our ETHICS. Ethics - a normative prescription - is only a result, an outcome of a particular view point. It is the result of an understanding of things around us. We are human beings, rational beings, and we have to proceed to form our understanding by reason.By building our worldview on the foundation of current knowledge (science), we can proceed further to deduce our normative prescriptions, that is, ethical edicts. We cannot first take a particular ethics as correct one and then proceed to find reason for the same. However, there is another aspect to ethics. Ethics is a matter of heart and not of mind. But then there is not much scope for insisting on its justification on the basis of reason. You referred me the links that challenge Darwinism and advocate Creationism.
This debate, which is now fairly old, puts the matter as Science versus Faith. We need not jettison science to prove faith as the correct viewpoint. Science stands on somewhat solid foundation and we cannot jettison science, even on ethical grounds. If we donot believe in science, we have no moral right to use its products, on which our civilization is standing in which we live. Creation by a Willful Design is correct; but then Darwinism is also correct, though as it stands modified today. Why this Willful Design cannot adopt an evolutionary method as is suggested by Darwin? Is this Wll powerless to devise and put in use a mechanism that is found, as a hard fact, by science? Evolution, not only of life but even of Universe with all the galaxies, black holes etc. beautifully supports Creation by a Willful Design. Any way, please keep the faith up; I am with you there.
10 Jul 2007 @ 16:21 by shreepal : Life is complex...
Dear a-d, thanks for the enlightened comment on the subject under discussion. There has been delay on my part in reponding to your comments because I was enjoying my tranquility away from the wired world. The quotes by you from the Ming's Blog are the factual reality. Life is indeed complex, with all that it is comprised of, individually and collectively. And, still these things are very much ordered and precision-oriented, though we very often are unable to understand this precision. This is inability or deficiency only on our part. This reflects the lower level of our - human beings' - evolutionary stage. We are sure to understand better this clockwork of Nature with the passage of time; and this is evolutionary march. This simple fact - fact of evolutionary nature of our understanding - teaches us that we should not be fundamentalist, the rigid one, in our attitude. Again thanks and I apologise for the delay on my part.
28 Aug 2007 @ 08:44 by shreepal : True democracy, current need of mankind
The goal is to advance mankind collectively at the rapid pace towards her destination, whatever it might be. To anable this to happen, mankind has three elements to fall back upon: huaman resource, which includes human beings and their knowledge of science and technology available today; machines and tools made available to them by this scientific technology; the best co-ordination of these two elements to produce optimum result to the benifit of collective mankind. Mankind benifits by this co-ordination in the form of having goods that help her in lessening her hardship in their struggle against Nature, which does not yield easily in giving rewards of this struggle. These rewards are reflected in their standard of life. What could be this best co-ordination?
One way is to allow individuals, who are actuated by the sole motive of earning profits to get maximum comforts, to take initiative to bring together the elements for production of these goods in the maximum productive mode. There could be another way also. It could be to allow mind's planning to bring these production-elements together in the best productive mode. This planning can be done by people in a democratic manner, that is, by the people out of their free choice. It is a hoax, which is of sufficiently long standing now, that such planning can only be done by a dictatorial regime. It can be done in a more efficient manner in a democracy, provided there is true democracy. What is true democracy? It is self-governance of people where the will of the people is faithfully expressed and allowed to work.
Today, such true democracy is possible by the use of the available (information) technology. To make this happen two things are required: firstly, use this technology to elect people's representatives and to replace them constantly; and secondly, educate people, and particularly educate them in science, so that they can take an informed decision about their genuine welfare. Today's international agenda should be: reform democracy - use the information technology for human-self governabce. If people are empowered by the use of technology they would take care of themselves and of their best interests. With the help of today's science and technology there is no reason for the unemployment, poverty, ignorace, diseases and social-conflicts to exist on earth today; these today are mostly the signs of our improper use of the aforesaid three elements at our disposal.
We wrongly associate the glitter of our modern civilization to the industry and foresight of a few (a few in the face of the multitude of mankind) champions of private initiative. This glitter only belongs to our science and technolgy, which is harnessed only in a limited manner because of the inherent limitations of the nature of private initiative. Science and technology could be put in a more efficient way and better productive mode by planning by mind than by these few leaders. Such planning of production would be more benificial to mankind and more glittering in appearance.
1 Oct 2007 @ 13:26 by shreepal : Development, progress and planning
What is planning by Mind? What is planning by Desires? There is a general direction along which the human society is moving ahead. The signature tune of this direction is the humans struggle against Nature and their efforts to make this struggle less arduous and more result-yielding, which we call development and progress. This general direction may also be called the goal of human evolution. There is this goal, which constitutes one element in planning things by humans. Then, there are several factors, which are parts of another element in the planning, that may be arranged inter se in different combinations. These factors include man-made socio-economic relations of humans in the given society and natural resources available therein.
And, then there is another element. It is the governing principle that dictates the pattern of this arrangement of the factors. This governing principle determines the "specifics" of manner of arrangement in service of this evolutionary goal. If the governing principle is Mind, it is planning by Mind. If the principle is Desires, it is planning by Desires. There is also a principle that is higher than Desires and Mind and things in society may be arranged in its light, which would be better than the things arranged in the light of Desires or Mind. But the himans collective consciousness today has not reached at the stage where things arranged in the light of this higher principle may be acceptable to them. All this classification is from the relative point of view of human consciousness, which has a concrete reality and is of great importance for the future of human beings in their physical existence.

No comments:

Post a Comment