A Darwinian View of (British) Society

 According to David Mitchell in last Sunday's Observer,

 "[public companies are] incapable of caring – they're merely trying to make money for their shareholders and believe that [the] affectation of human feelings will help them to do so. Conversely, Ryanair has attracted customers canny enough to know that a public company can only have mercenary motives but who are happy to do business with it anyway." (LINK to article)

These observations are valid and support my arguments relating to the  Darwinian nature of capitalism and society in general.

Public companies' "mercenary motives" are a consequence of them regarding not just the natural environment, with its natural resources, but also "society", with its human resources and markets (consumers), primarily as an environment to be exploited for profit, i.e. money. Money being the most versatile form of POWER, the pursuit and exercise of which man's primordial struggle for survival and reproductive success, misplaced and perverted in this artificial environment, has largely been reduced to.

This perverted Darwinian pursuit of POWER is the driving force behind the "rat race" we so often lament, but are resigned to, because that's "the way the system works", which is true enough, being so deeply rooted in our perverted Darwinian nature. And even those who do manage to escape the rat race, whether permanently or just temporarily, are still dependent on the products and services it provides.

Yet it is the rat race, this misplaced and perverted pursuit of POWER (especially in the form of MONEY) which is the primary cause of the non-sustainable human behaviour and activity now threatening us, and countless other species, with extinction. We are behaving like rats, because we are still dominated by our primitive animal nature, which has given rise to the pressures and power structures of state and economy that determine our collective behaviour.

Achieving sustainability, which our survival depends on, means putting an end to the rat race. This is the central challenge, once recognised, we must face up to.

The existing economic order is inherently unjust, inhumane and unsustainable, because it treats human society itself as an exploitable environment; and if anything, "socialist economics" of the now defunct Soviet empire, were even worse, so it cannot be just free-market capitalism which is to blame. It goes deeper than that.

Which is where a human-evolutionary perspective is necessary to reveal that it is not just the economy (whether "socialist" or capitalist), but the state too which is a product of our perverted Darwinian nature, with the task of maintaining and organizing society (under the pretence of serving it) for the purpose of facilitating its self-exploitation, to the advantage of some (generally those in wealth, power and privilege) over others, whereby nowadays things are so complicated and the self-deception so pervasive that the line between exploiter and exploited runs through every individual, though rarely down the middle (some profit more, some far more, than others from society's self-exploitation).

That state and economy, i.e. the entire political and socio-economic order, on which we ALL completely depend are products of our perverted Darwinian nature, and thus the root cause of virtually all our problems, including our inability to achieve sustainability, is very difficult to continence and recognise, because our brains, which evolved to serve us in an entirely different (non-conflated or confounded) environment, are naturally inclined to rationalise everything, so that it can continue its misplaced and perverted struggle for advantage and "success" within its artificial human environment.

And even if we do recognize it, what can we possibly do about it . . ? We cannot simply dismantle the system we all depend on (not just materially, but also emotionally, most people still identifying with the state as their tribe or nation), at least, not before we have created an alternative.

It is this alternative we must set about creating, replacing  the existing socio-economic order in the same way that a busy, vital but ageing railway bridge is replaced, by building in and around the existing bridge, in such a way that the new one can gradually take its place, without disruptive interruption.

But before we begin, even after recognising the situation and the need to replace the existing socioeconomic order, we have to develop a clear understanding of it and of the alternative we want to replace it with, an understanding that, if it is to be realistic and of practical use, must be based on an understanding of man's Darwinian nature and of how it has been perverted to create the artificial environment of human civilization.

Recognising the Darwinian nature of free-market capitalism isn't difficult, as many, who see no perversion or inherent non-sustainability in it, will tacitly or expressly admit, but recognising the perverted Darwinian nature of the state is a different matter, because of long established myths and assumptions (based on rationalizations and self-deception) that its primary purpose is to SERVE society (think of Rousseau's "social contract"), the state having effectively taken the place of the individual's original tribe and NATION, especially in respect to our dependency on it (both material and emotional), demanding thereby for itself the loyalty and commitment we evolved to feel towards our original tribe or nation.

The state, however, is is not our tribe or nation, but merely poses as such, like an abusive step-parent, which did away with our natural parents (original tribe and nation) long before we have any memory of them, and brought us up to belief that it is our natural, loving parent (i.e. nation), thereby winning our affection and loyalty, when its true purpose is to facilitate our (self)-exploitation as a human resource and environment, e.g. market.

It is all very confusing, because the two environments in which Homo sapiens evolved and was behaviourally adapted to, long before the advent of civilisation - one within his own tribe, which he strongly identified with, the other comprising the natural environment external to it and including other, rival, groups of humans, which was feared and to be exploited - are now conflated and confounded within the state, which deceives us into believing that it represents the familiar, internal environment is our tribe, while at the same time facilitating our self-exploitation as an external environment.

The vast majority of people still believe the state to be their nation, and thus identify with it. Particularly those on the political left do so, demanding that the "nation state" (as the natural heir to our original tribe) embrace its proper role of ensuring the fair distribution of opportunity and "national wealth", while making sure that the sick, needy and disadvantaged are taken care of, and in so doing, laying claim to the "moral high ground" for themselves, and the advantages (e.g. social status, jobs, power and privileges) that go with it.

Notwithstanding that we are all inclined to believe in the state, because of our material and emotional dependency on it (in the mistaken belief that it represents our nation), the political right especially believes in the state, because it defines and enforces property rights, which they are the biggest beneficiaries of, while the political left especially believes in the state because it provides them with plum jobs in politics, local government, academia and the media.

"Progressives" standing in the way of progress

Society is being screwed by capital and the political right, of course, but most insidiously, also by the liberal left and self-acclaimed "progressives".

"Insidious", because they deceive many of us - along with themselves - into believing that they are serving society and the individual, especially those who are exploited and "disadvantage". It used to be "the workers" they were so keen to help, but has now shifted, not just, but mainly to ethnic minorities. Thus their embrace of and enthusiasm for mass immigration and multi-ethnic society. They'll have no sympathy for the indigenous population, which they themselves belong to, but fail to recognise or identify with, until it's been reduced to a "disadvantaged minority". Then, of course, they'll be all over it . . .

From an historical perspective it is clear that "progressives" have taken over the role (and social niche) once dominated by the Catholic Church, securing power, advantage and privileges for themselves not by force, as their partners in power, the aristocracy did (itself now largely superseded by the "meritocracy"), but by laying claim to and exerting the power of the "moral high ground".

The basic problem with so-called "society"

The underlying and unrecognized problem with "society", is the fact that it is not primarily a society at all, but an (artificial, socioeconomic) environment, which state and economy developed over the centuries to facilitate the self-exploitation of, to the main advantage of power, wealth and privilege.

 

From a human-evolutionary, i.e. Darwinian, perspective it is easy to understand why this should be the case, but massive social, political and personal taboos - the product of a prodigious "prime-ape" brain that evolved to interpret reality (its environment) to its own, now perverted, Darwinian advantage - have thus far prevented this, deluding us into seeing state and economy as serving society, rather than exploiting it.

 

They DO serve society, of course, and we ALL totally depend on them (for order, security, income, products and services), but as a shepherd serves his flock, which isn't primarily for the flock's sake, but for his own and/or his employer's sake, for the meat and wool the flock provides and can be exchanged at market for MONEY, the most versatile form of POWER, the pursuit and exercise of which (in all its multifarious forms) is what Homo sapiens' primordial struggle for survival and (reproductive) "success", misplaced and perverted in the artificial environment of human civilisation itself, has essentially been reduced to.

 

If our civilisation is to survive, we must recognise and develop an understanding of this, because it is the root cause of the problems (social, political, economic and environmental), which, unless resolved, will put an end to us.

 

Currently, virtually everyone still looks to either the state or the economy (or usually a combination of both) to solve "society's" problems, but they are utterly incapable of doing so, since they themselves are the primary cause of these problems. Only it is not in the state's or the economy's (capital's) perverted Darwinian self-interest (in facilitating the pursuit and exercise of power) to recognise this. And because our dependency causes us to identify our own interests with them, our brains prevent us from recognising it too.

 

One might reasonably doubt that there is a solution, since "society" and the power structures of state and economy which serve and exploit it have never fundamentally been any different to the way they are now. It is just that in the past "society's" privileged elites were not nearly so large or numerous, and the overall impact on the natural environment was far smaller. Now, our collective impact is totally unsustainable and rapidly leading to disintegration of the globalised economy it can only temporarily support.

 

Of one thing I am sure: if there is to be any hope at all of us (our civilisation) surviving this present century, we must quickly recognise and develop an understanding of the situation we are in (and its Darwinian nature), instead of continuing to deceive ourselves into believing that we can carry on more or less as we are.

 

It is a very scary situation we are in (another powerful force deterring us from facing up to it), but we need to be scared - terrified! - not necessarily for our own sakes, but for the sake of our children and grandchildren. Even if we cannot be sure of success, we should at least face up to the challenge. That is the very least we (who have had it so good in our lifetimes) owe to them, and to our forebears, who endured and achieved so much for OUR (their children's and descendents) sakes, but for whom state and economy couldn't give a monkey's. On the contrary, anyone making too specific a reference to them is likely to be accused of xenophobia and racism.

 

The political left and right are not really so different from each other as they like to imagine. Both are intent on maintaining and/or changing the socioeconomic environment to suit themselves. The political right want a state that largely restricts itself to protecting and enforcing individual property rights, which is where their main interests lie, while the political left want a state which gets involved in all aspects of society, because that is where their interests tend to lie. With both sides insisting, of course, and no doubt sincerely believing themselves, that their own interests correspond with those of society at large, since what really characterizes the human brain is not its (hugely exaggerated) rationality, but its capacity for rationalization and self-deception in pursuit of narrow, short-sighted and often perverted or totally misconceived self-interests.

 

No political party or movement, to my knowledge, has the even the foggiest notion of our true situation and thus of how we might yet save ourselves. All are blindly intent, no matter how sincerely and well-intentioned, on leading us to oblivion.

 

Having painted such a bleak - but, I'm afraid, only too realistic - picture of our situation, in my next post I will present some of my ideas (which are far from fully developed) on how, once recognised, we might face up to this existential challenge.

The mis- and missed use of Darwin

LINK to Guardian article, The misuses of Darwin, by Simon Underdown

What evolutionary theory should teach us is that man is not just a social animal, but also very much a tribal animal, behaviourally adapted to two very different environments (his own tribe, on the one hand, and everything external to it, including other, rival, tribes, on the other) that no longer exist separately, but have merged to form the single, artificial environment of human civilization, where the primordial struggle for survival and reproductive success continues, but is misplace and rationalized, perverted, largely to the pursuit and exercise of POWER, in its multifarious forms, over others, e.g. money, the moral high ground (which established religions specialize in, although now rivaled by "progressives" and the liberal-left), social and professional status, etc. etc.

Darwin, i.e. a human-evolutionary perspective, has a great deal to teach us about ourselves and our civilization, i.e. the power structures of state and economy on which it is based, but because such a perspective would undermine these very power structures, and the positions of those who profit from them, by exposing the lies and (self)-deceptions on which they in turn are based, there are massive taboos in place preventing it, for which the failings of social Darwinism and the horrors of Nazism are just a very convenient justification.