Theme: Civilization

Every axial age thinker was trying to solve the problem of the post-bronze-age collapse restoration of production, trade, government, and the consequential contact between peoples – especially given the radical change brought about by the indo european expansion that caused that bronze age collapse directly or indirectly.

People need a system of measurement (rules, norms, traditions, laws, methaphysical beliefs). But all humans try to economize on religious social economic and political change by doubling down on their group evolutionary strategy which is and always has been metaphysical presumption (at least until now) and not consciously known to them.

That strategy was an accident of time place and circumstance. But it is the only system of measurement that all people in a polity are indoctrinated into by the mere experience of life in a culture or civilization. It’s ‘firmware’ instead of software or data.

But what do we mean by a ‘system of measurement that facilitates cooperation within a group evolutionary strategy people are unconsious of?

Well you know, we have arithmetic, math, geometry, calculus, and analysis. That’s a sequence of additional dimensions of measurement.

And we also have the entire human sequence of proprioception > embodiment > prediction > empathy/sympath/imitation > words (of Names, Actions, Agreements) > language (serial continuous recursive disambiguation) > narratives (sequencdes of episodes) > stories > mythology (arbitrary) > mythicism(purposeful) > theology (organized) > Regression(Theravada Buddhistm(a proto-philosophy) > Mahayana and Vaijriana Buddhism v2 (religion) > Confucian Philosophy(harmony, Sayings) > Platonic Philosophy (idealism, literary) > Epicurian-Aristotelian Philosophy (reason, skepticism) > Empiricism (observables, skepticism) > Rationalism ((kant) reason, observables, non-contradiction) > Science “Laws of Nature” ( testimony to empiricism under realism and naturalism and operationalism) > “Natural Law” (Science of Cooperation) > Computation (construction from first principles (laws)) > Increases in parsimony due to convergence.

Note that in that sequence we increasingly need writing, then numbers, then increases in mathematics with math evolving into three categories of (a) math(description) (b) calculus (change) (b) computation(variation) (c) simulation (comptetition). Each of those paradigms consists of the logic of more dimensions of reality.

And so, all that differs between the grammars of ‘should’ and ‘is’ are what dimensions are permissible and the training necessary to incdrease the scope of our perception sufficient to defend ourselves from the dark forces of time and ignorance that seek to exterminate us with regularity.

So what matters? All of them matter if they are consistent across the hgrammars. all of them are harmful if they deviate from the laws of nature that god put in place. And from that view, most prophets and philosophers have been partly right but largely devastatingly wrong and have caused more death than any warrior could imagine.,

So what is the difference between a myth, a mythicist, a theologian, each of the states in the specrtrum of philosopy, and science and computation?

The difference is (a) what is possible within the group strategy of the people (b) what is possible to teach or bait the people into (c) the institutions available to make that change (d) and the consequence of trying to make that change in a universe that is quite unforgiving of our follies.

Cheers