Who Needs Rational?
Rationalism won’t solve our society’s problems.
The malice that many masked individuals hurl towards each other, not to mention the death rays given to unmasked individuals as they meander outdoors, would kill most people faster than a diet of whole milk and Mars® bars[1].
John Steinbeck’s character, Slim, in “Of Mice and Men,” says, “Maybe ever’ body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.[i]” Just a brief walk through your grocery store will convince you that Slim was right. It seems that we are on the cusp of entering a dystopian world.
Pathogens, Politicians, and Prevaricators
You and I, the only sane people remaining in our country, have a grim destiny looming before us. As surely as the last helium-filled balloon at a child’s birthday party, we seem ordained to explode. How can we contain the vitriol churning within our souls, demanding us to projectile vomit our despicable thoughts upon the vacuous experts and bovine pseudo-politicians[ii]?
Our brave new world, which you and I are entering against our protestations, is being formed before our eyes by pathogens, politicians, and prevaricators, and by the will of people possessing unexceptional discernment. Forgive my redundancy; there is precious little difference between most politicians and pathogens.
The Pen of FUD
As I write, millions of compassionate, hardworking people are, like cattle, being herded into the pen of FUD[iii] (fear, uncertainty, doubt). Each comrade is branded a submissive, while antagonistic people with subversive minds are boxcarred to virtual corrective labor camps[iv].
Fear is such a useful tool when governing people. Joseph Stalin demonstrated the force of this frightful tool to its fullest during his compassionate leadership of the Soviet Union[v]. How many of his comrades died? A million? No, it was 20 million[vi].
Perhaps you are wavering in your stance against the fearful odds you and I face. Likely, scenes from the movie “300,” are flashing through your mind at this very moment. Perhaps fear imposes more control over you than a black hole would over a box of Krispy Kreme® donuts. So too am I.
Just as fear is raw power in an uneducated despot’s hand, uncertainty is the exquisite force wielded by the man behind the curtain[vii]. Uncertainty stuns its victims. Neither fight nor flight[viii] is possible for those that succumb to its haunting voice. It is neither an offensive nor a defensive weapon. Instead, uncertainty is an apparatus that pauses its prey, binding them, making them ready to be ravaged.
Perhaps, doubt is more harmful than fear or uncertainty, for doubt dissolves the quarry’s neural wiring. Fear is the meat tenderizer of people, uncertainty is the Medusa[ix] of people, but doubt is the tool that opens people’s minds to receive extrinsic morals, extrinsic aspirations, extrinsic desires. Once doubt has been ingested, few antidotes are successful. On the chessboard of governance, doubt is the queen[x].
Culture is not Society
Many people strive for political power; few genuinely possess it. As Joseph de Maistre wrote, “Every nation gets the government it deserves.[xi]” Governance is a fruit of culture. Notice that our missive is focused upon society. Society is not interchangeable with culture.
“A culture represents the beliefs and practices of a group, while society represents the people who share those beliefs and practices. Neither society nor culture could exist without the other.[xii]”
Now you may argue, “To change the method of government is to change the people’s culture!” Okay, you win. After all, you and I are in this together. Nevertheless, this author posits that new governance is sustainable only when an actual change happens to society itself, a change within people, themselves.
Singularity and People
A general definition of singularity is “a unique event with profound consequences i.e., it is an undefined state that surpasses human thinking[xiii].”
Imagine a box of Krispy Kreme® donuts speeding through space towards a black hole. Within this black hole, there exists a gravitational singularity, a point of infinite density and infinite gravity. As our donuts approach this black hole, they will reach what is called an event horizon. If our delicious box of Krispy Kreme® donuts passes the event horizon, then they’ve passed the point of no return; they are gone forever.
Why do we care about gravitational singularity? We don’t, except as it helps us understand the singularity of people. Dr. John Von Neumann, a very famous mathematician, and physicist said,
“The ever-accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life […] gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race[xiv].
It seems that a strong argument can be made for a cultural singularity, perhaps soon. Dr. Alan Liu coined the term “cultural singularity” and defined it as:
…a moment when all parts of a culture are able to be capitalized and brought under a corporate framework. Knowledge (including culture) become the stuff of information wealth.[xv]
Many academics have voiced concerns about cultural singularity[xvi]. This concern is an exciting topic, but it is a rabbit trail for you and me.
Societal Singularity
Societal singularity is more relevant to the topic at hand. As you read this, what you and I are experiencing within our nation is beyond a seismic shift in governance. Instead, we are seeing an unmasking of people themselves, which is far more terrifying than a facial mud mask.
Just as the cosmic evolution of a star theoretically collapses into a gravitational singularity[xvii], so you and I stand as witnesses to Western society, as insipid as we are, rapidly reaching a societal event horizon.
We are reaching that point of no return, where all muscle, ligament, synapse, synovial joints, and cybernetic enhancements of society coalesce into a societal singularity; a unique event with profound consequences. Should the world stand a few thousand years, the only residue from our modern history might be a few drawings of antelope, bison[xviii], and iPhones on the walls of our caves.
On a cheerier note, professional sports teams may be succeeding in their economic recovery[xix]. The same cannot be said for our children’s education, what with Zoom crashing on the new school year’s first day, and no agreement from educators regarding in-school attendance versus remote attendance.
A patchwork of technologies and nervous in-school sessions has raised the impedance mismatches among educators, parents, and children to heretofore unimaginable levels. Indeed, when leaders with numerous initials after their names turn to a seventeen-year-old [xx] for guidance and direction, we are probably beyond society’s event horizon.
A Voice of Rationalism
Returning to Steinbeck’s character, Slim, “His voice is the voice of rationalism. When Carlson suggests killing Candy’s dog, Candy appeals to Slim as the final authority.[xxi]”
Amid cultural collapse, the rise of the Mad Max [xxii] nation, and the loss of guidance from many public officials, you and I no doubt yearn for a lucid clarion call as we coalesce in our society’s singularity. However, I find no evidence of rationalism changing people — a change in the “hearts” of people is all that will save our nation. Since you and I are optimists, perhaps we have not yet witnessed society’s event horizon, perhaps those Krispy Kreme® donuts are not irretrievably lost.
Photo by Ricky Kharawala on Unsplash
[1] All product names, logos, and brands are the property of their respective owners.
[i] Chapter 2. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/o/of-mice-and-men/summary-and-analysis/chapter-2-2. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[ii] “Russia’s Liberal Pseudo-Politicians.” The Globalist, 18 June 2012, https://www.theglobalist.com/russias-liberal-pseudo-politicians/
[iii] “FUD | Definition of FUD by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.Com Also Meaning of FUD.” Lexico Dictionaries | English, https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/fud. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[iv]The Gulag. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/gula.html. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[v] Repression and Terror: Stalin in Control. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/reps.html. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[vi] Keller, Bill, and Special To the New York Times. “Major Soviet Paper Says 20 Million Died As Victims of Stalin.” The New York Times, 4 Feb. 1989. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/04/world/major-soviet-paper-says-20-million-died-as-victims-of-stalin.html.
[vii] “Urban Dictionary: ‘The Man behind the Curtain.’” Urban Dictionary, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%22the%20man%20behind%20the%20curtain%22. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[viii] Publishing, Harvard Health. “Understanding the Stress Response.” Harvard Health, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[ix] “Medusa.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, https://www.ancient.eu/Medusa/. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[x] “Queen (Chess).” Wikipedia, 30 July 2020. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Queen_(chess)&oldid=970222926.
[xi] Joseph de Maistre — Wikiquote. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_de_Maistre. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[xii] Culture and Society | Boundless Sociology. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/culture-and-society/#:~:text=culture%20with%20society.-, A%20culture%20represents%20the%20beliefs%20and%20practices%20of%20a%20group,could%20exist%20without%20the%20other. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[xiii] What Is Singularity and How It Will Change the Future of Computing. https://www.illuminz.com/blog/singularity-will-change-future-computing#:~:text=If%20we%20talk%20in%20simple,is%20one%20such%20undefined%20event. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[xiv] “The Singularity.” CCCB LAB, 14 Jan. 2019, http://lab.cccb.org/en/the-singularity/.
[xv] “A Recap of Alan Liu’s Talk, ‘Against the Cultural Singularity: Toward a Critical Digital Humanities.’” HASTAC, https://www.hastac.org/blogs/jenaecohn/2015/03/12/recap-alan-lius-talk-against-cultural-singularity-toward-critical-digital. Accessed 25 Aug. 2020.
[xvi] A Recap of Alan Liu’s Talk, ‘Against the Cultural Singularity: Toward a Critical Digital Humanities.’” HASTAC, https://www.hastac.org/blogs/jenaecohn/2015/03/12/recap-alan-lius-talk-against-cultural-singularity-toward-critical-digital. Accessed 25 Aug. 2020.
[xvii] Williams, Matt. “What Is A Singularity?” Universe Today, 16 Feb. 2011, https://www.universetoday.com/84147/singularity/.
[xviii] “Lascaux Cave.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, https://www.ancient.eu/Lascaux_Cave/. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[xix] “NBA ‘Bubble’ a Success, but How Are the League’s Finances?” Marketplace, 14 Aug. 2020, https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/14/nba-bubble-covid-19-playoffs-league-costs-disney-world-orlando-tv-contracts-ratings/.
[xx] “Greta Thunberg Stopped Talking and Eating Aged 11, Her Mother Reveals.” Sky News, https://news.sky.com/story/greta-thunberg-stopped-talking-and-eating-aged-11-her-mother-reveals-11941467. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[xxi] Slim. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/o/of-mice-and-men/character-analysis/slim#:~:text=He%20was%20a%20jerk-line,Slim%20as%20the%20final%20authority. Accessed 24 Aug. 2020.
[xxii] Mad Max (1979). www.rottentomatoes.com, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mad_max. Accessed 30 Aug. 2020.
