System Ideologies, Civilization and the emergence of Individual and collective consciousness

 System Ideologies, Civilization and the emergence of Individual and collective consciousness: What processes lead to the emergence of the voice representative of our experience of being alive?

The Rise of Civilization

Since the dawn of Civilization, our leaders have marveled at that miraculous moment in human evolution, where some spark ignited the human intellect in all its glory, waking it up from its long-kept dormant state, and leading it to the discovery and conquest of the world. For hundreds of thousands of years, our ancestors had been wandering around the face of the planet without much purpose or objective; but now that our mind's full potential had been finally unleashed, we were ready to start sowing crops, domesticate animals, build all sorts of crafts and, at last, the prodigious invention of writing and civilization. Philosophers of all times have then wondered how was that truly unique magic moment, what sparked the phenomenal ignition of the human brain 15,000 - 20,000 years ago, separating us from all other animals and leading us to create states and become civilized. 

However, if we carefully examine the human brain and compare it with any other primate's brain, there is really very little difference, other than the human brain's asymmetries. Moreover, the degree to which humans reason out of thin air is very limited. For example, it is not likely that human beings found out how to start a fire out of deep thought and reasoning. It is not credible that anybody ever sat down and began reasoning, what is that needed to be done in order to start a fire. It is far more likely that one day someone threw a rock and accidentally sparked a fire. From there it was much easier to figure out how to reproduce the magic event by first producing a spark and next causing a fire from such spark. It is then really fortunate that we eventually came to stand up on our rear limbs, so that our hands became free to take on actions such as throwing rocks. As the saying goes: idle hands are the Devil's playground.

   

 In fact, there is no evidence to suggest that there is anything specifically in the human brain that predestines the development of states and civilization. Rather, there is a good case to be made that some form of "civilization" will naturally and organically emerge from any population of individuals, who, on one hand, feel an intense drive (and find a strong pleasure when successful) to dominate and exploit anyone within his or her reach; but, on the other hand, have an existential dependency and need for love, to the extent that their sense of 'happiness' is mainly determined by the degree to which they feel loved. In fact, in Artificial Intelligence, it is well known how competition and cooperation are the two key ingredients for the success of any population of units. On one hand, cooperation makes the population stronger through unity. On the other hand, competition optimizes the performance of any system. Clearly, love is what brings us together and has us cooperate with each other. On the other hand, our drive to dominate everyone else - and the fierce competition for leadership that rises as a result - is what will keep the group on the cutting edge of Evolution: definitely, strive for excellence and succeed, or die.        

Yes, the rise of the state is the result of a slow organic process, whereby the different ingredients - which make up a state - emerge, develop and interact with each other. Scholars will generally recognize the existence of a state whenever a series of elements are found: namely, large, densely-populated urban centers, settlement hierarchies, economic specialization, monumental buildings, social hierarchies and - the jewel in the crown - writing. While some of these factors will often serve as precursors for others, in some other cases they may conflict against each other. For example, a large concentration of people in a given place will naturally lead to economic specialization and the association of smaller surrounding towns and villages to form a settlement hierarchy. Similarly, an hierarchical social structure is likely to produce monumental buildings. On the other hand, as counterintuitive as it may be, large concentrations of people do not blend well with social hierarchies. This conflict is an important caveat, since it is these two factors - large concentration of people and social hierarchy - which make up the essential driving forces leading to the rise of the state and civilization. 

Regardless of what is the correct criteria which should be used to confer the titles of state and civilization, the crucial consideration to take away is that those communities exhibiting a rich economic specialization will enjoy a competitive edge. The relevance of this observation resides in the fact that competition will serve as the fundamental catalyzer for the processes responsible for the rise of the state. Every community requires certain food and material resources for its survival. Since these needs are widely shared across communities, as soon as they come in contact one with another, unavoidably some competition for the available resources will start. Naturally, the more efficient a community is, the higher its odds to prevail. Now, while the emergence of a state is doubtful to produce an improvement in a regular person's life, fact of the matter is that the state will make the community more efficient and, therefore, competitive. Since the rise of the state, ruling elites have engrained in us the notion, whereby civilization is humankind's paramount and most marvelous achievement. In this telling, writing is definitely civilization's jewel in the crown and the supreme expression of human intelligence. Yet, it turns out that the first function of writing was for inventory purposes. In the civilized world, it now became important to keep a record of the quantities you own of items such as foreign females; that is, slaves. Yes, as sinister as it sounds, contrary to what we have always been told, civilization is and has always been about one thing and one thing alone: How a few may be able to dominate the rest of the population. Now, as unsettling and chilling as it is, fact of the matter is that a population with a head (i.e. a ruling elite) is far more competitive than a population without it. Consequently, those communities which grow more efficient as a result of the emergence of a ruling elite and the development of a state, will then begin to expand and slowly but surely phagocytize or altogether wipe off those who do not. The human brain was definitely not wired up to one day create a state. As any hollow coconut could tell you, not only were coconots not made to one day venture into the sea, but just a few ever got the urge to do so. In other words, the rise of the state and civilization was never a matter of volition, but that of sheer survival. Contrary to the old-as-time ruling elites' mantra, communities did not came up with all the different prodigious ideas responsible for civilization, because those individuals were smarter or more virtuous; but simply because it became necessary to overhaul and revamp the community's social structure, in order to survive. In fact, there is every reason to believe, that these innovations were not the product of any conscious decision; but the natural upshot of the interaction with competing communities. Indeed, all the evidence points to the conclusion, that the series of ingredients which any community will need to meet civilization, actually popped out or were invented in different places at different times, by different people. Necessity, information exchange and competition then served as fertilizers and catalyzers causing the eventual coalescence of all the ingredients in one specific place. Indeed, there is a reason why the first states and civilizations appear in regions of extraordinary fertility, surrounded by vast swaths of unbearingly inhospitable terrain. The competition to occupy the Garden of Eden is going to be fierce, and accelerate all developments. Undoubtedly, any community hoping to survive the competition for the garden of Eden, should expect to be constantly challenged by invading hordes. Still, the community will be able to optimize its efficiency and strength, by developing a full-blown economic specialization, including, for instance: food production, religious, political and administrative functions, craft production and military duties. Now, while all specializations bear their merits in their own right, of crucial importance is the coexistence of a strong food-production force and a well-defined social hierarchy. Yes, in basic terms, a community will be more powerful, if it possesses a large population and a streamlined command structure. However, while most economic specializations will generally emerge naturally from any large concentration of people, the prospects of a community to optimize its efficiency are going to be continuously clogged by the repellency of any population to the rise of an elite ambitioning to dominate it. As counter'intuitive as it may seem, wile large, densely-populated nuclei will clearly benefit the most of a social hierarchy exercising administrative, political and control functions; it is rather unlikely that the population will want to come to terms with and seek this advancement. Needless to say, nobody likes to be bossed around or be told what to do. Hence, if you are doing fine and have some food on your table each and every day, why would you want to complicate your life the tiniest bit? In the early days of the first multi-cellular organisms, regular cells must have also felt mightly irritated by the electrical signals and various other pokes produced by the first nervous cells of the most primitive brains. Yet, no reasonable mind could honestly argue, that the development of a brain did not represent a mighty competitive advantage for those multi-celular organisms.

In contrast, it was far easier for a strong leadership to establish itself in small communities, where everybody new each other and there was little doubt who was the strongest, the most insightful and overall the best suited to lead the group. Should there ever had been any doubt, they sure as heck had found an opportunity to duke it out. Hopefully, the strongest would be smart enough and seek advise from the sharpest. They would then establish a marriage alliance to seal their deal. Once a chief of the village had been recognized, he became the group's new Alpha Male and everybody would unquestionably follow him wherever he went, whatever he said. However, these small communities were such, because the kind of bleak and forbidding landscapes where they would normally live and roam around did not allow for intensive food production sufficient to support larger populations. Luckily, necessity is the best fertilizer to sharpening up anybody's ingenuity, and these nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes are going to develop their own strategies, technologies and techniques to be able to overcome the stark limitations imposed by their environment and the meager wealth it allows to extract from their herds and trade based economy. Writing will be invented in the cities; but these nomads are going to figure out horseback riding, the wheel, the wagon and will excel at warfare. The Greeks of the Classic period also distained and looked down their noses at those uncivilized Barbarians, who were so stupid that they did not even know how to speak, but were only able to babble some meaningless sounds. That was until the so very intelligent and civilized Classic Greeks started to fight each other, continued killing each other, until their inferior Barbarian underlings came to take up the pieces and ended up dominating and enslaving them. A similar story is to be told about the Romans and pretty much every empire in History. Clearly, our masters are so stupid that they will never learn.

As a person born with a severe disability I can very much relate how the brain does not house any kind of well of absolute intelligence, which can be interchangeably apply to any endeavor. Rather, you just become good at those task you devote yourself to and keep persevering on. Then, if your subsistence depends on your ability to overcome a given difficulty or hardship, you will be sure to figure it out, whatever it takes. If the Barbarians needed to fight in order to survive; they would eventually do so and become really good at it. As any hollow coconut could tell you, not every coconut tried to venture into the sea; but, luckily for him, his grandfather did. If the rich farming settlement down in the fertile river valley was still small enough; the Barbarian village's chief could eventually consider leading his tribesmen to take it over for themselves. Alternatively, some ambitious - perhaps somewhat psychopathic - young man may get it into his head to cajole his buddies, have them all get on their horses and seek fortune and glory, pillaging and plundering wealthy farming villages, burning houses, killing men and raping women along their way. Perhaps, if he comes out successful, he may soon become the chief of his own tribe and think on taking on larger farming towns. Who knows?, the nomadic warriors may eventually want to put down some roots. Perhaps, he or one of his descendents - perhaps, the son of one of the women he raped - will eventually rule the town. The town dwellers did not want to be bossed around; but now they have no choice anymore and will have to suck it all up from here on. Moreover, agonisingly enough, they may now have to adopt their new rulers' language.

Regardless of whether the farming town acquired its leadership and military prowess when it was still small and docile, or only after it had already grown up and had seen the Barbarian warriors moved in, dominance over the entire population will still need to be institutionalized somehow, so that it can be replicated over successive generations. For this purpose religions will often play a helpful role. The old leader and town's Alpha Male may have been strong, terrifying or just charismatic, and, on the whole, we all ended up loving him; but why the heck are we going to simply accept that his son is quite the same? Actually, the old Alpha-Male father will be deify after his death, and the new son of God will assert, that we all ought to obey him or else... In any event, much to the regret of our cute, little, peceful farming community next to the river, it is very unlikely that any strong, charismatic Alpha Male leader will ever rise under any kind of heavenly beautiful conditions. Much to the regret of our peaceful community, sooner or later, it will have to endure some shock-and-awe traumatizing experience to be beaten into submission.

Furthermore, this was only the first of many invasions. Our beautiful town by the river is so sexy, that it is bound to change hands many times from here on, and each of them it is certainly going to be absolutely horrible. The fierce warriors have naturally got entangled with the trappings of power, fallen accustomed to the fine and comfortable city life, and - in summation - rested on their laurels. If necessity is the best fertilizer for anybody's ingenuity; it is also part of our nature that abundance is the most potent sedative. This is the reason why we can only stay happy for a short while after our last accomplishment, and we soon need to engage in the pursuit of a new endeavor, if we want to avoid slowly slipping into depression. Indeed, Nature figured out very early in Evolution, that there is nothing more unproductive than a happy person. Adding to our sins, the ruling families were soon on each other's throats and consumed themselves - and the entire town along the process - in their infighting over power. All the while, invaders have kept come calling to our beautiful town by the river. Therefore, all what is left to see is which will be the last straw to break the camel's back. Obviously, the stronger the force, the higher the odds that it will succeed at bringing the town's defenses down. Yet, as terrible as it is certainly going to be, when the dust settles, the town will wake up stronger from the nightmare and will be a step further towards civilization. The town dwellers will learn from the new invaders, as the new invaders will learn from the town dwellers, and the end result of this information exchange will be a socially, technologically and economically more advanced community. Competition is indeed the most effective catalyzer for advancement.   

The Emergence of Collective Consciousness.

Civilization so emerges as an elite of one (linked by intermarriage) extended family rises to power over everybody else in the society. At last the society got a brain to command and coordinate the whole: From here on out, the ruling elite will determine the course of action and everybody else will obey and row in the same direction. While it is questionable whether the lives of the individual members of the collectivity will improve, Evolution shows that the community as a whole will most definitely become stronger and fitter as a governing entity establishes some law and order. Anybody is certainly free to think that life outside civilization is more enjoyable, but it will be a matter of time before she will be run over. In the same way that those animal species which developed a brain draw those which did not to the brink of total extinction; those societies where civilization emerged have slowly driven indigenous communities to the brink of extinction. Civilization has therefore become a matter of survival: submit to civilization or disappear. Of course, the choice has never been presented to us in such a stark manner. Neither does anybody ever think in such dramatic terms. Rather, we just ponder what will serve our wishes and interests best. After all, as social animals, we are all conditioned to follow the collectivity and work with other members. Yet, life under civilization is not quite the same as life in community. In fact, civilization is a whole new ballgame. Certainly, little did we know what was all in store for us: we have to get up early in the morning to go to work, we have to pay taxes, we are constantly told what to do and what we cannot do. Yes, we definitely lost our freedom; but, on the other hand, civilization gave as a strong sense of security. Nevertheless, let us not allow them to fool us, we never really had a reasonable choice; but, from the moment we are born we are indoctrinated into the belief that life under civilization is best. This is the crucial role of any system ideology: do not ask what is that the collectivity can do for you, but what you can do for the collectivity

Indeed, More likely than not, the elite's rise to power required some violence, but violence is clearly not a good long term approach to maintain the new system's order alive. In order to keep the populace's adherence, following, loyalty and submission, it is essential that they believe. Everybody, at a minimum, should believe that it is better to be with the system than against the system. As Confucius had thought, the common people is supposed to be obedient, dutiful and industrious. The trick is inducing them to be that way of their own accord, using the example of virtue and proper behavior from above, to instill shame in those who did not act properly. This is where a system ideology will come in handy: yes, the ideology is going to slowly, softly kill us with its song.   

Scholars in Human studies use the term 'system ideology' to refer to The framework of beliefs, values, rules, practices and ideas in general that the head of the society imposes on all the individuals of the collectivity, (arguably) in order to ensure the proper functioning of the whole. 

As the first territorial state in Human history, Ancient Egypt constitutes an excellent example of system ideology. There is a good case to be made, that it is in fact its ideology what makes the rise of the state possible. In the words of Encyclopedia Britanica: As a divine ruler, the Pharaoh was the preserver of the God-given order. He owned a large portion of the land and directed its use, was responsible for the people's economic and spiritual welfare, and dispense justice to his subjects. His will was supreme and he govern by royal decree.

As ridiculous as it may seem, there is a good case to be made that the key to Ancient Egypt success was its people's belief in the Pharaoh. Indeed, thanks to Ancient Egyptian's belief in the Pharaoh's divine powers, they would come together under his command. Importantly, they were willing to do so, without the Pharaoh having to use any violence. After all Narmer, the first pharaoh, was freakingly strong: he had defeated all his rivals and subjugated all the people's along the Nile. So, whether his strength had a divine origin or not, it really did not seem a good idea to argue with him. Now, the day that a large population of human beings start working together and cooperating with each other, sky is the limit. Egyptians stopped quarrelin and fighting each other and were now on the move: following the Pharaoh's directions they were now building irrigation systems, pyramids and various other monumental buildings, and the Egyptian society was thriving. As History will show, the tricky part, however, will be to keep the Pharaoh focused on the general good. As a matter of fact, the Pharaoh's son's claim of divine nature would generally not feel nearly as strong as his father's. Indeed, in his case the story would be completely different. Almost without exception, the guy had never had to put any effort to accomplish anything, and it would therefore be very hard to believe, that he was at all competent. The good news is that human beings generally believe in whoever or whatever keeps us well fed. THe bad news, however, are that we are so loyal, patient, faithful, unwavering and or just foolishly stubborn, that it will take us an incredibly exacerbating long time to come to accept, that no more food is coming our way, but our leader is simply full of it, and he will nothing but get us all off the cliff. Indeed, it will not be long before the Pharaoh falls. Egypt will then submerge in the chaos of the Law of the Jungle, as the Land's strongest men go back to a new vicious fight for supremacy. It is one of Ancient Egypt's cyclical "intermediate periods". Eventually, one warlord will emerge victorious over all others and re-establish the Pharaoh's Order.           

In practical terms, as the example of the Pharaoh's Ancient Egypt illustrates, the system ideology will in general impose an account of what and how is the world around us, who we are, where do we come from, how things work, how to stay well, and how to prosper; all in all, how to lead a happy life.

Now, from the citizen's side, the system's ideology is received as the accumulated wisdom of the most learned and insightful among us, which is meant to help us understand the world around us. We so learn how things work, what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad, what is that the individual member must do, if he or she wants to be respected, appreciated and loved by the others.

This is so much so that, under civilization, the transition from childhood to adulthood is no longer determined by the time the individual becomes sexually mature, but by when he or she has absorbed the bulk of the system's ideology; in other words, what is the role and set of functions he or she has to carry out as part and member of the civilized society.

With Civilization we definitely lost our freedom and no violence is required by the system ideology in order to enact the spell. All what it takes to have us all follow the head of the society's command is annuling our freedom of thought and so wiping out our will. Definitely, humans stopped reasoning and our thoughts, views and opinions became a mere repetition of what we heard from our tutors and teachers, and - fundamentally so as civilization grew - the mantras we are taught at church and, more recently, the Media. This is so much so that our educational system is even specifically and explicitly designed for that purpose. In elementary school, high school and college we are taught the basic knowledge we need to perform our role in society. Masters students are then lectured on the most advanced material on a specific subject, and it is only those few who receive enough support to be able to make it to Ph.D. studies, who are finally encouraged to come outside the box and think for themselves. A ph.D. degree requires an advancement, an addition and contribution to human knowledge; hence the Ph.D. student has to reason and learn to think outside the box; yet, even then, only for the very specific subject of the Ph.D. thesis; for everything else, much like everyone else. Contrary to general believe, it is not that the Children are stupid, but we were never given an opportunity, were never really allowed, to start thinking for ourselves and reasoning. The question is not who is that we should believe and listen to; rather, the real problem is that we stopped thinking for ourselves. Indeed, we are all, big and small, slowly becoming one more cell in the organism, our DNA has already done all the thinking for us, and we only respond and perform our duties according to it: definitely, Civilization is slowly, softly killing us with its song.