Bullies need theories. Theories need bullies.
Polistra has been hammering on this point forever, and it's hardly an original one. Still, the above six-word title seems to pull it all together nicely.

Tyranny runs on theories, and theorists depend on tyrants for work.

A highly centralized political system always has an intense ideology behind it. Marx, Nietzsche, Locke. All of these systems eventually go wild and collapse. A more natural parliamentary system runs without ideology, without a written constitution. It simply adapts to circumstances like any living thing.

A highly centralized religion always has a complex theology, a set of strange statements about God and angels and saints and grace and trinities. Entia multiplicant like rabbits. Centralized religions seem to last longer than centralized political systems, but they last in a collapsed and corrupt condition. A more natural religion runs with minimum theology, relying on direct personal experience with God, plus a set of experimental observations about human behavior and consequences. (eg Proverbs and Leviticus.) Natural religions stick to the basics, leaving details to individual churches or provinces.

A highly centralized economic system relies on economic theories, and economists invent those theories to enrich the masters of the system. Friedman and Krugman feed the two complementary bellies of our modern all-consuming beast, and their theories would be treated as evidence of schizophrenia if the beast wasn't roaring ahead and "creating" "prosperity" for the friends and relatives of Friedman and Krugman. Healthy economic systems take pains to avoid all abstractions. No options, no interest, no bets. Simply exchange money for various forms of labor.

A highly centralized scientific system is NOTHING BUT weird theories. Global warming, evolution, big bang, multiverse, quantum. These theories are either obviously wrong or essentially unprovable, which makes them ideal vehicles for intensive and unending research. Just like grace and trinities. The granting bureaucracies and educrats need the theories to maintain their ever-growing budgets, and the theoreticians would be harmless cranks without the bureaucracies.

Bullies need theories. Theories need bullies.

Labels: Blinded by Stats, Carbon Cult, Experiential education, Natural law = Sharia law, the broken circle

  ¶ 5:21 PM