| Egalite!
- Why Not Utopia? - Online Book
Is freedom anything
else than a right to live as we wish?
Epictetus
Egalite, collective image psychology online book
I did not understand, when I wrote my book, it would
be so difficult to change minds especially since I deal in philosophy,
not science. In retrospect my foolishness surprises me. Not
only have I tried to change my mind over the years with midling
success, but I know that people believe what they want no matter
how precarious the philosophical underpinnings. We don't know
what happens after death, but because heaven sounds nice, we
turn collective desire into absolute truth. We even kill those
impertinent enough to suggest we may not know what we are talking
about.
Putting eternity aside, our present situation seems
so lethal, what with pollution, global warming, teen murderers
and suicides, kids on Ritalin, the disappearance of frogs, one
would think any new perception would be welcome. Can we continue
as we are indefinitely? I don't think so, though prophets of
doom have predicted the end for centuries and humanity survived
them all.
The few who read my book and reported back were positive.
One e-mailed that he found Chapter 8 (Representative Democracy)
"brilliant and perceptive". He asked me to describe the utopia
I envision. I told him Edward Bellamy did it in "Looking Backward".
For details he should read that book. Turned out he didn't want
a homework assignment. He replied life is too short to drink
bad wine and went elsewhere. People I've met online aren't ready
to work together. They say if I want to create an Internet Users
Group, I should. If they like it they'll join. I want shared
responsibility. They don't. At least not yet.
Robert Downey Jr. is a case in point. He has it all,
but he can't live without risking everything. Jail, humiliation,
having to admit to well meaning friends he doesn't know why
he's so self destructive, none of it keeps him from doing drugs
in a manner that insures his arrest. He is an unwitting metaphor
for humanity. We can have it all, anything we imagine, but we
risk everything for the immediate gratifications of petroleum
based technology.
So that's where things stand. I'm disappointed my ideas
haven't been received as brilliant and perceptive but have no
regrets about travelling my lonely road. I have no idea how
to persuade you we can take steps. We're not dead yet and we
may be on the cusp of a great explosion of human creativity.
It's our call, just as what you decide is your responsibility.
I'd like you to spring for a copy of my book or read it on line
if you have the patience, but don't decide it's easier or more
reasonable to do nothing. Although, that's your call too.
Online
Book chapters
- Chapter - Theory
Overview
- Chapter - Self
Image Psychology
- Chapter - Collective
Image Psychology
- Chapter - Sources
of Collective Inferiority: Religion
- Chapter - Sources
of Collective Inferiority: Sex
- Chapter - Sources
of Collective Inferiority: Parents
- Chapter - Pollution
and Other Terrors of our Times
- Chapter - More
Problems: Representative Democracy
- Chapter - More
Problems: William Toste
- Chapter - Embracing
the Future: Television
- Chapter - Embracing
the Future: Computers
- Chapter - Embracing
the Future: Floating
- Chapter - Embracing
the Future: Scenarios
- Chapter - Embracing
the Future: Utopia
THE VICTOR
BELONGS TO THE SPOILS
F. Scott Fitzgerald
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