Mandeville's "Fable of the Bees" is still in print. It argues that vices are a positive good for society. Quite scandalous in its day.
Posted on 12/21/2010 9:50:46 AM PST by SeekAndFind
They are familiar scenes: politicians bemoaning the death of family values only for extramarital affairs to be unveiled or politicians preaching financial sacrifice while their expense accounts fatten up. Moral corruption and power asymmetries are pervasive in human societies, but as it turns out, that may not be such a bad thing.
Francisco Úbeda, an evolutionary biology professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Edgar Duéñez of Harvard University found that power and corruption may play a role in maintaining overall societal cooperation.
A report of their research is published in the journal Evolution.
Using game theory, Úbeda and Duéñez looked at what causes individuals in society to cooperate even though those in charge display some level of corruption. They developed a model that allows individuals who are responsible for punishing noncooperators (e.g., law enforcers and government officials) to fail to cooperate themselves by acting in a corrupt manner. They also considered the possibility that these law enforcers, by virtue of their positions, are able to sidestep punishment when they are caught failing to cooperate.
What they found is that the bulk of society cooperates because there are law enforcers forcing them to stay in line. People tend to cooperate because they do not want to get punished.
Even if the law enforcers consider themselves above the law and behave in a corrupt way, overall societal cooperation is maintained -- as long as there is a small amount of power and corruption. However, if the law enforcers have too much power and corruption runs rampant, overall societal cooperation breaks down.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
"Law enforcers often enjoy privileges that allow them to avoid the full force of the law when they breach it. Law enforcing results in the general public abiding by the law. Thus law enforcers enjoy the benefits of a lawful society and are compensated for their law enforcing by being able to dodge the law,"
CONCLUSION:
Power and corruption benefit society; without law enforcers, individuals have less incentive to cooperate and without power and corruption, law enforcers have less incentive to do their job.
Mandeville's "Fable of the Bees" is still in print. It argues that vices are a positive good for society. Quite scandalous in its day.
Research by Evolutionary Biologists
That explains it all. Don’t believe in God, so have no one to answer to and can claim that evil is good.
Unfortunately for you guys...your day of reckoning will NOT be pleasant!
How quaint.
Obama is proof that this is a harmful lie (and probably a corrupt one, motivated by lust for power).
How it works:
Illegal aliens get to sue the law enforcers that aresst them. Thus the illegals enjoy the benefits of a lawful society and are compensated for their law breaking by being able to dodge the law.
It wouldn’t be the first time science is used to attempt to justify someone’s lack of principles.
Oh yea. and the law enforcers have less incentive to do their job
BTW, Mandeville is considered a forerunner of Keynes, because he argued that prosperity can be achieved through expenditure, and since vice is expensive, more vice means more spending and therefore more prosperity for society.
Leave it to evolutionists to attempt to draw conclusions from their model as to what is best for society. This has had dire consequences in the past. The extermination of the sick, elderly and anti-scientific people (as determined by “scientists”) may also “Be Good for Society”.
Their narcissism reminds me of Gene Hackman’s line in Ants when talking about what is for “the good of the colony” he claimed “I am the colony” while attempting to kill off most of the colony.
The argument could be made that having a population that is armed and dangerous insures “cooperation” by citizens and leaders alike. I’m not sure cooperation is the only essential ingredient for the “good of society”. But I think my premise offers a far better solution than these guys.
The brilliance of the American founds was that they rejected the principle, common in their day and common throughout the world today, that a select group of elites would be the exclusive "enforcers" within society.
They put in place a complex system of government...composed of "checks and balances"...and enshrined the rights of the individual both against that government and by extension "the majority".
That system as codified by the Constitution became the new social compact for the nation. Those with power, money, privilege, education etc. agreed to surrender some of what they had and to provide the opportunity for every man to acquire them...in exchange for protections that ensured they would never have to surrender all.
Their plan worked nearly perfectly and about 1/2 of the American people of the modern era have acquired most of those things previously held by only the "ruling class". The other 1/2 have the opportunity.
Now, and for the last 40-50 years we see a movement whereby a few elites are stirring the passions of those who have yet to acquire "sovereignty" and encouraging them to establish a new social compact in America. That is one whereby the elites have the power to take as much sovereignty and wealth as they wish from the 1/2 that have it and give some portion to those who don't...in exchange for exclusive power and wealth for the elites.
This is a breaking of the original social contract. It will mean one of two things: Either that movement will be stopped within the system...or those who have surrendered a portion of what have voluntarily will opt out of the current system, declaring the social contract null and void due to breaches.
That could mean REAL civil war.
“Moral corruption and power asymmetries are pervasive in human societies, but as it turns out, that may not be such a bad thing”
Some professor must have been caught in an affair.
Politicized “science” has no credibility.
In addition to the things you identified, the rights of free association and freedom of conscience were fundamental to the creation of this nation. These rights have been almost entirely lost. The elite choose to align and surround themselves with the like-minded to the point they live in an echo chamber. Yet they try to deny these rights to everyone else.
Civil war will not get us any closer to restoring the republic right now because so few people have an understanding and vision for how things should work. Further, being the military and economic superpower of the world, as well as a major source of food for the rest of the world, I do not see how a civil war could avoid becoming a world war. This cannot be won on a local level alone as it will require high-level negotiations with foreign powers as to avoid harming their interests.
We need more leaders (not necessarily politicians or elected leaders) who have a clear vision of how rights and morality should work in a just society and adapted to the fundamental changes in how people live today, i.e. commerce, technology, transportation, etc.
Here’s what I recommend for everyone to get ready for what is coming:
1. Pray - We can’t control the outcome, but God can. Perhaps He will stop the evil we see unfolding in our nation. If it is inevitable, perhaps He will delay it or provide an escape for us.
2. Prepare - Become a survivalist. Store food and other necessities, including a means of self defense. When we can no longer obtain electricity, fuel, food, or communications services; it would be best not to rely on FEMA, TSA, ATF or any other modern gestapo to “help” us evacuate to other shelter. Some recommend converting retirement savings and disposable income into gold, silver, etc. But this makes more sense for those who have first acquired the basic necessities. Yes, if the dollar collapses, gold will retain value, but food and ammunition will be even more valuable.
3. Plan - Expect that our nation will collapse. We do not know when or what form this will take, but beyond survival, there will be a need for those who can help others and have a vision for how to rebuild.
In addition to the things you identified, the rights of free association and freedom of conscience were fundamental to the creation of this nation. These rights have been almost entirely lost. The elite choose to align and surround themselves with the like-minded to the point they live in an echo chamber. Yet they try to deny these rights to everyone else.
Civil war will not get us any closer to restoring the republic right now because so few people have an understanding and vision for how things should work. Further, being the military and economic superpower of the world, as well as a major source of food for the rest of the world, I do not see how a civil war could avoid becoming a world war. This cannot be won on a local level alone as it will require high-level negotiations with foreign powers as to avoid harming their interests.
We need more leaders (not necessarily politicians or elected leaders) who have a clear vision of how rights and morality should work in a just society and adapted to the fundamental changes in how people live today, i.e. commerce, technology, transportation, etc.
Here’s what I recommend for everyone to get ready for what is coming:
1. Pray - We can’t control the outcome, but God can. Perhaps He will stop the evil we see unfolding in our nation. If it is inevitable, perhaps He will delay it or provide an escape for us.
2. Prepare - Become a survivalist. Store food and other necessities, including a means of self defense. When we can no longer obtain electricity, fuel, food, or communications services; it would be best not to rely on FEMA, TSA, ATF or any other modern gestapo to “help” us evacuate to other shelter. Some recommend converting retirement savings and disposable income into gold, silver, etc. But this makes more sense for those who have first acquired the basic necessities. Yes, if the dollar collapses, gold will retain value, but food and ammunition will be even more valuable.
3. Plan - Expect that our nation will collapse. We do not know when or what form this will take, but beyond survival, there will be a need for those who can help others and have a vision for how to rebuild.
Sorry for the double post. My connection on Free Republic has been unreliable this morning.
Makes sense to me. I like a nice corruptible action every now and then ;). Too bad God is mt law enforcer. There is no ‘getting away with my own personal corruption. But God also brings me faith and hope. So it is a bit of a doubled edged sword. Once too corrupt r because of corruption, it is easy to dispense of believing in God. Convenient. Sort of like the King of England starting his own religious set of ‘rules.’. Guess that was his compromise so he could divorce.
As a law enforcer, you are forgiven. Now I think I’ll have an affair-lol.
A good way to describe banana republics with disarmed peons being ruled by an elite. Not a good way to describe the US, at least as it has traditionally been organized.
In most of the US, the police are vastly outgunned by the populace, and exist at their sufferance. The reason for police is to provide a more orderly way to deal with criminals than just lynching them. At the point that the police lose the confidence of the armed populace, it will turn badly for the police.
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