Fear is the Key

[I must say that I was weak in working on the blog. Now I’m serious. Please stay tuned.]

[This is a discussion on Fear. Fear is today the basic ingredient against globalization.]

I was attending a course on “value-science” i.e. can we arrive at values via a scientific method. By “value”, the instructor means more of what we should value in life not just ethics. The definition of science he uses is that Science is a branch where we make more and more accurate predictions – not quite Popper but close.

The class is otherwise very interesting. While the course is offered at Stanford University, the instructor also gives it at his home (or rather his shared community) where it is run more in an interactive manner than a typical proscenium setting like a classroom. I was attending the latter setting. It is every Tuesday evening

Lot of interesting points came up – most are somewhat vaguely along our theme - however there is this point that hit me a bit hard.

At one point the instructor said that the following: We have a period in Human history where fearfulness has been adaptive. Fearfulness has permitted people to survive & flourish. And fearfulness has been used to manipulate other people.

This discussion came up as we were discussing the transformation of Society from farmer/artisan or “free agent entrepreneurs” to a job seeking “wage laborers”. Another interesting point to discuss especially with globalization. But later.

Coming back to our subject, what are we afraid of? Clearly not the wrath of nature but the wrath of the social contract we are in. Some of the listeners questioned the very premise whether we are living in more fearful times. The next few classes dissolved into a debate and the instructor asked us to present our individual positions on this subject. Most of them listed items where the fear has come down and where it has gone up!

So when my turn came, I said the following…

I divide into THREE parts: physical, social, economic & political.

Physical Fears

Our fear of nature, wild animals etc. has gone down but our fear of other men has increased. Strange as it may seem, we are afraid of our own folk than saber-tooth (OK, tigers)

Societal Fears

We have, over time, been comfortable and secure under the safe security of our corporate umbrella. This, ironically, has made us more insecure, and thus fearful of the loss of these “umbrellas”. [This was told to me by a long-lost friend and I honestly conceded this in the class]

The measure of success is via a set of socially accepted parameters and we fear that our status would go down.

Another aspect in our society is that “prosperity leads to alienation”. And as we become more alienated we are more fearful of our lonesome selves.

Political and Economic Fears

In a republican state the power is supposed to come from the people but not from a Monarch. But then we have lost it all to those “elected bodies” and the seasoned politicians. We seem to be loosing our right to constitutional remedies.

The State is becoming more and more a Bismarck-ian welfare-warfare state. This is possible due to current fiat currency policy.

This leads to the next fear. What about our savings in the Bank. Would the State do a “logical theft” by reducing its value via inflation?

Fear that the corporate “externalities” would be picked up by the tax-payer.

… and my last fear.

Nation-states are getting politically more distant but economically more intertwined. Remember 1914.

Conclusion & further questions.

The effort against globalization is driven mostly by fear. All the above fears are due to the fact that, we are afraid of the loss of the cocoon we have built ourselves into. Globalization would break that
cocoon!

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