The Distinction Between a Human and an Ant
The expression of individualism through voting
Emergence. It’s why multicellular organisms were so successful. It’s why ants can build complex colonies. Most importantly it’s why we humans were able to take over the world. Emergence occurs when an entity is more than the sum of its parts. This is what makes communities so powerful. A single person can’t do much, but a group of people working toward the same goal can accomplish incredible things. Agriculture, cities, space travel, these are all enabled by emergence. To access this power, humans banded together. We sacrificed some of our individuality and autonomy in favor of joining communities, having leaders, and creating nations. But not every community is a good one. Emergence only provides power, not morality. The merging of leaders, engineers, physicists, chemists, manufacturers, miners, and countless other people enabled humans to create rockets that go to space. Yet those same rockets can, and have, been pointed at the earth instead of the stars. It is our responsibility to create beneficial communities (which we will define as one which seeks to reduce suffering and to maximize happiness).
The distinction between us and ants
The difference between us and ants is that we have a range on the emergent scale. Humans have the incredible ability to function at different levels of emergence. An ant is no longer an individual. They have given up their autonomy to be part of a group, but Humans on the other hand, can choose how “merged” they are. A human can choose to be a part of a group or to be an individual. To illustrate this example let delve deeper into the workings of an ant colony. Each ant is a cog in the machine, they have no will or desire of their own and work to expand and strengthen their colony. A human similarly can become part of a much larger whole whether that whole is their country, workplace, or even sports team. In these environments that person is no longer an individual. When we support a sports team we are now part of a larger hivemind of fans. We only care about the victory of our team and are even often hostile to other collectives that oppose this wish, even though it doesn’t have any tangible effect on us. Yet a human can also function as a completely independent entity. That is what separates us from ants. While an ant cannot function as an individual a human can independently think and make decisions.
Emergence and group thinking
The reason emergence occurs is that many smaller independent entities merge to all work towards the same goal. Yet, as stated before this emergence only grants power, not morality. How these goals are set, and how each independent entity works with the others determines the quality and morality of that newly emerged entity. In an ant colony goals are set by the queen and worker ants are all merged through a rigid social structure where each ant has no autonomy. The human equivalence of this would be totalitarian forms of government (monarchies, oligarchies, dictatorships, etc.). To coordinate everyone, all the power is given to a small number of people. This checks the two boxes for emergence to occur:
- The independent entities are merged by granting their autonomy to the authority in power (which uses the power granted to him to keep people in check)
- The authority sets the common goal for everybody to work towards
This form of civilization is very vulnerable. It relies heavily on the morality of a select few individuals. If these individuals don’t have the people's best interest in heart, then a corrupt community is created. Rockets are aimed at people not at the moon. There are countless examples of strong authority leading to destructive communities. Whether it be Nazi Germany or Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiment it has been proven time and time again that unchecked power can easily result in some of the most terrible actions a human can make.
The question arises, why handover our autonomy and individualism. Why not remove the government and prevent the centralization of power. The answer to that lies in the prerequisites of emergence. A common goal, and a force to coordinate and merge individuals. Anarchy, for example, sacrifices the power emergence grants for complete autonomy and individual identity. Yet, there is a social system that allows for both the power of emergence as well as maintaining autonomy. That system is democracy.
The recent shift from group identity to individualism and democracy
Early 15th century, the world was almost exclusively composed of monarchies and other totalitarian governments. Society was built on a rigid class structure and group identity had a part in almost every interaction. What I mean by group identity is that you were seen as a part of a larger whole whether that be your race, class, or religion, and you were treated as such. Hierarchies were built upon these group identities. Nobles and kings were superior to their vassals and knights which were superior to workers and peasants.
Over the past century, there has been a huge shift away from this world view. The creation of the image to the left is a testament to that. It provides insight into what intellectuals of that time perceived in medieval hierarchies where there were huge disparities in living conditions of the various classes. Over time, we shifted farther and farther away from group identity. America was built on the notion of individual rights and freedoms. Slavery was abolished, segregation was outlawed. The world as a whole shifted away from monarchies, oligarchies, and dictatorships in favor of democracies. A democracy allows each person to express their own beliefs and morals through voting. Through this method, individuals maintain their autonomy and can express their morals and the requirements of emergence are still satisfied.
- The common goal is decided by the people
- Independent entities merge through choosing a representative to enact their common goal
This describes only one type of democracy (a representative democracy) which is the most widespread method of governance in the modern world. This method decentralizes power granting people autonomy while also maintaining order and organization. Even still this grants disproportionate amounts of power to representatives it is a huge leap forward from systems of governance just two centuries ago.
Note: new social structures are continuously being developed and implemented. For example, millions of people have made and are making highly coordinated protests in Hong Kong without any sort of leadership. Their novel methods of organization have prompted many case studies around the world and it is a fascinating rabbit hole to explore.
With the advent of democracy, morality is decentralized among the people. Civilization no longer relies on the moral compass of a small group of people who have their own interests, motives, and can often be corrupted. Instead in a democratic society morality is based on the motives of every single person. Making a society that serves all.
The biggest flaw in democracy
By giving everybody a part in making decisions for the collective, a democratic system relies on the majority to make the correct decision. Though this is easy to say, it is much harder to enable. Over time, civilization has become more and more complex. As complexity rises our involvement with civilization as a whole falls. What I mean by this is that people specialized in tasks. A hunter-gatherer had a holistic understanding of every activity in their tribe. Yet in the current day, a single person knows next to nothing about almost every object and system they use in their day to day lives. Let me illustrate this with a toothbrush.
What goes into you using a toothbrush? good question.
Step 1: Mine raw materials like oil and natural gas
Step 2: You must refine and treat said materials into plastic
Step 3: You must mold the heated plastic into the shape of a toothbrush handle
Let's pause right there. This is just a very high-level overview. Just until here, I can write entire books on techniques on extracting the oil, the chemistry that goes into making the plastic, the engineering that goes into molding the plastic, the testing that goes into the controlling quality and this is all just to make the handle. To truly understand the lifetime of a single toothbrush you must also learn about how to make the bristles, packaging the toothbrush, shipping, tariffs on exports, running a business, marketing the product, disposing of the toothbrush, and so much more. A person often spends their entire life specializing to do only a small fraction of this entire process, knowing next to nothing about the other steps in the process.
When faced with this humbling worldview, it becomes obvious what a daunting task it is to rely on every person to make decisions outside of their expertise for society as a whole. Even those who spend their whole life in the study of politics, economy, and history are torn on many of the topics that the average voter will be voting on.
The importance of informed voting
The magnitude of the decisions we make in the modern-day has much higher stakes than in the past. One of Einstein's most famous quotes is the following: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
Policies that result from the votes that we cast in the next election will have huge implications. Will the next generation grow up in a technological utopia where humanity lives in the best living conditions or a dystopia in which the earth has been ravaged by climate change, conflict, and inequality? It is not only our duty to vote, but we must vote with confidence that we are making the right decisions as those decisions dictate the future of not only ourselves but the world as a whole.
Though it is impossible to comprehend every aspect of modern-day society, heck it's impossible to fully understand every aspect of the toothbrush industry, it is still possible to try. Not only is it possible but it is our duty to try. The lives that we lead, the policies that we support, and the candidates we vote for will dictate the future of our world as a whole.
I made this blog to understand more about the world that we live in and to share that understanding with others. This is my first step in this journey. Stay tuned for the next step, coming very soon ;)
Make your decision it will form the future you live in, go and VOTE!
Get Informed:
- official voter guide
- Stay tuned for an upcoming article about the elections
