What's next?

As far as political systems go, I think we've reached the highest point of evolution. Believing ourselves equal to each other before the law and actually living it, not just thinking it. Governing ourselves through bodies peopled by elected representatives, who function as proxies for the rest of society. It's pretty darn amazing. For this, we have the American Revolution to thank. Any injustices that may result from this political system come not from flaws in the system, but from the limitations of being human. Consider this: our elected representatives aren't always honourable. They lie, they cheat. They fall victim to vanity. Knowing this, we the people monitor them, with the idea being that, when we see them no longer able to surmount their human weaknesses, they are kicked out and new proxies installed. But we the people can never know everything, because the way we gather information is imperfect. Our ability to analyze the world is limited to within a 50-feet radius. Indeed, to draw conclusions about the world beyond that radius, we must seek information from each other. And that's precisely the problem. People cannot be relied upon to tell "the truth" (if you've ever been stuck between two people in a he said-she said situation, you'll know what I mean). I don't even think we tell the truth to ourselves, let alone to other people. Also, even when in possession of the best information we cannot be certain we're interpreting events correctly, because we're each limited to our narrow scopes, born as we are with feeble eyes and ears, and a brain that we hardly know how to use. Nevertheless, if we apply ourselves honestly and thoroughly within this system of elected representatives, we can rest assured that, at the very least, the process by which our society is governed is just in spirit.

So we've conquered politics. What's left? I think the next frontier of philosophical achievement is the environment. The next big revolution will touch on how to inject more accountability in our actions vis-a-vis our ecosystem. How we kill animals for food. How we grow plants to use for cloth and building material. How we use minerals to fuel our machines. At the moment, we apply very little justice in these areas. It's the missing link. And how our economic system suffers for it!

+ + +

While I was waxing philosophic, Hooman has gone and made a beautiful Swiss roll with homemade Chantilly cream. He demands to know whether I'll blog about it. I will not.