Hm. OK. The problem I see with allowing a supernatural component into the legal system is a lack of access to a "touchstone", a transpersonal objective truth. Supernatural access, even if such exists, is notoriously exploitable by defectors, perhaps including a cabal of crony Bishops. By disallowing it, we scope the legal system to some ground truth, some universally verifiable fact.
I know you have myriad arguments against our current attempts at ground truth (aka science). And as a pluralist and agnostic, I'm sympathetic. But such skepticism doesn't give us the justification for ignoring how helpful such a ground truth would be in limiting defection in a multidimensional "market". On May 9, 2021 8:13:24 AM PDT, Prof David West <[email protected]> wrote: >With one slight modification, I agree completely with glen's five >principles. The exception: *"there is nothing supernatural, so all >solutions have to be built on science."* The closest thing to a >"cultural universal" (a practice, norm, technology, custom, etc. that >is shared by all cultures) is a belief in a *supernatural*. I see no >problem in basing a "solution" — a non-money-based social structure — >on such a belief. > >The most prominent examples of societies/cultures that do not use money >internally, would be the Mennonites and the Amish. Both do use money >externally, i.e. for interactions with outsiders. An example that I am >more familiar with is the **United Order** established by Brigham >Young. > >Orderville is a small town about 20 miles south of where I live and was >the last community to practice the United Order. Just before its >demise, the community numbered in several thousands and engaged in >enterprises that included mining, ranching, lumber mill, textile and >garment manufacturing, cotton growing, mercantile and trade, etc. The >geographic range of the community covered all of Arizona north of the >Grand Canyon, as far as present day Las Vegas, and the southern third >of Utah. > >It was a Mormon community and all shared a common belief in a >'supernatural' and that belief played an integral role in the >organization of the community. For example, the Bishop's Storehouse — >both literal and metaphorical — was the repository of all goods and >produce from the community and the Bishop, a religious leader, was >charged with protection and distribution of contents among the populace >according to need. But a Bishop is not a full-time religious figure — >the church, even today, has less than 100 people who are 'paid clergy' >— and not an authoritarian figure. Although there was a division of >labor (men seldom worked in the communal kitchen and women seldom >engaged in ranching or mining) it was primarily an egalitarian society. >Women also tended to exert civil and social authority over the >community while men exercised religious authority. > >Everyone, including children from age 8 and older (age of baptism), had >direct access to the supernatural (to God) and was expected to use that >access to determine correct actions and make decisions with regard >every aspect of life. > >All of this functioned (internally) without any form of money (or >similar abstraction). > >Orderville was disbanded when the US Government took control of Utah, >took away women's right to vote, confiscated property of anyone with >any connection to polygyny, and imposed a Washington-based civil >authority. > >Because the "economy" of these cultures is based on a mixture of >balanced and general reciprocity, there is no need for money within the >society. > >There is no reason that these cultures could not scale to at least >'national' scales except, perhaps, those like the Amish that eschew >technology and the "modern." > >for what it is worth, > >davew > -- glen ⛧ - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
