Natalia wrote:
Selma, you don't ask for much, do you!?
First, I think you're off to a good start already. A world
solution.
If government legislation were enacted to constrain capitalism,
initiate work fairness and raise the minimum wages, in addition
to ensuring that all children and adults had basic needs including
medical and dental, plus childcare...
access to education which included the arts, credits for educa-
tional and work related needs such as computers, work or school
clothing and transportation, compasses and canvasses and violins...
Selma:
I would go beyond what you have here, Natalia for
a couple of reasons:
I believe the level of technological development
available, when ultimately used for the benefit of the whole planet, will
bring about a situation in which there will not be 'work' in the sense we
presently think of it, available for everyone and this, I believe, will be a
very good thing. While there will still be some of the routine, basic jobs to
be done by humans, most of the boring and tedious work of the world will be
done by robots and other such contrivances. That, of course, brings up a whole
pandora's box of issues about human nature, how humans are motivated,
etc.
If, as we have already suggested here, ALL human
babies are born into an environment in which they are fully supported
physically, psychologically, emotionally, aesthetically, my contention is that
the majority of humans, allowed to develop their natural talents, will want to
spend their lives doing whatever it is that they love to do. Whether that
is baking pastries, playing the violin or engineering new environments for
'good' living, everyone's talents will be used for everyone's
benefit.
Again, ridiculously idealistic and unrealistic?
Maybe not. Anyway, as I've already said, if we don't have an idea what it is
that we want to aim for, we cannot figure out how to begin to set our feet on
that road.
I do know that the idea of minimum wages is
connected to a way of thinking that does not allow for an environment in which
ALL humans are provided with the basic necessities of life which, for me,
includes violin lessons and visits to the best museums and full access to the
knowledge of all civilizations. It does not, however, include a diet of
lobster and steak, fancy cars, houses or clothes But, do you agree that
a person allowed to develop their best talents won't need the trappings of
power and glory or the constant stimulation of consumerism to be fully
happy?
It is only because of the high level of
technological development that all of this is possible for everyone in the
world.
I think the very nature of capitalistic
entrepreneurship would change drastically under these circumstances. It might
just be the arena for testing out things to see what works or not in the way
of new products. I'm not sure. I do believe there is lots of room for
creativity in the area of developing new products and devices that might be of
use to humans and that there needs to be some way to find out which ones work
and will be used, and which ones don't. So that might be a place where
capitalistic ideas would come in handy. I'm not sure about this. I think much
about it needs to be thought through very carefully.
I am thinking that all those material things that
are basic for human survival would be controlled by agencies representing the
public: first and foremost, as Ray has often mentioned on this list, this
society would realize that fundamental to all human development is
aesthetics and that would always be the first consideration and would be basic
to all education without which nothing else would matter; provision
would also be made for food, basic housing, basic clothing, basic
transportation, energy needs, etc. There is no reason why there could
not be room for creative individuals to develop, as I mentioned above, new and
different kinds of housing, clothing, all manner of interesting products and
devices that might be of interest and use in a healthy and always changing
environment.
As I mentioned above, these ideas are based on a
particular view of human nature. I would suggest here that there are generally
(very generally) three basic views of human nature*, not one of which has any
more scientific evidence to support it than either of the other two. One view
is what one might call the negative view: based pretty much on ideas of men
like Thomas Hobbes and Sigmund Freud in which humans are seen as battling a
beastly nature that has to be tamed or contstrained or whatever. A second view
is that of the behaviorists, notably represented by Skinner and
Watson; I call this the neutral view which sees the human baby as a blank
slate upon which the environment has total influence. The third view
is what I call the positive view and is most notably represented by Carl
Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
*Please note that this is similar to
but not the same as Maslow's three forces.
There is a great deal of evidence to support all
three of these views. It depends on what questions one asks and what
historical or scientific evidence one selects in order to support one view or
the other. I don't believe there is more or better evidence to support any one
view over the other two or any other view of human nature.
So my position is that when one attempts to talk
about what kind of a society one believes is possible in the future, it is a
matter of honesty and integrity to be explicit about which view of human
nature one supports in order to make ones suggestions for the 'good society',
or whatever society one believes can be developed from where we are
now.
My view is clearly the positive view. I believe
we can use much of the information developed by the behaviorists to help us
understand much about the way human beings operate. I also believe that there
is much in Freud and many of the 'depth psychologists' that is of enormous
value in understanding human behavior and that all of that information can
inform us about the details of how to construct the society we want to see.
But basically, I personally 'know' (not a scientific 'knowing') in a very deep
and spiritual place that basically human beings, given the kind of support I
have described above, will develop into adults who want, more than they
want anything else, to work (at work they love because they have been allowed
to find out what that is) and to love others-because that feels so wonderful
and is so satisfying and fulfilling, as is working at what one loves.
I loook forward to your responses.
Selma
