There are many people who believe that the infrastructure in which they exist – and the mindset of which they partake – is reality, and that nothing else is. This is a hideous racket. The Sun is reality. The Universe is reality. Planet Earth is reality, as are the oceans, the air, the rainforests, and the other civilizations. The infrastructure is real enough, but it is in no way the whole of reality. Without the Sun, the Universe, and the Planet Earth, this infrastructure would not exist.
When I left the corporate world in order to study life, I was accused of leaving the real world. I did no such thing. I left an adaptation to see things more clearly. The adaptation is real; but in no way is it the whole of reality or anything close to being the whole of reality. It is not reality; it is an adaptation.
We have people considering themselves rational or realistic who see this adaptation as being reality and nothing else to be. This leads to horrible wrongdoing. They poison the air and the oceans. They burn down the rainforest. They destroy other ways of life. Once again, their infrastructure is real enough. But without the Sun, planet Earth and the rest of reality, it would not exist in the first place.
I have been accused by many people of lacking realism and common sense. I do not regard common sense at all to be sensible. It is common sense that life is not fair; it is common sense that you get what you give. These beliefs are mutually incompatible with one another. If life is not fair then you don't get what you give; and if you get what you give then life is fair. Two mutually contradictory statements are part of the same mentality; which means that that mentality is not nearly as sensible as it believes itself to be.
As for realism, the answer is no. Realism is not the same thing as partaking of obviously wrong beliefs. The same people who think themselves realistic are doing horrible damage to the rest of the world and leaving the world a worse place than they have found it. I have education in economics from a conservative American university, and I do not oppose either business or technology. I oppose wrongful business practices and bad uses of technology. There are all sorts of better technologies out there that stand to fulfil people's material needs and wants at a far better standard than the technologies that are being used presently. The people who champion them are not lunatics or “narcissists” or "sociopaths" or anything of the sort; they are people who seek true progress – progress from inefficient, polluting, resource-intensive technologies to technologies that are efficient, non-polluting and brain-intensive.
Does seeing such things make me dangerous? I sure hope that it does. I hope to be dangerous to racketeers, and I hope that more people be dangerous to them as well. When you brainwash people into believing that one adaptation is reality and that nothing else is, you are pulling a con job. I want to deconstruct con jobs; and I hope to not be the only person who does this.
Once again, the infrastructure is real enough. But it has no business claiming to be the whole of reality. A mindset is not reality either; it is a mindset. Most mindsets have something – or many things – wrong with them. And eventually someone will see through such things, however much you may want to either demonize or pathologize people who are capable of doing the same.
Do people owe things to this infrastructure? Of course. However they owe more to the Sun and the Planet Earth. Without these things, no infrastructure would exist. The infrastructure, once again, is real enough; but in no way is it the whole of reality.
So that when someone looks outside of the infrastructure or a mindset for a more honest view, he is not going outside reality. He is going outside of an infrastructure and a mindset. This then completes his understanding of what reality is; and he becomes capable of communicating to others a more informed understanding.
I do not seek to do away with the infrastructure; it has provided many good things. I do however seek to do away with lies and errors. The infrastructure is a part of reality, but in no way is it the whole of reality. And you will see the same things being said by many others, once again, however much you seek to either demonize or pathologize them.
Do people's efforts deserve respect? Of course they do. But poisoning the oceans and the air, or burning down Amazonian rainforest, does not. Here we see a very real reality being impacted wrongly. You have not created the oceans and the air; you have not created the Amazonian rainforest; you have no business destroying the same. The people who do such things think that they are being realistic or responsible. They are being neither of the preceding. And it is a sad state of affairs indeed when it takes an “unrealistic” person like me to remind them.
Some things that have come out of the economic system have been good, and some have been bad. That is the case with all systems, and always has been. I have value for such things as the Internet – a brain-intensive, non-polluting technology. I have absolutely no value for bad technologies such as dirty coal, and much less value for wrong beliefs. The first impacts horribly upon the rest of reality. And the second tells people a pack of lies that likewise influences people to wrongfully impact upon the rest of reality.
Now there will always be people to see things such as the above. You will not get rid of them whatever you do. It is neither evil nor sick to see where people have gone wrong; indeed doing so corrects many errors and results in a more informed state of affairs. A state of affairs that, being more informed, likewise has the actual chance of being more responsible. As well as more rightful.
Nor do I need letters after my name or superior spiritual qualities in order to be credible. Ayn Rand, Nietzsche and Immanuel Kant had neither; and their work has been far more valuable than what has been done by most academics or monks. I do not stand on either personal credibility or academic credibility. I stand on the quality of my ideas; and I hope that others do as well.
There have been any number of people who have accused me of being irresponsible for having done what I had done. In fact it was highly responsible. Responsibility presupposes knowledge. If one does not have knowledge, one does things that he believes to be responsible but aren't. One drives Hummers. One poisons the oceans and the air. One destroys other ways of life. None of these things are remotely responsible. If one either knows – or suspects rightfully – that one has been lied to, the responsible thing to do is not to partake of the lies. It is to look outside of the lies for a more informed view of reality.
This, then, becomes the real task of the intellectual. It is to see through rackets and impart people a more informed view. America hates intellectuals, but it owes to them its nationhood. Without them damn intellectuals such as Voltaire, Jefferson and Franklin, America would not exist. And an average American would be taking responsibility for tilling a two-acre plot of land for one or another European monarchy, living till age 30 and having his sons drafted into the military and his daughters into domestic servitude.
So if you actually believe in realism or responsibility, look at what you are doing to the rest of the world. Look at how your actions impact upon the rest of reality. Look what kind of a world you are leaving behind for your children. There is nothing responsible or realistic about leaving behind you a toxic hell. Nor is there anything righteous or honorable about telling them a pack of lies about what it means to be rational, responsible or realistic.
There have been many people with realizations such as the above who decided that the Western civilization is the problem. I believe no such thing. I think that many good things have come out of the Western civilization; but this is not one of them. For starters, you do not for long get the loyalty of honest people by telling them a pack of lies. And what we see here is hideous lies all around.
In no way do I seek to destroy the Western civilization. I seek to influence it toward better conduct, and one more compatible with the values it claims to possess. If you believe in responsibility, you would not be destroying the planet. If you believe in honesty or integrity, you would not be conning people. And if you believe in Christian values or family values, you would not be bequeathing to your children a toxic hell.
The solution is not to do away with business and technology. The solution is to use business and technology to put into place better technologies and better business practices. It is to move away from polluting, destructive, resource-intensive technologies to technologies that are non-polluting and brain-intensive. It is to affectuate true progress. A value that is likewise claimed by the conservatives; but that they obviously refuse to practice.
To hell with political correctness, Communism and anything of the sort. Instead look at your actual values and what they mean. Responsibility means impacting upon the rest of the world rightfully instead of wrongfully. Realism means treating the rest of reality with respect. And Christian and family values means bequeathing to your children a better world than what you have found.