Memories of the 28th Century

Some years ago, people thought and worried about mediocrity taking over the world. That isn’t a worry any more, because inferiority is taking over. People act as if low quality and thoughtless behavior and expression are fine.

Maybe it started with to movement to make all children feel good, so they all got trophies, and maybe some people think that equality should mean that no one can do a better job at anything than anyone else. Whatever started it and pushed it along, the election of Trump as president showed people that anyone can grow up to be president.

Then I clicked on an email, something about “Advisor Angle”, and it turned out to be trying to sell so-called “crypto-currency”. There are some superior con-artists in crypto, but most people are their marks, the patsies of the scam. And that scam makes some people feel good, because they win. It is similar to the old saying that one is superior, if he, or she, is still alive and thus superior to those who have died.

As with many situations, it is a matter of the definition. If one is measuring people by their wealth, then the super-rich are superior to the poor. But if happiness and satisfaction with life is the goal, then a different collection of people are at the top of the list.

Socrates believed the best people were those who dedicated themselves to living a virtuous and examined life, prioritizing inner goodness and the care of the soul over material possessions or external achievements. This is embodied in his famous quote, "The unexamined life is not worth living.” (Borrowed from Google’s AI)

Trump and his plutocratic friends would contend that wealth is the best way to measure the quality of people. I don’t completely disagree, but it has something to do with how the wealth was acquired. Trump got money from family and by borrowing. There that are people like Warren Buffett, who became rich be making good decisions in investing. And there are also some people who became rich the way that Bill Gates did; he was hired by a smart man with a good idea (Paul Allen) and staying there and collecting pay and gains.

There probably are as many ideas of how to measure the quality of people as there are people who would ask the question or look inside themselves.

But this has veered off course. It is good for people to think well of themselves, but it is a mistake to determine the best and the worst people are the same. If we wanted to look at the human race as a whole, there those who do the most to advance humanity are the best humans, but defining how each person advances humanity.

And I haven’t asked the Gods and Goddesses. Thy usually have reasonable opinions about humans. I will have to ask. It’s sort of odd, but I will ask, when I get a chance. The original purpose of this blog entry was to praise the wise and make the unwise look unwise, but the unwise have become more popular in the last few years.

I am not aiming toward a strict ranking of people by any particular characteristic, but I think that what used to be known as the “Natural Aristocracy” should get more respect than the con-artists who make big splashes in popular media. Who should we blame? The popular media, public education, the successful moves to stop calling the mentally retarded mentally retarded, or what? One suggestion that I have is that evolution of the species has ended, and now it is in devolution. I think that is an interesting idea, and there are several good reasons for believing it, but it is in opposition to equality, so it probably will be unpopular.

I would love to know what others think of devolution of humans.