THE SEARCH FOR A POSSIBILITY TO EXIST




A Study in Thought

sa028



by





Marius Heuff

Chapter 1

Content

The mental imagery of the evolution of life.
A foundation for the understanding of our own existence.
The concept of a "possibility to exist" is applicable from biochemical phenomena to economic and social mechanisms.
A quick over-view of the origins of terrestial life and inorganic matter.
The evolution of orbital matter within stellar furnaces.
The earth with its physical constants represents the foundation for biochemical evolution.
The fortuitous co-incidence of suitable physical constants and primary building-blocks for the processes of polymerisation.
Rapidly ageing giant stars, and the evolution of atomic elements.
The solar system is a late-comer in the stellar development of this region of the galaxy.
The absorption of solar energy; thermal agitation and the capture of energy-quanta by electron-excitation.
The formation of high-energy electro-chemical bonds.
The high-energy bond as the driving force for all biochemical events.
The concept of entropy.
Life, seen as a pathway for the random dissipation of solar energy, captured in high-energy bonds.
A rain-shower, filling a depression in a rock.
Water rivulets, dissipating the gravitational energy of captured water, and their ability to "perform work".
The "possibility to exist".
Force-fields and tension- or pressure-gradients.
Changing aspects of existence.
Transformations, until no further change is possible.
The spontaneous decay of inherently unstable atomic nuclei.
The excited electron; a labile state with a tendency to transfer its energy-content to another configuration.
The stability of matter-energy; when internal resistance is greater than external force-fields.
Stability is also provided, when there is a continuous influx of energy to repair and counter-act the tendency towards chaos.
The rapid or water-fall.
The "open" system of existence, requiring a continuous influx of usable energy in order to maintain existence.
Specialisation of cellular functions, and the development of the ability to move.
The obligate-predatory nature of animal life.
The struggle for existence, and the continuous search for a possibility to exist; the trend towards social integration.

It seems, that, every time we approach a subject for discussion, we are irresistibly drawn to the mental imagery that describes the origins of life on our planet. The ideas and concepts of the evolutionary origins of life, as we visualise them, today, seem to permeate, now, all our ideas on the behaviour of human beings, as well as all animal behaviour, and, these ideas appear to have, also, a remarkable relevance for the phenomena of our collective existence within a social entity. In spite of the fact, that we intend to focus our attention, eventually, on this complex of events we loosely call "economic mechanisms", it seems beneficial to summarise, once more, in a quick over-view, the essential concepts of the origins of terrestial life.

In our efforts to grasp the essence of life, we have learned to conceptualise and manipulate those fundamental principles of evolutionary change which hold the key to understanding social phenomena as well. In particular, the dynamics of economic mechanisms seem to find a satisfactory explanation in the fundamental biological concepts regarding the organisation and evolution of the living systems.

Well, then, let us recall, once more, the fortuitous circumstances of a planet with a certain mass, encircling a medium-sized star at a certain distance, with a certain rotational speed around its axis and around the sun. All these fortuitous factors give rise to the physical constants that make it possible for water to exist in its fluid form; at a fortuitous temperature range of about thirty to forty degrees centigrade, which also depends upon these physical constants. These same constants create a sufficiently large gravitational pull for gaseous substances to remain bound to the earth, and we may summarise these conditions by saying, that this entire physical constellation allows for the climatological and physical circumstances which were present on the early earth, when this vast biochemical experiment began.

These fortuitous circumstances also included an abundance of water molecules, (whose origin is a question on its own), as well as a variety of pre-organic building-blocks, such as oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, including many other elements that indicate to us, now, in our modern interpretation about the evolution of matter, how massive stars developed, and died, prior to the formation of our present solar system.

The hierarchy of atomic elements that make-up the matter of our earth and the nearby planets, is considered to be a result of huge, intra-stellar nuclear furnaces, which existed within unstable, rapidly ageing, giant stars. These giant stars developed in the early stages of the formation of our galaxy because of an abundance of inter-stellar hydrogen, and, within the nuclear furnaces of these giant stars, all the atomic elements that are heavier than hydrogen, were formed. After these giant, unstable stars exploded and died, their debris was, eventually, incorporated into the much slower forming solar system of our times.

Certainly, we lack many details of this mental imagery, visualising the evolution of inorganic matter, but, we may assume, that the inorganic evolution of matter laid the foundation for the evolution of organic matter, as well as the organisation of life. The daily fluctuations of day and night, and the presence of water at a suitable temperature-range for polymerising activities, (combining carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and other elements into long, fragile molecules), created the possibilities for a vast number of proto-biochemical substances to exist.

We have traced before, how solar energy-absorption began to include an occasional photon-capture in the form of a high-energy electron bond, made possible by certain suitable electron-path configurations. Photon-capture in the form of a high-energy electro-chemical bond led to the possibility of branching rivulets or chain-reactions of biochemical transformations. This possibility to capture energy in the form of a reversible, high-energy electro-chemical bond is the corner-stone of the evolutionary search for existence possibilities by transient fluid, biochemical substances and their constant transformations or chain-reactions.

We see, then, how the constant influx of captured solar energy and the constant production of high-energy chemical bonds, formed a large reservoir of energy; the chemical energy-potential from which all biochemical chain-reactions take their orign and find their possibility to exist. In view of the confused concepts regarding the phenomenon of "entropy", (the random distribution and dispersion of a system into its lowest possible energy-content), it seems appropriate to remind ourselves, that this dissipation of captured solar energy through the random existence possibilities of proto-biochemical reactions, is just that; a dissipation of concentrated focal points of energy along paths of least resistance, representing, in essence, a process of entropy.

As a somewat crude analogy, we may use the imagery of a sizeable rain-shower that has filled a naturally existing depression in an elevated rocky terrain with rain-water. Slowly, through fissures and cracks, the water dissipates into the lower surroundings. During this flow of water in the form of small rivulets, seeking their lowest level of potential energy as a result of gravitational gradients, a force-field exists, and, such a rivulet or stream of water may carry-out "work"; it may move a few grains of sand or a small object.

The random dissipation of an energy-gradient makes it possible for a number of transient phenomena to exist, e.g., rivulets of water or fragile biochemical substances. The transient and changing energy-gradients exist as an expression of a much larger entropic process, but these transient energy-gradients, coupled with a random search for the most viable or stable form of existence, constitute the foundation for our concepts, describing the origin and organisation of life. Before we tackle this phenomenon, (where we see the organisational growth of living matter into ever larger complexes as a result of yielding to a suitable pressure-gradient), it may be worthwhile to analyse, in more detail, the concept of an "existence possibility".

The idea of an "existence-possibility" is a fundamental concept that has been based upon an indefinable inter-twining of logic and observation. This concept states, that, any system, be it matter or energy, organic or inorganic, is always subject to some kind of force-field. This force-field may be gravitational, electro-static or electro-magnetic in nature, and, the internal resistance to change of such a system, determines, whether or not it will change during any particular period of existence or observation.

We have described, before, how all inorganic chemical substances under average terrestial conditions seem to be static and unchanging, because, most of the time, the force-fields are too weak to change the molecular configuration. We have also discussed the observation, that, changes in atomic nuclei, (apart from the mechanisms of spontaneous decay), only take place in the stellar interiors we described before, where extremely high pressures and temperatures overcome the internal atomic force-fields that bind the protons and neutrons of a nucleus together and resist a change in their configuration. Certainly, changes in the electron-paths of atoms and molecules are possible under average terrestial conditions, and, we are then coming back to the example of the excited electron, or, the high-energy electro-chemical bond, which is the essential energy-source for the life processes on earth.

The existence of a matter-energy system becomes impossible, if its internal resistance is too low to counter-act the forces infringing upon it, or, if the internal centrifugal forces become stronger than the forces that keep the system together. Such systems would then decompose into components that have the ability to withstand the forces of its internal and external environment. In other words; each system finds its level of existence by reverting to a state, where the internal forces, resisting further change, are greater than the tensions within the system, or, the pressure-gradients acting upon the system.

We have elaborated these ideas before, but, these concepts are so fundamentally important for a comprehensive mental grasp, that we have tried to re-state the principle of an existence possibility, or viability, be it organic or inorganic. We take this concept one step further, and, we see, that a fluid, low internal resistance system may, under suitable circumstances, prolong or extend its viability, or, its possibility to exist, if it can use a continuous influx of energy to off-set the tendency of its components to fall-apart. This is especially noticeable in living systems, but, as we have seen before, even inorganic systems are subject to internal stresses that may tear them apart, unless a suitable energy-influx prevents such an occurrence.

Let us look at a simple "rapid", which is represented by the rapid flow of water in a river with a steeply sloping river-bed. Unless a continuous influx of water maintains the water-level of the system, the river, or rapid, will soon run dry, and, it will disappear as a fluid system with a low internal resistance to change. The continuous entropy of water, flowing towards its lowest energy-level, is off-set by a continuous influx of new water coming from a higher energy-source, and, we see an apparently static existence-possibility for a fluid system, such as a rapidly flowing river, or a water-fall.

All living entities, from biochemical reaction-patterns to cellular and multi-cellular life-forms, including social groupings of human beings, fall into this category of an "open system", where a continuous influx of energy is necessary to off-set, or "repair", the continuous processes of entropy; the dissipation of energy into reactions that increase chaos and randomness. On other occasions, we have more fully illustrated this statement. Let us continue, now, with a brief consideration of the essential properties of this living and metabolising complex; the single, free-floating cell.

We all know, that the cell requires a continuous influx of energy in order to repair the tendency to internal chaos, but, a left-over energy is used by the cell to enlarge itself or multiply, whenever conditions are favourable, or, to react to various stimuli with alterations in its metabolic pathways, as well as primitive movements of its protoplasm. These abilities are later elaborated into specialised functions and structures, in order to make such mechanisms more effective for the larger, multi-cellular organisms.

The capability of movement has become so successful, that all the species' in the "animal kingdom" rely completely upon their ability to capture another living organism, or, to move towards a more favourable environment. As a result, they have lost or dispensed with the ability to synthesise their own organic requirements from inorganic precursors.

Yet, the struggle for existence is continuing in the realm of the living organisation, and, in addition to a continuous search for the most effective form of a living organisation, the forces of evolution also experimented with the possibilities inherent in the association and inter-dependence of a number of living entities, where life-forms find a greater level of viability by existing and working together, compared to the existence possibilities when a life-form is trying to exist on its own.

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Chapter 2

Content

The tendency for living entities to organise themselves into ever more complex units.
The apparent contradiction of the law of entropy; the blind search for greater viability.
Internally, a living system experiences entropy in its tendency to "fall-apart" or become disorganised.
The living system functions as a channel for the dissipation of a biochemical energy-gradient.
The tendency for channels of dissipation to favour those with the "least resistance", which are those that are the largest and most complex.
The similar picture of a rivulet, scouring a path for itself and "growing" by absorbing the smaller rivulets in the neighbourhood. Enlargement of the rivulet speeds-up the dissipation of trapped energy.
The greater efficiency of inter-connected biochemical pathways for the dissipation of trapped solar energy.
The high resistance to dissipating such a biochemical energy-gradient, when the protoplasmic primordium has inefficient channels of dissipation.
The blind search for a path of least resistance.
The similarities between growing biochemical rivulets and rivulets of water.
The co-existence of biochemical reaction-patterns.
Inter-dependence in the search for a possibility to exist.
Stability, found in complexity, as well as in a wide range of existence possibilities.
The transformation of the protoplasmic primordium; from homogeneity to a state of discontinuity; the process of "differentiation".
Growth, co-alescence, and the organisation into ever greater complexities.
Analogies with the ever-widening river-beds and confluence of streams, as the process of energy-dissipation is speeded-up.
The processes of growth and differentiation are not contradicting the principles of entropy.
Adopting a proper perspective, in order to see the processes that are going-on in their entirety.
The "soft" structural channels of biochemical pathways.
Parallels with social phenomena.
The "guided event".
Manufacturing a copy of itself.
The inorganic processes of apposition and crystallisation require a super-saturated solution, before the necessary energy-gradients are available.
In the living systems, the process of duplication or manufacture can occur, because there is energy available to fuel such energy-requiring reactions.
This is, again, an example of the dissipation of biochemical energy by living systems.
In a "guided event", the channel for the dissipation of energy remains available, but in a "haphazard event", the pathways have to be found by trial and error, again and again.
The "softness" of a structural pathway is an indication, that the pathway will "silt-up", or disappear, as soon as the energy-flow has been interrupted, because of a tendency to entropic disorganisation; the need for constant repairs.
Guided events for the duplication of a living cell; a sequential organisation of biochemical events, locked-up in a genetic key, but these events depend for their actualisation on suitable environmental circumstances.

Let us analyse, for a moment, this remarkable process, which is seen throughout the realm of living organisation; nl., the tendency for the living structure to organise itself into increasingly complex units. It is obvious, that, in general terms, such a tendency reflects a "blind" search for greater viability or a better possibility to exist; a greater stability, as well as an ability to overcome the disruptive pressures of the environment and the internal tendency towards dissolution.

We have, therefore, the curious situation, that the tendency to revert to random chaos internally, is an expression of the principle of entropy we talked about. Yet, at the same time, we see a tendency to search for ever greater degrees of viability, or stability, in the random testing of more complex existence-possibilities, and, the persistence or relative persistence of those states of organisation that are better able to resist the disruptive, chaotic forces of entropy. How do we reconcile these two, seemingly contradictory directions, which a flow of energy through a system brings-about?

A fluid system of events, such as the example of a rapid or stream, can only maintain its existence, if there is a continuous influx of suitable and adequate energy to fuel and sustain this fluid system. At the same time, we saw, that such a system provides a channel of least resistance for the dissipating energy-flow, which is an example of the process of entropy, whenever we consider the larger system of the influx of solar energy on earth, or the filling of a depression in a rocky ground by a rain-storm.

A rivulet of water, flowing out of a niche filled by a rain-storm, scours for itself an ever wider path, and, we see, that the rivulet grows into a large stream. The process of dissipation, or, the entropy of the energy contained in the trapped water, is speeded-up by the formation of larger rivulets. We see, therefore, that the tendency for a path of least resistance to be favoured and to be enlarged by the processes of entropic energy-dissipation, is a characteristic of the larger dissipating system, and, this tendency to seek-out paths of least resistance provides the element of growth for the smaller sub-system; the rivulet or stream.

Similarly, the biochemical pathways that are offering the least amount of resistance to the entropic dissipation of trapped or captured solar energy, are favoured over the less efficient systems. Therefore, the fluid pathways and structures over which this dissipating energy-flow takes place, has a tendency to grow and enlarge, and let ever more energy through its system.

Let us see what happens, if a continuous energy-gradient exists through a fluid system, and, we should also look at what happens, when such an energy-gradient does not change appreciably, even, if the energy-flow, the current, is dramatically increased. We visualise, that, initially, the biochemical inter-actions allowing for the dissipation of a biochemical energy-gradient were chance-happenings, and, we assume, that there did not exist any structural organisation to keep a certain chain of reactable substances together. Inter-linked pathways would be more efficient, however, in dissipating the biochemical pressure-gradient than a single step here and there, which would lead only to a minute energy-flow.

The internal resistance of the protoplasmic primordium to the biochemical pressure-gradient, created by the chance-existence of high-energy electro-chemical bonds, would be quite high, but, here and there, by fortuitous accident, a pathway would exist, which could let a spurt of energy through. This process resembles, somewhat, the haphazard, blindly testing and probing pathways of an electrical discharge, as we see in the phenomenon of "lightning".

If, by fortunate accident, somewhere in this vast protoplasmic primordium, such an inter-linked pathway of energy-dissipation would exist, even, if only temporarily, it would provide numerous possibilities along its pathway of energy-dissipation for chemical energy to "branch-off" and flow into neighbouring channels. Because of the essential fluidity of the structure of these proto-biochemical pathways, we visualise a process that is similar to a river flowing over soft grounds, scouring an ever greater and easier pathway for itself.

A biochemical chain-reaction can, therefore, be seen as a long, complicated, step-wise progression of an energy-flow, where the possibility to exist for any one step depends upon the existence, in close proximity, of a suitable donor of a quantum of energy, as well as a suitable recipient of this same quantum of energy on the other side of the reacting biochemical substance.

It becomes clear, that the fluid potentiality of existence for such a fragile biochemical reaction-pattern is greatly enhanced, and prolonged, if it co-exists with others in a close spatial relationship, and, if it exists in a definite sequence of energy-levels. Only then, is there a sufficient lowering of the internal resistance through the protoplasmic primordium to create a flow of energy from the biochemical pressure-gradient, but, at the same time, this "speeding-up" of the entropic dissipation of the overall biochemical pressure-gradient, gives the dissipating system a measure of stability; an enhanced existence possibility, or viability, counter-acting the internal tendency to entropy of the dissipating system itself.

Neighbouring channels or potential channels become actualised, because of a prolongation of the energy-flow through the system, and, we see, that an increasing complexity of this system gives rise to an increased viability and opportunity to persist, because each neighbouring channel will decrease the resistance of the energy-flow through the entire system. The dissipation of the energy-gradient of the larger system is thereby enhanced, and, the flow of such a system of energy-dissipation is increasingly channeled into well-marked channels with a low resistance.

We see, therefore, that a tranformation has taken place. While, originally, the protoplasmic primordium was homogeneous and had a constant and high resistance everywhere, we see, now, that the flow of biochemical energy runs through ever more clearly demarcated channels of energy-dissipation, and, we see a large number of small rivulets coalesce, gradually, into a few, gigantic, inter-connected systems, which drain or channel energy in enormous quantities through unbelievably complex, inter-connected pathways.

Growth, coalescence, and the increasing organisation into a greater complexity of the living system, are entirely analogous to the ever-widening river-beds and the confluence of streams, channeling the energy-flow of water and dissipating a gravitational pressure-gradient into ever more efficient channels with increasingly less internal resistance.

A process of differentiation has taken place, and, from a homogeneous origin, we see the emergence of sharp contrasts and discontinuities, but, there is nothing mysterious about this, and, it does not violate any physical laws. It does not even contradict the essence of our concepts about entropy, as long as we acknowledge, that these pathways, which are becoming organised into ever larger complexes, form pathways for the entropic dissipation of trapped solar energy, widening channels with increasingly less internal resistance.

Seen from the point of view of the energy-dissipating pathway, we may also say, that the tendency to coalesce and grow into an increasing complexity, is the result of a yielding to the continuous biochemical pressure-gradient applied to essentially fluid or "soft-walled" structural channels, and, therefore, growth, reproduction and increasing complexity represent, in essence, a process of yielding to pressures. It is the result of letting energy flow through a system with ever greater ease. This concept will be useful, when we try to illuminate economic pressures within a society of human being, or the mechanisms taking place within a society of socially integrated cells.

Before we leave the area of biochemical evolution, we should consider, once more, the phenomenon of organisation, and, in particular, the question of "guided development". This concept of "guided development" implies, that, during the duplication of a system, the element of chance, which led to the formation of the original substance, has been taken-away. A copy is now deliberately "manufactured", so to speak. It is manufactured by the parent-substance on the basis of inherent characteristics of certain substances to induce the building-blocks within their environment to align themselves in such a way, that they form a copy of the parent. This is done by a process whereby complementary substances are aligned in the sequence of the parent-substance, or template, guiding the creation of a duplicate.

Certainly, this is a remarkable phenomenon, and, it is a physical-chemical characteristic that does not necessarily depend on biochemical energy-transfers. The difference between a duplication process carried-out by a non-living system and a system that represents an organisation of life, lies in the fact, that a living system can supply, actively, the required energy through a variety of biochemical chain-reactions, while the non-living system must have a sufficient source of energy within the natural environment of the reaction processes, (in the form of a super-saturated solution), in order for these duplication processes to take place.

Duplication by apposition, such as crystallisation, occurs, only, whenever an abundant, super-saturated solution is present, because this provides the required energy-gradient for the process of duplication, while the availability of biochemical energy means, that the living system can carry-out a duplication process, requiring a specific influx of energy, before it can occur on the basis of a super-saturated solution. This imagery fits, once again, with the idea that living systems provide a channel for the lowering or dissipation of a biochemical energy-gradient, created by captured solar energy.

How does the existence of the capability to molecular duplication tie-in with the ability to duplicate a large and complex system of biochemical relationships, such as an entire cell? The key, here, is the concept of the "guided event". In a random system, an energy-gradient will seek a path of least resistance, and, the resulting flow will be a haphazard, randomly branching pathway, but, we have discussed the fact, that, under the influence of a persisting energy-gradient, a fluid dissipation-channel scours a more definite pathway by the coalescence of numerous rivulets. However, the moment the energy-flow ceases, or, when the stream of energy-dissipation lessens, the pathway or rivulet may become disorganised again, and, the level of resistance increases. This tends to favour a system that can maintain or duplicate its pattern of organisation easily.

An energy-stream, such as a biochemical sequence, has a soft, or, even, nearly fluid "river-bed", and, it tends to lose its soft contours, quickly, after the cessation of the energy-flow. Its soft structural guidance-patterns exist in the form of a spatial arrangement of substances that carry the energy in a chain-reaction. As we have discussed before, this is an example of "entropy", based on the tendency of a substance to disperse in a fluid medium.

In a way, such a pathway for the dissipation of an energy-gradient constitutes a "guided event", whereby the energy-flow contributes to the maintenance of the pathway, just like a rapidly flowing river keeps a clearly delineated pathway open, and is less likely to "silt-up" compared to a slow, meandering and vaguely delineated pathway or river-bed. We should keep in mind the essential "softness" of the guiding biochemical structures that take part in the dissipation of a biochemical energy-gradient of captured solar energy.

The single, free-floating cell is, in essence, a "soft pathway" for the continuous flow of biochemical energy. This is a picture we have elaborated before, and, in the process of reproduction or duplication, we see a "guided event" taking place, where the formation of a new cell, or the duplication of the cellular machinery prior to division, is a carefully guided series of linked events. This guidance-pattern is locked into a genetic key, which programs the machinery of the cell in such a way, that all the biochemical substances, including the guiding key, are duplicated, prior to its separation into two, identical entities.

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Chapter 3

Content

Why would a key for sequentially guided events emerge?
The gene; seen as a structure that can shape a "river-bed" for events.
The possibility to divert a flow of energy into side-branches.
The concept of the "guided event".
Every event is essentially "guided" or regulated by the factors under which the event takes place.
A fragment of a complex event can usually be described in terms of causes and effects, indicating the factors and circumstances guiding the event in a predictable manner.
An event of un-overseeable complexity of sub-events does not allow the delineation of guiding factors and circumstances.
The essence of the "random event"; a haphazard occurrence of a population of sub-events to which we apply statistical manipulations of recurring regularities.
The Brownian movements caused by thermal agitations of molecules represent an example of a complex population of events.
The importance of "focus" or "scope" in a field of vision.
The concept of an "un-guided event" is, essentially, a misnomer.
Regulator-substances may or may not participate in an event.
Regulator-substances function, often, as a carrier, oscillating between different states of existence, or, they may guide or "dock" certain substances in order to facilitate the occurrene of an inter-action between active elements.
Enzymes are "docking" substances.
Biochemical chain-reactions are examples, where the individual substances oscillate between states differing in energy-potential.
A self-duplicating molecule.
The "guided" polymerisation.
The "random" polymerisations of the early protoplasmic primordium.
Polymerisation is essentially similar to other molecular formations.
The easy break-up of long molecules.
All events are "guided", when seen on a small scale of observation.
The "regulator" function of certain molecules.
Feed-back upon production systems.
The enlargement of the range of circumstances that can be tolerated with the introduction of feed-back and regulator mechanisms, resulting in increased viability.
The possible relation between reversing anabolic and catabolic mechanisms, and, the daily fluctuations in solar energy-levels between day and night.
The frequent occurrence of an event flowing through a system, giving rise to a possibility for adaptation.
The atrophy of faculties that are hardly used.
The somewhat revolutionary idea of a feed-back of environmental circumstances upon the genetic constitution.
The adaptation of the genetic spectrum by shifting the center of such a spectrum towards those features that prove to be the most viable.
The feed-back of selective survival upon the make-up of the genetic pool.
A scrupulous constancy of the genetic make-up during individual existence.
Parallels between genetic and biochemical mechanisms, and the social phenomena of mutual inter-dependence.
The search for economic possibilities of existence.

How do we visualise the slow emergence of a biochemical structure with the capability to guide the metabolic biochemical machinery of the cell, as well as the mechanisms of its reproduction? In a way, we may consider the genetic code as a structure that can shape or change the contours of the "river-bed" of the metabolic energy-flow, and, as a result, this energy-flow of biochemical reactions may be diverted into a variety of side-lines or "parallel avenues", leading to different biochemical products.

While it has become scientifically fairly clear, how a gene-structure influences the metabolic machinery of the cell, it is not clear, how we have to visualise the gradual emergence of such a regulating key. I have given this question a great deal of thought, but I still have no clear answers to this problem. It is not easy to form a clear mental imagery about the question, why such a regulating key would become dominant in the genetic code, and, it is even more difficult to imagine, how such a regulating key could come into existence in the first place.

Perhaps, we have a chance to develop some insights, here, if we think, again, about the more generalised concept of an event; any event, and, if we consider, to what extent an event, any event, is guided or not, and, what differences there are between guided and random events.

If we think, clearly, about the occurrence of an event, it becomes obvious, that a regulating substance, (a substance, or factor, that influences the outcome of an event), is always present. These substances or factors may or may not participate in the event, but it is apparent, that we can not visualise an event without a series of factors, conditions, circumstances or existing matter-energy systems, shaping the course and the extent of an event. These conditions and circumstances determine the nature of an event, and, they determine in what direction, and in what form, the event is going to take place.

The driving force of an event, as well as all the factors and circumstances shaping and influencing a certain event, are themselves results of events. These events have taken place in the past or are still going-on in the present. All events in nature are the result of a pressure- or tension-gradient, which acts upon a particular system. The system yields to this force, indicating, that the sum-total of its internal forces is unable to resist the prevailing pressure- or tension-gradient, and, it is unable to prevent the event from happening. The "medium" upon which this force acts, and the strength and direction of the factors involved, determine the anatomy of an event, and, what we see, or, how we describe an event, depends, entirely, on our focus of attention.

If we concentrate on a small fragment of a conglomerate of events, we are, usually, able to describe the force and the circumstances that guide an event to a particular result, but, if we look at a very large population of events occurring under somewhat varying circumstances, we see a haphazard or chaotic distribution of the outcomes of such events, and, we say, that, for this population of events, there is no single, guiding principle, but, only a large variety of random conditions and circumstances.

If we analyse the Brownian movements of molecules, (which is the thermal agitation of molecules in a fluid medium), we are, theoretically, able to see, why such a particle takes the path it takes, but, the staggering quantity of events taking place, makes it practically impossible to trace all the factors at work, and, we say, then, that the path of such a thermally agitated molecule is a haphazard, or, a chance-occurrence, depending on how the neighbouring molecules are colliding with each other.

Whether or not an event is guided, depends, therefore, on our focus of attention. If the event under observation is, in reality, a composite of numerous smaller events, each slightly different from the other, the event seems to be unguided, haphazard, unpredictable, chaotic. However, if the event can be analysed in clear and lucid cause and effect relationships, we see the event as a guided or logical consequence of the circumstances and forces that cause the event.

It is important to realise, that, at least, in principle, every event could be analysed and known to such an extent, that we see, clearly, all the factors involved, and, we would then interpret the event as a guided or causal event. In the practical reality of our existence, we observe, often, a phenomenon on such a large scale, that the event is, in essence, a very large population of smaller sub-events, and, we apply, then, the principles and techniques of a statistical analysis, in order to grasp, at least, to some extent, the complexity of such an event.

The concept of an unguided event is, therefore, in essence, a misnomer, and, the question, whether or not factors, circumstances or substances participated in a specific event, is an indication of our vague ideas and concepts about these fundamental matters. Let me explain this a little more in detail. In a biochemical chain-reaction, each of the substances participating in the reaction-patterns may change, even, if only temporarily, through the acceptance of an energy-potential or a temporary bond of one sort or another. Then, these substances revert back to their original condition, after they have transferred the energy "down the line", so to speak; ready to accept the next bit of energy flowing through the biochemical chain-reaction. We see, then, an oscillating transition in form and substance, as the energy flows through the system. We know, that these substances determine with their spatial relationships to each other, wether or not such a pathway, or energy-flow, is possible in the first place.

Enzymes are biochemnical substances that do not participate in the biochemical reactions they regulate, but, they help biochemical substances obtain precise spatial relationships to each other in order to facilitate an energy-transfer. An enzyme is a guidance principle, greatly facilitating a transfer of energy by "docking" the participating compounds, which are often complex and large molecules.

A self-replicating molecule also "docks" building-blocks in a specific spatial arrangement around or along-side itself, and, it may even furnish some of the energy necessary to cement these building-blocks together in order to form a replica of itself. We have, then, the example of a "guided" polymerisation, while in our vision about the random polymerisation of the early protoplasmic primordium, we assigned random qualities to this process of polymerisation. We acknowledge, however, that the local events of every polymerisation, or fusion, of small molecules into large complexes, depend upon the available energy-levels or force-fields, the nature and concentration of the various building-blocks, as well as such factors as the temperature and spatial arrangement of the building-blocks.

Polymerisation is not really different from any other molecular bonding, which is the cementing-together of dissimilar atoms by the sharing of electron paths. The very long and often branched molecules we call "polymers", break-up more easily than many of the smaller organic molecules, and, the internal resistance to change of many polymerised substances, is, therefore, low. This feature becomes a fore-runner of the fluidity of all biochemical reaction-patterns.

The point is, that, all events are guided, when seen on the scale of a small, single event, but, in a genetic form of guidance, we see, that a large number of sequential events is organised and guided in such a way, that the totality of the living system is duplicated, or, that it can be duplicated under suitable and highly controled environmental circumstances.

The duplication of a complex molecule by the apposition of building-blocks alongside itself, represents a form of guided polymerisation, and, it becomes now possible to visualise, how certain molecules may profoundly alter a sequence of events. By changing one or a few key elements in a biochemical chain, the energy-flow could be channeled into various directions. The energy-flow could be siphoned-off to flow over a variety of systems, and, we see, therefore, the ability of minor fluctuations in the concentration of certain key substances, to alter, greatly, the biochemical events taking place in a particular system.

We see the concept of "regulation" emerge, and, we can visualise a feed-back system, where the concentrations of various substances in the environment of a biochemical energy-flow, determine, in turn, the production of regulator substances. Stability, or viability considerations apply to the system as a whole, as we have seen before, and, the emergence of regulator substances allows the system to react to a much larger range of variations in circumstances and fluctuations in the availability of biochemical energy, compared to a biochemical system without such a regulatory capability.

Systems with regulating mechanisms that increase the viability of the entire system and all its components, will be favoured over those systems which do not have any means, or insufficient capabilities, to maintain their existence under varying circumstances. One obvious variant in the energy-flow is the daily variation of the influx of solar energy, the cycle of day and night, caused by the rotation of the earth, and we have outlined, on previous occasions, how we visualise this daily reversal to have contributed to the emergence of reversible anabolic and catabolic biochemical pathways.

Regulatory or adaptative mechanisms increase, therefore, the stability of a system, and, with it, its viability. These systems are, therefore, favoured to persist, compared to less viable and variable existence possibilities. The existence possibilities of the entire system are enhanced by the incorporation of regulating and feed-back mechanisms, and, the whole concept of adaptation rests upon the development of these mechanisms.

A biochemical chain-reaction, a synthesising complex, or, any molecule called-upon to manufacture a substance frequently, gets a chance, as a result of the numerous events flowing through its system, to adapt, slowly, this process in the most efficient manner possible. Details of functions that are hardly used, will, eventually, deteriorate and wither-away because of a lack of "excercise", while those operations that are used continuously, have a chance to evolve into a more smoothly flowing and more efficient production-unit. We see these principles emerge, time and again, and, most of us are familiar with the validity of these basic principles of organisation.

These same principles operate in the processes that form a link between environmental conditions on the one hand, and the genetic encoding of instructions for development and function of a complex living system, on the other. This structure is the "gene", and, it is called-upon to "perform", at least, from time to time. It has events flowing through its system, and, we have seen, how viability considerations apply to any biochemical system, regardless, how small or fagmentary.

It is, perhaps, confusing to introduce or suggest an environmental feed-back upon the genetic structure and its functions, because we associate, traditionally, the genetic key with a set of constant conditions of existence, preventing it from being influenced by environmental circumstances.

Let us elaborate this picture somewhat. It is true, that we visualise genetic adaptations to take place, solely, through the production of a spectrum of variants at the birth of each new generation, while the consistent pressures of natural slection will continue to favour the survival of only a small segment of this spectrum. In this way, the center of the spectrum of variability is displaced, gradually, towards those characteristics that will secure viability, but, in this imagery we see, clearly, the feed-back function of selective survival upon the make-up of the gene-pool. Certainly, during the existence of a single, actualised individual, the genetic composition remains scrupulously constant, unless damage has occurred from radiation or other disruptive influences.

It is time to leave this subject, since it is unlikely, that we will be able to make it any clearer at this point. Let us remember the overall principle or concept; nl., feed-back regulator mechanisms have the potential to increase viability and stability by increasing the range of adaptability, and, the ability to reproduce itself is only one particular aspect of these regulator and feed-back functions, whereby the energy-flow is channeled in such a way, that a replica of the entire pathway is slowly being re-created.

Let us see, whether or not we can make the jump to social and economic mechanisms taking place within a modern society. On the way to making this transition, we will have to allude, occasionally, to principles we have outlined, before, regarding the complexity of the multi-cellular organisms and the development of flexibility in individual behaviour. We may, also, have to refer to the parallel, but nevertheless somewhat different mechanisms of the encoding or guiding of events by the instructions of a cultural code, which have become so important for the stability of every human being, as well as the viability of the societies we live in.

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Chapter 4

Content

An enhanced range of adaptations for systems with a complex regulator or feed-back system.
The development of reliance, and dependence, upon a prolonged period of favourable circumstances.
The animal, seen as an example of reliance upon locomotion and the abandonment of the faculty of photo-synthesis.
Obligatory parasitic, sapro-phytic or predatory existence.
The phenomenon of competitive dispersion with the emergence of a new plane of existence.
The competitiveness of multi-cellular individuals, being themselves colonies of interdependent and symbiotically living cells.
The need for extremely complex feed-back and regulator mechanisms, in order to keep a complex multi-cellular unit functional.
The emergence of a status of interdependence between multi-cellular individuals.
Behavioural flexibility and individual variability, based upon past experiences.
The belief structure, seen as a regulator of behaviour-patterns in human societies.
The belief structure as a framework for classifying awarenesses.
The communal nature of a belief structure.
Slowly emerging specialty functions within a social entity.
Increasing our reliance upon each other's functions.
Enhanced viability, as long as the internal tensions of strife and dissent remain low.
The vulnerability of becoming specialised within society.
Why the benefits of belonging to society have to go to everyone, and not just to a privileged minority.
The hierarchical pecking-order as a transition between competitive territoriality and complete social integration on the basis of an essential equality in opportunities and living conditions.
The beginnings of "economic activities".
The manufacture of tools and weapons, seen as a way to ease the burdens of providing for essential needs and basic security.
A similar easing of existence by a process of specialisation in making tools and weapons.
The consequences of competitive strife in the distribution of economic products.
The dominant elite.
Difficulties dis-entangling oneself from a modern society, if the conditions are judged to be unfavourable.
The loss of power and influence, whenever an individual becomes dependent on a social situation.
Laws and customs; mechanisms to maintain a sense of justice and equality between the members of a social entity.
The difference between an idealised philosophical generalisation and its practical application.

Regulating biochemical chain-reactions in a relationship of mutual benefit with the help of a regulator principle, together with the feed-back input from an end-product, enlarges, greatly, the ability to adapt, and, with it, the viability of the system has been enhanced, because it is now able to endure more widely fluctuating circumstances. Such a development also implies, that the absence of any particular adaptative demand creates a condition of reliance or dependence upon such a state of integrated functioning, and, we see in the development of the animal life-form, how a greatly increased viability, resulting from the ability to move and to seek or maintain favourable circumstances, leads to a complete reliance upon the acquistion or ingestion of pre-formed organic-chemical compounds as a source of energy, because the animal abandons, totally, the cumbersome machinery of photo-synthesis.

The animal becomes obligatory symbiotic, parasitic or saprophytic in its dependence to obtain a number of biochemical products from other life-forms, as we see in symbiotic and parasitic relationships, but, most often, and, by far, the most significant form of dependence, is a reliance upon this prefabricated material by outright predation; the destruction of a living organism and the ingestion of its bodily remains.

We have considered, before, the development of competitive dispersion and the emergence of a new plane of viability and adaptability, whenever we look at the multi-cellular community. Here, single cells slowly fuse into the strict cohesion of a multi-cellular organisation. At the same time, we see the need arise for extremely complex, regulatory feed-back mechanisms. These are necessary, not only, to ensure the functional integrity and viability of such a multi-cellular organisation, but also, in the complex problems associated with the reproduction of such a life-form. Look, e.g., how little we know about the physiology of embryogenesis and organ-formation, where a complex multi-cellular organism arises from a single, fertilised egg-cell.

The next step in the ladder of organic evolution is represented by an increasing inter-dependence between multi-cellular life-forms organising themselves loosely into a structure of social integration. There, the individual organisms try to enhance their viability by a communal structure of mutual inter-dependence and task-specialisations. At the same time, we see, that, individual variability and adaptability of the organism has been enhanced, when the mechanisms of natural selection introduced an opportunity to modify the behavioural response of an individual multi-cellular organism on the basis of past experiences.

This is only a brief recapitulation of mechanisms we have considered before, but, we have to keep these evolutionary developments in mind, if we want to analyse, fruitfully, the events and mechanisms of economic activities and exchanges between human beings. Let us make, therefore, a gigantic evolutionary leap into the early human societies, where we see a fairly loose and fluid social integration of a number of complex multi-cellular organisms with a well-developed ability to modify their behaviour according to past experiences.

In the human being, we see another behavioural regulator emerge, nl, the belief structure. This makes it possible to modify or categorise learning experiences, not only, according to biologically given structures of cerebral classification, but also, with the help of a system of believed-in awarenesses or observations, which have been forged communally and form an essential plane for the excercise of behavioural freedom. Belief structures are regulators of behaviour, but, these belief structures are not genetically given but culturally formed. They were formed as an adaptative response of a particular social grouping according to the circumstances this group found itself under.

In the very early stages of human evolution, the cultural inter-dependencies were loosely organised and fleeting in their existence, such as the temporary cooperation required during the hunt, the defense of the small community, or the gathering of food. Eventually, an individual in society "became" a hunter, a soldier, a specialist in education, or, an expert in the performance of religious rituals, etc. The members of society started to rely, increasingly, upon each other for the maintenance of these essential functions, and, each individual's viability and acceptance within society started to depend on the contributions made in one particular function or another. We see, then, that the viability of such a community may increase dramatically, provided, that the internal mechanisms of mutual reliance are working smoothly.

We have discussed, before, how each member of society has to evaluate, mostly subconsciously, the advantages of becoming a more specialised, but, essentially small cog in the wheel of social inter-relationships. This specialisation in function has to be weighed against the disadvantages of becoming more vulnerable to a break-down in socially integrated functions, or, becoming susceptible to domination, exploitation and a loss of individual variability and adaptability, or "individual freedom". Unless this evaluation or balance remains weighted in favour of belonging to the community, the level of frustration and dissent will rise, and, the processes of internal strife and mutual distrust or hatred, set into motion the mechanisms of social disintegration.

We have also elaborated, before, the trade-off between the acceptance of a certain loss of personal sovereignty in exchange for increased protection and access to a variety of "social benefits". We have seen, that a hierarchical pecking-order is the result of such a compromise between the factors of viability inside and outside the group. All these factors play a role, when we start to look at the mechanisms of economic inter-actions, which we should consider, now, in detail.

When man began to experience the fact, that, tools, implements and other short-cuts to providing for his essential needs, reduced the effort necessary to survive, and eased his ability to exist, his viability became greatly enhanced. Man learned, quickly, that, task-specialisation in providing or making tools, as well as providing specialised services, facilitated the ease of living, and, the power and possibilities for economic development have fascinated man ever since these awarenesses became common knowledge.

In a competitive environment, where the strong take all, we see, how quickly, tools and products will come into the hands of a dominant elite, and, the rest of the people become enslaved and are exploited for the benefits of the rich. Such a development, which seems often unavoidable, negates the advantages of belonging to a social environment for most people, and, the attitudes of resentment, rebellion and strife are then inevitable.

If the average citizen of society has become strongly dependent upon certain functions of his social environment, such as, e.g., the fact, that he has to make a living on someone else's land, the level of exploitation, dominance and abuse he has to tolerate, is proportionately greater, because it is so difficult for the citizen to dis-entangle himself from this dependency upon the facts of his social or hierarchical position. Therefore, the power or influence an individual citizen has at his disposal to resist the dominance and exploitative practices of an elite, is in reverse proportion to the extent to which he has become reliant upon a social position and its inter-dependencies.

Throughout history, these basic mechanisms have led to attempts to regulate the relationships between the members of society with concepts of essential equality, justice and lawful behaviour. Laws, customs, or generally accepted behaviour-patterns have become important regulating factors or principles, which are, in theory, applied equally to all citizens, and, these regulatory principles are designed, primarily, to protect each citizen from the abuse of power by another member of society.

This is a generalised philosophical formulation of the principles of justice, but, we are all too aware of the fact, that the theoretical principles and the practical applications of these insights, may be far apart, indeed.

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Chapter 5

Content

Barter and trade are impossible without generally accepted behavioural regulators.
If absent, barter becomes a confrontation, where the winner takes all.
Barter is, in theory, a voluntary agreement of exchange between equally placed individuals.
If such a condition is stable, we see possibilities arise for a specialisation in function.
The natural balance between supply and demand.
The tacit assumption, that all members in society will honour the laws of property rights.
The process of barter, deterioriating into a struggle for power.
The misgivings of those, who lose-out in this struggle.
The "easiness" of a routine task.
It takes much less effort to carry-out one task ten times, compared to ten tasks, once.
A much broader base of experience without specialisation, but, it represents also an added stress of existence.
The essential need for each member to benefit from belonging to society.
The inevitable trend for a powerful segment of society to become a parasitic elite.
When the laws and regulatory bodies of society come into the hands of a dominant elite.
The sharp rise in tensions and disparities between the rich and the poor.
Destroying the sense of togetherness, as well as the fundamental reasons for belonging together.
The successful society provides an ease of existence for all its members.
The jockeying for a position of advantage.
The display of wealth and an affluent life-style as a symbol of social success.
A rapid and marked rise in the level of consumption by an affluent society.
The tendency to consume, seen as an obsessive desire to be considered rich, respected and independent.
The truly rich are less ostentatious but more ruthless when challenged.
Exploiting the desire to be rich and indepedent by the commercial interests of affluent societies.
The problems of depletion and pollution, as well as injustice and disparity.
A return to the processes of barter.
The labile balance of power between provider and consumer.
The rationale behind labour-unions and business mergers.
Affluence for all; a reduced internal stress of injustice
The injustice of an over-heated pocket of consumerism.
Varying ways of obtaining affluence; exploiting another society or the earth's resources.
The accelerated flow of economic activities with the provision of easy credit and "easy money".
Paper-money, seen as a universal "letter of credit" or "drawing right".
The importance of the factors of trust and confidence.
The complexity of modern economics, analysed as common-sense happenings within a small community.
The accumulation of assets into the hands of industrious and clever achievers.
The beginnings of deception and resentment.
A divergence in the standard of living.
A position of social power, based on assets rather than popular support.
The problems associated with economic power.
Lack of insight about the requirements of beneficial leadership.
Problems distinguishing between the legitimate fruits of one's labours, and the clever acquisition of assets; the "quick buck".
The law as an unwitting instrument in perpetuating disparity and injustice.
In nature, power and leadership qualities go hand in hand, because it requires the power of the personality to dominate physically and mentally, without the help of large assets and massive weaponry.
Hiring a private army.
A leadership by the sword, and, the inevitable occurrence of brutalities and acts of violence.
The tyrant and his defensive mentality.
An inability to care for others.
Wealth is not the only feature to be perpetuated by lawful inheritance; a similar course for social status and privileged positions.
Each social organisation had its foundation in the fact that the togetherness benefitted a large majority of the people.
How easy is it, to accept inherited privileges as a right, or, slavery as a fate.

It is not our intention to slide into an analysis of the regulatory functions of the law, but we want to point-out, that the basic economic transactions, the barter between two citizens within a social environment, depend on the principle of essential equality and the protection of this essential equality under the law. If there is now law, then, the processes of barter are impossible, and, it would become just another confrontation; a fight, where the winner would take what he wants, and the loser is lucky to escape with his life.

Barter is, at least, in theory, an exchange between two equally placed individuals, and, it is based upon a voluntary agreement between two people to exchange one item for another. As soon as this process is viable, it also becomes possible for an individual to specialise in making a certain item, or, providing a specific service in return for other items or services.

If a product or service is in great demand, the manufacturer or provider will be able to demand a higher rate of return, because of the competition for his product, but, at the same time, this success will spur another individual to make the same item or provide the same service, and, we see a balance develop between supply and demand. So far, we are re-stating familiar principles and mechanisms upon which the foundations and conclusions of a "free-enterprise" economy have been based, except for the fact, that the philosophy of free-enterprise has rarely acknowledged the problems associated with economic activities or exchanges between individuals or groups that are not equal in power.

One of the principles underlying the tendency to mutual inter-dependence and task-specialisation in a free-enterprise society, is the tacit expectation or agreement, by all the members of society, to honour the laws and guidelines of the community, but, we all know, how quickly the essential parity or equality between the partners in a barter agreement is destroyed by the accumulation of wealth and power into the hands of a few successful and enterprising individuals. With the disappearance of the status of essential equality, the process of barter deteriorates into a power-struggle, and those, who lose-out, feel, rightfully, disadvantaged and can not be expected to support, knowingly and wholeheartedly, the rules and regulations of society, which seem to favour, increasingly, the rich and successful.

There are many reasons, why there is a natural tendency, in every society, to develop task-specialisations and divisions in function, which are, in essence, related to the fact, that a task carried-out many times, becomes "routine" and requires, therefore, less effort. As an individual learns the best and most efficient way to accomplish a task, it requires less and less effort to obtain the desired results, and, it is logical, that any organism, including the human being, finds it easier to carry-out a small number of tasks, many times, than a large variety of tasks and chores, only once. Certainly, the ability to carry-out many tasks once, gives the individual a much larger exposure and versatility in accomplishments, but, it is more difficult, and, it requires much more intelligence and effort, compared to the accomplishment of one routine task, and relying on others to carry-out the other necessary tasks.

The overall effects of this trend towards specialisation in function are important to note, since the net-result of a successful organisation into a unit of mutual interdependence, is a lessening of the required maintenance energy. Ideally, each member survives and adapts better than before. There is more energy left-over for growth and exploration. Viability has been increased, security is enhanced, vigor increases, because of a larger surplus of the biological growth-pressures. The elan vital can now be channeled into aggressive, exploratory avenues, rather than consumed in a defensive reaction against a hostile environment.

Ideally, each member profits from a situation of mutual inter-dependence and task-differentiation, but, without adequate safeguards to ensure an equal distribution of these benefits, the more powerful segments of society will reap all the benefits, and, they begin to lead a parasitic existence, depending upon the labours of the poor, the slaves and serfs. Such a development happens all the time, and, each one of us, wherever we are in the world, or, in whatever period of history we happen to exist, will readily be able to recognise the basic truth of this common and seemingly inevitable development.

We have also outlined, on previous occasions, that, every well-intentioned law or regulatory mechanism has a tendency to favour, or, even, accentuate a trend towards disparity, because the laws and regulations of society become, quickly, a tool in the hands of the clever, the powerful and the intelligent elite. This trend is, of course, even much more pronounced, if the process of making rules and regulations comes also under the influence of the elite, and, we see, then, a sharp increase in the tempo of changes, as the divergence between the privileged classes and the poor widens rapidly. Naturally, such a widening of the class-divisions destroys any lingering sense of togetherness, and, the social environment becomes a seething hot-bed of anger and frustration, remaining a social entity in appearance only, as the forces of revolutionary change gather momentum.

In a successful social organisation, the members become much less dependent upon the need to provide a full range of the basic necessities, and, their energies are diverted into social activities that are often pre-occupied with the establishment of hierarchical patterns of differentiation. Often, the power of wealth becomes the main instrument through which this jockeying for a position in the social hierarchy is expressed. This means, that the consumption of all kinds of goods and services shifts from a biological need to a social display, or, an indulgence in luxuries, and, the total flow of energy through the social system starts to exceed, by a very large amount, the level of consumption that is necessary to retain a state of biological health and well-being.

Certainly, the obsessive drive to consume is more an expression of a desire to be rich and independent, rather than a sign of having achieved this goal, because the truly rich and powerful are, often, much less ostentatious in the display of their wealth, but, they are more ruthless when challenged in their positions of privilege and power. The desire to be rich and to spend lavishly, has been exploited by the business entrepreneur of the affluent societies, and, this exploitation is the main reason for the gigantic flow of energy and resources through these affluent societies. This poses, obviously, an injustice, as well as a threat, to the rest of mankind, and, in addition to the inequities in the level of consumption, we face the problems of depletion and pollution, as well as a sharp feeling of resentment by the members of the poorer nations, who are becoming rapidly more educated and more aware of these discrepancies and injustices.

Let us go back to the process of barter, where the crucial condition is a voluntary agreement of exchange between people who have, in essence, an equal degree of power or leverage. As soon as a certain dependence develops upon a consumable item, the balance has been destroyed, and, the consumer is "enslaved" to the power of the provider. Similarly, any citizen, who has to sell his services in the form of labour, and, who commits himself, heavily, for his continued well-being on a regular flow of cash from his employer, becomes enslaved, and, he has little power or leverage to demand changes. This realisation underlies the association of the workers into unions. A similar development occurs, when bussiness-mergers are prompted by ruthless competitive strife, and we see, therefore, that the condition of equality, required for the mechanisms of barter, is quickly changed into a relationship of inequality, where one party dominates the other.

Yet, throughout history, by fortunate accident or wise ruling, societies have flourished, at least, for a while, whenever the members experienced a sense of justice, and a majority would derive benefits from belonging to society. Their industrious efforts increased the energy-flow through society to a remarkable extent, but, this trend accentuated, also, the division between the successful and not so successful members. Affluence was, nearly always, obtained at the expense of a nearby society or population grouping, which was gradually, and, sometimes, abruptly, impoverished. Affluence comes from somewhere, and, if it is not derived from exploiting the labours of its own citizens or a conquered and dominated society, affluence has been obtained by an ever greater exploitation of natural resources.

The processes of task-specialisation and barter increase the rate of consumption, and, with the technological break-through of modern industrialisation, this process was accelerated enormously, as machines and naturally available energy-resources would now do most of the hard work. Long before this technological break-through into the use of non-human sources of energy, the processes of barter were facilitated by the introduction of a currency or a credit system, which promoted the flow of goods and services, and served as a yard-stick to determine value relationships. The value and the availability of a currency must be scrupulously guaranteed by the leadership or government of a society, in particular, when the currency became a piece of paper without intrinsic value. Money, then, became nothing more than a special "drawing-right", or, universal "letter of credit"; a right to demand a standard commodity or product in return for such a piece of paper.

Therefore, the trust and confidence of the citizens in their society and leadership influences, greatly, the value attributed to a paper-currency or a promise of special drawing-rights. In our present era of widespread and complex international economic transactions, the value of a currency becomes determined by the trust other nations have in the ability and soundness of a particular nation's economic policies and political institutions.

Again, it becomes much easier to grasp the apparently complex and confusing mechanisms of international trade and finance, if we go back to the basic principles of economic transactions. We can observe these mechanisms, whenever a few people in a social environment are exchanging goods and services. Let us visualise a small, healthy community with a stable leadership, and, let us see, what happens, when people have the time to make a few "extras". These are attractive items that are desirable, but, these items are not really essential for the well-being of its members. We are then witnessing the following trends. In an atmosphere of essential equality and equal opportunity, some members exchange their products for other desirable commodities. Quickly, a few of the most clever, most industrious people will gather a large quantity of valuables around themselves, while most people stay about even, getting a value in return that is roughly equal to what they have given away, but, a number of people have been persuaded to give-up more than they received in return. This is the beginning of an act of deception and results in a rise in the level of resentment, and, it marks, also, the beginning of the mechanisms of disparity and impoverishment.

If the laws of society allow an unlimited accumulation of goods through such a process of barter, and, if the law sanctions the right to keep these goods permanently, as long as they have been acquired in a socially acceptable manner, we see, quickly, a disparity between the clever entrepreneurs, the bulk of the members, and the group which does not really understand what is going-on and has, therefore, been exploited. This leads, invariably, to a divergence in the standards of living, as well as disparities in the level of influence and power, since wealth can be exchanged for cooperation with others who have also been successful, and it can be used to obtain favours from those who have power.

A class of powerful people emerges in society, whose powers are not based upon an act of trust and admiration from the people, nor on a mandate from the electorate to lead the people, but, we see, that, the basis of this power is a clever application of egocentric attitudes, out-witting others. At the same time, this power is perpetuated by property laws, because these laws find it always very difficult to distinguish between property that has been acquired by hard and honest work or frugal savings, and, those assets, which have been obtained by clever manipulations and the exploitation of someone's gullibility or good-will.

While the laws are designed to perpetuate a state of justice by protecting the right to possess the honest fruits of one's labours, these same laws have a tendency to protect also the less-than-honest fruits, and, immediately, cunning and exploitation, aggression and ruthless competition are rewarded and acquire respectability, as long as the letter of the law has not been transgressed.

When the law sanctions the transfer of wealth, property and privileges to the off-spring of the clever and successful segments of society, we see the culmination of a process of class-differentiation, which seems to arise in every complex social environment. In nature, power and leadership positions go hand in hand, but economic power does not necessarily mean leadership capabilities, and, we only have to scan the numerous events of history, to see, how often access to a leadership position by sheer power, be it military or economic power, leads to disastrous consequences for a society, as well as its neighbours.

The emergence of power by wealth and weapons destroys, completely, the biologically far sounder principle of leadership and dominance by virtue of a physical and mental ability to dominate, which includes in the more complex social groupings, the ability to persuade and inspire. People, who gain access to power solely by the force of weapons, or the power of wealth, have no choice, but to become tyrants and oppressors, because a leadership by the sword always leads to brutalities, alienating, ever further, the peoples of society.

The insecurity of tyrants makes them psychologically insensitive to others and intellectually dull to the many events and trends of the social environment. Invariably, they become defensive and the members of a privileged elite have a tendency to clique together and become unconcerned with the rest of society.

Any apparent concern for the rest of society is, then, often superficial and artificial. It is an image of convenience, projected to win a measure of support or credibility, but these people rarely have a natural ability to really and truly identify themselves with other people, or, to become concerned with the plight and living conditions of the poor and oppressed within their societies, because they are dependent upon the near slave-labour of these poor in order to maintain their empires of wealth and power.

Let us not give the impression, that wealth is the only status that becomes perpetuated and segregated by inheritance. The status of a privileged social position follows a similar course. The main point of our discussion, here, is to emphasise, how easy it is to lose sight of the simple fact, that, each and every society had its origins in a mutually beneficial development of inter-dependence. If this would not be the case, the necessary cohesion would never have been present to form a social grouping in the first place. But, it is sobering to reflect, how easy it is for subsequent generations to accept their inherited wealth or privilege as a "right", or, their inherited position of oppression and servitude as "fate".

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Chapter 6

Content

In a competitive social environment, it is natural to seek security in the power of assets.
Money breeds money, and assets become easier to acquire.
A form of predation, where we try to consume each other's possessions.
The positive feed-back of acquisitive success accentuates a negative attitude of egocentricity.
The subconscious social contract, and the disastrous consequences of unbridled free-enterprise mechanisms.
An abuse of leadership positions.
The difficult task to teach successive generations the pitfalls of poor leadership.
Egocentric pre-occupation with the problems of affluence, and a lack of concern for the problems of other people.
Our dependence upon the economic performance of an affluent society.
An unnecessarily high rate of consumption.
The need to keep the economic momentum going.
The gigantic water-fall and the extremely inefficient utilisation of its energy-flow.
The phenomenon of inflation.
Fear, ignorance, poverty and a naive belief structure may retard the emergence of resentment and rebellion.
Increasing participation in government by ordinary members with the democratization of the mechanisms of government.
Less injustices within the affluent societies, but a sharper disparity between the richer and poorer nations.
Economic growth by technology, the harnassing of a variety of energy resources, a rising level of education, and the injection of money into society.
The experience that a "recession" was due, in part, to a lack of money to "lubricate" an expanding eonomy.
The gradual devaluation of money, when its value is not fully backed.
The consequences of such a gradual erosion in the value of money for the attitudes of saving and a frugal life-style.
The need of the large industrial concerns to have the people spend all their money as fast as possible.
Advertising and an accent upon immediate gratification.
People becoming tense, frustrated and trapped into ever-widening financial obligations.
The economic slump; poor productivity and non-competitiveness on world-markets.
The devaluation of a currency, whenever its value slumps on international money-markets.
Economic slumps, "treated" with increased public expenditures.
The fast-rising debt-load of the nation and all its members; individual and corporate debt-loads.
Gradual impoverishment of the standard of living because of a steeply rising debt-load.
The disappearance of national pride and a stoic resignation to the phenomenon of inflation.
The dependence of everyone on the economic momentum.
A large, chronic debt-load, and the inherent advantages of a high rate of inflation for borrowers.
Recent rises in affluence were possible because of automation and an ever faster rate of consumption of energy and natural resources.
The end of this era.
The concentration of large, special-interest groupings within society, fighting for a slice of the economic pie.
A reduction of competitive pricing of products, services and labour costs, seen as contributing factors in the spiral of wage and price increases.
The fallacy to sooth public frustration and un-realistic expectations with artificial job-creation programs, as well as other forms of public expenditures.
Increasing the debt-load and perpetuating an unhealthy momentum of irrealistic expectations and unnecessary consumption.

We look, again, at the successful private entre-preneur, and observe the snow-ball effect of his wealth, success and power. It is natural that his economic success, together with his increased possessions, becomes a major, even obsessive objective. Once an individual has wealth, it becomes easier to acquire more wealth, because he can use the power of his assets as a leverage. Is this not, in essence, a form of predation? Are we not trying to consume, literally, the material assets of another human being within our affluent, free-enterprise societies?

The sphere of concerns and the range of attitudes become increasingly egocentric, since the positive feed-back of success and power induces an individual to direct all his efforts on this successful mode of existence. Every form of social integration starts as a subconscious contract of mutually beneficial inter-dependencies, and, the cultural codes of behaviour develop as a result of the need to perpetuate a feeling of justice and benefit for all members.

Sanctioning the free-enterprise philosophy quickly reverses this process, until society is divided by classes, where the only check to ultimate power for the most energetic and ambitious members of the upper classes, is a ruthless internal power-struggle. The positions of leadership are, then, increasingly used for egocentric objectives, and, the ruthless pre-occupation with economic and other strife leads to a neglect of leadership duties and a blunting of concern for the plight of the under-privileged members of society.

These developments have often been demonstrated, but, the knowledge of history is not easily transmitted from one generation to the next, and, we have to acknowledge, that, in some instances and fortunate accidents of history, the egocentric industry of the ambitious individual has led to an accomplishment from which the entire society has benefitted. The crux of the matter lies in the fact, that we have to recognise the need for careful controls in society. We need controls for social leadership positions, as well as for the behavioural activities of every member. We have to recognise, that a widespread, mass-induced appetite for consumerist attitudes and behaviour-patterns leads to an intolerable acceleration in the consumption of natural resources, as well as to a severe stress of pollution. Besides, a stimulation of egocentric desires reduces the time and effort available for a consideration of the wider social problems of injustice and disparity.

As a member of our modern, affluent societies, we all depend, to some extent, upon a financial income, and, this income depends on the productivity of society. Whether we belong to the world of business, the bureaucracies, academia, or the professions, we all have a stake in the economic performance of our societies, and, we tend to shy-away from questioning the wisdom of this economic momentum. It seems suicidal to question the validity of something we depend upon for our livelyhood and well-being.

However, if we dare to look, it is not difficult to see, where we are heading. As a conglomerate of affluent nations, we consume, frantically, many times over, the necessary rate of economic activities to exist comfortably. We have to consume so much in a desperate effort to keep this economic momentum going, and, to prevent our societies from falling-apart, because we all have become so dependent upon an affluent life-style.

We are like a gigantic water-fall, whose bed is so large and efficiency is so poor, that it needs a gigantic inflow of energy to sustain its precarious existence. Yet, according to our biological needs, each one of us could survive easily with only a fraction of the energy we now consume. This shows us, how fragile and vulnerable we have become in our affluent societies.

Let us now turn our attention to this much talked-about phenomenon of inflation, which is still so poorly understood. We have seen, that an unregulated free-enterprise society leads, rapidly, to the development of a small but powerful elite, as well as a large mass of poor and ignorant people. We need wise and extensive guidelines to retard this accumulation of wealth and power into the hands of a privileged minority. Fear and ignorance, extreme poverty, as well as a somewhat naive belief structure may also retard the uprising of the exploited masses, but, at some time in the future, the power of resentment and dissent will find sufficient strength to erupt. The elite, usually a land-owning aristocracy, never has to work for a living, while the peasants work all their lives and hardly live at all.

In the past few hundred years, there has been a marked swing towards a greater level of participation in the governing and legislative processes of society by a great majority of ordinary people, in particular, when the level of education and industrialisation made great progress. The democratization or socialisation of executive and legislative powers, together with the rapid development of technology, has resulted in a much more equalised living-standard than was the norm before the rise of democratic forms of government and social organisation, but, this rapid rise in the level of consumption by a very large number of people, means, that the availability of resources and the ability of the terrestial eco-systems to absorb waste-products, has been stressed to a remarkable extent.

While our communal affluence and consumptive habits have spread-out the wealth of society far better than was the case in most societies of the past, the differences between the rich and poor nations is sharper than ever before. The tensions of injustice are subsiding, to some extent, within many affluent societies, but the tensions between societies are rising fast, primarily, because of an increased awareness of the poorer nations about the ideals of essential equality in living standards and equal opportunities for the unfolding of talents and ambitions.

A sustained level of affluence, without a careful cultivation of a broadened horizon of awarenesses and concerns, leads to boredom, frustration and a pre-occupation with sensual plasures and trivial conflict-situations, de-stabilising the status of affluence and opening the opportunity for the mechanisms of equalisation to do their often violent and destructive work. However, we have to acknowledge, that the level of injustice between social groupings within many affluent nations is relatively low, (at least, at the present time), if we compare the relationships between people in most industrialised nations with the conditions that existed a century ago, especially, if the governments of these affluent nations have adopted progressive social policies. Societies that are still somewhat backward in their governmental structures and institutions, their technology as well as the level of public education and awareness, have a greater tendency to show marked internal disparities between the rich and poor.

Rapid economic expansion became possible, when a high level of technology and education combined with an industrious and somewhat aggressive attitude, and began to exploit a variety of human and natural resources. However, it is clear, that the technique of injecting more and more money into circulation also stimulated economic growth, even, if the undesirable side-effects of an unwarranted growth in the money-supply were not recognised or acknowledged until much more recent times.

When the rate of economic expansion was rising fast, the money-supply had, indeed, a tendency to lag behind, as governments and people did not quite foresee the consequences of such a rapid growth, but the temptation, and the practice, to cover less and less of the paper-currency with an actual item of value, (e.g., gold), set into motion this whole complex of inflation, whose existence we now accept as inevitable and nearly beyond control.

The gradual devaluation of a currency strikes at the root of social stability and common-sense. If a monetary value can not be relied-upon anymore, or, if it becomes an unavoidable fact of life, that the value of a currency decreases steadily, the attitudes of saving and frugality become meaningless. This has several major consequences. In the first place, the emphasis shifts to a consumption of one's income as soon as it has been received, in order to avoid a gradual loss of buying power by inflationary pressures. This attitude fits-in well with the needs of the big industrial concerns for an ever greater cash-flow or "through-put" of their products, but it is detrimental to the attitudes of common-sense.

Rising expectations were created by a continuous exposure to advertisement, which is characterised by the enticement to spend money, the promise of more to come, as well as by an erosion of the attitudes of saving and a frugal life-style. Because of this accent upon immediate gratification, (which is the combined result of inflation and commercial advertising pressures), the atttitudes and habits of the people have become tense, frustrated, less productive , and, we enter then a period where a nation becomes non-competitive and sinks into an economic slump.

Only a further devaluation of the currency in relation to other currencies, may restore a measure of competitiveness, but, in essence, it is a silent admission, that the products and activities of a nation are not worth as much as the original value of the currency seemed to indicate.

Yet, an economic slump is invariably "treated" with public expenditures, and, this means, an extra increase in the money-supply, rather than merely a re-distribution of assets. This leads to a rising burden of debt for the nation, as well as a further decline in the value of money, and, often, a further decline in the productivity of the worker. The greater the portion of one's productivity has to be spent in paying for the interest charges on an outstanding debt, the less is left-over for financing a healthy and decent standard of living. Apparently, it is so easily forgotten by political leaders and ordinary people alike, that a debt is a chronic burden and a drain upon the standard of living, and, it is so easily forgotten, that continuous inflation saps the willingness, as well as the incentive, to make an effort to save and overcome the burdens of a debt-load.

It is not surprising, that, in the recent past, the unpleasant medicine of devaluation was hard to swallow for a nation with a strongly developed national pride, but, the increasing egocentricity of the people, (a direct result of inflation and the continuous stimulation of consumerist appetites), has weakened the national pride in most affluent nations. The leadership is merely trying to keep the economic momentum going with rather desperate measures, because serious faltering of the economic momentum interferes with the expectations of the people, and, such a set-back in expectations is met with ruthless work-stoppages or sharp business practices, because the chronic debt-load of the individual and his society makes it impossible to get-by with less, or, without the expected rise in income.

In the recent past, there were several factors at work, which tended to keep prices fairly constant, in spite of the fact, that the income of people was rising rapidly. True competitiveness between businesses, a more efficient use of the labour force, automation, the ever increasing total gross national product, and, the grossly increased rate at which raw materials and energy were processed, all these factors led to a rise in affluence for nearly everyone, and, this steady rise in affluence counter-acted, at least, to some extent, the reckless expansion of the money-supply and the rapidly rising national debt-load. Yet, disparities remained, and increased, in particular, between large social groupings.

Competitiveness between people looking for work disappeared, to some extent, with the rise of labour-unions shortly after the onset of the Industrial Revolution. These developments were, initially, necessary to give the workers a more equal say in their negotiations with the employer, but, in recent years, a reduction in competitive pricing of labour costs, as well as a reduction in competitive pricing for industrial products and other commercial goods and services on account of powerful mergers and monopolies, contributed to a spiral of increasing prices and wages, and, these social developments contributed, therefore, to the mechanisms of monetary devaluation.

The period of rapid industrial expansion and real economic growth is rapidly coming to an end for the most affluent nations, even, if the leaderships in the affluent nations have not yet come to grips with these facts and still try to sooth public frustration with artificial job-creation programs, public expenditures, as well as an ever-rising burden of national debt. All these programs and measures are doomed to failure, because they aggravate an already precarious condition and do not recognise the root-causes of our affluent problems.

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Chapter 7

Content

The floating exchange-rate.
Governments still have an obligation to guarantee the value of their currency.
Unwise fiscal policies, and the international reaction to such unwise policies.
The weak corrective actions available to contemporary governments.
Muddled thinking by leaders and people alike about the consequences of a high debt-load.
Inflation is an unfair method to reduce the actual debt-load.
A slow, but constant robbery of savings and investments.
The natural tendency for the investor to become greedy.
The hidden life-style of top-officials of governments and big business enterprises.
The inscrutability of large multi-national corporations.
Questioning the right to inherit wealth, assets and natural resources.
The basic unfairness of appropriating territories and assets.
A short summary of the factors that have been discussed.
The difficulties with electing a truly representative leadership.
Failures of the free-enterprise system.
Difficulties for a guided economy with an inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy.
The ever-recurring divergence between the rich and the poor.
The need to abandon the philosophy and practice of consumerism.
Modern restlessness, and neurotic consuming habits.
The willingness of our leaders to engage in wars.
When the last barriers against armed conflict fall-away.

Let us analyse, for a moment, the factors that determine the actual value of a currency in relation to other currencies on the international money-markets. The principle of a floating exchange-rate is excellent. There is nothing wrong with facing the true value of a currency by letting it trade in a free, international market, but, this free exchange of currencies according to their market-value does not absolve individual governments from the responsibility to guarantee the value of the national currency to their own citizens.

At the present time, a free-market exchange of currencies is one of the few measures left, whereby a nation, its leadership, as well as the people, can be shown, what the results are of a disastrous and irresponsible fiscal policy. Any over-spending, be it in the form of borrowing or the issuing of new money, will be reflected in a lowered confidence in the value of this currency by the investors from other nations. The devaluation of a currency on the international market should be a serious warning-sign to the leadership of a nation, and, it should be an effective stimulus to put their fiscal and economic house in order.

A much more thorough solution would be, of course, to conduct national economic affairs and fiscal policies in such a way, that the value, and confidence, of the outside world remains intact. Yet, current political wisdom and economic advise seem to be unable to carry-out an effective and sound monetary policy. It seems, that the national leaderships of our affluent nations can do nothing more than regulate, at least, to some extent, the rate of borrowing, as well as the rate at which money is issued, while everyone looks with an attitude of despair upon the disastrous consequences of rampant inflation.

It still seems too difficult for a political leadership to acknowledge the simple analogies between the over-spending of an individual and an entire nation. If a member of society has to pay back his debts with interest, so does a nation, and, if an ordinary individual appreciates the fact, that a high debt-load is a severe burden which forces him to work hard, so should a nation realise, that, ultimately, the fiscal problems of a society have to be straightened-out.

Sure, a member of the public can now default in a rather spectacular manner by declaring himself bankrupt, and, a nation can do, in essence, the same by refusing to honour previous debts and contracts, or, by "nationalising" assets belonging to others. Most of the time, a nation does not have to go to such extremes, because it profits secretly from inflation by reducing its effective debt-load.

It is, therefore, logical to conclude, that inflationary processes work in favour of the over-spending and irresponsible leaderships of affluent societies, because their creditors, including the ordinary wage-earners, have to shoulder the real burden of the national debt. In spite of a nominal return, plus interest, the actual return of the money to the lender by the State, (and by anyone else who borrows), is much less than the value of the currency borrowed.

Therefore, we can not expect that our leaders truly want to curb inflation, because the national debt would remain an even greater burden than it is already. If attitudes do not change, eventually, the affluent societies will default on a very large scale, creating a complete collapse of the monerary system, because chaos and run-away inflation are just around the corner. At the same time, the discrepancies between the poor and the rich nations keep widening.

The profit-margins of the large corporations are hidden behind the smoke-screens of clever accounting techniques. The large executive expense-account, the stock-option benefits, and the well-padded salaries of top-executives amount to a substantial, if non-taxed and non-taxable income. Besides, as we mentioned, the complexity and multi-nationality of many large corporations puts them effectively beyond the control of anyone particular social organisation, and, the unlimited access to clever legal and financial consultants places these companies in a position of advantage and privilege, unmatched by any individual.

While the affluent nations become increasingly introvert because of their dependence upon this economic momentum, the gap between the poor and the rich keeps growing, and, it will not be long, before the other member-nations of the family of mankind will seriously question the right to inherit assets. Why should the lands and resources belong to those, born, by lucky accident, as heirs to the rich natural resources of their country? Indeed, why should the disadvantaged accept such an inequality of inheritance between societies or national populations, if we also question the right to inherit wealth and privileges by those who are born to wealthy and successful parents? Many serious questions have to be answered, and, they foreshadow the massive changes, as well as the global solutions that have to come, if mankind wants to find a continued possibility to exist.

To summarise briefly. We see, clearly, how a society fragments into classes of wealth and power, if it allows the accumulation of wealth and power into the hands of a few people. This, in turn, results in an extra-ordinary influence upon, or access to, the positions of leadership by virtue of economic power rather than popular support. This trend is frequently disastrous for a social environment, because it negates the ideas of popular representation. We do not forget the enormous difficulties associated with the election of a truly popular and concerned leadership, in particular, if the population is poorly educated, technologically backward and fragmented into many ethnic or social strata.

We have reviewed the theoretical basis and ideology of the free-enterprise system, and, we see, why it breaks-down, primarily, because of an unstable power-balance between producer and consumer, as well as the divergence of people into stratified classes of wealth and poverty, power and serf-dom. We see, how the attitudes of consumerism have become a substitute for the desire to exhibit power and to seek dominance, and, we have seen the remarkably high and ever-rising consumption of goods and energy-resources, which an affluent society requires in order to maintain a measure of stability. Yet, the divergence between the rich and the poor is steadily enlarging.

We have argued, that this high level of consumption is un-physiological and unnecessary to sustain life, and, it is highly detrimental because of the high rate of resource-depletion, pollution, the spiral of rising expectations, as well as the fragmentation of society into widely diverging classes of wealth and well-being. The quantity of unnecessary products and unnecessary jobs in our affluent societies is staggering, and, we do not even start to think, here, about the wasteful inefficiencies of many bureaucracies.

We have reviewed the mechanisms of inflation, the gradual, and, sometimes, rapid decline in the value of a currency, and, we have enumerated some of the factors involved. The sad aspect of the outlook for peoples all over the world, at this particular time, is the fact, that we have the technological ability to provide justice and equality on a global scale, but the narrow concerns of people and their leaders make it impossible to conceptualise and implement a truly effective solution to the problems of injustice and disparity.

In the affluent societies, public restlessness seems to demand, invariably, the triad of increased government spending, job-creation, and rising affluence for all, without realising, that economic consumption, let alone economic growth, is already far in excess of what we need, and, that our present anxieties and egocentric attitudes create dangerously high levels of frustration in the less privileged societies and nations of the world.

No leadership seems to have the will, the power, or the courage, to begin a truly effective equalisation of global living standards and a frugal life-style for all. Unfortunately, the concerns of our leadership are still limited to the interests and well-being of the nation or society under their particular jurisdiction, and, we still see, too often, how willing our leaders are to engage in wars, which may kill many thousands and lead to the impoverishment and starvation for millions more. However, leaders reflect, often, the superficial sentiments of the people, and, the people are, often, just as short-sighted as the leaders they choose or support.

Once the sense of justice becomes chronically wounded, the average citizen loses his faith in the essential fairness of society, and his allegiance to society disappears. If he sees, how the income or wage-levels of various segments in society are being determined, increasingly, by the tactics of power and pressure, justice has vanished. This process favours, once again, the more powerful members, while the weaker segments of society are forgotten and neglected. The ordinary people are squeezed in the ruthless and chaotic grab for what is left.

The level of anxiety and aggressive defensiveness rises dramatically, and, we only remain together by a lingering awareness, that we all have something to lose in an all-out confrontation. However, if a significant section of the people has, eventually, nothing more to lose, then, watch-out; the last barriers to armed civil conflict will have been removed.

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Chapter 8

Content

The spending of present and future income.
Individual debts, and our enslavement to a continuation of the economic momentum in our affluent societies.
Impoverished attitudes and life-styles amidst an apparent affluence.
Poor examples from our governments.
Inflationary erosion of savings.
The accumulation of wealth and assets into a few hands, even, when seen on a global scale.
The rising tensions of injustice.
The heavy price paid for the luxury of going into debt.
Is it too painful to face an honest diagnosis and an effective cure?
Charging interest for lending money.
Borrowing a tool; a small fee for the benefits obtained from its use.
Restoring a depreciated value.
Usurpation in the past; a-moral practices and logical reactions against them.
Now, the small money-lender, or saver, is nearly always at a disadvantage by receving less value in return for the money he has lent.
The individual, powerless against the trends and institutions of his society.
Consumerism, seen as an evolutionary dead-end.
The living organism, doomed to extinction, if it has lost the ability to adapt to drastically different circumstances.
The hope that mankind will survive a while longer.

So far, we have concerned ourselves, primarily, with the spending of present income, as well as the ever increasing flow of cash through society, because the spending of money and the consumption of all sorts of goods and energy have become a symbol of social status, rather than the fulfilment of a basic need. We may argue, that the display of power is a primary need, but, we have discussed, that it is not necessary to fulfill this need in the form of consuming unnecessary goods and energy-resources. It could just as well be satisfied by achievements in sports, the arts, the sciences, or, in any other non-consuming activity of human endeavour.

Our heavy reliance upon the inflow and spending of cash is aggravated by the habit of borrowing money, or "credit-buying". The continuous pressures by commercial advertising to spend and want ever more, opens the possibility to borrow on the strength or expectation of future earnings, and, this avenue has been exploited ruthlessly by all commercial interests. This step, the purchase of an item, now, with borrowed money, based upon expected income in the near future, is the main reason, why the affluent societies have become so dependent upon a continuation of their economic momentum. Almost everyone is, in one way or another, involved, and, the pressures, anxieties, uncertainties and impoverishment of such a life-style are remarkable, indeed, in particular, if something would prevent the people from receiving their next pay-cheque in time.

The enslavement or entrapment into a system of credit-buying is nearly complete, because governments have led the way into this morass of spurious spending by borrowing so heavily, and, by making deficit budgeting, the norm. Many industries have, therefore, grown to a size, where their cash-requirements are beyond the buying powers of the public, and, since a large percentage of the public has already spent in the past their spendable earnings for the next twenty years or so, the increase in spending power becomes limited, unless we accelerate the vicious circle of increasing the money supply and public expenditures, increasing job-creation programs, and rising wages and incomes. However, this pseudo-solution can only be a temporary stop-gap measure, because the basic problem of inflation in the affluent society is only aggravated, and, the processes that lead to further inflationary demands, unrest and mistrust, are necessarily accelerated, too.

Even those of us, who have been able to extricate ourselves, to some extent, from the spending psychosis, are faced with the continuous unfairness of seeing savings dwindle by an inflationary devaluation of money, and, it is not surprising that those, who do not want to give-up the idea of saving, become pre-occupied with the accumulation of large amounts of wealth or capital. However, the truly huge capital accumulations are now in the hands of large companies, as well as some of the oil-rich nations of the world. Yet, some of these nations are still run by a small, privileged group, or, even, one large family, and, we do not have to think very profoundly, before we understand, why the tensions of injustice are still rising, nearly everywhere. Capital flows nervously between the hands of the rich, where everyone becomes obsessed with the maintenance of these huge capital accumulations, while the rest of the world suffers varying degrees of neglect and poverty.

Chaos, restlessness and uncertainty at the national and international money-markets are rampant today, and yet, the fundamental therapy for these problems has not been recognised, and, such a therapy is, probably, completely unpalatable for most of us, because we have become too dependent upon our affluence to be able to tolerate a radical change in the direction of social developments. The wealth of most affluent citizens is a pseudo-wealth, and, we have paid a heavy price for it. We have enslaved ourselves, and, we have spent or consumed the major part of our expected earnings over the next ten or twenty years. Look, how heavily we pay for this privilege of spending now, and paying-back tomorrow; a never-ending tomorrow of twenty years, perhaps, a life-time, because our habits are not going to change anymore, once we have adopted a life-style of wasteful luxury.

We are paying heavily for our consumerist attitudes, in spite of the fact, that we profit, to some extent, from the inflationary erosion of our currencies. We pay heavily, because of the sense of frustration and entrapment we have to endure, and, the toll of such an un-understood existence in a condition of self-imposed slavery, is high in personal stress, as well as social unrest and mutually inflicted injustices.

Collectively, we have placed ourselves in a position, where it is very difficult or, even, impossible to make a radical correction. The cure and, even, the diagnosis of the real problems have become too painful, and, once again, we see, how common people sink into a state of slavery; this time by pernicous and clever deception, rather than by the brute force of an outside aggressor or a dominant elite.

We should look, briefly, at the practice of charging interest for lending money. Money is a tool, which allows the borrower to do something; to accomplish something, to pay for something. He can use this tool for his own benefit or his own enterprise. If one lends a tool to a neighbour, then, there is nothing wrong with the expectation to get something for it in return. Besides, if this tool depreciates rapidly in value, it is not more than fair to expect the tool to be returned to the owner with its original value intact, plus a modest fee, or charge, for the use of this tool.

In the past, we saw a ruthless exploitation by money-lenders, who used their powers of ownership under the law to exploit and enslave powerless victims by charging outrageous interest-rates, and, the practice of usurpation was rightly condemned as an unjust and parasitic form of behaviour. It was natural, that a marked aversion for such practices grew, and, that the charging of interest was, at one time, considered immoral.

Now, the situation has almost reversed. The small investor suffers almost invariably a loss, if he lends his money, since he can not afford a high risk and a potentially high return. His bank will return on his savings account a sum of money that is always well below the rate of inflation or monetary devaluation. Again, we see, how the powerless individual is being exploited by a powerful institution.

Unfortunately, these traditionally moderate and conservative financial institutions have been caught-up in the same frantic search for profits, just as all other commercial enterprises, and, they have adopted a hard-sell technique to ensnare their customers in consumer loans for just about any purpose. It is time, we learned to control such institutions and their profits, as well as the level of prices and wages, or the influence of advertising upon people.

We are back, again, to the conclusion, that the attitudes and life-style of people in affluent societies are essentially unhealthy and increasingly dependent upon circumstances that constitute a grave injustice to the poor of the world. It is inevitable, that an end will come to this situation, and, it is sad, indeed, to think, that the end will come, once again, in turmoil, misery and bloodshed.

Consumerism is the development of an evolutionary dead-end, but, just as in nature, if the organism has become too dependent upon a certain ecological niche, it has lost the ability to adapt, once again, to radically different circumstances, and, such a life-form is, then, irrevocably doomed to extinction. We hope, that it is not mankind as a whole that is doomed to extinction, but only, the affluent, consumerist way of life.

While it is likely, that the human species will indeed become extinct at some time in the future, we hope, that the demise of the human spcies is still some time off, and, that we have the time, as well as the good fortune, to formulate a much more viable and just life-style of sufficiency and frugality for all, as an alternative to egocentric, affluent consumerism.

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Chapter 9

Content

Attempts to correlate the features of biochemical evolution with the phenomena of the human society.
Economic processes, seen as mutual inter-dependencies and the search for a possibility to exist.
Belonging to a social group must be meaningful to every participant.
Lessening the effort to exist by social integration and the creation of inter-dependencies.
Exploitation occurs, when some segments of the population would be better of without the existing social organisation.
On a global scale, international inter-dependencies are only viable, if each participant benefits.
Aggressive expansionism; the most primitive expression of an eased existence.
A conquered or dominated segment within society requires an effort to restrain, and, this signals, inevitably, a rise in internal tensions.
Many avenues are available for the eased or liberated elan vital, when increased viability requires less maintenance energy.
The need to overcome our instinctive drives of greed and opportunism.
Artistic, scientific, athletic and other achievements as useful channels for the dissipation of a liberated vitality.
Further specialisations and new inter-dependencies become possible, if there is more energy left-over to sustain such diversification processes.
The maintenance of the energy-balance, and a healthy common-sense approach to problems.
The price-gradient as the driving force for the process of trade.
The growth of an economic enterprise.
Comparison between a living system, and an economic enterprise; a look at the many similarities.
Higher maintenance costs or energy requirements in times of lazy affluence.
The lean, flexible but hungry and greedy business enterprise.
The predatorial aspects of corporate behaviour.
Many parallels between the functions, growth patterns, adaptations and internal mechanisms of a large corporation and a living cell; comparisons with the protoplasmic primordium.
Branching rivulets of energy, and possbilities of existence.
The aggressiveness of the animal life-form and corporations searching for "food".
Obtaining the necessary cash-flow; hard-sell advertising techniques.
The power over governments by large corporations.
The time has come to become more aware of the consequences of commercial interests and advertising practices upon our outlook or perceptions.
An absence of feed-back mechanisms that are able to slow-down the rate of penetration into an ecological niche.
A rapid rate of penetration, and a quick deterioration of the ecological niche, or possibility of existence.
The human being, and his faculty to foresee trends.
Large societies and large corporations lack, by and large, the ability to foresee what is going to happen.
The need to reduce, voluntarily, our rate of consumption.
The unfortunate dogmas of large corporations.
The need for the large society to become a more intelligent and better integrated organism.
The need to have an informed, well-educated and mentally well-balanced electorate.
Crumbling free-enterprise assumptions.
The need to have efficient, transparent and corruption-free governments, before we can expect them to control the many economic processes effectively.
The need to give a basic security of existence to everyone in order to organise the work that has to be done in society, without the fear and anxiety associated with unemployment.
The pernicious veil of secrecy.
Useful generalisations of the behaviour of living organisms, when reviewing social and corporate phenomena of existence.
The primitive level of organic functioning of the large, multi-individual organisations.
The need to shape, consciously, the "central nervous system" of every social organisation.
Insufficient genetic instructions for our large-scale collective behaviour.
The need for rational behaviour to temper and control our emotions.
A poor track-record for man's collective actions and deliberately brought-about changes.

For the remainder of this sketch, we should make an effort to link the early, pre-cellular biological evolution, (which we have discussed so extensively in the first part of this essay), to the concepts of economic growth and development. Economic processes are only a part of this gigantic complex of inter-dependencies and task-specialisations, which arise within every socially coherent group, since it is this process of task-division and inter-dependence, which determines the overall meaning and viability of a social structure.

We have seen, that, belonging to a social grouping must be meaningful and advantageous for each individual or segment of such a socially integrated entity, otherwise, the social cohesion will inevitably be broken by conflicting internal demands and pressures. The key to the increased viability that comes with social cohesion, task-specialisation and inter-dependence, lies in the fact, that the effort each member has to make in order to survive, is less than the effort required to maintain existence when each individual lives a solitary life. If this would not be the case, or, if such an existential advantage exists only for a privileged segment, then, the other members are, by definition, being exploited, and they would be better of without the social environment.

Similarly, cohesion or inter-dependence on an international scale is only viable, if all participants truly benefit from these relationships. In a state of social cohesion, the effort to maintain existence is, therefore, lessened. It becomes easier to provide for the basic necessities, and, as a result, the surplus vitality, or elan vital, can flow into other objectives. For example, aggressive expansionism is, probably, the oldest and most primitive channel into which the elan vital will be directed, and, this points-out, that, any society expanding by conquest or domination, contains, at least, in theory, an unstable element, since the dominated or conquered part or segment of the newly expanded society, is, nearly invariably, exploited and requires, therefore, a forceful dominance or act of suppression in order to be kept in check.

There are many avenues or channels into which the surplus elan vital can flow, such as improvements in the way of life, cultural and artistic "extras", more abundant and luxurious supplies of food, shelter, clothing, tools, etc. However, the road towards dominance and conquest seems inevitable, as the lure of land, riches and slaves will attract the attention of a vigorous society, but, our conscious insights may overcome such instinctive trends, at least, to some extent. In the more sophisticated societies, with fairly high levels of individual and conceptual differentiation, the arts, literature, technology, science, etc., provide useful channels for the dissipation of the elan vital.

It is clear, that this avenue or pathway can only be satisfactory and meaningful, if the society attaches some value to these activities, and, it is important, that the cultural traditions of a society remain actively concerned with a large variety of activities. If a society is comfortable, its basic security well looked-after and its needs fulfilled with relative ease, (which may, nevertheless, be based upon the exploitation of a segment of the population), the people begin to experiment with new life-styles, new luxuries, sensations, goods, ideas, etc.

The surplus elan vital of a privileged class or segment of society provides a remarkable flow of energy. It is an energy-potential or pressure-gradient that seeks channels for entropic dissipation. This tendency is expressed in the desire to spend this energy, and, this energy-potential opens-up numerous existence possibilities for a large variety of human activities. Further task-specialisations now pay-off, because society becomes willing, and able, to sustain people and pay for items, goods and services, which were previously considered unnecessary, or, which were unknown. This potential provides the basis for the existence of artists, scientists, craftsmen and manufacturers. Existence possibilities are explored, and, cultural and economic niches are filled. The criteria for viability remain essentially the same, because all these activities must have some meaning and people must be willing to spend some of their earnings on the products or results of these activities.

Economic activities are part of this search to find viable possibilities of existence, and, these activities can be classified as the manufacture of goods, the mining or harvesting of raw materials, or the provision of services, such as labour or trade, where the transport of a consumable item into an area where such an item is more desirable than where it was purchased or produced, provides the basic energy-gradient or price-gradient that makes the effort of transportation a viable enterprise.

By considering the economic activities to be, in essence, a search for a viable opportunity to exist, full-time, we can grasp and summarise the essence of all economic activities. We see the evolutionary aspects of growth, which come with success, and, this means, that a continuous flow of surplus elan vital provides the driving force for these economic activities. It may be the activities of an individual, or a group of people within the framework of a "company", but, if it is successful, the enterprise will grow in size and strength. It needs a continuous influx of suitable energy, just like any other organism, but, here, the energy is the cash-flow that comes from people buying the products of an economic enterprise.

Just like any living organism, an economic system needs a certain maintenance-energy in order to sustain its structure and well-being, which is usually expressed in operating costs, and, we see, how an inefficient business, just like an inefficient organism, begins to require a higher level of maintenance-energy during times of lazy affluence.

A business that is adaptable, flexible and run intelligently, will exhibit a far greater survival ability compared to a business system that has grown fat, sluggish and un-intelligent during a prolonged period of affluence or easy earnings. The same applies to any living system, where a prolonged absence of significant stress makes the adaptative mechanisms and efficiency of its internal machinery, lazy and under-utilised.

The growth of a business is, to a certaint extent, limited by the energy and ambitions of its leadership, which recognises, intuitively, that a very rapid growth makes it difficult to manage and oversee the business structure efficiently. The similarities in behaviour between businesses and living organisms, as well as the features of competitiveness and survival of the fittest, are quite apparent and do not require further elaboration, but, the tendency to merge, either in symbiotic or parasitic relationships, or, the outright predatory destruction of a small competitor, are all mechanisms that are shared by living organisms and economic systems alike.

Just like a growing organism, or a colony of closely related organisms, a growing business-complex channels an ever greater amount of suitable energy, (the consuming power of the public), through its existence, and, with this energy-flow, numerous existence possibilities are created for its managers, workers, executives, suppliers, sub-contractors, etc. We see a close parallel with the confluence of energy-channels and the branching-points for side-line reactions and neighbouring existence possibilities, which we have outlined in the sketch about energy-rivulets flowing through a protoplasmic primordium.

Another striking similarity is the parallel between numerous small, haphazardly located rivulets, fusing into a few large, complex channels with clear-cut water-sheds and an enormous ability to channel energy through their existence, and, the slow merger of businesses into larger and larger conglomerates, until we see the emergence of multi-national giants with unassailable powers, which are impossible to scrutinise effectively. These multi-nationals are so gigantic, that we do not know how far and extensive their sphere of influence and power really is.

The animal cell developed its aggressive and predatory aspects, when it began to seek, actively, its sources of energy with the help of its newly acquired feature of mobility. This happened, when the natural availability of suitable energy became somewhat diminished. We see the same mechanisms taking place in the economic world, where the corporations are seeking, aggressively, to sustain their energy or cash-flow by hard-selling the public; by pressuring people into believing that they have to buy this or that, and, by pressuring governments to provide them with existential advantages, such as subsidies and tax-concessions. Large corporations have an enormous and often overlooked power over governments, because of their ability to provide or withold job opportunities.

Uncontroled economic growth leads to a rapid, and, often, disastrous level of exhaustion and pollution, and, the continuous indoctrination of a gullible public into consumerist attitudes, perpetuates gross injustices and disparities. Even the technological advantages that have resulted from economic growth, have contributed, primarily, to an acceleration of consumerist attitudes, as well as the accelerated manufacturing, acquisition and stock-piling of weapons, together with an impoverishment of life-styles. While the technological capabilities are available to solve all the major social problems in the world, we still have to understand the many reasons, why it seems such a hopeless task to make real progress into this direction.

It is time, that we wake-up and realise, what we have done with our advertising, and, it is time to see, how, even, the lesser developed nations are now rapidly drawn into a whirl-pool of materialistic, consumerist attitudes and desires. Every organism seeks blindly for its possibilities of existence, and, there are no natural feed-back mechanisms to slow-down the penetration of a species into a viable ecological niche. The rate of penetration is always as rapid as possible. This is logical, because no organism, except the human being, has been provided with the fore-sight that such a rapid penetration may shorten the duration of its existence within a favourable niche.

The human being has, individually, as well as in small groups, a well-developed ability to project trends or events into the near future, and, we have discussed, on many occasions, how this ability is the functional corner-stone of man's mastery over his environment. Large societies, and, certainly, large business conglomerates, have only their immediate well-being in mind, and, they do not seem to have the ability to develop a course of action, or, to adopt an effective collective attitude, that recognises the effects and consequences of current trends.

It is, therefore, unrealistic to expect, that the large business conglomerates will be able to show voluntary restraint in their growth, or, that they will be able to show society the way back to a life-style of frugality, since such an attitude contradicts the immedate demands of continuing or expanding profits.

Leanness and flexibility, yes, this we can expect from a social conglomerate, but, not a voluntary reduction of profit-levels, because this attitude is incompatible with the ever-present inner tensions and frustrations of such a giant corporation. Just like a cell, the conglomerate would decay, if it could not channel a sufficient quantity of maintenance-energy through its system, and, it has to provide channels for the ambitious demands of its workers and managers. Continued growth and expansion has, therefore, become an unquestioned dogma for large-scale corporate existence.

The large society behaves in the same manner, and, we see in the large, vigorous society an unbridled tendency to grow, as well as an ever faster rate of consumption of the earth's resources. This points, inevitably, to the need to bring the direction and rate of economic development and production processes under the collective scrutiny of a well-informed public. Another remnant of the philosophy of free-enterprise is now crumbling, since the tacit assumption of free-enterprise has been the wisdom of a rapid expansion of the economic processes, without regard for the problems of depletion and pollution.

However, let us be aware of the fact, that the take-over of economic leadership by the conscious will of the people and executed by a competent government bureaucracy, requires a transparent and corruption-proof government structure, otherwise, we are faced with even more disastrous developments in bureaucratic growth, incompetence and corruption. We have outlined, before, the causes and effects of bureaucratic expansionism, as well as the resulting existential anxieties that are unleashed, whenever people have been trapped into a bureaucratic hierarchy.

Let us merely remind ourselves, that, all bureaucracies, or, rather, the individual members or small pressure-groups within these bureaucracies, will, inevitably, emphasise the need for personal or small-group security, if such a security is not provided by the Constitution of a society to all its members. Again, we see, here, a drive to explore the possibilities of individual existence in the mechanisms of bureaucratic growth, stagnation and inefficiency. The causes of incompetence, stagnation and corruption are, in essence, existential insecurity, a lack of clear directives, as well as the pernicious veil of secrecy hiding mistakes, incompetence and fraudulent practices.

The organic characteristics of social conglomerates, either as a business, or as a buraucracy, each with their own objectives, should be clear for all to see, and, the ideas that lie behind the concept of a search for possibilities of existence, or, social, cultural and ecological niches, show us, quite clearly, how fruitful such a generalised concept can be as its applicability seems to widen all the time.

The level of organic functionining of large social or entrepreneurial conglomerates is quite primitive, however, if we compare the behaviour-patterns of large, multi-individual human organisations with the abilities and capabilities of a single, multi-cellular individual. We have discussed the reasons why this is the case. We have to realise collectively, that, indeed, the behavioural response of a multi-individual organism is much more primitive, tentative and vulnerable, compared to the behaviour of each one of us individually. We have to understand the reasons why this is the case, and, we have to learn to shape the social regulatory mechanisms with a greater degree of informed, consciously willed and widely discussed sense of purpose, because, after all, we are shaping the central nervous system of a multi-individual organism.

We will have to take the destiny of our collective existence in our own hands and minds, because we will realise, that our genetic behavioural instructions are insufficient to ensure long-term survival in a framework of stringent inter-dependence. We will have to learn to see the overall goals and results of our contemporary, collective emotions and drives, which are still so vague, so contradictory and so poorly delineated. We will have to understand ourselves better than we do now, and, we have to see, clearly, the consequences of unbridled consumptive habits, as well as the unbridled gratification of our emotional promptings or instinctive drives.

We have to acknowledge the injustice of an ever greater discrepancy between the wealthy and the poor, as well as the dangerous dulling of the senses each one of us is subjected to in our affluent societies, because we are so pre-occupied with our affluent problems. This pre-occupation makes us increasingly self-centered, as we struggle with the problems of our affluent entrapment, and, the violent changes that will result from our collective insensitivity, may hit us suddenly and take us by surprise.

However, as long as there is a chance to reduce the internal tensions between human groupings, as well as the tensions between man the consumer and his finite, fragile environnment, we should continue our efforts to get these views across. We will probably only succeed, if the shock-waves of dramatic and violent changes are all around us, and, it will, then, be too late to change anything voluntarily or graciously. Man's track-record of making large-scale social changes voluntarily and deliberately, is very poor indeed, and, it is too optimistic to believe, that such large-scale, voluntary changes are possible now.

.......

Summary

1. The mental imagery of the evolution of life.
   A foundation for the understanding of our own existence.
   The concept of a "possibility to exist" is applicable from biochemical phenomena to economic and social mechanisms.
   A quick over-view of the origins of terrestial life and inorganic matter.
   The evolution of orbital matter within stellar furnaces.
   The earth with its physical constants represents the foundation for biochemical evolution.
   The fortuitous co-incidence of suitable physical constants and primary building-blocks for the processes of polymerisation.
   Rapidly ageing giant stars, and the evolution of atomic elements.
   The solar system is a late-comer in the stellar development of this region of the galaxy.
   The absorption of solar energy; thermal agitation and the capture of energy-quanta by electron-excitation.
   The formation of high-energy electro-chemical bonds.
   The high-energy bond as the driving force for all biochemical events.
   The concept of entropy.
   Life, seen as a pathway for the random dissipation of solar energy, captured in high-energy bonds.
   A rain-shower, filling a depression in a rock.
   Water rivulets, dissipating the gravitational energy of captured water, and their ability to "perform work".
   The "possibility to exist".
   Force-fields and tension- or pressure-gradients.
   Changing aspects of existence.
   Transformations, until no further change is possible.
   The spontaneous decay of inherently unstable atomic nuclei.
   The excited electron; a labile state with a tendency to transfer its energy-content to another configuration.
   The stability of matter-energy; when internal resistance is greater than external force-fields.
   Stability is also provided, when there is a continuous influx of energy to repair and counter-act the tendency towards chaos.
   The rapid or water-fall.
   The "open" system of existence, requiring a continuous influx of usable energy in order to maintain existence.
   Specialisation of cellular functions, and the development of the ability to move.
   The obligate-predatory nature of animal life.
   The struggle for existence, and the continuous search for a possibility to exist; the trend towards social integration.
   
   
   
2. The tendency for living entities to organise themselves into ever more complex units.
   The apparent contradiction of the law of entropy; the blind search for greater viability.
   Internally, a living system experiences entropy in its tendency to "fall-apart" or become disorganised.
   The living system functions as a channel for the dissipation of a biochemical energy-gradient.
   The tendency for channels of dissipation to favour those with the "least resistance", which are those that are the largest and most complex.
   The similar picture of a rivulet, scouring a path for itself and "growing" by absorbing the smaller rivulets in the neighbourhood.
   Enlargement of the rivulet speeds-up the dissipation of trapped energy.
   The greater efficiency of inter-connected biochemical pathways for the dissipation of trapped solar energy.
   The high resistance to dissipating such a biochemical energy-gradient, when the protoplasmic primordium has inefficient channels of dissipation.
   The blind search for a path of least resistance.
   The similarities between growing biochemical rivulets and rivulets of water.
   The co-existence of biochemical reaction-patterns.
   Inter-dependence in the search for a possibility to exist.
   Stability, found in complexity, as well as in a wide range of existence possibilities.
   The transformation of the protoplasmic primordium; from homogeneity to a state of discontinuity; the process of "differentiation".
   Growth, co-alescence, and the organisation into ever greater complexities.
   Analogies with the ever-widening river-beds and confluence of streams, as the process of energy-dissipation is speeded-up.
   The processes of growth and differentiation are not contradicting the principles of entropy.
   Adopting a proper perspective, in order to see the processes that are going-on in their entirety.
   The "soft" structural channels of biochemical pathways.
   Parallels with social phenomena.
   The "guided event".
   Manufacturing a copy of itself.
   The inorganic processes of apposition and crystallisation require a super-saturated solution, before the necessary energy-gradients are available.
   In the living systems, the process of duplication or manufacture can occur, because there is energy available to fuel such energy-requiring reactions.
   This is, again, an example of the dissipation of biochemical energy by living systems.
   In a "guided event", the channel for the dissipation of energy remains available, but in a "haphazard event", the pathways have to be found by trial and error, again and again.
   The "softness" of a structural pathway is an indication, that the pathway will "silt-up", or disappear, as soon as the energy-flow has been interrupted, because of a tendency to entropic disorganisation; the need for constant repairs.
   Guided events for the duplication of a living cell; a sequential organisation of biochemical events, locked-up in a genetic key, but these events depend for their actualisation on suitable environmental circumstances.
   
   
   
3. Why would a key for sequentially guided events emerge?
   The gene; seen as a structure that can shape a "river-bed" for events.
   The possibility to divert a flow of energy into side-branches.
   The concept of the "guided event".
   Every event is essentially "guided" or regulated by the factors under which the event takes place.
   A fragment of a complex event can usually be described in terms of causes and effects, indicating the factors and circumstances guiding the event in a predictable manner.
   An event of un-overseeable complexity of sub-events does not allow the delineation of guiding factors and circumstances.
   The essence of the "random event"; a haphazard occurrence of a population of sub-events to which we apply statistical manipulations of recurring regularities.
   The Brownian movements caused by thermal agitations of molecules represent an example of a complex population of events.
   The importance of "focus" or "scope" in a field of vision.
   The concept of an "un-guided event" is, essentially, a misnomer.
   Regulator-substances may or may not participate in an event.
   Regulator-substances function, often, as a carrier, oscillating between different states of existence, or, they may guide or "dock" certain substances in order to facilitate the occurrene of an inter-action between active elements.
   Enzymes are "docking" substances.
   Biochemical chain-reactions are examples, where the individual substances oscillate between states differing in energy-potential.
   A self-duplicating molecule.
   The "guided" polymerisation.
   The "random" polymerisations of the early protoplasmic primordium.
   Polymerisation is essentially similar to other molecular formations.
   The easy break-up of long molecules.
   All events are "guided", when seen on a small scale of observation.
   The "regulator" function of certain molecules.
   Feed-back upon production systems.
   The enlargement of the range of circumstances that can be tolerated with the introduction of feed-back and regulator mechanisms, resulting in increased viability.
   The possible relation between reversing anabolic and catabolic mechanisms, and, the daily fluctuations in solar energy-levels between day and night.
   The frequent occurrence of an event flowing through a system, giving rise to a possibility for adaptation.
   The atrophy of faculties that are hardly used.
   The somewhat revolutionary idea of a feed-back of environmental circumstances upon the genetic constitution.
   The adaptation of the genetic spectrum by shifting the center of such a spectrum towards those features that prove to be the most viable.
   The feed-back of selective survival upon the make-up of the genetic pool.
   A scrupulous constancy of the genetic make-up during individual existence.
   Parallels between genetic and biochemical mechanisms, and the social phenomena of mutual inter-dependence.
   The search for economic possibilities of existence.
   
   
   
4. An enhanced range of adaptations for systems with a complex regulator or feed-back system.
   The development of reliance, and dependence, upon a prolonged period of favourable circumstances.
   The animal, seen as an example of reliance upon locomotion and the abandonment of the faculty of photo-synthesis.
   Obligatory parasitic, sapro-phytic or predatory existence.
   The phenomenon of competitive dispersion with the emergence of a new plane of existence.
   The competitiveness of multi-cellular individuals, being themselves colonies of interdependent and symbiotically living cells.
   The need for extremely complex feed-back and regulator mechanisms, in order to keep a complex multi-cellular unit functional.
   The emergence of a status of interdependence between multi-cellular individuals.
   Behavioural flexibility and individual variability, based upon past experiences.
   The belief structure, seen as a regulator of behaviour-patterns in human societies.
   The belief structure as a framework for classifying awarenesses.
   The communal nature of a belief structure.
   Slowly emerging specialty functions within a social entity.
   Increasing our reliance upon each other's functions.
   Enhanced viability, as long as the internal tensions of strife and dissent remain low.
   The vulnerability of becoming specialised within society.
   Why the benefits of belonging to society have to go to everyone, and not just to a privileged minority.
   The hierarchical pecking-order as a transition between competitive territoriality and complete social integration on the basis of an essential equality in opportunities and living conditions.
   The beginnings of "economic activities".
   The manufacture of tools and weapons, seen as a way to ease the burdens of providing for essential needs and basic security.
   A similar easing of existence by a process of specialisation in making tools and weapons.
   The consequences of competitive strife in the distribution of economic products.
   The dominant elite.
   Difficulties dis-entangling oneself from a modern society, if the conditions are judged to be unfavourable.
   The loss of power and influence, whenever an individual becomes dependent on a social situation.
   Laws and customs; mechanisms to maintain a sense of justice and equality between the members of a social entity.
   The difference between an idealised philosophical generalisation and its practical application.
   
   
   
5. Barter and trade are impossible without generally accepted behavioural regulators.
   If absent, barter becomes a confrontation, where the winner takes all.
   Barter is, in theory, a voluntary agreement of exchange between equally placed individuals.
   If such a condition is stable, we see possibilities arise for a specialisation in function.
   The natural balance between supply and demand.
   The tacit assumption, that all members in society will honour the laws of property rights.
   The process of barter, deterioriating into a struggle for power.
   The misgivings of those, who lose-out in this struggle.
   The "easiness" of a routine task.
   It takes much less effort to carry-out one task ten times, compared to ten tasks, once.
   A much broader base of experience without specialisation, but, it represents also an added stress of existence.
   The essential need for each member to benefit from belonging to society.
   The inevitable trend for a powerful segment of society to become a parasitic elite.
   When the laws and regulatory bodies of society come into the hands of a dominant elite.
   The sharp rise in tensions and disparities between the rich and the poor.
   Destroying the sense of togetherness, as well as the fundamental reasons for belonging together.
   The successful society provides an ease of existence for all its members.
   The jockeying for a position of advantage.
   The display of wealth and an affluent life-style as a symbol of social success.
   A rapid and marked rise in the level of consumption by an affluent society.
   The tendency to consume, seen as an obsessive desire to be considered rich, respected and independent.
   The truly rich are less ostentatious but more ruthless when challenged.
   Exploiting the desire to be rich and independent by the commercial interests of affluent societies.
   The problems of depletion and pollution, as well as injustice and disparity.
   A return to the processes of barter.
   The labile balance of power between provider and consumer.
   The rationale behind labour-unions and business mergers.
   Affluence for all; a reduced internal stress of injustice
   The injustice of an over-heated pocket of consumerism.
   Varying ways of obtaining affluence; exploiting another society or the earth's resources.
   The accelerated flow of economic activities with the provision of easy credit and "easy money".
   Paper-money, seen as a universal "letter of credit" or "drawing right".
   The importance of the factors of trust and confidence.
   The complexity of modern economics, analysed as common-sense happenings within a small community.
   The accumulation of assets into the hands of industrious and clever achievers.
   The beginnings of deception and resentment.
   A divergence in the standard of living.
   A position of social power, based on assets rather than popular support.
   The problems associated with economic power.
   Lack of insight about the requirements of beneficial leadership.
   Problems distinguishing between the legitimate fruits of one's labours, and the clever acquisition of assets; the "quick buck".
   The law as an unwitting instrument in perpetuating disparity and injustice.
   In nature, power and leadership qualities go hand in hand, because it requires the power of the personality to dominate physically and mentally, without the help of large assets and massive weaponry.
   Hiring a private army.
   A leadership by the sword, and, the inevitable occurrence of brutalities and acts of violence.
   The tyrant and his defensive mentality.
   An inability to care for others.
   Wealth is not the only feature to be perpetuated by lawful inheritance; a similar course for social status and privileged positions.
   Each social organisation had its foundation in the fact that the togetherness benefitted a large majority of the people.
   How easy is it, to accept inherited privileges as a right, or, slavery as a fate.
   
   
   
6. In a competitive social environment, it is natural to seek security in the power of assets.
   Money breeds money, and assets become easier to acquire.
   A form of predation, where we try to consume each other's possessions.
   The positive feed-back of acquisitive success accentuates a negative attitude of egocentricity.
   The subconscious social contract, and the disastrous consequences of unbridled free-enterprise mechanisms.
   An abuse of leadership positions.
   The difficult task to teach successive generations the pitfalls of poor leadership.
   Egocentric pre-occupation with the problems of affluence, and a lack of concern for the problems of other people.
   Our dependence upon the economic performance of an affluent society.
   An unnecessarily high rate of consumption.
   The need to keep the economic momentum going.
   The gigantic water-fall and the extremely inefficient utilisation of its energy-flow.
   The phenomenon of inflation.
   Fear, ignorance, poverty and a naive belief structure may retard the emergence of resentment and rebellion.
   Increasing participation in government by ordinary members with the democratization of the mechanisms of government.
   Less injustices within the affluent societies, but a sharper disparity between the richer and poorer nations.
   Economic growth by technology, the harnassing of a variety of energy resources, a rising level of education, and the injection of money into society.
   The experience that a "recession" was due, in part, to a lack of money to "lubricate" an expanding eonomy.
   The gradual devaluation of money, when its value is not fully backed.
   The consequences of such a gradual erosion in the value of money for the attitudes of saving and a frugal life-style.
   The need of the large industrial concerns to have the people spend all their money as fast as possible.
   Advertising and an accent upon immediate gratification.
   People becoming tense, frustrated and trapped into ever-widening financial obligations.
   The economic slump; poor productivity and non-competitiveness on world-markets.
   The devaluation of a currency, whenever its value slumps on international money-markets.
   Economic slumps, "treated" with increased public expenditures.
   The fast-rising debt-load of the nation and all its members; individual and corporate debt-loads.
   Gradual impoverishment of the standard of living because of a steeply rising debt-load.
   The disappearance of national pride and a stoic resignation to the phenomenon of inflation.
   The dependence of everyone on the economic momentum.
   A large, chronic debt-load, and the inherent advantages of a high rate of inflation for borrowers.
   Recent rises in affluence were possible because of automation and an ever faster rate of consumption of energy and natural resources.
   The end of this era.
   The concentration of large, special-interest groupings within society, fighting for a slice of the economic pie.
   A reduction of competitive pricing of products, services and labour costs, seen as contributing factors in the spiral of wage and price increases.
   The fallacy to sooth public frustration and un-realistic expectations with artificial job-creation programs, as well as other forms of public expenditures.
   Increasing the debt-load and perpetuating an unhealthy momentum of irrealistic expectations and unnecessary consumption.
   
   
   
7. The floating exchange-rate.
   Governments still have an obligation to guarantee the value of their currency.
   Unwise fiscal policies, and the international reaction to such unwise policies.
   The weak corrective actions available to contemporary governments.
   Muddled thinking by leaders and people alike about the consequences of a high debt-load.
   Inflation is an unfair method to reduce the actual debt-load.
   A slow, but constant robbery of savings and investments.
   The natural tendency for the investor to become greedy.
   The hidden life-style of top-officials of governments and big business enterprises.
   The inscrutability of large multi-national corporations.
   Questioning the right to inherit wealth, assets and natural resources.
   The basic unfairness of appropriating territories and assets.
   A short summary of the factors that have been discussed.
   The difficulties with electing a truly representative leadership.
   Failures of the free-enterprise system.
   Difficulties for a guided economy with an inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy.
   The ever-recurring divergence between the rich and the poor.
   The need to abandon the philosophy and practice of consumerism.
   Modern restlessness, and neurotic consuming habits.
   The willingness of our leaders to engage in wars.
   When the last barriers against armed conflict fall-away.
   
   
   
8. The spending of present and future income.
   Individual debts, and our enslavement to a continuation of the economic momentum in our affluent societies.
   Impoverished attitudes and life-styles amidst an apparent affluence.
   Poor examples from our governments.
   Inflationary erosion of savings.
   The accumulation of wealth and assets into a few hands, even, when seen on a global scale.
   The rising tensions of injustice.
   The heavy price paid for the luxury of going into debt.
   Is it too painful to face an honest diagnosis and an effective cure?
   Charging interest for lending money.
   Borrowing a tool; a small fee for the benefits obtained from its use.
   Restoring a depreciated value.
   Usurpation in the past; a-moral practices and logical reactions against them.
   Now, the small money-lender, or saver, is nearly always at a disadvantage by receving less value in return for the money he has lent.
   The individual, powerless against the trends and institutions of his society.
   Consumerism, seen as an evolutionary dead-end.
   The living organism, doomed to extinction, if it has lost the ability to adapt to drastically different circumstances.
   The hope that mankind will survive a while longer.
   
   
   
9. Attempts to correlate the features of biochemical evolution with the phenomena of the human society.
   Economic processes, seen as mutual inter-dependencies and the search for a possibility to exist.
   Belonging to a social group must be meaningful to every participant.
   Lessening the effort to exist by social integration and the creation of inter-dependencies.
   Exploitation occurs, when some segments of the population would be better of without the existing social organisation.
   On a global scale, international inter-dependencies are only viable, if each participant benefits.
   Aggressive expansionism; the most primitive expression of an eased existence.
   A conquered or dominated segment within society requires an effort to restrain, and, this signals, inevitably, a rise in internal tensions.
   Many avenues are available for the eased or liberated elan vital, when increased viability requires less maintenance energy.
   The need to overcome our instinctive drives of greed and opportunism.
   Artistic, scientific, athletic and other achievements as useful channels for the dissipation of a liberated vitality.
   Further specialisations and new inter-dependencies become possible, if there is more energy left-over to sustain such diversification processes.
   The maintenance of the energy-balance, and a healthy common-sense approach to problems.
   The price-gradient as the driving force for the process of trade.
   The growth of an economic enterprise.
   Comparison between a living system, and an economic enterprise; a look at the many similarities.
   Higher maintenance costs or energy requirements in times of lazy affluence.
   The lean, flexible but hungry and greedy business enterprise.
   The predatorial aspects of corporate behaviour.
   Many parallels between the functions, growth patterns, adaptations and internal mechanisms of a large corporation and a living cell; comparisons with the protoplasmic primordium.
   Branching rivulets of energy, and possbilities of existence.
   The aggressiveness of the animal life-form and corporations searching for "food".
   Obtaining the necessary cash-flow; hard-sell advertising techniques.
   The power over governments by large corporations.
   The time has come to become more aware of the consequences of commercial interests and advertising practices upon our outlook or perceptions.
   An absence of feed-back mechanisms that are able to slow-down the rate of penetration into an ecological niche.
   A rapid rate of penetration, and a quick deterioration of the ecological niche, or possibility of existence.
   The human being, and his faculty to foresee trends.
   Large societies and large corporations lack, by and large, the ability to foresee what is going to happen.
   The need to reduce, voluntarily, our rate of consumption.
   The unfortunate dogmas of large corporations.
   The need for the large society to become a more intelligent and better integrated organism.
   The need to have an informed, well-educated and mentally well-balanced electorate.
   Crumbling free-enterprise assumptions.
   The need to have efficient, transparent and corruption-free governments, before we can expect them to control the many economic processes effectively.
   The need to give a basic security of existence to everyone in order to organise the work that has to be done in society, without the fear and anxiety associated with unemployment.
   The pernicious veil of secrecy.
   Useful generalisations of the behaviour of living organisms, when reviewing social and corporate phenomena of existence.
   The primitive level of organic functioning of the large, multi-individual organisations.
   The need to shape, consciously, the "central nervous system" of every social organisation.
   Insufficient genetic instructions for our large-scale collective behaviour.
   The need for rational behaviour to temper and control our emotions.
   A poor track-record for man's collective actions and deliberately brought-about changes.

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