I'll be honest, a lot of the rules, regulations, norms, etc are things we fundamentally created to remain 'sound' and 'principled' in nature(even though in a self-fulfilling circle, said fundamentally sound principles are based off of said rules, regulations and norms.) To simplify that even further unlike the Laws of Physics(gravity, etc) or scientific thesis's that had been confirmed much of human existence has not been confirmed and I could go so far as to say that human ingenuity makes it so that it might not be fully confirmed. So, we're winging it. And we wing it with the above, and with 'laws'(which is practically synonymous with the same). But is a society in essence, these rules? What is the individual impact on society? I would propose to you, very little. Even though the politicians and judges are elected in countries that hold elections, that is where the individual impact ends. And in countries that don't hold elections, even this minute impact doesn't exist. It is the elected or un-elected officials/ministers of the government and the judiciary who create and enforce these rules, that make up the 'society'. Even in rebellions against authorities who abuse their power, there's two inevitable outcomes: 1: The rebels become the new governing order and are thus now the ones who create and enforce the law. 2: In a more democratic society, perhaps they are replaced via election, OR the actions of a different lawmaker writes laws to correct/prevent the abuse. Either way, civilian power is fundamentally nonexistent without either becoming the government or winning over the minds of those in the government. Despite this, as people we talk openly and even encouragingly about society. But if we do not own society, or have meaningful impact on it then why do we do this? Survival. We're not collectively stupid, we understand to varying degrees our nonexistent social standing(even if you are rich, the best lawyers don't mean anything unless the jury is swayed, and/or the judge.). From an individual prospective, we need society to find us as valuable, otherwise it is very easy for society to find us as disposable. You have to thrive and survive within 'society'. It is not, as some mistakenly believe, a function of individual human value. It's the antithesis to human value. We just try to install as much human value in it, as we can. In many ways, Society is the very first AI. Artificial Intelligence, provided by the collective humanity with no actual input on how that intelligence is used. The logic chain that 'society' operates on, is like this: Step 1: A situation or a problem occurs. Step 2: People living within the society call for change. Step 3: Society tries to remedy the issue, but the remedy causes another issue, so we cycle back to step one. And it is this 3-step process that is the basis for human existence as we exit 2023 and into 2024. This process is wildly chaotic, unpredictable and largely uncontrollable and it is our goal as people to survive this process as best we can. My Conclusion: Society is a system, or one could even say an inorganic being that at best is based on the whims of the collective voices of humanity but individual humans have no control over it and must try to live within it, lest it be purged or dealt with by the system/inorganic being. So why did I start this thread topic? To return to my roots as an intellectual, and as a new diet of conversation one that I think is important for us to have, as it is a conversation that while it has political value, also surpasses binary politics as it is of interest to us all.
