Chapter 3) Down With Dogmatism (prelude to ultimate alternate history)
It began long long ago in a cold dark cave on the wall of a canyon when the cave was filled with too many people trying to survive without the needed tools or resources who responded out of fear and desperation ignoring reason or knowledge in an attempt at answering intellectual questions which could have been easily resolved with minimal thought and zero effort if objectivity and observation had ruled over ignorance and brutality for even the short time while reality was being honestly examined. Don't read that aloud, it's a pointless mouthful that'll leave you breathless, but it's a good synopsis of the beginning of the rest of the story. 1) Dogmatic - It was a Dark and Dreary Night
Why do bad things have to be dark and dreary? I've spent many dark and dreary nights under the sky with friends, involved in long discussions till dawn. They are terrific memories. Voices speaking, eyes only slightly visible in the darkness, shadows of figures walking to the cooler for another Mountain Dew and more Cheetos. Challenging conversations with everyone intent on honest answers to complex questions. It's a scenario played out throughout all of human history. Can't imagine life offering much better than that... ooops... POT ROAST! Those memories needed pot roast to make them perfect, with little white potatoes and carrots and onions. Dark and dreary isn't always bad, decide for yourself in this case. Long long ago, seems as if everything begins long long ago. On a dark and less than dreary night a group of adventurous humans looked past their world, past the familiar surroundings. These adventurers decided to go for a walkabout, to see what was on the other side. That's the only reason they walked, the world they knew provided food and water, protection from predators and weather, everything they needed in abundance. There were few tribes and all freely cooperated with each other. One tribe began questioning their lives. The first tribe to set out on an exploration of the world was a group of about a hundred people. They were curious. They were the first to ask questions about the universe. "What's over there?" is the question which started a history of exploration. And so... they began their walkabout. Generations later the tribe lost it's desire to travel. They were thousands of miles from their place of origin. They knew nothing of their history beyond a couple generations past. They didn't know other tribes existed thousands of miles away. The tribe had no children, their current environment was too difficult to raise them. Difficulty surviving caused the tribe to lose focus, this generation lost the tribe's history of curiosity. This group was the last generation if they didn't make a lifestyle change. They had no idea where they came from but, they knew the tribe would end without children. They believed it would be the end of all people. With only thirty in the tribe they settled in a canyon with a new purpose. It would be the end of their personal lives, the remainder of their years would be selflessly dedicated to raising and educating the future of humanity. This is the tribe that found the canyon. The last of those explorers died while their new generation was too young, they had not yet understood their elders wisdom. The following ten generations were happy to live in the canyon but, there were random departures of small groups looking for a better life. Three of those groups were successful and started new tribes. On another dark and possibly dreary night, the tribe which is about to rediscover the canyon is wounded from a day of tiger attacks. They lost five members including their four elders, who's experience guided the decisions of nomadic life. They also lost one of the children when Bha tossed the girl off a rock and into the mouths of hungry predators. Hey, according to Bha the girl deserved it for crying all night. Bha ran away while the tigers were preoccupied with the young girl. Now, hours later Bha takes control of the tribe. The rest are in shock, thirsty and hungry, some bleeding from tiger wounds, some near death. I guess this night is looking dreary after all. Whodathunkit? Perched high in the trees sit about seventy five of the world's most advanced humans, not knowing what to do next they spent the night in fear. Beware of big snakes in them trees. Better than tigers on the ground. Far better than standing high on a rock with tigers below and Bha next to you. Ghal is the only imaginary friend original to Bha. Can't be sure but, Ghal probably told Bha to toss the six year old girl to the tigers. Every damage Bha causes other people is claimed to be the work of Ghal. Much like the modern kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, claiming it was his invisible friend Billy. The tribe hides in the trees all night licking their wounds. Bha works out a plan to take control of the tribe and get rid of those who would oppose his will. They will all die before the next sunset. Those who survive will serve Bha & Ghal without question, not openly questioning if they wish to live. Too bad the tribe didn't understand that a group is stronger than one violent member. Instead, enough of them supported Bha out of fear. Bha was just smart enough to figure out how to manipulate that group and more importantly, how to subjugate the rest using the threat and the will of his followers. Twenty four hours after the last tiger attack, twelve more have died, fifty eight humans remain and are now brutally ruled by ten using intimidation, fear, lies, ignorance and violence. The last day set events in motion to end their tribe and a tribe they have yet to meet. Even future generations are doomed due to one stupid person who is without basic logic. Bha's goal was self preservation at the cost of the lives of others. He prevailed when many better choices would have provided comfort and security to all. Bha lacked the ability to conceive a solution for the entire group. The group was too weak and fearful to contest the violence imposed upon them. Bha had a bit of an issue with the size and function of his penis. He spent years compensating with brutality, easily done since he was a mutant human nearly twice the mass of anyone else in the tribe. Penis and brain both being substandard, Bha was only able to inflict his will on others, not his intelligence or... that was fortunate for the women and future of the tribe's gene pool. Bha gave up dragging women around by their hair when it became a symbol of his performance anxiety. Roll the calendar back to a time when Bha was about twelve years old. If you have trouble following this narrative then pay closer attention, it tends to jump about. Bha is twelve years old. In their culture it's time to look for a wife. He's big for his age so even the older girls are attracted to him, they didn't know he'd keep growing up while his mind was headed the other way. Nobody is certain but they think he fell out of a tree. Landing on his head may have caused his troubles, or perhaps it was a kick in the head by a mammoth, even Bha can't recall. After the accident Bha spent most of his time alone or playing with children half his age. As the younger kids outgrew their imaginary friends Bha would take them in and provide new life to each and every one. He couldn't imagine friends on his own. Bha had more imaginary friends than there were members in his tribe. He became very good at playing with invisible Billy and invisible Judy. Bha lost touch with reality before he found it. As he grew, Bha's imaginary friends became imaginary fiends telling him to do all sorts of bad deeds. He lost what was left of his mind and made worst use of his size. Several prospective wives rejected Bha when he couldn't perform. Physical abuse was a factor as well. More than a hundred thousand years later Bha's reputation is still haunting him. Ignoring the adage "be nice" can have lasting results. With Bha in charge the tribe immediately begins traveling, leaving the wounded behind as tiger bait. There was only one final objection, a ten year old boy named Whugat. Young Whugat couldn't imagine life without his mother and wanted to bring her along. Bha became violent at the thought of opposition. Blame it on Ghal. Whugat stayed behind to care for the wounded. Days later, a group of the missing children came out of the forest and helped Whugat. They all cooperated, fetching food and water, applying mud packs to wounds and swatting flies. A new tribe was formed. After a few days aimlessly wandering, Bha's tribe stumbled upon a canyon in the middle of a high plateau. It was surrounded by trees. It had a deep pond with a constant supply of water. There were berries and roots everywhere. The canyon only had one problem, a few pesky people already lived there. These people were knowitalls, intellectual explorers the like of which the world had never known. They claimed the ability to trap mammoths as supplement to the food supply. They had the nerve to claim they knew more than Ghal. The inhabitants of the canyon claimed there was not enough food without mammoth, especially with a new tribe added to the dinner table. These claims made Ghal very unhappy. The canyon tribe was shocked to learn they were not alone in the universe. The revelation put them off their guard. The canyon tribe quickly examined possibilities and concluded, Bha's tribe must have originated in the canyon, they must be the offspring of a group which went exploring. The canyon dwellers welcomed the new tribe until Ghal got mad. Hours after Bha's tribe wandered into the canyon and feasted on the food available, while the canyon tribe was busy planning a welcome home party, Bha started trying to kill people. The leader of the canyon was a man named Ugh. Not too bright and not too pleasant, Ugh was their leader only because he was big, for no other reason. Ugh the tiger killer engaged in battle with Bha the belligerent. Both men suffered injuries sufficient to halt the combat. The two tribes found defensible locations in opposite ends of the canyon. They began building weapons, one side for defense and the other for offense. Months passed before winter came, there were minor skirmishes over food and water. Neither tribe could survive the snow without shelter, both tribes were starving. After several battles over control of the cave, using compassion and logic and reason, the canyon tribe managed to convince many of the belligerent tribe to change sides. Out numbered three to one, Bha and his nine followers had the option to freeze or cooperate. The canyon tribe welcomed the enemy into their home. This was their final fatal mistake. People without reason cannot be trusted. The tribe freezes and starves in the snow covered cave, just as they had always done before the mammoth trap. This winter they also had to deal with Bha and his nine followers. In the previous six months, the two tribes have gone from one hundred and ten people to only forty. The old tribe believes they will bring logic and reason to light and cause at least the nine followers to become productive members of the tribe. Bha and his imaginary friend Ghal have other plans. By spring the forty in the cave were down to thirty. Bha and his nine followers had better odds now, two to one. Add violent intent and it was easy for ten to subjugate twenty. The twenty quickly became five in opposition to Bha's brutality, the others changed sides when the snow melted and food was available. The five were Ugh, Wha, Aahl, Gat, and Wee. All from the original canyon tribe. They believe what they have learned will be lost forever, their intellectual accomplishments will not be passed to a new generation. They lost hope and began living only to survive. The future of humanity looks dark and dreary from their perspective. 2) Dogmatic - Life with Ghal
First to go is the mammoth trap. It fueled their lives for a couple years and gave the old tribe free time to consider possibilities. The food allowed the tribe to improve their health and survive winter. It created a society of people capable of contemplating the universe, on the edge of great discoveries. They were beginning a new age for humanity. It was the first time humans had come this close to enlightenment. Knowledge and comprehension and intellect posed a threat to superstition and ignorance and violence imposed by Bha. Cooperation born of compassion and comprehension, had the chance to flourish in the newly joined tribe. Bha waited all winter to force the explorers out of the cave. He couldn't openly kill them because Ugh had already proven himself to be a capable warrior. Ugh might win the next battle. As dictators still do today, Bha spent the winter gradually taking power. He randomly inflicted his will on others while constantly claiming "Ghal said" they have to do whatever Bha thought would grant him more control over the people around him. For a dictator, controlling vital resources is a sure fire way of controlling a population. Since you can't control a plentiful resource it's often the tactic of manipulative people to find a way of changing the situation, a way of making the resource less plentiful. This was the first item on Bha's agenda. Air and water were plentiful but he couldn't do anything to restrict access to them. Limited air and water supply would cause immediate chaos and dictators want chaos they can control. For Bha's goals food was the item to manipulate. He needed food to be in short supply. Food was provided by a mammoth trap he didn't understand and was the product of his opposition. Bha demanded that Ghal said it couldn't be used. This gave him leverage against everyone by threatening and controlling the food supply of starving people. Bha and the nine who blindly did what he told them to do, picked berries while the rest of the tribe was waiting for the berries to ripen. They hid the unripe berries and added all the roots they could dig. The ten of them ate well and distributed limited food to those he felt could be manipulated. Ugh, Aahl and Wha were soon the only adults who opposed Bha. They managed to keep two younger members of the old tribe under their protection and spent every moment of their days searching for food. They were routinely run out of the cave and most nights they slept in the trees above the canyon, whenever it was warm enough. Ugh, Aahl and Wha tried logic and reason, seldom getting help from the rest of the tribe. They pointed out that Oogh and Whu were searching for a better place and might return soon. As time passed without Oogh and Whu's return, the sympathetic members of the tribe began to doubt. Suggestions of following Oogh and Whu were briefly considered and overheard by Bha. He began searching for a way to prevent anyone from leaving because leaving would reduce the number of people he controlled. For Bha, life is power over others. Sound familiar? There are Bha types brutally manipulating populations around the world and there always have been. Bha's manipulation had become rooted in his claims about his invisible imaginary friend Ghal. No member of the tribe could successfully refute Bha's claims about Ghal. They didn't have the tools to point out the obvious, he's imaginary. "Ghal said" is Bha's response to everything and it's been half of his source of control. The other half was the violence supported by nine followers. Bha now has control of food, three methods of manipulation. Eventually Ghal claimed Oogh and Whu were dead, they're not coming back and Ghal kills anyone who tries to escape the canyon. Bha was searching for more methods of controlling others. He did as his kind always does, he began forcing his will on the tribe in every manner he could imagine. In the name of Ghal, Bha forced everyone to ask his permission to... well... for everything he thought he could control. When he noticed two of the younger people doing what a married couple is expected to be doing, Bha attacked them, pulled them apart and beat them both. He demanded they have to get Ghal's permission, Ghal has to sanction their marriage or they'll be stoned to death. Through Ghal, Bha demanded that the one couple of the same gender were not allowed to be married, or touch each other. He demanded that the girl with different color hair and skin was inferior. She didn't deserve to be treated as an equal and that justified forcing her into slavery. To establish Ghal as being real and to further control resources, Bha demanded that every person pay tribute to Ghal. From the limited food he gave them, Bha forced them to give a third to Ghal. When there was more food than needed, Bha claimed it was Ghal who provided the extra and Ghal was given that food. Storms were claimed to be the punishment of Ghal, for whatever Bha wanted to punish someone for doing. This further controlled the people since now they were turned against the person Bha was manipulating. Any suggestion which contradicted Ghal was met with punishment. Discussing where the cave came from was forbidden, Ghal made it. Every aspect of life, even the age of the cave was decided by Bha in Ghal's name. Intellectual pursuits were not allowed. Nobody would stand up to Bha. All of these abuses were only to enhance Bha's control of the people around him. Bha's nine followers had become as violent and abusive as Bha. It's a power trip. Sick minds do these things. It destroyed every chance the tribe had for survival or advancement. 3) Dogmatic - Life Beyond Ghal
As the oldest uninjured member of the tribe formed on the day of tigers, Whugat was still struggling to survive. Several members of his tribe survived but were disabled by tiger injuries. They had a number of young orphaned children who required constant supervision. The tribe was unable to travel at the speed they needed but eventually they stumbled across the canyon. They spent weeks sneaking in at night for water from the deep pond while hiding in the trees during the day. They found the food offered to Ghal and feasted on rotting roots and berries. One day the group was spotted by Ugh who spoke with Aahl and Wha. The trio tried to help, they explained Oogh and Whu to Whugat's tribe. In absolute desperation they only heard the horror story about a better place beyond big mountain. The most common phrases in the talks were "We have to try" and "You're not strong enough". The trio had nothing else to offer, nothing more they could do to help. Whugat took his tribe across the prairie. Unlike the canyon tribe who lived in one place, Whugat's people had always been on a walkabout. They always lived off the land. A few weeks later the small children were found alone and crying in the trees above the canyon. Whugat realized they wouldn't survive crossing the barren landscape. He returned them to the old tribe hoping they would have a chance with Ugh, Wha and Aahl. Whugat knew that Oogh and Whu's plan was to head straight for the highest peak of big mountain. It's the best point of reference, always visible. He did the same and endured the same hardships along the way, with the addition of having to care for the older children and the wounded. Only four survived the barren landscape. Whugat and three girls found the forest on the prairie before big mountain. They feasted on fruit with water in it but unlike Oogh and Whu, they were familiar with oranges. They knew about carrots and regularly ate small white furries. There were no surprises in the forest or the river where Oogh and Whu recovered. The forest was the ideal place for Whugat's tribe to live yet he had another thought. His decisions were clouded by the misunderstood story of Oogh and Whu going to a mythical place where life would be easy. It was a horror story he wanted to comprehend and it was a dream of a good life for his small family. Traveling through the forest, Whugat made water bags as his tribe had always done. He saved skins to put on their feet when the ground was rocky. Climbing big mountain was routine for Whugat and the girls until they reached the top. You guessed it, they sat and stared at massive pond. Have you never seen people sitting on a beach staring for hours at the ocean? Have you ever found yourself staring? What were you thinking? You knew what it was and you expected it. These are people who have spent their entire lives searching for water. Their greatest accomplishment has been finding a way of carrying water. Consider the shock of seeing it... for people who've never heard of or even imagined such a thing as an ocean. They don't yet know they can't drink it. About a mile away, Oogh and Whu were also climbing big mountain headed the other direction. They were on the way back to the canyon to rescue their old tribe. Too bad they didn't cross paths, Whugat could have given them vital information about the canyon. He could have warned them about Bha. Oogh and Whu would have been prepared and could have failed to misunderstand before they even got close to the canyon. Whugat could have given them water bags and shoes. Inventions born of necessity for a nomadic tribe, just like the mammoth trap was invented by the canyon tribe. Oogh and Whu could have told Whugat about small cave in the hills by massive pond. Whugat and the girls could have waited for Oogh and Whu to return, and become part of a tribe of explorers. They could have found the tools of the trade and become intellectual beings. If only they had met. The tribe would have been larger and may have survived more than a few generations. If only... it could have made a difference in human history. The first tribe to explore the universe could have survived and accomplished much more than they did. How many times in human history have small events delayed human accomplishment? Traveling was easier for Whugat and the girls than it was for Oogh and Whu. Their lives had always required adapting to the surroundings. They easily discovered that fish are plentiful in massive pond since they had caught fish in rivers and lakes. They traveled the coast in the direction opposite of Oogh and Whu. They encountered streams and rivers flowing into massive pond and followed them inland, always looking to find food. Raised as nomads it never occurred to them to find a good place and settle down. The horror story about life in the canyon, told to them by Wha, remained a horror story. As years passed Whugat and his three wives were happy and content. They had two children with a third on the way. The family learned the farther north they went, the worse the cold periods became. They decided to travel the coast as winter approached, seeking warmer climate to the south. The family was weak from months of constant travel. Days into the worst storm they had ever seen, the family found shelter in a small cave in the hills. They collected and stacked large rocks at the cave entrance to keep out the cold wind and the rain. When the storm cleared they were starving. It took weeks to recover. By then the family realized the benefits of living in a cave, as long as basic resources were available nearby. They finally comprehended the horror story told to them by Wha. They were learning that without the knowledge and support of a large tribe, nomadic life is far more difficult than it had been when they were growing up. A couple years living in the cave allowed the family to grow. Raising five children was easy with abundant food, water and shelter. They had leisure time. They often talked about the old days, their old nomadic life was more difficult but it provided constant challenges. They remembered their past and taught their children another way of life. The family went on camping trips, exploring the surroundings for miles in different directions. Each time they were forced to return to small cave in the hills, tired and needing recuperation. They learned the lesson, the cave is a far better life as long as the resources last. By accident, they even learned about drying fish to preserve food. They learned many new tricks to make life easier but never stared at the moon and the stars, raising the children was their main focus. One day Whugat was catching fish in the surf when he spotted a group of people approaching from the south. He only remembered Bha. In absolute terror he ran into the hills to protect his family. He gathered them together and they fled over the top of a hill to watch without being seen. A group of two women and one man walked straight to small cave as if they knew where it was. Whugat and three wives watched in horror, trying to keep the children quiet. 4) Dogmatic - Fear of Strangers Was Learned From Bha
Fear. A tool uncontrolled can cause missed opportunities, and worse.
'Wha, people are living here.''Whu, do you think they're from the old tribe?''I hope so, I'd like to see them again.'
Oogh replied 'Remember Bha. It could be them or more like them. We should leave.''No Oogh, it took weeks to get here and we need rest. This our first cave, I don't want to leave. Everything is ready for them, I want to catch small white furries to take home. That's why we're here and I'm not leaving without them.''OK Whu, but we better find the people living here and make friends quick, it's getting dark.''Look Oogh, water bags.''Whu, the cave is covered in drawings.''They must be Bha's tribe.''No, our tribe would have learned these tools. It could be anyone, maybe someone we've never heard of before.''It's dirty and smelly, our tribe knows better.''Where are they Oogh?''I don't know Wha but let's hide in the hills. It's warm so we don't need the cave tonight.'
Whu, Wha and Oogh spent several days hiding near the spring, one always watching small cave in the hills. On the third night Wha couldn't recognize Whugat in the dark from a distance, years later.
'Oogh, Whu, come quick, there's somebody down by the cave!''Too dark, I can't tell who it is. Whu, can you see?''It looks like a man Oogh, that's all I can tell.''He's running away Wha.''I see, that must mean he knows we're here and he's afraid.''I think he was carrying something. It looked like the water bags.''Whu, Wha, tomorrow I'll go down there and check. If they're hiding like us then they must be thirsty, we have the only water here.'
Wha noted 'If they're afraid of us and we're afraid of them, then we don't have to be afraid of them. They're not with Bha and Ghal. Bha would have attacked us.'
Whu demanded 'We'll all go down in the morning to see if the water bags are missing. Then we'll all go and find our new friends. Bha is not going to control us any more, not here. We can never let that happen again and especially when he isn't even here.''Agreed Whu, time to pick berries with our emotion tool.''Especially fear Oogh, it's causing a problem again.' Some exploration is mandated, but without excitement. Uncertainty is a problem for the crew.
'Whu, why is Oogh so worried?''He's not Wha, just careful.''Would you two be quiet. They'll hear us coming.''Oh stop it Oogh, they're long gone.''At least wait until I check the cave before you assume that.''No need. We saw them going over the last hill an hour ago. Let's find out what they left behind.'
Oogh slowly approached the entrance to small cave 'Stay back.''Get out of the way Oogh'
Wha finishing Whu's sentence 'and let us in.'
Whu said 'Oogh, I think they have some of our tools, like building the pond and the terrace, they closed off the entrance.'
Wha noticed 'They also cleared debris from inside the cave and made the floor flat. It wasn't flat last time we were here.''It didn't stink either. We went outside to do that.'
Crying, Whu said 'Oogh look, this explains why there are no more small white furries, the skins are all in here.''I'm sorry Whu, all the work to grow orange roots won't be wasted, we can eat them.''No Oogh, we'll find small white furries someplace else.'
Wha sympathetically told Whu 'And nobody will eat them.'
Days pass, the trio recuperates in small cave in the hills with no sign of the Whugat family.
'Oogh, should we go find them?''I could only answer that if I knew who they were. Whu, they might be more dangerous than tigers.''Don't worry about them Whu. They are raising kids, they know what they're doing.''I know Wha, I'm not worried about them. You can never have enough tools or enough friends. They could have a better life living in our tribe and we have enough food and water. We could share tools. Everyone would benefit.'
Oogh tells Whu 'We learned to store fish from them. We just have to pick berries and figure out how they did it.''Dry fish don't taste as good Oogh.''But Whu, sometimes we can't catch fresh fish.'
If only they had controlled emotion and used logic from the start. Once again opportunity was missed and their tribe lost another chance at growing to a survivable size. Years before they missed the Whugats while crossing over big mountain, this time it's because they didn't pick berries fast enough. They let emotion rule intellect. 'Oogh, the prairie on the other side of the forest is the place we know to find small white furries. It takes weeks to climb big mountain and get through the forest. We wanted to climb to the top of big mountain too. It's the first time the top isn't still frozen.'
Wha replied 'Whu, small white furries are the first priority. Big mountain can wait until another time.'
Oogh assured Whu 'We all wanted both, to find where the moon and the stars go at night and to bring home small white furries. We still have our perspective tool and even you said long ago, knowing the size of the moon and the stars is less important. We'll answer our big question some other time.''But Oogh, remember our perspective and time tools, use the predicting tool, it's too far. We'll have to carry and feed small white furries all the way. It will add two months to the trip.'
Wha added 'She's right Oogh, we can't do it. If we leave as soon as we're rested then the people who were living here might come back to their home. Maybe we'll meet them another time.'
Whu added 'I know a way we could share tools to repay them for using the cave and teaching us about dried fish. The cave is clean now so they might learn to do their... outside, especially if we dig a new fresh hole for it.''OK, I know when I'm out voted.'
Sheesh, even cave women got their way, at least when they were right.
'Wha, can you draw a map on the wall to our canyon?''Maybe, I'll try.'
Oogh offered 'I can catch and dry fish to replace what we ate, and extra to eat on the way to big mountain.''Oogh, Wha, we agree it's the right thing to do?''Whu, it's a new tool! We found a problem we never saw before and developed a new tool without even realizing it!' Nobody had to teach them the good neighbor tool. It's the result of intellect. Failing to misunderstand the difference between right and wrong is called ethics. Logic is required. Well developed intellect figures it out in every situation. No "morals" required. We haven't seen them for a few years but it's obvious that Oogh and Whu and Wha have developed their intellect to a very respectable degree, much further than most people in modern times. World wide intellect developed to this extent would eliminate nearly all of humanity's problems. Bha rules instead. Education is manipulated to avoid teaching thinking. Rebecca Solnit got it right in chapter 1. It's a relatively easy example of three aspects. Her words have meaning, intellect can fail to misunderstand. Thinking about thinking... Don't be a tree! 5) Dogmatic - Alternate History
There is a game that's fun to play. You don't have to buy and set up the game board, no special cards or dice, only propose it to yourself or the explorers you know (Oogh and Whu if you're alone). Each hand of the game is as unique as the player's imagination. It takes a minimum of one player, two players makes the game more effective, many more players can make the game more challenging, more interesting, more thought provoking and make it last much longer. The game is called Alternate History. It's free to play. Intellect, objectivity and honest intent are more than allowed, their use is required by the rules. Everybody wins every hand of the game if it's played with a common thread. You lose if you hide behind the bricks in a wall. One hand of the game can last many years if the suggested alternate history is complex enough, if it has enough variables to be contemplated and researched. I'll start the game... I propose an alternate history, possible only by suggesting one change in history.
When would humans have landed on the moon if all superstition were removed from the entire human experience? Consider the following while objectively playing the game... About five thousand years ago humanity began making significant advances in technology and sociology. Within all of human history those five thousand years are very recent events. Progress was slow, beyond turtle slow, progress was slow like the movements of a very old and stable glacier. Humanity barely moved at all until the last two hundred years. In that last five thousand years our advancements happened at a rate which broke the sound barrier compared to the two hundred thousand years prior, but it was still very slow compared to the most recent two hundred years. By comparison to all of human history, our advancements in the last two hundred years have taken place at the speed of light. Two hundred years ago humanity was still rooted in the dark ages, relying on animals to fuel our lives. People hauled water long distances in buckets, often living their entire lives as slaves to those with more power. Two hundred years ago we had just begun to implement social changes which allowed citizens to own their governments. Technology had seen relatively little advancement in the previous five thousand years. Sociology saw rare localized advancements followed by set backs which reversed the advancement. Humanity was in it's infancy, barely fallen out of it's crib and squirming around on the floor in diapers. In two hundred thousand years most of the advancement in human society had taken place in the last five thousand years, yet two hundred years ago we just were beginning to learn how to crawl. Humanity is now a toddler about to be toilet trained, if we can figure out how. There has been a sudden explosion of social and technological advancement in just the last two centuries. What finally changed to allow this advancement? When would humans have landed on the moon if that change happened... one hundred and fifty thousand years ago? What if we could set the change in motion at an earlier point in human history? The moon landing would have happened within a few thousand years after the change. Landing on the moon is not the significant event, it's just a very obvious example of recent human achievement. It was only possible due to the advancements leading up to it. Walking on the moon is the symbol, the icon of this era in human development. Superstition is still the limiting factor. It's still the cause of the retardation of humanity. It's the reason we have a long time to go before starting preschool. Will somebody please tell me again, what am I expected to do with that chrome handle on the back of the cold white chair with a big hole in the seat? Believing in Ghal is not the problem. Allowing Ghal to blind your mind... is the problem. There is no conflict between belief and reality. Only perspective is required to allow the two to exist peacefully within your own mind. Reality is observed. It's foolish to debate reality and far more foolish to deny it. Belief is a different story. It's unique. It's different within every mind. Many differences are insignificant while others are clearly mutually exclusive. They cannot all be true and maybe none are. It doesn't matter because it's belief. Everyone has a belief even if it's their belief that they have no belief. A mind blinded by Ghal will, in varying degrees dependent upon the degree of blindness and insecurity, try to eliminate the mutually exclusive claims which cause conflict and doubt about the belief. The attempted elimination is always unpleasant, often violent and usually results in blind bigotry and irrational hatred. This has been the limiting factor in human development. It's long past time to fail to misunderstand these facts. You should have been gently exposed to all of this in grade school, one thread segment at a time. I'm only pointing, you have berries to pick if you want to expand your mind. Assemble the segments into a common thread.Chapter 3 notes:
I know, I wrote the story and I control the behavior. If you still doubt then go back to chapter two and spend a night or ten in the cave, thinking about thinking. I maintain this is not fiction. It must have happened given the billions of people who lived the life of Oogh and Whu. We only find evidence of small bits of the lives of a very few of those billions of people. The bits we find are nothing but horror stories to us. Our best attempts at failing to misunderstand are no more than speculation. There is never enough evidence to interpret the horror stories we hear about Oogh and Whu. We need a time machine to prove the meaning of the marks on flat rocks which were found buried in a cave. In all those thousands of years and billions of people this story must have repeated many times in "at least a similar manner." Assembling a common thread has many segments to bind. The human mind can do it. Beautiful intellect is either required or it's the result. That is up to you. Failing to misunderstand one segment at a time is the path to beauty. I know I'm still pointing, that's the purpose of Delight.
