Why Bother?

Practical men doubt the use of Philosophy. On the surface, the hard sciences seem more useful; scientific progress moves and shapes on the grandest scale. Science gives sentients fire, medicine and The Glow.Philosophy has no macro-impact, beyond that it betters the thinker and the thinker himself may go on to do great things.

I grant this conceit, but I stipulate that is creates a narrow view of what is useful. I also stipulate this is a flawed view of philosophy common, though not exclusive to, Man.

A predator feeds. A predator is acutely aware of his body's need for food. A true predator also recognizes his need for food for the mind. Just as a predator who grows fat an lazy will become prey, a stupid predator starves to death. Sluggish is sluggish. Any who recognize this basic need will see the study of Philosophy can not be a waste of time.

A fellow soldier in Bonaparte's army argued to me that skill, martial knowledge, did enough to keep the mind limber and fit for survival. The analogy is, of course, flawed. If a mind must eat, it must have many different types of food, or suffer malnutrition. If a mind must exercise, it must must perform many types of exercise, or end up a deformed hulk. The expert marksman with no hand-to-hand expertise dies when ambushed by an opponent wielding a rock. A mind versed only in combat, is undefended on all other fronts.

The boon of philosophy is not the gleaning of some esoteric truth; truth, is ultimately irrelevant. Perception is reality. Philosophy is the whetstone we use to keep our mind (that which we use to shape our perception) sharp.

Were I subject to the prison of habit or custom, I would not have been able to survive Bonaparte's death, or my subsequent habitation under the bridge of Span. I would have reacted to stimuli. I would have murdered man after man, until overwhelmed. Philosophy trains the mind for the long view, collecting disparate threads of possibility, paying them out little by little until the right course of action is discerned from among many.

The study of Philosophy has liberated me; thrown open my mind to the storm of possibilities inherent to a vast, populated world, and given me the power to make sense of the information. It has unified my inborn desires to my will, and tempered them against the fire of what is possible and what is likely.

True truly obtain a Philosopher's view of the universe, one must accept that the universe begins outside one's self and is filtered in through our perceptions. To do this is to, while facing the true scope of the rest of existence, admit how small one is in comparison. Truly grasping this fact is the most terrifying realization of any sentient, predator and prey alike. But this fear is liberating, as if frees one from the slavery of narrow hopes and small-scale fears. Selfishness cannot exist in this view of the Real. Any fear born of insecurity or doubt becomes petty.

Once a sentient grasps the true marvel of its existence, infinitesimality, it can then take the next step and strive to move pieces set upon the truly gargantuan board--the word outside the self.

-Brigadier S. Jack, Army of Bonaparte (Ret.)

Conformity

Like all prey animals, Men desire safety and security. Men wish nothing more than to shut out a hostile world. Like so much of their wisdom, this is wrong thinking. The natural world is defined by adversity. It is that which we fight that makes us what we are.

Again, I direct you toward Evolutionary Theory. Organisms are granted three options when faced with a hostile environment: Move, Adapt or Die. 

Extinction is never a viable option. Organisms have one genetic directive above all others: thrive. Any species which advocates, through word or action, giving up as a preferable course of action is intrinsically flawed and should rightly perish. 

Movement is a temporary fix. If an environment becomes less than optimal, moving to a new one may ensure survival, but in a closed system, other species will eventually follow the first to the new location, thereby creating another less than optimal situation. 

Adaptation: This is the fruit of Evolution's labor. To adapt is to rise above equals, setting ones' self at the genetic standard, in order to create offspring that can withstand the unpleasant situation, their their offspring may, in turn, subdue and reclaim the environment for their own. Then the vicious cycle begins again. 

Many called the great Bonaparte mad. But I ask, how would you react if your obvious superiority were called into question, simply because you did not match the modal average of a given group?

Homo Sapiens are more numerous than Elevated Animals, Plants and Mutated Humans; I grant this. But the inferior must always outnumber the elite; else they would simply be peers. 

Remember the words of Socrates, quoting his accusers: "All these rumors and and this talk about you would never have arisen if you had been like other men."

The great philosopher never would have met his death through cowardly execution (he was poisoned), had he conformed to the standards of the era. And had he done so, how long would Man's intellect been left to simply stagnate, until another great thinker came along? Unnatural Selection indeed. 

-Brigadier S. Jack, Army of Bonaparte (Ret.)

Causal Determinism

"How can you justify living so close to humans?" A human living in the town of Span asked me this after discovering that I fought alongside General Bonaparte in the Beast Wars.

I do not justify living among humans. I just live among humans.

Man is genetically engineered to need answers. From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes sense. The cave man who investigated the cave before bedding down for the night lived longer than the one who assumed it was safe.

Man is weak. A predisposition for caution coded into his DNA must be forgiven. It is unfortunate, though, that this safety mechanism has metastasized to engulf his social traits as well.

To a man, every fact is viewed as a consequence of some prior action, itself a consequence of a previous action, ad infinitum. This speaks to the unique nature of Man as the world's first truly social beast.

Shortly after Man discovered fire and came out of their caves, the world showed them they were prey. They are soft. Their meat bursts with flavor. Their flesh yields so readily to tooth and claw. They found protection in the ideals of the herd: grouping and vigilance.

Expanding the herd became their prime genetic directive. Breeding can only take a herd so far. Ne, fresh genes are needed to keep the group strong. So Man becomes a master of being social. I postulate, cities, commerce, entertainment, even conversations are products of this imperative to expand the herd.

The problem with overly successful genetic tactics within an ecosystem is that one creatures success upsets the balance of the entire biome. When this happens, the ecosystem tries to self-correct.

Man becomes the most successful prey animal in social history; socialization being its key to success. Evolution corrects by introducing social predators: liars, schemers, deceivers. Man bolsters its defense against these enemies in its own ranks through the introduction of its single most powerful invention: Philosophy.

This never-ending search for truth is, at once, a weapon and a safeguard. It is, also, ultimately useless. Before embarking on the long quest for truth; one must remember that this "Love of Wisdom" stems from the genetic needs of an inferior species.

Had Man been a predator instead of prey, he would not have the need for skittish curiosity. Had he evolved to be bigger, stronger, faster, he would never have needed to weave the social web, in which the truth of the world becomes subjective, making Man defensively, justifiably, incapable of trust.

Had Man been born a predator, had he evolved along normal evolutionary lines, he would have the ability to live in the now and have no reason to cast about for reasons for every single event in the universe.

I live among humans because they live where I live. I fight beside them because there is a battle. Justification is unnecessary.

The truth of the universe is this: That which is, is. Animals respond to the threat before them. Man navel-gazes, wondering what is the true threat and grasping at possible futures that will spin from every possible action.

Inaction is what separates predator from prey.

-Brigadier S. Jack, Army of Bonaparte (Ret.)

Preliminary Thoughts

First, I would like to thank my friend Scooter, for procuring for me something he calls a "typomophone". It is a cylindrical device into which I can speak. My words are transported to a box via a long cable, where they are trapped, logged and transformed into text.

I have long wanted to record my thoughts in preparation for the day when I finally end. I know this to be a foolish desire, an uncomfortably human one, but it's hard to live among them for so long and not pick up a few of their habits; and a human habits go, this is not a bad one.

Do not mistake this for some sentimental longing to live on in the hearts and minds of future generations. I do not believe in sentiment. I believe in Choice. I believe in Evolution. I believe the later is an immutable, slow-moving force which can not be stopped or harnessed, but can be nudged by the former.

Sentients adapt to the ramifications of choices, made by themselves or others. Slight adaptation after slight adaptation equals Evolution. As such, Choice is the single most powerful concept in the universe.

I do not believe in the words of prophets. I do not believe in predestination. If there is a Grand Creator, I do not believe in its beneficence or even, necessarily, its intelligence.

I believe in Information. Information distills Choice; transforms it into something exponentially more powerful, bringing its true essence to the fore.

Only through Information can sentients make the choices shape the future into its best possible iteration. Concordantly, Science and History are the only two oracles in whose mad ramblings we should find meaning.

I am no scienctician. I know little of the physical and chemical properties which govern the world, and even less about the advanced relics which litter our modern landscape.

But I am old.

For me, "bygone days" are "the recent past. The stock from which I evolved, Alligator Crocodilus Mississipiensis was long-lived. Mutation has enhanced and embraced that trait. So, I will relate history. I will give my thoughts. If future generations choose to embrace my words and ideals, I have done what I've set out to do. If they decide to break with my thinking and veer the future in the opposite direction, I have also achieved my goal.

Thank you.

-Brigadier S. Jack, Army of Bonaparte (Ret.)