Dark Ages and Inquisitions

 Here I would like to present a summary of some things that my wife has written on the topic; she has a much clearer and complete picture of the history than I do. She spends all her time researching it, while I spend most of my time doing equations. We actively collaborate with each other: she looks at history as a quantum system writ very large, thanks to my input; I learn a great deal about science, and possible clues to where solutions may be hidden thanks to her input.

Science took a serious wrong turn in the middle of the nineteenth century, about the time Darwin published his Origin of Species and that is why we do, indeed, live in a Dark Age as a consequence. It wasn't that Natural Selection was wrong, per se, but the way the principles have been applied has been disastrous. Natural Selection was seized upon as the one and only underlying law of the Universe - and this seizing was done by individuals with a very particular psychological make-up¹ … The same kinds of people that become fanatically religious and kill people in the name of their god, can - and often do - become adherents of the religion of science.

In the nineteenth century, certain discoveries that enhanced technology led to economic and political considerations, and that is when Science took the wrong turn because the Authoritarian type of individual also has other character traits that include a need to dominate others, as well as a strong tendency to greed. The pursuit of science thus was taken over by politics and an army of scientific workers was sought to serve the agendas of what was to become known as the Military-Industrial Complex.

We know from our review above that the authoritarian follower is quite capable of holding entirely contradictory beliefs. And this is how they are easily controlled by those in positions of power who desire that Science serve only their interests. Over and over again it is seen, in retrospect, of course, that irrational beliefs that are promulgated by authorities who desire to maintain control, and which are believed by the followers who want to be 'good', trump True Science; and here I mean the mode of Scientific Cognition, not just 'science' since the so-called Enlightenment.

Over and over again, throughout history, going back even to ancient times, you can note that there were a number of really intelligent free thinkers who made observations, drew useful inferences from those observations, and suggested solutions that were ignored, ridiculed, reviled, buried; and often, the thinker who dared to voice his ideas was destroyed by one means or another because Authoritarian Followers are also aggressive against anything that is not pronounced to be 'okay' by their leaders. Most often this destruction was - and is even today - due to power considerations: the individual has an idea that, in some way, threatens the political/social power structure.

The fact is, if you read enough history, you will discover that in war, killing the intelligentsia first is the aim of all invaders and conquerors because it is through the elimination or suppression of competent thinkers that any oppressive regime takes hold. This has been done so regularly and extensively throughout history that it staggers the mind to consider it. What it means, essentially, is that over and over and over again, Authoritarians have systematically eliminated from the human population, the best and brightest minds, removing their DNA from the human gene pool, and it is ALL of humanity that is suffering. It could very well be that this single strategy is the reason that humanity may be on the verge of extinction right now, as is proposed by a number of eminent thinkers.

The Malthusian Darwinists, of course, will say that it is just 'survival of the fittest'. I guess that depends on what you understand the 'fittest' to be. In the animal kingdom, where fitness is measured by strength and power, the ability to wallop the heck out of all rivals to your possession of food and sexual partners, selection of this type might be useful. But in the human species, where fitness and progress and even survival, depend on brain power, killing off all the brainiest people in any given culture can only lead to degradation and devolution of the species as a whole. And when that species holds in its hands the ability to destroy all life on the planet, well, I think you can see where that kind of selection will lead: a lot of power and not enough brains to know that it ought never to be used.

1To quote from “The Cambrige Companion to Darwin”: “… only in Germany would Darwin come to be widely read as vindicating an active programme of extermination of the physically and racially ‘unfit’”

And as today is the anniversary of our first meeting, here is the song that brought us together. I dedicate it to my wife.

P.S.1.

 

The Yoga of Works is perhaps the first and most important aspect of yoga for seekers in the West to take up. It deals with the problem of life-- energy, action and direction, which confronts us all whenever we try to integrate our spiritual aspirations with the daily life around us and the need to ""work"" in the society and play a role in the vast undertakings of the Western world.

Those who are deficient in the free, full and intelligent observation of a self-imposed law, must be placed in subjection to the will of others. This is one principal cause of the subjection of nations. After their disturbing egoism has been trampled under the feet of a master, they are given or, if they have force in them, attain a fresh chance of deserving liberty by liberty.

Sri Aurobindo

P.S.4. 17:42 . New version of my notes on the conformal group.  Added Proposition 7 with a proof.

P.S.2 17:49  July 4th: