The Parable of the Amazon Farmer

There once was a man who came to the Amazon and was disappointed at seeing the trees and bushes, vines and orchids hanging in the limbs, leaves scattered everywhere, insects crawling along the leaf litter, limbs, and lianas, birds singing and squawking, mammals calling and walking about. He shook his head and said, “You know what this bunch of chaos needs? It needs me to come in here and regulate it. That’s the only way it’s ever going to produce maximum biodiversity. In fact, it would be even better if I could turn it all into a massive farm. That would ensure it would have maximum biodiversity.” Those who were with him said to him, “Are you mad? Were you to farm this forest the only thing that you’d accomplish would be to destroy this great complexity. Maximum biodiversity comes about naturally and cannot be imposed. It certainly cannot be farmed! What are your real plans? Are you merely seeking to excuse your own selfish ends?” The man dismissed their concerns, saying, “Don’t be such ideologues! You must trust me. Have I not fought by your side to protect the environment? Have I not spent my every waking hour with you in the fight to keep the world as biodiverse as possible? How then can you not trust me? I am telling you that out of chaos no good thing can come. Disorder doesn’t make diversity. Only order, structure, rationally made can ensure the continued wealth of nature. I will come and order this place, farm it into the greatest wealth of biodiversity you or anyone has ever seen!” This convinced his friends, who agreed to help him organize and order the chaos and improve the Amazon.

What, then, do you suppose happened to the Amazon where this man rationally ordered the plants and animals? In a decade it became a nearly barren grassland, with few of the original plants and animals remaining, and in much, much less biodiversity.

When regulators, socialists, and other reformers come along and say the same thing about the epistemic ecosystem of the economy as did the man about the Amazon, they too are considered most sensible, while the defender of the naturally-occurring emergent complexity, wealth, and diversity of that epistemic ecosystem is considered the out-of-touch ideologue. And yet the former has always created deserts wherever he has set to work.

The Immorality of Good Intentions

The cult of good intentions -- regardless of the outcomes, often in spite of the outcomes and all historical evidence -- is why the highway to Hell has lanes that number in the millions.

Your good intentions do not make you ethical; only your good outcomes make you ethical. Refuse to even try to match the two, and you're an immoral person.

The person with good intentions is always working from a place of ignorance. With ignorance, you cannot be good. The person who acts from ignorance is a bad person.

Only the person who informs himself as fully as possible before acting or advocating is a moral person. The pretense of knowledge is a kind of ignorance, but is it one of the worst kind -- because you think you know, but you don't know. This creates the certainty the person of knowledge has, without there being sufficient reason to feel such certainty, and to act on that certainty.

Knowledge, however, is not enough. Knowledge in one area often makes one think one should have opinions about any number of other areas in which one is hardly an expert. And being an expert hardly means one also has the wisdom necessary to act. One should have the particulars of knowledge, yes, but one should also have the unity inherent in wisdom. The combination of knowledge and wisdom is beauty, and virtue aims at the beautiful.

The person with good intentions has no virtue. Only the person who acts in knowledge and wisdom both and thus aims at the beautiful has virtue.

Who, then, today has virtue?

The Prophet of Beauty

In ancient times the prophets were of wisdom.

In modern times the prophets are of knowledge.

But I am the prophet of beauty -- the unity of knowledge and wisdom.

I herald in a new era.

The Good Thing About Democracy

The good thing about a democracy is that it's not a state. If you live in a state, you don't live in a democracy, even if there are democratic elements.

There may be nothing less democratic than a pure democracy.

Republics are not democracies. They can overcome the excesses of democracy. But they can become states as well. 

The state is an improvement over monarchy. Monarchy is an improvement over theocracy. But is is truly said that the state is the coldest of monsters. It is the Leviathan of the deep.

The last thing you should want to do is vote a party of the poor into office --
A party of the poor will make more poor --
That's how they'll get more votes.

The last thing you should want to do is vote a party who favors business into office --
A party of business will protect the already-existing businesses --
That's how they'll get more votes.

The last thing you should want to do is vote a party who hates the rich into office --
A party who hates the rich will destroy the wealth of the country --
Creating equality through equal poverty.

The last thing you should want to do is vote a party who favors groups of any kind into office --
A party who favors groups will make more and more groups --
And destroy everyone not like them in their hatred for themselves.

Beware the neosegregationists, who seek to segregate  minority groups from majority groups to protect them from the majority. That is the beginning of every genocide.

On Treating Others Well

It has been said, "Treat others as you would be treated."

I say, treat others better than you would be treated. We should treat others better than we are ourselves treated, and not just because we underestimate how well we are treated -- and overestimate how poorly we are treated. To create virtue, we must be more virtuous than are others around us.

On Wealth and Evil

It has been said that love of money is the root of all evil.

I say covetousness and envy is the root of all evil. Do not want what others have -- want what you can earn by making value in the world. If you cannot make something others value, what fault is it of theirs? Or of others who were wise enough to create value for others?

The person who creates value for others has already given back. And they have given back far more than anything they may have taken -- assuming they have taken anything at all. Wealth is not created by taking from others. Wealth is created when value is exchanged for value, when two have increased value in the world and are better off for having exchanged what they had that the other wanted.

Wealth is only ever created or destroyed -- it cannot be redistributed. Only richest can be redistributed.

Wealth has nothing to do with money.

Heaven on Earth

God is love.

Yes, and beauty, too.

We must aim to be like God so we can reach human virtue -- aim high to hit the target.

But the aim is not the target.

Hell is attained when the two are confused.