From my perspective, it is safe to say that the concept of civilization and respecting others' rights is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of humanity, particularly among those living within a tribe. We had resorted to violence (and still do to a certain extent) to resolve our disagreements or address significant issues for the vast majority of our communal existence on this planet. It was only about 2500 years ago that the fountainhead of civics and democracy started bubbling in Athens. It might be safe to say that, although the concept has been revered, it was failing miserably in practice, perhaps until about 200 years ago, when the United States' Constitution was created. And even since then, it has not been immune to corruption and human indecency.

I recall learning about the distinction between fear-based and love-based logic for navigating life during a Buddhist retreat. It essentially boiled every decision in life down to one of these camps: you would either use fear or love as the guiding light when passing judgment or choosing a certain path in life. A simple example is when a friend asks you for a loan. A fear-based line of thinking will find every reason not to do it; in contrast, a love-based, sponsoring thought would find every reason to do it! I brought this up as a preparation since I want to decipher the future of civilization with a fear-based lens, so heads up!

The main foundation for civilization is trust. Trust in one another, trust in the system, and belief in upholding a certain standard about how to navigate life in a society. Basically, the opposite of anarchy. In order for humanity to follow this path, folks needed to respect one another and their mutual rights for what is known as basic human decency. That is the foundation we used to build our justice system, based upon which it still serves as the source code in most Western Civilizations. There is the veneer of Abrahamic Religions and the commandments ordered to humanity by messengers of god, which has influenced the legal systems all around the world. However, based on most historical timelines, the basic notion of Western Civilization is paramount to the Ten Commandments. One of the ways to demonstrate that we mutually respect this universal notion of fairness and human decency was to "behave" in public. Essentially, this meant we had to present a "public face" and act accordingly to be respected and to survive and thrive in society. Now, this idea by itself can be questioned as one of the bases for cultural and societal deception. I have delved into this deeper in a couple of my previous pieces: How can we navigate our human need for interdependency in the age of conspiracy theories? And, Perspective leads to perception. We will not focus on the validity of this notion or its relevance to a healthy society in this piece, but rather on its utility and functionality.

The comfort of predictability afforded us peace and tranquility living within a community. There were specific societal rules and agreements (at least in the West) that we all had to understand and uphold in order to keep the peace. In fact, one of the main reasons people like me migrated to the West was that framework. Of course, it doesn't mean that it has been all fair play and a perfect system; there is no such thing that exists as of yet. But it has worked as the basic foundation for human decency and kept us in line for the most part. One of the notions I am arguing for in this piece is that the invisible glue that has kept humans respecting humanity for thousands of years is coming apart before our eyes in such a short period of time.

The notion of saving face and behaving better in public (putting on a "public face"), despite the psychological damage it may have caused throughout history, has also led us to care about how others perceive and judge our behavior. Caring for others' opinions compelled us to act more predictably and in accordance with universal standards of human decency. Ironically, because we cared so much about public humiliation, it made us try to be as invisible as possible! The concept was translated as an encouragement to make our best efforts, not to stand out. There have always been the folks who made a name for themselves and became well-known to the public. But the guidelines for fame and infamy were well established and agreed upon in any given society. The guidelines may have varied based on the societal value systems and have also evolved and transformed throughout history, but the guiding principles remained largely the same until about a hundred years ago, when we began recording ourselves and playing back those recordings.

I believe the ability to capture our behavior and play it back at a future time has been the most significant sociocultural shift for the human psyche in the entire history of our existence. In the past, we may have taken steps to avoid public scrutiny and the spotlight unless we felt worthy of it, but we have since reversed that course and taken steps to achieve the complete opposite. If the majority of the basis for fame in the past was knowledge, wittiness, bravery, and self-sacrifice for the good of humanity, the new way of becoming famous is to be shocking and entertaining. And in reverse, if a lack of expertise and education, an obsession with money and material objects to brag about, public indecency, etc., were the roots of infamy in the past, they became fast-tracks to become a lifestyle. This concept was taken to the next level with the advent of social media over the past couple of decades.

Now, what does all this have to do with civilization? I believe that the traditional framework that, for the better or worse, kept us in line for centuries is rapidly eroding. The values that kept us behaving better towards one another have changed and are changing fast, and chaos is looming on the horizon. What's ironic about this is that, generally speaking, life on this planet has become so much easier in the last few decades for the majority of humanity. A much bigger percentage of us are surviving birth and the first few months of our lives, we are not as hungry, less diseased, and live much longer, have far fewer murders and wars, but are also much less content and growing more unhappy. Human individual and societal behaviors are becoming parallel, and trust in others is gradually evaporating. The ability to record our behaviors enabled us to see behind the veil and pierce through deeper and darker corners of our psyche. The hypocrisy of most public figures was unveiled, and we realized that many of the types we revered in the past as pristine and just, are just simply not. This is a massive shock to the way we conducted ourselves and behaved towards one another. The less we trust one another, the more fearful we become of each other. Our behavior is becoming less predictable, as we are all conditioned to be ready for, or even look for or anticipate, the shock factor above all else. Folks go to crazy lengths to get the public's attention at any cost. Getting attention in itself is the main objective, not the underlying reason/s for it. Therefore, the more shocking the better! We are being exposed at a very young age to watching war happening live, seeing human cruelty on display in so many variations, and sharing them as fast as possible through the live feeds and social media. We are all interested in getting clicks and likes first, before considering the reasons behind them. This constant desire for attention-grabbing is now becoming a natural part of navigating life in a modern society.

As I mentioned earlier in this piece, I am putting my fear-based glasses on for this evaluation, and that is showing me all the indications for less harmonious and more chaotic human behaviors in the future. Of course, none of us can predict the future, especially when we are dabbling in quantum computing and artificial intelligence over the next few years! But we can look in the past to identify patterns and see that historically, we gravitate towards fear as the order erodes in society. We chose our leaders based on fear, and they will make laws and run the world, also based on fear. If we used logic and calculated long-term gains when examining a candidate for the office, we now look at how strong they might be in the short run! Instinctively, we choose the alpha to lead us since our decisions are more sensational rather than logical, and fear is the most powerful motivator. If we continue to prioritize notability over qualifications when choosing leaders, they will lead the world in the same way we see them lead their social media feeds: with a shock factor and a focus on grabbing attention. The "elite class" and professional politicians share the majority of blame and should take responsibility for this, as they have not demonstrated a better track record. Keeping people in the dark about decisions related to their daily lives and families, becoming condescending and acting as if people don't know what is good for them as much as they do, and most importantly, being hypocritical about all of it doesn't help.

I hate to end my pieces with a negative tune. Although my short-term (fear-based) prediction is for the erosion of what kept us civil and in peace, my long-term (love-based) prediction is that humanity will navigate a path through this challenge after a few decades of chaos. And hopefully, we can learn for good this time, since everything has been recorded!

Be well,
Siamak