A Blueprint For Disaster In Any Society

In Much Of The Rest Of The World, Rich People Live In Gated Communities And Drink Bottled Water. That's Increasingly The Case In Los Angeles Where I Come From. So That Wealthy People In Much Of The World Are Insulated From The Consequences Of Their Actions.

Much Of Human History Has Consisted Of Unequal Conflicts Between The Haves And The Have-nots.

Ahead Of Me Lies The Familiar Litany: Weakening Of The Heart, Hardening Of The Arteries, Increasing Brittleness Of Bones, Decreases In Kidney Filtration Rates, Lower Resistance Of The Immune System, And Loss Of Memory. The List Could Be Extended Almost Indefinitely. Evolution Seems Indeed To Have Arranged Things So That All Our Systems Deteriorate, And That We Invest In Repair Only As Much As We Are Worth.

The Past Was Still A Golden Age, Of Ignorance, While The Present Is An Iron Age Of Willful Bliss.

Besides Justifying The Transfer Of Wealth To Kleptocrats, Institutionalized Religion Brings Two Other Important Benefits To Centralized Societies. First, Shared Ideology Or Religion Helps Solve The Problem Of How Unrelated Individuals Are To Live Together Without Killing Each Other—by Providing Them With A Bond Not Based On Kinship. Second, It Gives People A Motive, Other Than Genetic Self-interest, For Sacrificing Their Lives On Behalf Of Others.