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Shaper Journal 6.008 Hierarch 4 entry 0293 Shaper Enoch Tero

What is a man without suffering? He is nothing. It is only in his suffering that he discovers his true nature for when things are going well he can ignore much of what he is in favor of worshiping his success. The shapers who have come before me have worked steadfastly to form a society that is fair and which shall propagate forward without suffering. I do not share their view. It is evident to me that man wishes to suffer, or else he would not historically find ways to enslave his fellow men--hurting both the enslaved and the slave owner. We see in the system currently developed the same pattern emerging--people hurting each other and being unfair to one another in an effort to gain the upper hand. I see little reason to conclude anything other than the wish of the human race to foster conflict and strife. Perhaps a handful of examples would refute my position.

We have much more at our disposal now than when the first shapers appeared on the scene. We have mastered the holonosophere in ways that were theories in the beginning. We have tried several shapes and permutations of shapes. What is it that we have now found? We have found that people need masters--preferably in the form of their fellow men as people tend to remember that which is flesh and bones more reliably than anything else. Agron provided the gift that ignited this revolution. Since the knowledge of this started with them, I see little reason why they should not be masters of their fellow men. After all, it was nature that set the precedent that the superior man should survive, whereas the inferior one should be killed. Nature weeds out that which is weak. Why should we do anything less?

A stable, healthy, society is not necessarily one that is fair to all. It is one where the individual members understand their place in relation to their masters. It is true some will die in this system, but some will die no matter what system is implemented. Death is a given. Suffering is a given. The only way for humankind to avoid these pitfalls is to be willing to hold an idealism which they have staunchly refused time and again. It is time to turn away from idealism and make strides toward what is pragmatic.

The best way I can think of to make people realize this is to make their security contingent. We must dispense with this notion that people are inherently worthy. Instead, what we must do is integrate the idea that a person must EARN their worth first, and if they do not do that, then our society will police itself as it blames the failure on the person who is not earning their worth. Since there are some people who are naturally lazy, this will help augment our case as we can highlight these people as examples. The rest of society will be so invested in keeping their own security that they will propagate the myth because they will be concerned about losing their own security. In particular, it is likely that the sick and elderly will be marginalized in such a society. As we look back on human society in general, we can see that these patterns repeat, and when they do the best thing to do with the sick or elderly is to remove their voice. By not appearing to "earn their worth", we will have achieved this goal. The cattle will work for their masters until they can't, and like cattle, once their use is fulfilled, they shall be slaughtered for their remaining meat.

In utter hopelessness and despair, these elderly people and sick people may learn through their suffering the ideals that they should have held. By then, though, it will be too late, as they will be close to death and no one will listen to them. While they are healthy and young they will be too busy earning their worth to consider such matters. A few academics might, but they can be easily enough silenced by threatening their research grants, or by encouraging them to research something else more lucrative. the stability of such a society is likely to last much longer as it coincides with the baser instincts of human nature, which man has been all too eager to embrace.

As a shaper, I declare the age of pragmatism at hand. I shall work assiduously to ensure I do my part to bring it about. Whether or not I can persuade other shapers remains to be seen.

end entry 0293