A brief summary of the main ‘axioms’ in “The Last Faith: a book by an atheist believer“:
- Every living creature, including the human being, strives to preserve their genes. Gene Preservation is what underlies the ability of parents to sacrifice themselves (and others) for the sake of their children, the phenomenon of large families in developing countries as well as the phenomenon of smaller families in developed countries (more details are provided in the book).
- Only human beings are endowed with Freedom of Choice which allows to act and think both in accordance and contrary to Gene Preservation. Freedom of Choice stands behind science and art as well as all the great discoveries in the world and its most grievous crimes. It is Freedom of Choice which explains the words of Omar Khayyam: “Man, like the world in the mirror, is multifaceted. He is despicable and he is immensely great!”
If you look around, you can see that the majority of people live solely for Gene Preservation (and dedicate their Freedom of Choice to it): mother’s milk, nursery, school, university, work, home, wife/husband, lover, divorce, second/third marriage, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, drinks with friends, books/TV/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram, a stroke/heart-attack, the grave/crematorium. There is nothing wrong with this. People are honestly fulfilling their key biological function.
A slightly smaller percentage of people exists, who successfully combine Gene Preservation and Freedom of Choice – working, raising their children and managing not to lose a “child’s” interest and curiosity about the world they live in. They are always interested in something new, they try to discover more about the world around them, and try to formulate and express their own understanding of the world. Some even manage to change it. What distinguishes people like this is a high level of erudition, an open mind and liberal views on life.
The percentage of people who live solely by Freedom Choice is negligible, and often they lead unenviable lives in terms of the revolutionary and marginal nature of their behaviour and attitudes (take for example the fate of Christ, fanatically calling people to have a compassion for their neighbours contrary to the dominant morality of the time). Yet it is these people who have significant influence on the development of human society, who conquer new horizons and make revolutionary discoveries, that change the lives of all human beings without exception (more details here).
If we look back over the history of human civilisation, we see an obvious tendency towards the growth of Freedom of Choice – slavery has been abolished, the feudal system has vanished into oblivion, information, cultural and geographical boundaries that used to separate people are being erased before our very eyes. The basic rights of the individual are recognised in most countries around the world. In general, people are displaying more tolerance and less aggression in comparison to previous generations (more details here).
The reason for this tendency is the fact that increased Freedom of Choice creates better conditions for Gene Preservation. This is why the majority of people support the achievements of human civilisation and prevent it from slipping back into the past (more details here).
So how do we explain temporary regressions and spikes in violence among the population such as that witnessed during the two world wars? How do we explain the emergence of Nazism in Germany and Communism in Russia? And quite recently, in a much more humanistic form, the election of Trump and the vote for Brexit?
The reason is, again, quite simple – in all the cataclysms listed above, people believed that they were improving conditions for the fulfilment of Gene Preservation:
- Communism in Russia emerged as a fierce reaction to the terrible gap that existed between the ruling elites (including the Tsarist family and the Church) and the rest of the population in terms of basic rights and general well-being. Result: the burning of churches, the execution of the Tzar’s family, civil war.
- Nazism emerged as a fierce reaction to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the economic slowdown on the backdrop of the Great Depression. Result: concentration camps and the Second World War.
- Those people who voted for Trump and Brexit come mainly from economically disadvantaged areas, which emerged as a result of the post-industrial economy (limitation of the industrial sector, the growth and natural concentration of the services and information technology sectors in large megapolises). Result: nothing good is likely to come of it.
Why is it that in all the cases mentioned above, people actually ended up worsening conditions for Gene Preservation? Does this behaviour not contradict the fundamental law of all life?
Apparently not! The answer to the apparent contradiction lies in the mass propaganda carried out by the populist supporters of Communism, Nazism, Trump and Brexit.
In every case, the propaganda model is exceptionally simple – it creates the image of an enemy (internal or external) that is supposedly threatening the ‘people’s’ capacity for Gene Preservation on the one hand and proposes a suggestion for a simple way of fighting the enemy on the other:
- Communism: bourgeoisie, capitalists, imperialists and churchmen. Solution: power to the workers and peasants, dekulakization, repression and totalitarian atheism.
- Nazism: the Jews, Communists, enemy countries in the First World War. Solution: Concentration camps, invasion of Europe and the Soviet Union.
- Brexit: Immigrants from the European Union, money to the EU instead of local hospitals. Solution: Leave the European Union.
- Trump: Mexicans, Muslims, bad trade deals made by corrupt Democrats. Solution: the wall on the border with Mexico, prohibition on the entry of residents of Muslim countries, trade war with the rest of the world.
Squashing the fundamental law of all life, populist propaganda-makers succeeded in drumming up blind rage, xenophobia and nationalism among most of the population, for whom Gene Preservation comprises the most important aspect of life.
Taking into account the fact that every individual is capable of sacrificing their own life for the sake of Gene Preservation, it is not surprising that we witness an animal savagery in the fight against ‘the enemies’ created by the propaganda machine.
Cruelty has nothing to do with nationality! It is fundamentally inherent in all living beings for the sake of Gene Preservation.
Communism and Nazism fell, having taken millions of lives and without delivering on its indubitably false promises. Trump still has a couple of years to go before the end of his first term and no heavenly manna has descended on America yet. Brexit will most likely be reversed, if not in the next couple of years, then during the next quarter, when the British will understand that Gene Preservation is easier and more profitable as part of the European Union.
Will propaganda bear fruit in the future? The answer is ‘always’. Since it appeals to the most basic instinct of all life, there is nothing anyone can do to change this.
The only hope is that the percentage of people with developed Freedom of Choice, who are capable of critically evaluating complex economic and political situations will increase. This should be facilitated by an increase in freedom of choice of information and a growth in access to the internet by all (more details here).
Only the future will show what new political fluctuations we can expect to encounter and whether we will manage to see them through with minimal losses…
Alanbek Yussupov, based on the model proposed by “The Last Faith: a book by an atheist believer“