I think you overestimate the differences between male and female interpretations of status. Can you provide an example of one your female social hierarchies?
Also, what is a leader other than an authority figure to be obeyed?
Also, what is a leader other than an authority figure to be obeyed?
”
In our world, that is what a leader must be. In the general human concept of an ideal world, I do not know if this is the case. I actually think that humans have some basic agreement about what an ideal world would be like. The ideal world is based on priorities from our instincts as mortal animals, but it is not subjected to the confines of natural experience. I think the concept of heaven illustrates the general human fantasy of the ideal world.
I get the impression that almost everyone’s concept of heaven includes that there are no rich and poor- everyone has plenty. There is no battle of the sexes, and perhaps even no gendered personalities. There is no unhappiness, pain, sickness or death. I personally think there are no humans that hold authority over other humans in heaven (to clarify, I know that a theological heaven cannot actually exist). What this means to me is that to have a more ideal world, the power differential between leaders and the led should be minimized. I understand that humans with their propensities for various follies aren’t as they are necessarily suited for the ideal world they’d like to inhabit, but striving for an ideal world would to me mean that human nature would in some ways be corrected so that the ideal world became more in tune with human desires for that state.
″ Can you provide an example of one your female social hierarchies?”
Say a nursing floor. There is such a thing as a nurse with the most authority, but the status differential between head nurse and other floor nurses is sometimes imperceptible to all but the nurses that work there. The pay difference is not that great either. Sometimes the nurse who makes the most decisions is the one that chooses to invest the most time and has the longest experience, not necessarily one who is chosen to be obeyed. This is entirely unlike a traditionaly male structure like an army where the difference between general and a corporal.
I get the impression that almost everyone’s concept of heaven includes that there are no rich and poor- everyone has plenty. There is no battle of the sexes, and perhaps even no gendered personalities. There is no unhappiness, pain, sickness or death.
You must not know your way around the actual heavens of the big religions (as officially described). For instance, an important and (according to many Christian theologists) necessary part of the Christian heaven is being able to view the Christian Hell and enjoy the torture of the evil sinners there. And an important part of Muslim Heaven, according to some, is a certain thing about female virgins you may have heard of. I could go on for a while in this vein if you want real examples… because I happen to have a thing for completely un-academically reading popular history of religion & thought in my free time.
Really, if we’re going to get into religious (historical & contemporary) conceptions of heaven, the best one-line summary I can come up with is—heaven is just like Earth ought to be according to your cleric of choice and taken to an appropriate extreme. And most people’s conception of how things “ought to be” is horrible to most other people. One of the most common issues for idealists to face is that most people don’t want any part of their ideal world, no matter what that ideal happens to be.
There is such a thing as a nurse with the most authority, but the status differential between head nurse and other floor nurses is sometimes imperceptible to all but the nurses that work there.
If the difference is imperceptible, even to people who have experience with similar hierarchies but don’t happen to work inside this one, then why is the difference at all important? Why are we even talking about such a minute difference? It sounds to me like “there are no real status hierarchies and no leader” is a pretty good summary of this situation.
For instance, an important and (according to many Christian theologists) necessary part of the Christian heaven is being able to view the Christian Hell and enjoy the torture of the evil sinners there
Some think the opposite, such as the pastor of a church I attended as a child. Apparently there was concern about the knowledge of loved ones’ suffering in Hell interfering with the ability to experience pleasure in Heaven, so he claimed in a sermon once that God must somehow “shield us” from that knowledge.
I was hoping for an example of a large scale usage of your ideal. It seems to me that as social systems get larger, the difficult of co-ordination gets more difficult, necessitating more power into the hands of those who lead. Much as communism can work in a small village, but not on a national scale, I suspect your ideal fails at the large scale.
I get the impression that almost everyone’s concept of heaven includes that there are no rich and poor- everyone has plenty. There is no battle of the sexes, and perhaps even no gendered personalities.
No gendered personalities? How many people strap bombs to themselves, working themselves into a frenzy by reminding themselves of their heavenly reward of 40 androgynous virgins?
They are united with their husbands. If they were widows and had had multiple husbands, they can choose the best husband to be with. They are also, being a real woman and therefore superior to creatures that have never been mortal, the boss of the 40 virgins of their husband.
The husband acquiring more wives raises her status. It is not unheard of for a wife in some cultures to nag or disrespect their husband for being unable to support more wives, leaving her with a lesser role than what she hoped for.
I think you overestimate the differences between male and female interpretations of status. Can you provide an example of one your female social hierarchies?
Also, what is a leader other than an authority figure to be obeyed?
″
Also, what is a leader other than an authority figure to be obeyed? ”
In our world, that is what a leader must be. In the general human concept of an ideal world, I do not know if this is the case. I actually think that humans have some basic agreement about what an ideal world would be like. The ideal world is based on priorities from our instincts as mortal animals, but it is not subjected to the confines of natural experience. I think the concept of heaven illustrates the general human fantasy of the ideal world.
I get the impression that almost everyone’s concept of heaven includes that there are no rich and poor- everyone has plenty. There is no battle of the sexes, and perhaps even no gendered personalities. There is no unhappiness, pain, sickness or death. I personally think there are no humans that hold authority over other humans in heaven (to clarify, I know that a theological heaven cannot actually exist). What this means to me is that to have a more ideal world, the power differential between leaders and the led should be minimized. I understand that humans with their propensities for various follies aren’t as they are necessarily suited for the ideal world they’d like to inhabit, but striving for an ideal world would to me mean that human nature would in some ways be corrected so that the ideal world became more in tune with human desires for that state.
″ Can you provide an example of one your female social hierarchies?”
Say a nursing floor. There is such a thing as a nurse with the most authority, but the status differential between head nurse and other floor nurses is sometimes imperceptible to all but the nurses that work there. The pay difference is not that great either. Sometimes the nurse who makes the most decisions is the one that chooses to invest the most time and has the longest experience, not necessarily one who is chosen to be obeyed. This is entirely unlike a traditionaly male structure like an army where the difference between general and a corporal.
You must not know your way around the actual heavens of the big religions (as officially described). For instance, an important and (according to many Christian theologists) necessary part of the Christian heaven is being able to view the Christian Hell and enjoy the torture of the evil sinners there. And an important part of Muslim Heaven, according to some, is a certain thing about female virgins you may have heard of. I could go on for a while in this vein if you want real examples… because I happen to have a thing for completely un-academically reading popular history of religion & thought in my free time.
Really, if we’re going to get into religious (historical & contemporary) conceptions of heaven, the best one-line summary I can come up with is—heaven is just like Earth ought to be according to your cleric of choice and taken to an appropriate extreme. And most people’s conception of how things “ought to be” is horrible to most other people. One of the most common issues for idealists to face is that most people don’t want any part of their ideal world, no matter what that ideal happens to be.
If the difference is imperceptible, even to people who have experience with similar hierarchies but don’t happen to work inside this one, then why is the difference at all important? Why are we even talking about such a minute difference? It sounds to me like “there are no real status hierarchies and no leader” is a pretty good summary of this situation.
Some think the opposite, such as the pastor of a church I attended as a child. Apparently there was concern about the knowledge of loved ones’ suffering in Hell interfering with the ability to experience pleasure in Heaven, so he claimed in a sermon once that God must somehow “shield us” from that knowledge.
I was hoping for an example of a large scale usage of your ideal. It seems to me that as social systems get larger, the difficult of co-ordination gets more difficult, necessitating more power into the hands of those who lead. Much as communism can work in a small village, but not on a national scale, I suspect your ideal fails at the large scale.
No gendered personalities? How many people strap bombs to themselves, working themselves into a frenzy by reminding themselves of their heavenly reward of 40 androgynous virgins?
But those are celestial virgins. I mean the real women that die and go to heaven. What happens to them? Perhaps they also enjoy the celestial virgins.
They are united with their husbands. If they were widows and had had multiple husbands, they can choose the best husband to be with. They are also, being a real woman and therefore superior to creatures that have never been mortal, the boss of the 40 virgins of their husband.
What, you think they didn’t think of this?
So… do wives try to make their husbands sin just a bit, so they don’t get the 40 virgins and the wives can have them all to themselves in heaven?
The husband acquiring more wives raises her status. It is not unheard of for a wife in some cultures to nag or disrespect their husband for being unable to support more wives, leaving her with a lesser role than what she hoped for.
A theological heaven can actually exist, but shouldn’t. See Fun theory, for this reference in particular Visualizing Eutopia and Eutopia is Scary.
I suggest that this is to constrain the natural dynamics of leadership, not to formalise it. It saves on the killing.
Re: heaven: http://lesswrong.com/lw/y0/31_laws_of_fun/