Quote from aphexcoil:
Gordon,
Ok so you don't believe in god. Great. You don't believe in religion -- wonderful. Now you are saying that marriage is wrong. Since marriage is a direct result of natural forces within the universe constructing specific cultures and societies, you are arguing that social evolution made a mistake and the world would be better without them.
Why not just skip to step Z and call yourself god? You're already the best trader and now you know more about how the universe should work than evolution. Get some followers and get a nice compound somewhere in Texas.
Perhaps there will be a religion started one day with you as their choosen one?
Well you are almost very right on here alphie, marriage indeed might be a direct result of natural forces constructing specific societies, but even though those FORCES are universal, the RULES are not. Remember that nature had people for example in america morph into a society where the urges exist to settle (I question this seeing how many people cheat, but lets just assume monogamy for the sake of argument), in Saudi-Arabia it is perfectly normal to, as Gekko introduced and fights for, have multiple wives. In other countries its different again etc. etc. etc.
Same NATURAL FORCES, different 'people made up rules'...
I'd say the conclusion is that ALL laws and morals are merely geographical and you happen to have to deal with them INCIDENTALLY. Isnt it absolutely hilarious that people in NYC almost called the FBI when I slapped a chick, while you can stone your wife (--> OR ANY WOMAN you claim was 'infidel' to you!!) to death on your own call in some Arab countries. Funny how we all eat mcdonalds with (well they claim to!) beef in the burgers, millions a day, while the cow is holy in india and people STOP TRAFFIC if a cow is sleeping on the road! Funny how thai people like to eat dogs and all americans go "EEEWW YOU CANNOT DO THAT IT IS A DOGGY DOGGY ITS CUTE SWEET", funny how a lot of people in western countries hug their dogs, shit man! I even know chicks that let their dogs sleep on their beds! In Suriname dogs are considered so filthy they arent even allowed to be in the house.. Remember a video of a kitten being eaten on the internet? All america was crying and boohooing, its *normal* for some cultures to do that.
All incidental morals and standards.. wanna know something even more fun? Those arent even BORN IN, those are all learnt from society. I remember going to spain (for work!!) and irritating myself how lazy people seemed to be sometimes. One month later a friend visited me and was just as irritated how lazy _I_ had become (ofcourse, I felt like he was messed up and should relax! haha)
purely geographical & random, those are the morals and ethics we all want to fight and die for, hooray for consciousness!
Tiki