MODERN PHILOSOPHY
AND STORIES
These days the issue of the human rights seems to be very popular evrybody talks
about but perhaps only few stop for moment to think about its meaning. As far as
I am concern. The human rights are the minimum rights a human person are entitled
to. Notice that I have written "human person". You may argue that there are no
other categories so it must be a typographical mistake. However, I am not so
sure about this. Actually I tend to disagree. I agree, for example, that
all humans are equal and most have equal rights, but I disagree with the
notion that we are all human beings.
To try to understand what I mean, try to answer the following question: What
is that charestic that makes us so different over the animals? This is not
an easy answer. And before analyzing it. Let me tell you my conclusion, we have
grant us the title of humans just arbitrarely, without any solid reasoning. So,
there may problems with our understanding of the human rights.
So let us go back to the problem of answering the question above. Some say that
what makes us different from the rest of the animals, is that we can control
our behaviour, of course this cannot be an acceptable answer. I do not think I need
to even argue this point. Others say that we have a superior intelligence, this is
also refutable. Others say that the main distinction, is our ability we have to
use our hands, with an opposite thumb. None of these answers actually defines
what a human is. In other words if an extraterrestrial lands on Earth and stars
studying all the species how would he know we are the main species in this planet?, the
most evolved, etc. My personal view is that we cannot answer this question.
Therefore I believe we must, as a society, define a set of requirements that
a person most meet to be called human. The word human been just one adjective.
This requirements must be in the general interest of society. With
emphasis in the way an individual or group of people behaves. We must take into
account that behaviour was probably the main reason some dominant species
got extinct in the past (the dinosaurs more specifically). It is amazing
that a "simple" thing like the way we behave in society can lead us to an
Extinction Level Event. Accordingly, human rights most be defined without
ambiguity and it most protect the scence of humanity, but bear in mind that
not all people will automatically classify as humans, in general we must learn
to be humans, and we must earn these rights, through out our lifes.
The following proposal is a good example of a new kind of human rights we must start
bulding for the future and good of our children.
Consider a system called Degrees of Liberty. Bear in mind that I
will not discuss for the time being the implementation of such a system. I will
just state the main idea. A human being will have a degree of liberty 10.0, whereas
for example a common dog may have a degree of liberty 4.0. The scale is not
necessarely linear just like the Richter scale is not linear (a 6.0 earthquake
is significatively more destructive than a 5.0). Once we have these parameters
we may now consider its repercussion in the human rights allocation. For
example a 9.9 individual may not park his/her car everywhere whilst a 10.0 can.
In the same way an individual that has managed to get a 4.0 mark or less will
have the same obligations and prerogatives that a great dane has! (with all
the implications this represents). I believe that with such a system running society will
be forced to evolve rather than degenerate as it has been for many decades now.
Of course the main problem is the implementation phase. However, I believe that
the first step would be to build a well structured proposal in this direction. So
we can then proceed to solve the second problem, the implementation.
Please drop me a line with your comments!
