Re: CHAT: Hello

Andreas Johansson wrote:

>This is probably somewhat OT, but I thought I'd ask anyway. This bit:
>
>>In what way are murder, theft, or adultery
>>"sins"-- crimes yes, but that's a legal matter isn't it?   If I commit an
>>offense against my society, the society has ways of dealing with it-- what
>>does "God" have to do with it?  If I offend my neighbor, surely it's up to
>>me to make amends, if at all possible; and if I do so adequately, then
it's
>>up to my neighbor to accept it, and we get on with our lives.
>
>doesn't seem to go very well with this bit:
>
>>Re the Declaration of Human Rights: they would ask, "what's with you
>>people,
>>that you have to be _told_ how to live in harmony with one another?"
>>(Also,
>>it's just too long and dreary to translate....)
>
>If the Kash need a legal code, then surely they need being told how to live
>in harmony with one another? That kind of the meaning of legal code,
telling
>people that ...
>
Pardon my delay; there have been several hundred messages in the meantime,
all of vital importance :-).

You raise a valid point, which I think I can explain as follows:  It is the
difference between individual acts vs. acts by an entire society. Every
society has some way of regulating individual behavior.  A personal act of
murder, criminal destruction of property, business fraud et al.-- matters
for state intervention via the legal system (or perhaps by other means, in
some societies); dislike of someone for ethnic/religious/whatever reasons,
lying, adultery-- ideally at least matters that can be settled on a personal
basis by people of good will..

Wholesale genocide, ethnic or religious persecution-- all those wonderful
things we humans are capable of, totally without reason-- another matter
entirely.  Whether there can be effective regulation of such large-scale
behaviors _here_ seems somewhat debatable; at best, for every step forward,
we fall back three or four.

My planet Cindu, inhabited by two quite different intelligent species, is
something of a thought experiment (like Ursula Le Guin's Gethen, where there
was no male/female dichotomy).  Neither species is differentiated into
"races"-- all Gwr are small, brown and furry, all Kash are large, black and
furry.  Both are the result of ancient genetic tinkering by advanced
(human-like) alien visitors (as, in this theory,  are we);  they live apart
(apparently by ancient design)-- Gwr only  in the northern areas; Kash can
live anywhere, but since they evolved in the tropics they have tended to
stay there.  The Gwr tend to have more varied religions, all Kash pretty
much a single one; they do not proselytize one another, and aside from
academics, have little interest in each other's religions.  The planet is
slightly larger than Earth, but much less populous-- about 1 billion total,
currently about 60% Kash-- it was 60% Gwr 1000 years ago, but they had a
nuclear war that decimated them (it was of course an horrific experience for
both species, and as a benefit, led to the genuine abandonment of war).
There is, however, plenty of economic competition.

The fact that the Kash have telepathic ability no doubt contributes to their
more cohesive society.  They probably have a greater sense of the collective
good than the Gwr, or than we.

Most importantly, it has simply never occurred to either species to
eradicate the other.  They live in a more-or-less symbiotic relationship.
So that's why they would find our world a somewhat perplexing place.

I hope this clarifies things.  Roger.