Original Sin — Oppression And Subversion with Good Intentions
The concept of Original Sin has alluded me for most of my life. Growing up Lutheran, our pastors would occasionally talk about Original Sin in Sunday morning sermons, but would never really define it or go into great depth on its meaning or implication. The very fact that the term “Original Sin” isn’t in the Bible anywhere puzzled me greatly. What is this mysterious concept and why is it so important?
Through architecting and building complex software systems, and training junior developers on how to extend and maintain complex systems, I believe that in observing how junior developers problem solve with little to no training can show us some aspects of the default human condition that is problematic, or what I believe are aspects of our Original Sin. One particular aspect is the default use of oppression or subversion to solve problems despite good intentions.
Original Sin — Origins and Definition
The concept of Original Sin comes from Augustine of Hippo, or Saint Augustine back in 5th century. He viewed humans as inherently selfish and disobedient due to actions taken by Adam and Eve, the first humans created by God in the Christian origin story of Genesis. Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden with God until they disobeyed God by eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, resulting in their expulsion from paradise.
In Augustines view, Original Sin is the guilt that we all inherit from Adam and Eve’s first sin of taking the apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They freely chose to live apart from God by trusting instead in the knowledge of good and evil — wanting to be like gods. They rejected God through disobedience and lost his friendship for themselves and humanity. This loss is Original Sin and is the default condition that every human born into this world inherits.
Wanting to be like gods is an incredible concept: we are creators and judges. From the arts to the market place, we humans are constantly trying to improve our world through creation and problem solving. Through these acts, the concept of Original Sin shines, especially human’s natural inclination to use force to solve problems.
Oppression and Subversion
Through training junior developers over the years, and being one myself, it takes a great deal of effort and discipline to problem solve using systems thinking. Systems thinking is a holistic approach to understanding complex phenomena by examining the relationships between the various components of a system rather than just focusing on individual parts or solutions.
With an almost complete lack in systems thinking, the junior engineer unknowingly solves a problem in a system by means of oppression and/or subversion. While “oppression” and “subversion” carry weighty connotations, lacking a thorough comprehension of complex systems leads the junior engineer to use oppression or subversion in the code to solve the assigned problem. Again, the junior engineer does this unknowingly. If you would like to see details on how there can be oppression and subversion in software code, please read my article Tyranny in Software Systems.
What is oppression and subversion? They both relate to how complex systems are organized. In a complex system, there are multiple parts that are interconnected and dependent on each other. Each part has a specific role or responsibility within the system. These parts interact with each other by consuming resources or outputs from other parts (a consumer), and then providing their own outputs to be consumed by other parts (a provider).
This interdependence between the parts of the system helps distribute complexity throughout the system. This means that no single part is overwhelmed with too much responsibility, making the system more robust and adaptable to changes. Additionally, this interdependence allows for the system to be easily extended or modified, as new parts can be added or existing parts can be modified without disrupting the overall functioning of the system.
Oppression and subversion both relate to how a particular part of a system extends its responsibilities into a higher or lower level parts within the complex system. Oppression is a provider that is taking, or usurping responsibilities from a dependency, and subversion is a dependency taking, or usurping responsibilities from a provider. Usurping responsibility is a form of power, and this type of power is NOT preferred within complex systems. It usually ends with the collapse of the system. If you’d like to read more about power in complex systems, you can read my article Power To Life, Power To Death.
A classic example of oppression would be tyranny. Tyranny is a form of government in which absolute power is vested in a single ruler, often obtained and maintained by force, and exercised oppressively or unjustly. Examples would be Adolf Hitler (Third Reich) in Germany from 1933 to 1945 and Joseph Stalin (Communist Party) in USSR from 1922 to 1953. However, another example of oppression would be minimum wage laws. This is where a State is usurping the responsibility of businesses to freely negotiate wages with their employees. This has unforeseen consequences that was counter to the reason the law that was put in place to begin with: it can lead to job loss because businesses may not be able to afford to pay their employees the minimum wage. The law was put in place with good intentions but lead to unforeseen consequences. Other examples of oppression are zoning regulations and exploitative labor practices.
An example of subversion is mutiny. Mutiny is an act of open rebellion against the proper authorities, especially by soldiers or sailors against their officers. Terrorism is another form of subversion. Terrorists use fear of violence to influence governments and communities into specific actions. Other examples of subversion are alternative currency systems and socially responsible investing.
Oppression and subversion can lead to the collapse of the complex system. Throughout history, there has been mechanisms in place to help prevent the use of oppression and subversion, but unfortunately changes in modernity has only lead to its amplification.
Modern Amplification
The original sin of oppression/subversion has been with us humans since the beginning, but modernity has greatly amplified it in our culture. How this has come to be can be best understood by a theory called parasite-stress theory. This theory states that
the prevalence of infectious diseases in a society influences its social and cultural behaviors, shaping factors such as collectivism and conformity.
Imagine a spectrum where a conservative mindset is on one side and a progressing mindset is on the other. Conservative meaning resistant to change, where as progressive meaning open to change. Parasite stress theory states that the prevalence of infectious disease within a community pushes the general members in the community towards the conservative mindset.
Humans throughout history had to continuously deal with infectious disease. This means that humans universally resisted change in order to minimize the affects of disease within the community. One mechanism to protect humans from diseases was traditions.
An example of a tradition that protected us humans from disease is kosher. Pork and shellfish were exempt from Jewish diets for thousands of years. One explanation for the prohibition of pork is the prevalence of tapeworms in wild pigs in the Middle East. Similarly, shellfish, especially filter feeders like clams and oysters, have the capacity to accumulate toxins and pathogens from their surroundings, posing potential dangers if consumed, including fatality.
For thousands of years, traditions have been established and upheld to safeguard human well-being. Departures from these traditions occurred gradually, as there was a strong inclination to adhere to established practices due to the prevalence of disease. Due to this resistance to change by following traditions, our natural sin to use oppression and subversion was muted. However, this dynamic shifted in the 20th century.
Thanks to modern advancements in health, nutrition, and medicine, we’ve significantly reduced the harmful impact of diseases on communities and have even doubled our life expectancy throughout the 20th century. This near elimination of disease has allowed us to quickly slide to the progressive side of the spectrum. Now our western culture sees “change” as a net good and seeks to implement change everywhere in our daily lives. While change plays a crucial role in problem-solving, an excess of it can create opportunities for oppression and subversion, particularly among those who lack proper training or awareness.
Good Intensions
Because we have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we humans can make a choice. And we can judge that choice to be good or evil. No other entity on earth can exercise such an ability. Other animals only run on instinct. They don’t get to make a choice. The drawback with making a choice is that this reality is made up of complex systems, and when we make choices without proper understanding of how systems work, we will inadvertently impose oppression and/or subversion. This, I believe, is where we get the saying:
The path to hell is paved with good intentions.
The above examples shows how oppression and subversion can be put in place with good intentions. But we must remember that good intentions can destroy a system. We must humble ourselves in knowing that we will never fully understand the complexity of this reality, that we are a complex system and are a part of many complex systems. Being one part within a complex system requires us to understand our responsibility and refrain from usurping others. This, I believe, is why Christ said:
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
Christ was saying that it is right to fulfill our responsibilities as citizens of earthly governments (like paying taxes), but we also have responsibilities to God (like love, worship, obedience) that are even more important. That we have our own responsibilities within complex systems, and that it is vital we understand and fulfill them. Empathy is crucial here, especially when changing different parts of a complex system. I continually teach junior engineers to empathize with the responsibilities of the different modules of code within the software system. Without empathy, the junior engineer will only resort to oppression and subversion for solutions. This is true for all other systems in our lives (social, economic, etc) This is why christ says
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12)
Christ helped humanity understand systems and responsibilities, to understand that we have to be both providers and consumers, to help us with our fall from God. Our natural human tendency is to use oppression and subversion to solve problems. This is one aspect of Original Sin.
Overview
Due to Adam and Eve eating the apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we humans will forever inherit a sin. One aspect of this sin is that, through our good intentions, we inadvertently use oppression and subversion to solve problems or help others.
Originally published at http://longloft.com on April 28, 2024.
