Moral Evolution is Documentable
We live in a world where science itself, seen as crystal clear truth, is sullied by various problems such as
Initial biases
Partial perspectives
Skewed conclusions
Warring authorities
For more than a century science has climbed to a position of near intellectual supremacy, leaving religion in the lurch.
But now we sense fragmentation of disciplines to the point that anything like a universal language across across specializations is far more than a stretch.
Still Triadic Philosophy believes:
A universal canon is possible, past the Western Canon.
An ethical and true science is possible.
Because these things are possible, we may well be able to show that
Harm is measurable and predictable.
Prevention of harm can be measured and provided for.
Thinking ahead is a profitable enterprise.
Prosperity is achievable by means of sharing and cooperation.
And:
Thinking in threes is often better than framing decisions in binary terms.
Triadic philosophy sees moral evolution as documentable.
Progress results from the conscious spread of democracy, tolerance, helpfulness and non-idolatry.
Let me close with three propositions based on the premise that moral evolution is measurable.
First, it is documentable that nations where democracy has taken root have attained a greater level of prosperity than nations locked in the grip of dictatorship.
Secondly, nations with progressive social policies — among them tolerance and helpfulness —have achieved measurable reductions in criminality and recidivism.
Finally, the current conflict in the world is between two ethical systems, one which espouses violence and aims to impose religious uniformity, the other which is either democratic or incipiently democratic and is open to the values of Triadic Philosophy. The defeat of violence represents measurable progress.
Documentation of these three premises is not the aim of this aphorism. Its aim is to suggest that we can measure moral progress in terms of the strength of the values of Triadic Philosophy, which are inherently progressive and in tune with a cosmos that moves forward.
There is a simple and universal way to measure anything.
It is the scale of 1–10.
Pain can be measured by indicating whether it is high or low on this scale.
The quality of a policy can be likewise measured. Its capacity to create harm on a scale of 1 for no harm and 10 for lethal harm.
We can use this simple measure to evaluate everything from the current Congress or Supreme Court to the performance of a local police department or a prison.
There is an ethic that is applicable to everything and which implies measurability and the goal of big data efforts should be to arrive at honest measurements in terms of risk, harm and the metrics of an ethic of values.
