We need food, clothing, and shelter to sustain ourselves. It gives us the basic pleasure of living. People are also social beings. Joining society significantly improves their lives and brings greater pleasure. The greatest progress comes from cooperation among free people, which can bring extraordinary power to meet their needs. It may also bring the highest level of personal satisfaction, harmony and love among the people. Cooperation among free people promises a bright future for humankind.
The problem begins when individuals start comparing themselves to others. Individuals' subjective opinions may increase their self-importance and diminish the importance of others. Such thinking alienates people from the reality of the natural world. Alienated individuals often want to reach a better life at the expense of other people. They invest effort in building their power, which enables them to oppress and control people. The success brings pleasure, but it also creates an illusion of power, which sooner or later comes back to haunt. In such a society, weaker people always suffer. This kind of life has given rise to social problems that have damaged society throughout human history.
When people gain power over others, they expect a significant improvement in their lives, but this is often not the case. For example, Egyptian pharaohs exerted absolute power over their people and sought to maintain control indefinitely. They built pyramids to ensure their status. However, what exactly did they get by building pyramids? They enjoyed the power over people, but I think watching their tombs grow every day reminded them of the inevitable departure from this world. They could not possibly feel well, no matter what they believed in about the afterlife. I think pharaohs were more afraid of leaving this world than ordinary people, who didn't build an illusion of power.
Those in power are often afraid of losing it. For example, I recently saw Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, on TV so concerned about his company's future that I believe he has lost the pleasure of living. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, literally cried when Internet Explorer lost the user-demand battle to Google Chrome. What fools they are! The illusion of power has damaged their lives. Such power lets people accumulate privileges that give them influence in society. If people succeed, they enjoy it, but then they fear losing power far more than they enjoy having it.
Besides, everyone eventually loses to stronger people, and that always brings pain. Wise people think fighting for power and privileges is not worth it. However, people who live in an alienated society cannot abandon their privileges because they derive immense enjoyment from them. As a result, the effort to win and stay the winner creates enormous stress, which prevents people from recognizing their actual needs and, consequently, from satisfying them. Such people cannot feel well. Then their misery oppresses others, and everything goes wrong. Privileges Are Evil, and the illusion of power harms society.
Those who seek power over others cannot achieve a fulfilling life, no matter what they do. They can hardly love. They may look like they are capable of loving and caring for people, but this is just narcissism. They love their power and success in society. If something hurts them, they would furiously attack the origin of their trouble. Hurting someone’s narcissism means initiating hatred which cannot be forgiven. That is how we can recognize a narcissistic person. Dissatisfaction makes narcissistic people cruel, which brings a lot of suffering to the community. It builds sadomasochism among the people, where no promising future can be expected for anyone.
When society gets alienated from its nature, neither successful nor unsuccessful people have good lives. The attempt to gain power over others is a historically proven mistake. Control over people should not be necessary. The pyramids and all other significant achievements of dictators do not deserve appreciation. If we used this energy productively, we would live much better today.
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People need freedom. Freedom from authorities relieves us from oppression in society. Free people may get to know and develop themselves, their ideas and feelings. They may learn the objective values of life. It would tell them that all the values they can reach lie within them. They are their most important creation. The more they know themselves, the more capable they are of building harmony with the environment, the closer they can come to another individual, and the easier life they can find. Then they do not need to compare themselves with other people. Then they do not produce problems in society.
Those who live freely, following their nature, are much better able to recognize their needs and satisfy them. Freedom is necessary for developing a productive way of living. Only free people may do great deeds and improve themselves and society. The less people feel powerlessness in society, the less they need power over others. That is how a productive orientation of society is built. Productive people are capable of loving. Love is one of the most significant achievements people can attain in their lives. Love brings the most stable satisfaction. Contrary to narcissists, people who love are never destructive.
Everything good people do stays in the memories and hearts of those they affect. People who have a positive influence inspire good actions in others. It is a kind of reincarnation. Good people live on in the minds of others, while bad ones do not, no matter how significant the monuments they leave behind are. However, the primary benefit of a productive way of living is that good people can have good lives, while bad people cannot.
Free people who choose to live naturally are responsible for their lives and the natural world that surrounds them, and they lead fulfilling lives. They are satisfied, relaxed, and understanding of others. Such people can accept the limitations of their nature. When they recognize that their way of living aligns with their life expectations, they no longer need anything. They are not afraid of death. Death brings them freedom in the broadest sense. Wise people consider this way of living the best possible.
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A society's policy, based on the cooperation of free people, is the only one that can create a good society. However, when we attempt to implement it, we encounter the same problem that has existed since the beginning of time. The more alienated society becomes, the more alienated values are; the less satisfied they are, the greedier they become. People alienated from their nature require a greater share in the division of power and in the distribution of wealth than society can deliver. Then people cannot agree about anything. We have tried to appeal to human conscience to adopt a good policy, but conscience has never been able to change society. We have also tried to establish rules to enforce the creation of sound policy, but we have never succeeded. The fact is, we do not know how to create a good society.
I have decided to define a policy that will create a good society. After extensive study, I have concluded that democratic acceptance and implementation of equal human rights will do it. Throughout human history, the development of equal human rights policies has significantly improved society. Further development will improve society even more. The problem is that further developing equal human rights requires implementing entirely new ideas that society cannot readily accept. However, once people accept these ideas, they will inevitably create a better society. Now I will present the essence of equal human rights.
Free individuals may choose to improve or damage society. States have strong power to restrict people from damaging society and some power to encourage people to produce benefits. However, state authorities have never been efficient enough at creating a productive orientation in society, as people might be hindered by the implementation of equal human rights. People may radically improve society by getting equal legislative, judicial, and executive powers. Each person should have an equal right to punish and reward other people. Then everyone will strive to produce the maximum benefits for people and avoid harming them. This is a crucial step in building a thriving society.
In essence, every person will have an equal right to evaluate a few people of their choice each month. A positive assessment will result in a small award for the assessed person, and a negative evaluation will entail a small punishment. Such assessments will encourage everyone to do everything they can to enrich others' lives and avoid producing evil in society. Such a right will bring about a radical transformation of power in society, completely changing the world and making it a beautiful place to live. I've called such an evaluation democratic anarchy.
Equal human rights will give each person the right to work. As long as unemployment exists, such a right does not exist. Unemployment will be eliminated by shortening working hours proportionally to the unemployment rate. Eliminating unemployment would increase demand for workers in the free market, causing employers to pay more. Better-paid workers can purchase more, which will grow the economy. Such a simple measure will remove the problems of capitalism. It will also free people from the fear of insecurity in a capitalist society and give them more choices in finding a pleasant job. These two simple measures will make capitalism a decent social system.
The ultimate stage of equal human rights will affect the public economy. It will be necessary to develop the labour market in public companies. Everyone will have equal rights to work in every public post at any time. Workers with the best productivity would have the right to work. It may sound impossible because such a division of labour has never existed. However, realizing it is just a technical problem.
The new economy will bring more market than capitalism may afford. To implement a competitive system that lets workers secure every work post, we will need to develop a system that effectively evaluates work productivity, harmonizes rewards, and defines job responsibilities. In short, workers who offer the highest productivity and responsibility and demand the lowest salary will get the job. I explain this complex task in my book Humanism. No economy can be better than one in which each job is filled by the best available worker. Publicly owned companies will send capitalism down to history.
Better workers will always win. They will constantly bring the most efficient progress to society. However, nobody will be privileged anymore, and the losers will not suffer because the entire system will be based on market harmony. The market of goods allocates every good to the most capable purchaser who needs and loves it the most. The producers profit from it the most as well. The labour market will eliminate work privileges, making each job equally desirable. Such a market will allocate every job to the most productive worker who needs and loves it the most. Shorter work hours will eliminate unemployment, while less desirable jobs will be compensated with higher incomes. The market will help society to reach the best life possible.
Equal human rights will bring many more benefits to people. These three measures will disalienate society. People will find objective values of life. People will respect one another, which is the first step in fostering a productive society. People will be able to follow a natural way of living and satisfy their needs. People who permanently satisfy their needs are never destructive. They enjoy life.
The lack of equal human rights has consistently led to problems in society. It was the only reason society was never good. Full acceptance of equal human rights will prevent all social evil and build permanent harmony among people. Such a policy will unconditionally create freedom, peace, joy, love, wisdom, and a good quality of life for everyone. Equal human rights are our real need, which we do not recognize enough. Equal human rights are essential for building a bright future for humankind.