Michael Faust - The Case for Meritocracy

by

Michael Faust

Published by Hyperreality Books

Copyright Michael Faust 2015

The right of Michael Faust to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.

The Case for Meritocracy

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Tipping Point

The Revolution

The Most Bizarre Story Ever

Mad World

Thomas Jefferson: Champion of the Unborn

The Property Con

The Meritocratic Basis of Contractual Law

The Names of the Book of the Future

The Rich Mans Premium

The Pros and Cons of Civilization

The Dead

The Original Position and Veil of Ignorance

The Body Swap

The Democratic Wolves

Spartacus

Superpersonalisation

The Hell Fallacy

The Five Meritocratic Principles

100% Inheritance Tax

The Secret Coup

The Psychopath

The Birth Pains of the New Model Society

Ayn Rand

Self-Improvement

The Day of the Locust

The Hollywood Inferno

The Charisma Trap

Theft?

The Revenants

Philarguria

The Precariat

The Age of the Sophists

The Totally Rich

The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler

The Liberal Enemy

The Golden Generation

What Goes on Tour, Stays on Tour

Win-Loss Framing

The Ultimate Leap

Creepy People

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Harshing

Thermidor

Confucius

Terence McKenna

The Angel Kings?

The Gateway Drug

A Case Study

The Media Machine

The Illuminati

The Psychopaths

Conclusion

The human race is ill. One story above all reveals the sickness at the core of the human psyche... the tale of the Tree of Knowledge. What does it say about the human race that knowledge is associated with the loss of paradise, with the forbidden, with the defiance of the rightful authority (God), with alliance with the serpent (the Devil), and with the advent of suffering, sin, and death?! Why should we be surprised that Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, described reason as the Devils whore? Why was Socrates put to death by Athenian democracy? Why has no genius ever been a king, prime minister or president? Why are intellectuals held in contempt? Knowledge and reason have always been viewed by the human race as distasteful, suspect, unnatural, and likely to lead to trouble.

Of course, the smartest human beings have always taken the opposite view. Its ignorance, faith and irrationalism that are holding back humanity. The allegory of the Ship of Fools derives from Plato, one of the worlds greatest geniuses, and describes the disaster that will befall a ship if the crew gets rid of the navigator..., i.e., if the fools, contemptuous of knowledge and expertise, put themselves in charge of steering the vessel.

Human history has been subject to three disastrous forces three Horses of the Apocalypse, we might say. They are: 1) the power of violence (war, military strength... everything thats sustained by brute force), 2) the power of stories (religion, monarchy... everything sustained by the beliefs people hold, by the Mythos they have chosen to explain their lives to themselves), and 3) the power of money (the universal currency for buying what you want, for getting people to do what you want because they crave the money you can give them).

Human societies have always been ruled by military elites, or Mythos elites (religious or royal), or rich elites. They have never been ruled by intellectual elites.

Humanity could be saved by knowledge, understanding, reason and logic, but these have always been despised by the average person. Plainly, none of these things plays any role in the lives of typical Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, or consumer capitalists. They play no part in prayer, meditation and going shopping. No one in the West says you can be saved by maximising your intelligence; no, you must instead maximise your irrational faith. No one in the East says that the path to Enlightenment is the one concerned with the most rational ontology and epistemology; no, you must cross your legs, close your eyes, and literally try to escape from your own mind the exact definition of a Mindless ideology! No capitalist says that anything other than buying stuff can make you happy.

In comparison with the three Horses of the Apocalypse, intellectual attributes have never played a decisive role in human affairs. They have always served the Horses, and never controlled them. The intelligentsia have always been advisors, and never those occupying the throne and taking the decisions.

What would happen to the world if Logos people rather than Mythos people were in charge, if smart people rather than military people were in charge, if people of knowledge ruled rather than people of wealth? The world would be transformed. Humanity would undergo a wondrous metamorphosis.

A political system exists that can deliver this New World Order... a world where intelligence becomes the most valued resource. Its called Meritocracy.

The trouble is that the world hates clever people. Average people cant understand intellectuals, and cant relate to them. They love rich people, celebrities, prophets, popes, princes, princesses, lords, ladies, generals, models, actors, reality TV stars, you name it... everyone other than the intelligent. And thats why the world is so insane.

Isnt it time humanity left its self-imposed mental asylum? Isnt it time humanity had no fear of eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and started respecting people of knowledge above all others? Its God and all the rest of the nonsense that should be forbidden, feared and despised, not knowledge. Knowledge is our true saviour, and provides the true path to salvation. Reason and logic, not faith, meditation and shopping, are the keys to unlock the door of the madhouse in which were all currently imprisoned. The latter merely generate more lunatics. Nothing in history has created more insanity than mainstream religion.

Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged would be a worthwhile book if it were about the intelligentsia going on strike rather than super-rich capitalist predators; if it were a book defending reason and logic rather than the US dollar. But Rand would have got nowhere if she had advocated the smartest rather than the richest being in charge. As it stands, Rands work is staggeringly anti-intellectual. Its nothing but a hymn to greed, selfishness and money. Its a love-letter to the wealthy elite... which is why they revere it so much.

Isnt it time we left behind the Ship of Fools, and embarked instead on the Ship of Geniuses? What is the Star Trek vision of the future if not a depiction of a world ruled by meritocrats? You wouldnt let the religious, the violent, or the rich onboard a starship. With them in your crew, youd never reach your destination. Youd go round and round in circles, or crash.