Peace Is A Construct

Life at all scales is a balance of aggressions

We often hear about how achieving or maintaining peace seems to be unachievable. Or the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Seemingly any period of personal or social contentment is fleeting as though we forget how it was achieved to begin with.

I’ve earlier speculated on the reasons for these societal oscillations at the ideological level as stemming from the temptations of our egoist and bleeding heart natures. In short, we need to be wary of those promoting compulsory support of irrational or unsustainable principles as that ultimately leads to the toppling of all progressive societies.

But for this study, we will be considering a more ubiquitous principle. While my sociological theory is found at all scales of society throughout history, the theory presented here can be found in biological systems at all scales in all conceivable places.

Consider the following:

Microbes are alive, but have no intellect.  All they do is consume what is in their environment, convert the energy, and multiply.  These are the most basic and necessary functions of any form of life. However, if ever in a situation without sufficient or appropriate items to consume, there is inadequate energy to multiply and their existence ends. Therefore, simply by statistical necessity, the microbes cannot multiply beyond the means of their environment. Or if they happen to be the source of energy being consumed by another organism, then they must avoid being consumed faster than they can be replaced. A balance at some scale must result between the mindless consumers and what is being consumed.

With larger organisms, the trend is the same. Larger plants overtake smaller ones, but the latter still survives in the gaps or in turn may be a parasite. All are hoping to absorb energy for themselves even at the cost of the others around them. The animal kingdom in a similar fashion consumes vegetation and other animals as required by their physical makeup to get sufficient energy and multiply so as to maintain or increase their numbers ensuring their own genetic survival. Humans are, at their core, mammals.

And within each and every one of us are trillions of bacteria that are completely unaware and mindlessly consume their environment to convert energy for the sake of their own reproductive imperative. Making up as much as 3% of our body mass, in sheer quantity they outnumber our human cells. Although our biology treats many of them as symbiotic, if given the opportunity (which eventually does come to pass), they would consume us in entirety. The reason they don’t while we are alive is the structural integrity of our various membranes along with an active immune system that seeks to keep them corralled where they can do no harm.

But what of our interpersonal relationships? Our friends, families, co-workers, communities, etc.  Consider what it takes to participate and maintain any relationship.  How much effort do we put into being considerate of each other or resisting the temptation to not be? What is the end result when a few members of a society become destructively insensitive to the needs of the rest? All of us are persistently in a state that is somewhere between self-control and total abandon, and the success of our relationships are essentially a compatible mix of those ratios.

This also applies to our communities, municipalities, and governments which are simply larger scale and more formalized versions of these self-control ratios and relationships. Intentional resource management to ensure sustainable productivity. Oversight to prevent unsustainable losses to people or the environment. Preventive or corrective measures for those disrupting the system. Whether it be a single person or an entire nation, all wish to sustain their station or improve it, requiring consumption and multiplication. In this way, everyone is effectively your opponent in some respect.

So if everything in biology and society is fundamentally at odds, then how does one achieve real peace? Albert Einstein clearly showed us with the geodesic description of relativity that gravitational phenomenon is a “fictional force”. It does not in fact exist but is an observed effect resulting from the balance of another force (time dilation).

Similarly, peace is a fictional state of being. It is an idealistic construct describing the tenacious balance between or symbiosis with those who would otherwise consume each other. Just like how microgravity or weightlessness when in orbit is in fact perpetual falling towards the earth balanced by maintaining sufficient centripetal velocity to continue missing the ground. In both cases, it is the balancing act between these violent variables where the fictional state of peace is found.

Life is oftentimes random and one’s individual conditions may be unique, but it is the most pronounced eigenstates that betray relevant trends.  Certainly bad things happen to good people due to chance, but perhaps in part because of the assumption that the variables around them are inherently benevolent. The illogical belief that peace is achieved through pacifism as opposed to vigilance.

Although one may love their spouse, that most trusted person is also the one in a position most capable of doing harm. And when the time comes, the microbes that help you to digest now will begin to digest you. These observations are not meant to be cynical or nihilistic, but to highlight objective reality. Frankly, all public and foreign policy should be built on historically reproducible reality such as this.

I encourage all to consider that at every scale there is continuous conflict in natural systems, from single cell organisms to international social organizations. We must respect this chaotic reality if we hope to understand how we might deterministically find balance. Working towards that sweet spot of managed aggressions and the vigilance to keep that is the persistent challenge for which we hope to achieve and sustain the phenomenon we call peace.