Evolutionary LAW: with the examples from US-Russia «dichotomy»

A ideaephony in 7 movements)Put together

by Vlad Radkov, MUSKIE-2011

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Prelude: Disclaimer• Analogy is one powerful tool of science which

sometimes can turn into its deadly weapon. • Most ideas in that presentation may be viewed

as copyrighted more than once. I can provide you with detailed cover story on each, would you choose that.

• English is my second language and that happily restricts my freedom of expression)

• Offense exists only when it’s taken• Humor saves souls, though.

Wisdom of Words

We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universes, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to be created at once by

special act.

Charles Darwin

Movement 1. Singularity – diversity

1. Universe changes (Aristotle: “Movement is life”)

2. Changing, while in the expanding phase, Universe has to become more complex

3. So matter manifests itself through mass/particle (substance), impulse (energy) and entropy (information) which evolve

4. Properties of matter produce natural laws

GUESS WHAT

?)

Laws of change (Hegel-Marx-Engels: Taijitu)

• Unity and conflict of opposites• Passage of quantitative changes into

qualitative changes• Negation of the negation

- lead to increase of complexity (> of time)

Movement 2. Physics – biology

• Inert matter evolves into living matter (crystals and viruses) – speed of evolution increases

• Natural laws come out through evolution

Law-based behavior evolves into genetics-based (L.Zelenov)

&

Evolution triad• Genetic drift (thesis)• Mutation (antithesis)

• Natural selection (synthesis)

• In any evolutionary system in which there is variation and heredity, there is, in the absence of constraint, a tendency for diversity and complexity to increase (McShea, Brandon).

• Big discussion about what is the primary unit of evolution: individual, population or gene/meme (Richard Dawkins)

• Statement: Wider ecosystem is the best representation of gene)

Genetics-based behavior evolves into value-based (Zelenov)

Biopsychology (species vs population)

• Natural selection favors reflection, reaction, instincts, rituals and finally consciousness

• Animal behavior contains instinct patterns related as “natural moral” (K.Lorenz through V. Dolnik), but not ALL behavior has necessarily to be moral (Lorenz, Aggression).

• Social animals have mechanisms of reinforcing morals and transferring experience which smtms resemble those of society (hierarchy, roles etc.)

From Herd to Community

• People are social animals, inheriting features from many earlier species. Instincts, traditions, beliefs, religion and culture evolve from the core of subconscious behavioral controls.

• However, consciousness and abstract thinking provide powerful mechanisms for overriding natural laws.

• Memes make ape a “person” (Dennett)• Language is a beneficial tool for transferring the

experience in space and time.

Life expectancy of religious versus secular communes.

A Norenzayan, A F Shariff Science 2008;322:58-62

Published by AAAS

Movement 3. Population – society

• Evolutionary sense of media switch: need to increase pace of memetic transfer nongenetically

• Genetically-related forms of control transcend to conscience-related forms (magic, religion, law, ethics) at some point of population increase (>150) (Norenzayan, Shariff)

• Consciousness favors increasing the size of population

• Increase, in turn, is helpful for diversity and survival

Evolution of “imaginary friends”• “Humans are unique among animals in maintaining

large, stable coalitions of unrelated individuals, strongly bonded by mutual trust” (Boyer).

• Brain structure is influenced by repetition.• Early religion: “These behaviours include stereotyped,

highly repetitive actions that participants feel they must do, even though most have no clear, observable results” (Boyer) – LAW of BODY

• Laws tried to mix presets with rationality – LAW of MIND

• Bioethics – shift to INTEGRAL LAW of SPIRIT (Gebser)?

Breakdance (limits of control)• Consciousness provides us with means to override

plenty of physical, biological, societal and mental controls

• That doesn’t mean that there’ll be NO response to overriding from the environment

• “Freedom results in responsibility -- often more than most people can endure”. “[Terror] was necessary to remove abstractions from everything, especially Freedom. Finding a context for Freedom would enable society to overcome the Terror” (Hegel)

• “The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught” (Herman Hesse)

What are our tools for…

• Not Inbreeding (multiculturalism?)• Community inner safety (criminal law?)• Sustaining an individual +property (human

rights?)• Mating (Facebook?)• Controlling the size of population (gay marriage?)

?

Movement 4. Community – Empire

Throw away morality and justice,and people will do the right thing.

Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Many know how to manage their familiesSome know how to manage communities

Few know how to manage empires(And what about managing oneself?)

Things to consider

• The effect of spatial and temporal scale on legal and reinforcement system

• Time priority: group decision making vs. assigned decision-making (is it Congress or IRS who makes decisions?)

• The price of error and the price of time (“the pig is dead”)

• Prospective on individual’s value and rights• Subdivisions: vassalage, federalism, autonomies

Some questions

• Why do empires fail?• Why didn’t Britain sustain control over states?• What did the American legal evolution favour:

federalism or autonomy?• Human rights and fight with terrorism: does

democracy has to choose?

Movement 5. Geographical dimension

• Geographical conditions define social and cultural structure a lot. These, in turn, influence the law and other social norms (Ratzel, Mackinder, Brzezinski).

• "In the long run, global politics are bound to become increasingly uncongenial to the concentration of hegemonic power in the hands of a single state. Hence, America is not only the first, as well as the only, truly global superpower, but it is also likely to be the very last.“(Brzezinski)

McKinder: Eurasia is a Pivot Area! Why do you think?

Essence of Geopolitics• Noosphere acknowledges humanity as global power

(Vernadsky)• Social phenomena always have environmental

dimension, if not an explanations• Subjects: domination of national states is weakened

by transnational corporations (70% of world trade) and noospheral communities (Iglin)

• Phenomenon of world cities (EACH city is global) – is B-town a global one?

Comparative study: US and Russia

• Vast territory and diverse nature• Good supply of natural resources• Multinational population, “superethnos”• Cultural assimilation and export• Superpower experience and mentality• Core values of community and freedom• Derivative of Roman legislation and Christian ethics

… but there are differences both in reality and reflection in law

Real differences (compared to US)• Climate and variety of natural conditions• Borders and neighbors - war and peace• Historical heritage and multiculturalism (mosaic vs

melting pot)• Multinationalism vs racial/class aspects• Communal patterns (interaction, property,

direction) due to higher fixed costs of survival

Legal differences (compared to US)

• More power on national level, extensive legislation on natural resources

• Uniformity reinforced by law to keep nation together• Forced security, no public ownership of weapon,

stronger regulation of market• Noted national relativity of federalism• Less impact of religion on law• Law paternalism (insurance, education, social care),

property controversy

History of Russian Law

• Traditional (based on common law of the multiple nations)

• Derived (adopted gradually from Roman and European practices)

• Projected (Soviet time mix of rationality and ideology)

• Transplanted (from Western models in early post-Soviet times)

Legal institutions

• Constitution (resembles US but with extensive human rights guarantees, much more rights and instruments for the Federation)

• Separated Codes (Budget, Taxation, Crime, Spatial planning, Forest, Water, Family, Civic, Land, Air, Judiciary, Labour, Habitat etc.)

• Same legal institutions in principle• Direct elections• Local government role set in Constitution

Federalism (Constitution)• Explicitly stated the jurisdiction of Federation

and common jurisdiction of Federation and subjects

• Constitutional rights of subjects are implicit• Most rights are in common jurisdiction, but

application of that diverses (recent years brought more federal power in fact)

• Local government is protected but within the federalist framework (also recently)

Courts and judicial decision making

• 4 types of courts (Constitution, common jurisdiction courts (civic/criminal/administrative combined), Arbitrary – dealing with economic affairs, military)

• Independence and guarantees for judges• 3 levels (instances)• 23 200 federal judges, 6800 regional, civic

9 mln., criminal 1,2 bln, administrative 5 bln. cases

Administrative Agencies

• Executive agencies have de facto extended powers though limited mandate

• Several tides of reform brought the model of Ministry – Agency (Policy – Implementation)

• Ongoing shift to work with private subcontractors

• Real experts being replaced by political appointees

• Growing structures (iceberg model)

Information

• Increase of the access through coMedia (global tendency)

• Late adaptation of FOI framework• Privacy delimited through terrorism and national

security issues• Abundant structures and use of private

contractors give opportunities to “fake” access• Freedom of speech is controversial for broader

public

Public Contracting

• Attempt to reinforce competition gave rise to sensible bureaucracy and corruption

• But at the same time FOI gives public access to the cases

• With many industries naturally monopolistic the scheme fails to work

• Expectations for SME were postponed

Private Property and the Government

• Regulation released• Foreign capital invasion and off-shores• Controversy with privatization of land and

nature resources• Corruption on the lower levels• Mechanisms of control

Some questions

• Are we OVERusing law?• How do you think the differences in legislation

relate to difference of realities for both countries?

• How to establish the border between privacy in business and freedom of information?

• Why the drug war is not succeeding?

Movement 6. Nations – “The Globe”

• Global communications• Global travel• Global information

But…• Violations of privacy• Visas• Copyright

Who will take control?

• Nations (xenophobic and oppressive)• TNCs (profit-oriented, but immoral)• World government (2 fails of the UN)• Sustainable communities network • Anarchistic “Dark Ages”?• “The Matrix” or “The Skynet”?

Is the international law possible? How?

Movement 7. Present – Future

Challenges for Brave New Global World

•Environment devastation and modification•Scale of human activities and lack of antidotes•Resources (incl. water, energy and food supply)•Population growth•Inequality

…. You name it

The Future of the Law

• What do you think will be the challenges for global law?

• What universalities would YOU suggest to the draft world legislation?

• Can sustainability become real de jure and de facto?

• What about other living species? • What about artificial intelligence? (clones,

nanobots and GMOs included)

Final Remarks

• Humanity’s designed to speed up evolution• For that, we are given unprecedented powers

of overriding physical and biological dimensions

• However, the deeper we go, probability of failure increases with its risk.

• Will we be chosen for the next level by natural selection depends on the roads we take (and the laws we make)

Words of Wisdom

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most

adaptable to change. Charles Darwin

THANK YOU!)