Micah asks about Martin Luther and the consequences of religious civil war. K Sera discusses the human inability to accurately forecast the future. And then Phil just talks about America.
Show Notes:
K Sera's afterthoughts:
- Our consistent theme: Humans are terrible. Yyyyep.
- Some changes seem inevitable in hindsight. I tend to believe that many of the things that instigate social upheaval have an inevitable end condition, but the events and main characters that occur and act in the interim determine how and when those ends are achieved.
- People are terrible predictors of the future, though I think we are getting more accurate as time chugs on. The best predictor of what direction people are heading is probably economics. How and when things change really comes down to supply and demand and the minimum effort applied against the cost of action or inaction. What will ultimately move us are resources: scarcity, greed and fear over lack. Even if the excuse for social changes are posed as “moral needs” on the face of it, I think ultimately those changes are driven less by righteousness or fairness than they are by demand over limited resources, power, and security.
- The reason why America is independent from European governance? Europe thought it was too expensive to fight for control. The reason why Martin Luther made his statements against the church? Martin Luther was a professor of moral theology and a town preacher - his values, power and influence were essentially being undermined by the sale of indulgences. It’s all about power and resources in the end.
Phil's afterthoughts:
-Everything is just probabilities, there are no guarantees when dealing with revolution.
-People are terrible.