I have been musing the importance about Jerry Pournelle’s political matrix and believe that his one index concerning the ability to improve on human nature is probably one of the most critical questions that divides people. Think about it. Everything we do or stand for is related to one’s understanding of what makes ourselves and others human. How we define what a human being is is how we define our morals, ethics, economics, and politics. I think there is a simple continuum that can be teased out from Pournelle’s political matrix. It would be: 1) Human Nature is corrupt. Everyone else is out to make a buck, is dishonest, etc. The person who believes this will also believe they need to act the same to keep up. Some religious and social conservatives would subscribe that there are lots of people who are corrupt and will never change. Scott Adams humors us with his view that all people are idiots in his Dilbert books. 2) Human Nature is corrupt but is improvable. Most religions would be based on this philosophy. It would be the view that we have Original Sin and need to find salvation to correct it. 3) Human Nature […]