The problem occurs when Reality commits heresy. The law or custom becomes rebellion against Existence. The truth has to be covered up, events highlighting Reality's heresy have to be avoided or prevented, society will twist itself into pretzels trying to avoid the dogmatic singularity, and ultimately it will tie its own neck shut and strangle to death.
Banning heresy makes you weak. If geocentrism is dogma, the society must ban telescopes. The society is too soft to withstand telescopes.
By banning telescopes, it draws attention to telescopes, and soon it has to ban anything which can be used to make telescopes. It has to ban lenses and tubes. It has to ban glass, or at least lens grinders. Can't have microscopes, lest they be used to reverse-engineer a telescope. Need a great firewall to block any traffic to foreign societies with astronomer's clubs. Gravitometric measurements are next, when they become sensitive enough to measure Earth's acceleration towards Sol.
Nothing True has ever been declared important dogma, and intuitively it never will be. Perhaps it is this simple: the truth can be defended with natural law, and doesn't require human law.
If someone argues the earth is flat, you can take them boating. "See how other boats appear mast-first on the horizon? By the way, when did you say we're going over the edge? Okay, see you again tomorrow." Delusions can't survive good-faith investigation, which is exactly why heresy laws have to ban good-faith investigation.
No comments:
Post a Comment