Низовцев Юрий Михайлович : другие произведения.

Why do local civilizations remain disconnected?

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  • Аннотация:
    What are the reasons that some local communities on the planet have "stuck" in archaic, others - in the middle ages, and third have made technological and cultural breakthrough, having become the "motor" of all civilization; as well as in connection with which, for example, Russia's population is consistently inclined toward authoritarian rule, and the population of Europe and the United States prefers the opposite over the past two hundred years, found the explanation in this work.
  
  
  Table of content
  
  1. Information and self-consciousness - collectivist and individual.
  2. The origins of the emergence and decline of highly developed local civilizations in antiquity and of the long stagnation of medieval society in Europe.
  3. The reasons for the sudden appearance of a highly developed European civilization and its dominance to this day.
  4. Hierarchy of local communities in accordance with the level of their self-consciousness and the intensity of information flows covering them.
  5. Collectivist and individual forms of self-consciousness in their interaction.
  
  1. Information and self-consciousness - collectivist and individual.
  Until now, the initial reasons for the uneven development of local civilizations on Earth have not been identified.
  For example, in many regions of Asia, Australia, America, Africa, the aborigines have lived for tens of thousands of years within the clan or tribal system, and they live in it at the present time, despite all the achievements of civilization.
  Many countries of the world exist in conditions of a feudal system with kings, khans, emirs, etc., and such seemingly technologically advanced countries of the world as Japan, China, South Korea are actually copiers of technologies, invented in other countries, and these Asian countries, seemingly developed in terms of culture, in fact, continue to live to this day or within the framework of patriarchal traditions (Japan, South Korea) or, in fact, according to the laws of the anthill (China), where each person is assigned a place in advance for activity and corresponding obedience.
  That is, in these countries, the collectivist consciousness, which includes both self-consciousness and natural (animal) consciousness, largely suppresses individual self-consciousness. It is this reason that underlies the absence in these countries of a massive inventive itch, fundamental scientific and technological discoveries, but there is accuracy, accuracy in copying new technologies invented by other peoples and their rapid reproduction on an industrial scale is relatively inexpensive.
  The observation of such phenomena, perhaps, is not so obvious, but still indicates that the processes of development of human communities are influenced by both the volume and quality of information flows, and the level of awareness of oneself by the community as an integral entity, on the one hand, as well as by the community which gives in sufficient opportunities for the free development and work for individuals.
  In other words, if some particular community does not itself create flows of information sufficient for its own development, or it does not fall into them, and also does not have a level of self-consciousness sufficient to provide at least certain categories of individuals with the opportunity to work for itself, then it is doomed to stagnation and subordination to more developed communities, which was demonstrated by the colonial system that existed more recently.
  Therefore, it makes sense to first to define the concepts of information and self-awareness, and only then consider in more detail the process of development of local civilizations on the planet.
  If to present information as some data about the state of material objects, which consciousness is able to recognize when it scanned the environment with the means at its disposal, then information, on the one hand, provides, in particular, the very existence of a person, giving him knowledge about the environment through the senses and his brain, and on the other hand, he himself is a source of information about the environment, as he understands it.
  Information cannot be qualified as something intangible and independent, since information is data, selected and decoded by consciousness about objects from the vast environment surrounding consciousness in own carrier.
  It turns out that only living beings, and humans, in particular, are able to perceive and form information. Only they have sense organs, centers that process incoming information, as well as programs on a protein carrier in each cell of the body, which are responsible for the growth, metabolism and development of a given organism as a whole, which, in essence, reflect the form-forming abilities of the consciousness of a given individual.
  Everything else in beingness, not related to living beings, can only be an infrastructure and a framework for the existence of a living, since only it alone possesses information and consciousness.
  As for consciousness, first of all it should be noted that there is a fundamental difference between the consciousness of a person and the consciousness of any other living being.
  All these creatures - flora and fauna - together with the mineral and water landscapes, represent the environment surrounding each of them. They, like humans, have sense organs, information processing centers and a genome in every cell of the body, which is responsible, in particular, for the growth and structuring of the body according to the appropriate program.
  These creatures are completely poured into their environment and feed on sensations alone.
  Therefore, these beings with a lower type of consciousness, making up the general stream of life, do not understand that they are in time, that is, that they live in it and die in it. They can only feel, adapting to the environment, but not consciously changing it. They do not have fantasies or even conscious memories, but they have genetic memory, as well as the instincts and reflexes accumulated over millions of years.
  Similar limited consciousness for these creatures means the impossibility of any purposeful change in the environment, even for their most developed representatives - these creatures are completely subordinate to it, although, at the same time, they are quite reasonable and effective to interact with the environment from the position of information coming from their sense organs to the processing centers of the body. which for them is not distorted by reflections, reminiscences and experiences inherent in human consciousness as a whole.
  In this respect, these natural organisms are more perfect than humans, and ignorance of own essence by them make them completely "happy" in existence, despite the fact that in the common natural circulation they only do that they devour each other.
  A person, being also a natural creature, and possessing, like any of them, the lowest (animal, or natural) consciousness, which is responsible, in essence, for the preservation of the organism in the environment, its nutrition, improvement of the position of this creature in own surrounding, reproduction and metabolism, nevertheless less, it has a very significant distinguishing feature.
  A person feeds not only on sensations and not only strives to improve his position in the environment.
  It can be said that in a person, in addition to the lowest consciousness, "sits" and another type of consciousness, - higher.
  About how this component of human consciousness appeared and what it will led to it can be read in my article "What has self-consciousness led and will it lead to?" [1, part 3, ј 5].
  A new component of consciousness can be called the highest consciousness, or self-consciousness, since it separates a person from his habitat and manifests itself in awareness by him of his own existence, for example, in the form of abstract ideas about the world and about oneself, returning to the past in the form of memories, designing subsequent actions on the basis of deliberately selected data from memory combined with newly incoming information, taking on oneself of responsibility for what was done, and the ability making any decisions, even the most disadvantageous and useless, which in fact is the most striking manifestation of liberty of consciousness.
  On this basis a person tries to set to himself the purposes, to solve various problems and to change thereby by means of the developed representations own surroundings. For example, this being is capable to build to itself the dwelling not according to the standard, but as it is pleasant to it more, thinking out new ways of supply of materials on the course of the construction, changing a palette of walls and a roof, bringing into the extent of his intelligence, these or other innovations, in contrast, for example, from the invariable standards of the anthill.
  New projects and ideas develop the mind of a person, his insight, contribute to the most effective manifestation of various abilities during life, lead to the thought of beautifying life, that is, the culture of one's own beingness and beingness of the public.
  In the person both these antagonistic in relation to himself and to the surrounding, hypostasis, are merged together. Therefore, they do not manifest themselves separately, but operate in a hidden way, and the degree of their domination depends on the degree of development in a person of the highest consciousness.
  And the person himself often cannot predict what in the next moment will become predominant: love or hatred, anger or sympathy, sincerity or hypocrisy, timidity or courage, discretion or recklessness.
  The lowest consciousness "feeds" only on the sensations that give it everything, including the harmony of existence, i.e. something acceptable and even pleasant in our understanding in a certain combination of feelings if, of course, don't take the fight into account fight of each being for the survival. Therefore, it does not wish to lose the sensations at all.
  Similar the type of consciousness has natural egocentrism, seeking automatically to survive, no matter what.
  In the process of development of the living beings, this type of consciousness undergoes relatively minor changes, since it is not able to withdraw own basic property - an unconscious desire for survival, based on the primordial activity of any living thing.
  The highest consciousness which is contained in the person at any level of its development is radical contrast to the lowest consciousness.
  In the presence of the highest consciousness in the living being, it begins as though to see the light, becoming not so much "poured in" the environment, how many separated from it, and, so it acquires the opportunity to look at it and on oneself from the outside, as well as to give a rating this ratio in attempts to consciously set to itself goals in mind certain shortcomings in one's own existence, which, in the opinion of this being, could be overcome, and achieve the implementation of the set goals in actions.
  All this obviously drops out of an instinctive and reflex sphere of action of the lowest consciousness, and even begins to contradict it as the highest consciousness often neglects utilitarian reasons, chasing something to unattainable, but cute for heart and mind.
  Being separated in self-consciousness from the environment, this being, in the course of time, in its development in relationship with the beings, which are like him, begins to feel the need for new forms, different from the primitive communal relations of the wild people, completely absorbed in the struggle for survival. In mutual communication this creature reaches such a limit that its various conscious aspirations begin to pour into significant changes in the environment, and not just in its use.
  From gathering, a person passes to cattle breeding, growing cereals, other forms of economic activity and the corresponding exchange of the labor products. Inequality, ownership, the struggle for the preservation and augmentation of property, for power and et cetera are arising, that in turn requires establishment of some institutions of order in order to avoid chaos. As a result, the local states in the bosom of a growing and improving civilization were being formed.
  New forms and institutions, on the one hand, ensure the accelerated development of communities already in a structured form, that is, as the states with the bodies of governance, security, courts, etc., and on the other hand, do not allow to the states to fall apart because of the contradictions, which are harrowing invariably the last.
  Despite a certain progress in development of human communities according to development of self-consciousness, the essence of human consciousness which is expressed in dualism, more precisely, in divergent life-aspirations of the lowest and highest form of consciousness does not disappear anywhere, and cannot be substantially modified.
  Both these parties of consciousness continuously conflict both in the person, and in the interpersonal relations: discontent with, visible inability to change quickly, the felt limitation of intelligence, abilities, etc.; the envy and hatred to competitors instantly would rip to shreds any human community if not the state with its institutes.
  Thus, the very development of civilization is actually determined, firstly, by the growth of information flows for often completely prosaic reasons that capture certain human communities, and, secondly, by an increase in the level of self-consciousness, as a result of which both the person himself and his community as a whole gains greater freedom of action, liberating all their strengths and creative energy, which is being directed not only to survival and utilitarian-selfish goals, but to improvements in technology, agriculture, social relations and to reveal the new forms of art that deliver a different, higher pleasure than food and sex.
  Naturally, both of these processes - the growth of information flows and an increase in the level of self-awareness are interconnected - without one the other they cannot manifest itself, and the accelerated development of human communities is possible only when their sufficiently high level. We will show below using the example of the industrial turn in the middle of the second millennium AD.
  
  2. The origins of the emergence and decline of highly developed local civilizations in antiquity and of the long stagnation of medieval society in Europe.
  Indeed, this or that community began to develop noticeably only in the presence of both of the above factors.
  For example, the first highly developed communities appeared in the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates, in the Nile delta, that is, in places profitable from the point of view of trade, with a warm climate and fertile soil. Trade provided increased communication between diverse groups of people, increasing information flows; increased commodity exchange contributed to the creation of additional income, to the emergence of free money, as well as the citizens who could use these advantages for pursuits out of pure interest, that is, for free creativity.
  It was then begun developed writing, legal relations, ordered spectacles; cities with relatively comfortable dwellings, temples, wall paintings and sculptures appeared.
  The wars, waged by the most technically and militarily advanced powers among themselves for the conquests of neighboring tribes were giving a significant number of prisoners or subjugated people, whom it was expedient not to kill, but to use in the economy, freeing the indigenous citizens for more or less free activities, leading to the development of written and technical creativity, to various artistic and other cultural finds.
  This cultural surge manifested itself especially clearly in the Greek city-states, actually having laid the foundations for the entire subsequent development of earthly civilization.
  Civilization reached its peak in ancient times in the Roman Empire, which actually has included all the main countries of Europe, many countries of Asia and Africa. The cultural achievements of Ancient Greece and Rome are still surprising in their perfection.
  But the development of these ancient civilizations stopped rather quickly, an era of stagnation began, and then decline.
  The reason for such events could not be information flows, the volume and intensity of which, with developed trade and wide communication of peoples through convenient roads in the Roman Empire, did not decrease at all.
  However, besides trade and cultural ties, there is also technology.
  But it was precisely in them that the ancient world was not interested, since cheap slave labor did not require any fundamental improvements to be introduced into the methods of labor.
  The presence of slaves in those days in almost all developed states means an extremely low level of both collectivist and individual highest consciousness, or self-consciousness, which does not recognize the equal rights of all people without exception.
  Therefore, Christ's preaching about the equality of people before God for many years caused rejection of both the ruling elites and the population.
  In other words, slave labor and the stagnation it provoked in technological development was just a consequence of the low level of self-consciousness of the population of the most developed countries, not to mention other countries and peoples.
  In the subsequent Middle Ages, the level of collectivist and individual self-consciousness, as well as the intensity of information flows, rather decreased in comparison with the Roman Empire, despite the fact that the latent changes due to the disappearance of slave labor in Europe, were occurring.
  The slowness of the process of change in Europe consisted in the fact that the guild disunity of artisans in cities, the lack of a widespread credit and financial system also did not contribute to the emergence of highly productive technologies, that made the activity of artisans meaningless. They also did not contribute to the development of trade, the range of which was limited mainly to raw materials and luxury goods, and the poverty and humiliation of almost the entire population hindered the wide development of trade relations with high turnovers, especially since the lack of roads of acceptable quality, capacious and fast freight transport, numerous borders between feudal possessions, robbery on the roads prevented trade.
  It follows from this that joint cultural and technological progress is possible only with powerful information flows arising on the basis of intensive and numerous trade and cultural ties, as well as wars, that is, the exchange of the achievements of various tribes and peoples, in combination with a sufficiently high level of self-consciousness of a significant part population, which guarantees at least relatively free labor and equal rights for certain groups of workers.
  
  3. The reasons for the sudden appearance of a highly developed European civilization and its dominance to this day.
  The combination of powerful information flows and a sufficient level of self-awareness could appear with the gradual development of the entire planetary civilization only in some separate region of the planet due to the unevenness of this development mainly because of natural conditions-favorable or not, and as a result of the cultural characteristics of the community, religious beliefs, customs, attitude towards education, estate interactions, etc., that is, the degree of awareness by the community of oneself, and therefore, their capabilities.
  Some bursts in the development of technologies were taking place in China over a thousand years ago, but they were quickly fading away, since China suffered from autarchy, which did not provide an opportunity to expand information flows, and the large population of China was actually in the position of slaves, which meant a low level of both collectivist and individual self-consciousness of the population. All this by no means contributed to technical progress.
  As a result, individual inventions, for example, pumps, new agricultural technologies, compass, seismograph, gunpowder, paper, silk-making technology, multi-tiered buildings, rockets, complex irrigation structures, mills, etc. have not spread around the world and have not made the weather in China itself, which for several thousand years was being remained a backward feudal state.
  To a large extent, the stagnation of China was influenced by Confucianism, which has established strict rules of behavior and hierarchy of social structures for more than 2000 years, with its social ethics, political ideology, scientific traditions, in contrast to the rest of the world, which was recognized by the Chinese, who were proud of their cultural and structural-social achievements, barbaric, which effectively cut China off from the rest of the world and ultimately led it to stagnation.
  The Confucian idea of reward or retribution, referring only to descendants, and not affecting the otherworldly, immortality of the soul, being essentially a primitive way of thinking of the archaic type, naturally, could not contain the contradictoriness both Creation and a human consciousness. Therefore, the Chinese community was more inclined to respect the traditions, than to try to produce something new, that is, to create, which, if it manifested itself, did not receive the development. The Chinese community and now practically only copies any innovations, without asking the problems of obtaining fundamentally new knowledge and new technologies on their own.
  Strict regulations and restrictions are characteristic, acting to this day, for Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, offering the flock to live traditionally, to rely on the will of the highest powers. All these confessions impede the emergence of any new one, that violates the order established, that extremely profitably for the ministers of the churches.
  Compared to the peoples and regions noted, Europe had significant differences.
  First, Christianity dominated in European countries, based on the progressive Sermon on the Mount of Christ, in particular, having called for equality of all people before God. In addition, initially, in the Sermon on the Mount of Christ existed a contradiction between the present beingness and the otherworld - the best one which should be corresponded.
  Secondly, the central states of Europe did not completely lose some of the cultural traditions and achievements of ancient Greece and Rome
  Ever since the Ancient Rome, the urban dwellers enjoyed significant privileges compared with the rural population. This tradition has not faded away in the Middle Ages. In many European countries, the urban dwellers in their status were actually equated with noblemen, municipalities were active in cities, parliaments were working, and universities were opened for young people. In particular, the first university of Europe appeared in Bologna in 1088.
  All this could not but affect the growth of self-consciousness mainly the urban population, with which the feudal lords had to be reckoned, who by the beginning of the 16th century had found a common language with the urban population in an effort to abandon the extortion and the omnipotence of the papacy, especially since there was a complete disintegration of the Catholic Church, expressed in the sale of indulgences - the paid diploma of the Pope about an absolution.
  Europe, having inherited Roman traditions and many cultural features of antiquity mainly in cities founded by the Romans, gradually accumulated dissatisfaction with the savagery of the environment, remembering the times of the high culture of antiquity, and thereby preserving, at least, potentially, the desire towards samples of antiquity, which was being expressed, as a result, by Renaissance art, the beginning of which preceded the era of the industrial revolution, being an additional impetus for it not only a general increase in the literacy and culture of the population and introducing to the beautiful in sculptures, painting and new secular literature instead of theological treatises and the Bible, but also expanding the information flows incoming into the minds, in which thanks to this were appearing various creative ideas o improve the existed beingness.
  In addition, at the end of the XV century, light and maneuverable vessels were invented in Portugal, capable of moving against the wind. The era of intensive navigation began, connecting first Africa, and then India, China and America with Europe by sea routes, having expanded information flows many times thanks to these trade relations.
  Thus, the growth of information flows, combined with the increased self-consciousness of the population, expressed in an increase in its literacy and culture, especially in cities, could not but lead to a crisis in public life, at least in some European countries.
  The trigger for the resolution of the imminent crisis was the speech of the German theologian Luther, who has rejected the authority of the papal decrees and epistles and urged that the Bible should be the main source of Christian truths, not the church.
  Luther also rejected the juxtaposition between the worldly and the spiritual, stating that God's grace is being exercised also in worldly life on the professional endeavors, since God intends people to one or another type of activity, investing in them various talents and abilities, and the duty of a person to work diligently, fulfilling his calling [2].
  As a result, there was a split of the Catholic Church with the formation of several areas of Protestantism.
  The idea of Luther that the main vocation of man is diligent labor, has liberated Protestant public, who appeared, allowing it to take a different attitude not only to labor, but also to its fruits, especially new ones.
  In all Protestant countries the prohibition on novelties of the technology and their use was removed.
  The liberation of labor from false traditions immediately began to bear fruit.
  Thanks to the unification of the water wheel through the bellows with smelting furnaces, the amount of smelted metal increased, which largely influenced the growth of weapons, produced in special forms - the cannons and weapon barrels.
  The end of the Middle Ages has come. Knight's armor easily was pierced by the bullets and the walls of castles were destroyed by the cannon balls.
  Mills that use water or wind as an engine began to operate in both felt and flour mills.
  Self-spinning wheels appeared. A printing press, an industrial knitting machine, a slide rule, a microscope, a telescope and a flint musket were invented.
  Accounting has changed, the broadest use of credit was begun, which is the basis of mass commodity production, having making possible to fill the shortage of its own resources and bring capital into continuous circulation.
  In addition, in the 16th century in Europe, a pocket watch, granular gunpowder, a diving bell, diethyl ether, a wheeled yacht with sails, sealing wax, a pencil, a water closet, a world map in a new projection were invented.
  Thus, the rejection of church restrictions and the recognition of labor as a blessing, as well as its fruits, entailed the removal of fetters from private initiative, opened the way for a variety of creative ideas, thereby having served scientific and technical progress, including the invention and use of high-performance machines.
  So, self-consciousness, which distinguishes a person from all other living beings, was reflected in the emergence in human communities of religion - the conservative part of self-consciousness, and - culture, with the inclusion of science, technology and art, - the liberal part of self-consciousness.
  And the intense surge of self-consciousness that occurred in a number of European countries in the 16th-17th centuries, and expressed in the emergence of Protestantism, largely arose on the basis of the growth of information flows due to the intensification of trade relations between countries and continents.
  In other words, self-awareness requires the expansion of information flows, which he receives due to the conscious transformation of the environment by people in the form of the formation of an artificial environment, which turns out the better, the more a person knows and understands how the world around him functions. Knowledge requires education. Schools and universities appear that largely reject the old and open up the new.
  In turn, increasing information flows offer self-consciousness new cultural and technological approaches to the world surrounding human communities, expanding the scope of its application.
  As a result of such surge in the amount of information and the level of self-consciousness, sufficient in a relatively free and creative work primarily individual, since the middle of the second millennium AD, Europe has seized leadership both in technological terms and in the cultural sphere, and has not given it up to this day, by attaching to oneself mentally the United States.
  It should also be noted in this context that the self-consciousness of Europeans, in addition to Luther's idea of diligent labor, was reinforced by Hobbes's idea of reasonable selfishness.
  The idea of reasonable selfishness of Hobbes, further supported by the concept of Pierce's pragmatism, in essence, is the basis of the ideology of capitalism.
  Hobbes argues that the person, as a natural being, is egoistic, striving first and foremost to satisfy his own needs, but he is also reasonable, that is, he is able to understand with his mind that taking into account the interests of other people often turns out to be beneficial.
  For illustration, we present a small excerpt from "Leviathan" by Hobbes: "... natural laws (as justice, equality, modesty, mercy and (in General) behavior towards others as we would wish them to behave towards us) by themselves, without the fear of some force, forcing to carry out them, contrary to the natural passions, attracting us to partiality, pride, revenge, etc..." [3, p. 192].
  As for pragmatism, it is characterized by its founder, Pierce, as follows: "Consider what effects that might conceivably have practical bearings you conceive the object of your conception to have. Then your conception of those effects is the WHOLE of your conception of the object" [4, p. 331-346], in which he proposes to take into account "effects that might conceivably have practical bearings", having in mind the results of fruitful labor for the benefit of the whole society.
  Reasonable egoism and pragmatism liberate the productive forces of each individual, making him competitively free within the framework of the state that supports the striving of each person to improve the living conditions. Thus, the pace of development of the respective communities becomes the maximum possible.
  
  4. Hierarchy of local communities in accordance with the level of their self-consciousness and the intensity of information flows covering them.
  So, at present, despite the development of technologies in the field of communications, transport, energy, artificial intelligence, agriculture and culture itself, in different parts of the world communities of people live within the clan system and are not going to change it.
  Even more people live in a feudal environment that remains the same as a thousand years ago, despite the fact that they use modern cars, smartphones and the Internet.
  And even countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, in their depths, are fragments of traditional Asian communities, which are based on collectivist self-consciousness, which completely suppresses the individual self-consciousness.
  Along with that, at present there are developed states with parliamentary democracy, politically active population, in which the primacy of the personal over the public is recognized.
  Numerous experts have put forward various theories, trying to explain the existence of such parallel structures that do not "wish" to intersect, but to no avail, since practice has shown that all attempts to merge these communities (local civilizations) together have ended in failure, except for merging with one or another developed community of some individuals, starting with young years.
  As an example of an unsuccessful attempt to unite different peoples, more accurately, communities into a single one, one can recall the Central Asian republics of the USSR, which "forced" to become, as it were, modern and socialist, but after the collapse of the USSR, these republics immediately turned into former khanates and emirates, at the head turned out to be former ones first secretaries of the Communist Party of these former republics of USSR.
  In the United States, in the same way, the Indians continue to live according to their own archaic order, the black residents of the United States also did not fit into the life of the modern American community, organizing in their own way and not recognizing, in essence, the established order, trying to be distributed throughout the United States as closed communities, and expressing all the while dissatisfaction with the white majority.
  Nevertheless, among these experts there was one - Gobineau, who in the middle of the XIX century, studying this problem, quite correctly noted some insurmountable differences in the way of life, habits, and attitude to the life of different communities, for some reason distinguishing them by skin color, and came to the conclusion about the incompatibility of different races, which made him the founder of racism.
  Count J. A. Gobineau, who the first in details developed the theory of inequality of certain groups of people on the basis of racial and partly national and cultural identity, believes that inequality of races is caused by different set, in fact, of external properties: "Then, passing from one induction to another, I was gradually penetrated by the conviction that the racial question overshadows all other problems of history, that it holds the key to them all, and that the inequality of the race from whose fusion a people is formed is enough to explain the whole course its destiny" [5, p. XIV].
  Gobineau divides people into three basic types: black, yellow and white, highlighting inherent to each type of properties.
  The essence of his approach is quite clearly expressed in the following lines: "The negroid variety is the lowest and stands at the foot of the ladder. The animal character, that appears in the shape of the pelvis, is stamped on the negro from birth, and foreshadows his destiny. His intellect with always move within a very narrow circle. He is not however a mere brute, for behind his low receding brow, in the middle of his skull, we can see signs of a powerful energy, however crude its objects. If his mental faculties are dull or even non-existent, he often has an intensity of desire, and so of will, which may be called terrible. Many of his senses especially taste and smell are developed to an extend unknown to the other two race.
  The very strength of his sensations is the most striking proof of his inferiority. All food is good in his eyes, nothing disgusts or repels him. What he desires is to eat, to eat furiously, and to excess; no carrion is too revolting to be swallowed by him. It is the same with odours; inordinate desire is satisfied with all, however coarse or even horrible. To these qualities may be added instability and capriciousness of feeling, that cannot be tied down to any single object, and which, so far as he is concerned, do away with all distinctions of good or evil. We might even say that the violence with which he pursues the object that has aroused his senses and inflamed his desire is a guarantee of the desire being soon satisfied and the object forgotten. Finally, he is equally careless of his own life and that of others: he kills willingly, for the sake of killing; and this human machine, in whom it is so easy to arouse emotion, shows, in face of suffering, either a monstrous indifference or a cowardice that seeks a voluntary refuge in death.
  The yellow race is the exact opposite of this type. The skull points forward, not backward. The forehead is wide and bony, often high and projecting. The shape is the face is triangular, the nose and chin showing none of the coarse protuberances that mark the negro. There is further a general proneness to obesity, which, though not confined to the yellow type, is found there more frequently than in the others. The yellow man has little physical energy, and is inclined to apathy; he commits none the strange excesses so common among negroes. His desire are feeble, his will-power rather obstinate than violent; his longing for material pleasures, though constant, is kept within bounds. A rare glutton by nature, he shows far more discrimination in his choice of food. He tends to mediocrity in everything; he understands easily enough anything not too deep or sublime. He has a life of utility and a respect for order, and knows the value of a certain amount of freedom. He is practical, in the narrowest sense of the word. He does not dream or theorize; he invents little, but can appreciate and take over what is useful to him. His whole desire is to live in the easiest and most comfortable way possible. The yellow races are thus clearly superior to the black. Every founder of a civilization would wish the backbone of his society, his middle class, to consist of such men. But no civilized society could be created by them; they could not supply its nerve-force or set in motion the springs of beauty and action.
  We come now to the white peoples. These are gifted with reflective energy, or rather with an energetic intelligence. They have a feeling for utility, but in a sense far wider and higher, more courageous and ideal, than the yellow races; perseverance that takes account of obstacles and ultimately finds a means of overcoming them; a greater physical power, an extraordinary instinct for order, not merely as a guarantee of peace and tranquility, but as an indispensable means of self-preservation. At the same time, they have a remarkable and even extreme, love of liberty, and are openly hostile to the formalism under which the Chinese are glad to vegetate, as well as to the strict despotism which is the only way of governing the negro.
  The white races are, further, distinguished by an extraordinary attachment to life. They know better how to use it, and so, is it, would seem, set a greater price of it; both in their own persons and those of others, they are more sparing of life. When they are cruel, they are conscious of their cruelty; it is very doubtful whether such a consciousness exists in the negro. At the same time, they have discovered reasons why they should surrender this busy life of theirs, that is so precious to them. The principal motive is honour, which under various names has played an enormous part in the ideas of the race from the beginning. I need hardly add that the word honour, together with all the civilizing influences connoted by it, is unknown to both the yellow and the black man.
  On the other hand, the immense superiority of the white peoples in the whole fields of the intellect is balanced by an inferiority in the intensity of their sensations. In the world of the senses, the white man is far less gifted than the others, and so is less tempted and less absorbed by considerations of the body, although in physical structure he is far the most vigorous" [5, p. 205-207].
  Gobineau and his followers, in particular, H. S. Chamberlain (Houston Stewart Chemberlain. Grundlagen des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. 1899) and E. Haeckel, F. Galton, G. Lebon, G. Gunter, as well as many others, make the standard mistake, considering the problem of inequality from the standpoint of the totality of human qualities based on physical and behavioral signs.
  The only positive outcome of this consideration is that three main types of people specified to Gobineau, are clearly on different levels of development. Inasmuch the level of development is determined by the reached consciousness level, so far as exactly this factor determines their main properties, their strengths and weaknesses.
  These properties and the sides are very curious and point to fact that human consciousness, possessing, in any case, by self-consciousness, passes the different stages of development in different conditions, manifesting self by various ways, but never loses its essence (self-consciousness).
  Therefore, any inequality between people if to be guided by the main property of their consciousness - self-consciousness, cannot be: thanks to self-consciousness the person acquires the accelerated development, the personality, liberty, the ability to change purposefully the world and self in the world; all this occurs irrespective of the level of his development, but in the framework of existing conditions; therefore, despite all external distinctions and, people of one type without special work interact with other types of people, and even join into other communities. This fact finds the mass of examples from migration history.
  Though, of course, in own environment the cannibal so will also remain as the cannibal, and he has no chances to be rebuilt during own life. However, in difference, for example, from a wolf, he, having self-consciousness, in other surroundings, in other conditions will be able to be rebuilt, inasmuch not instincts and reflexes, but the self-consciousness is as the predominant characteristic for any person, right there showing own primacy in the conditions excluding the former relations in communities.
  Whatever it was, but any person understands himself, understands that he lives; therefore, he is capable as to mental design, and construction of buildings, assembly of different mechanisms, instruments and use them conscious.
  He can develop ideas and considerations in thoughts; can just dream and enjoy it, but, nevertheless, he permanently rebuilds the habitat according to own reasons. At the same time the person is capable to feel and act instinctively and reflexly.
  Therefore, the shape of the eyes, the skin color and the form of the skull has no value, except esthetic reasons. It is approximately the same as to compare a timid fallow deer, a macaque, a mighty bear and a whale. All of them are good in own way. At the same time - the level of consciousness of these animals is not much different, if only - by some features in sensation and processing rate of the information arriving through the sense organs.
  However, all these animals together with remaining beings, down to plants are similar in one - they don't understand that they live, i.e., that they are in time. In other words, they aren't capable to separate themselves from the environment and to look at themselves from the outside; they are only able to sense, and their mental abilities are at the level of computer processing of the information coming from this or that set of sense organs into corresponding to this information volume the processing centers with this or that ability to self-training at rather high stages of development.
  Thus, all types of people only complement each other, doing the world more colourful and multi-color, and we can only regret about inevitable contradictions in between, that often leads to contempt and misunderstanding from more strong, technologically more equipped person in relation to careless, but cheerful and musically gifted aborigines in Africa, or to hardworking, quiet and loving order to Chinaman. Similar division and elevation of own group is aggravated also with distinction of beliefs, leading even to religious wars and different fanaticism, as well as utilitarianly justifies colonial wars and the robbery of developing countries, which is still ongoing.
  However, the human passion to dominate, the animal selfishness that is inherent in the people, as the biological beings, struggling for "a place under the sun", will always draw the attention of those in power to a very superficial and biased theories of racial, national or cultural inequality. Though we know that are enough fools everywhere, on the one hand. On the other hand, relocation since the childhood of malayan, indian or even negro in more cultural environment and giving of the appropriate education to him can make of him great musician, physicist or even Nobel laureate. There is a lot of examples of it: physicists and Nobel laureates indians D. Sudarshan, C. V. Raman, chinese man Yang Jennin, outstanding physicist japanese Kaku, great musician negro Armstrong. This list can occupy not one page.
  Therefore, we can say: with all the diversity of properties and features of people inhabiting Earth, their basic essence is the same - they are able to understand themselves and, as a result, quite quickly in comparison with other living things to change all around themselves, as well as inside themselves.
  All disputes on an entity of the person, the extreme point which is racial theories and similar to them, thus, don't take into account prevailing significance of self-consciousness which is the accessory of any person, irrespective of the level of his development, group accessory and mental capacities.
  In effect, Gobineau and his followers one, less developed part of people, put in the position of the animal or half-animal, over which should be the most advanced people, justifying this concept by existence mainly of the external signs, given above, that far not so.
  Nevertheless, Gobineau not from the ceiling took this concept. Obviously, there was enough important base of such approach, which he was not able to identify, however having managed to feel it, but he turned his feelings only to the external racial differences of individual local civilizations on the planet.
  In fact, the true basis for differentiating local civilizations is self-consciousness - collectivist and individual, which, depending on the contacts of local communities with the surrounding world, can have different levels and degrees of interaction of these forms of consciousness, including the natural consciousness.
  The collectivist and individual self-consciousness of the Bushmen, Australian aborigines, Indian tribes in the Amazon jungle cannot but have a minimum level due to the practical lack of contacts with the outside world to date, as and of equal value ties of many peoples of Africa, Asia and South America with the peoples of Europe.
  To increase the level of their collectivist self-awareness, these peoples and tribes must go a long way of independent cultural and technological development with minimal help from more developed peoples, since forced learning and mass excommunication of less developed peoples from their original essence, customs, religion or the transfer of products from leading countries of civilization to them by no means involve peoples of a different stage of development to this developed local civilization. Therefore, it is necessary to provide them with the opportunity to live and develop so, as they are able to do it most effectively within the framework of their relatively low collectivist self-awareness.
  Although, of course, individual individuals, having left, for example, their own archaic community at a young age, are quite capable, but with great tension, which is not accessible to everyone, to change in a more developed society their religious views as well as attitude to cultural values, and even realize the importance of creative activity, finding its own application in it.
  Thus, they can eventually reach an understanding that public interests can be most effectively protected by a person who recognizes himself primarily as a personality, and not just a member of society, which can dictate to this person its averaged rules.
  It is then that they acquire the highest possible level of individual self-consciousness, which does not interfere, but only contributes to an increase in the level of collectivist self-consciousness of a given community because such persons consciously and unselfishly fight for the prosperity of both their community and for a better life for all people within their own understanding this life.
  
  5. Collectivist and individual forms of self-consciousness in their interaction.
  The above analysis of local communities clearly shows that the lifestyle and attitudes of people who make up local communities depend primarily on the ratio of collectivist and individual forms of consciousness.
  In primitive (archaic) communities, the collectivist self-consciousness completely suppresses the individual, while being at the same time subordinate to the natural (lower, or animal) consciousness due mainly to the forced focus on solving the problems of survival, not development.
  That is, this state of primitive human communities resembles the state of flocks of animals, especially since there is no private property in such communities and communications between communities are minimal, which means that the volume of information flows covering archaic communities is insignificant.
  With the advent of private property, the way of life and relationships between people change significantly.
  The rights of members of certain communities in relation to property begin to be regulated forced, commodity exchange develops, trade centers appear, mainly at the intersection of trade routes, which eventually turn into cities. Various entertainment events appear, descriptions of travels and everyday life of various peoples, that means the emergence of the rudiments of culture.
  In this regard, the level of individual self-consciousness is growing, but since the living conditions remain difficult for the vast majority of the population, the collectivist self-consciousness continues to dominate, while remaining, nevertheless, subordinate to the natural consciousness focused on survival.
  Therefore, the states that appear, as a rule, in the form of a union of cities and localities adjacent to them, in their structure resemble in their structure a tribe. At the head is a leader who can bear the name of a khan or an emir. He is surrounded by advisers, and priests are nearby. Sometimes, but relatively rarely, a more advanced government is carried out in a collegial form (Greek poleis), but it did not last long due to disputes between the elected temporary rulers for primacy, and as a result, it was replaced by the governance of tyrants. However, unlike the tribe, these formations had courts, class division of community members, tax collectors, security and military units.
  Over time, the authoritarian structure of states did not undergo major changes - until the 19th century, but then it was replaced by a republican system, more advantageous for the bourgeoisie that gained strength, which in this case could easily control and even change governments in its own interests.
  The ratio of collectivist and individual self-awareness also did not undergo serious changes until the middle of the second millennium AD, which was greatly facilitated by the main religious confessions, who fought with all their might to preserve the ancient foundations and strive to prohibit any innovations.
  It is this policy of such major confessions as Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, excluding the Protestantism that emerged in the 16th century AD, has left many countries to this day on the sidelines of history, since only personal initiative, not constrained by the arbitrariness of government officials and other authorities who support the prevalence of collectivist consciousness, including natural consciousness and self-consciousness, over individual self-consciousness, can bring to the path of accelerated cultural and technological development.
  It was possible to overcome the dominance of collectivist consciousness over individual self-consciousness only in a number of European countries, as shown above, thanks to the separation of Protestants from Catholicism and the transition of Protestant countries to intensive technological development, attracting more and more additional information flows, which, in turn, contributed to raising the level of individual self- consciousness of almost all citizens of these states, and at the same time enriched them both materially and spiritually, as a result of which the rest of the world with its characteristic retarded development partially turned into colonies of developed countries, and the rest became their satellites.
  As a result, all the countries of Islam and Buddhism, the largest of which are India, Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Nigeria, the countries of Central Asia, as well as the countries of traditional Catholicism, most of which are in Latin America, found themselves on the sidelines of technological development with all ensuing consequences, the main of which was the preservation of individual self-consciousness at a low level, which means a lack of initiative and a lack of enterprise, a low level of education of the population and a lack of interest in creative activity, since it is possible to use the fruits of other people's labor in the form of phones, cars, airplanes, etc.
  This is the price of the domination of the collectivist consciousness, supported by the indicated confessions, which, moreover, try with all their might to limit the influence of information flows on their parishioners, which is especially typical for the countries of Islam with their medieval prohibitions.
  You may say, what about Japan and China, which are not much inferior to the leading countries of the world in the production of high-quality products?
  In fact, Japan a little earlier, and China relatively recently fell into information flows from European countries, and with all Asian thoroughness began to steal and copy technological innovations from the West, setting up the production of these copies in a significant amount and with decent quality, but somewhat cheaper.
  As for new technological discoveries and inventions, there were none in these countries, and they are not. Chinese culture and its Japanese samples also did not spread throughout the world.
  The explanation for this phenomenon lies in the fact that the collectivist consciousness of the population of these countries, supported by such passive forms of religion as Buddhism and Taoism, has not undergone significant changes in its dominance over individual self-consciousness. Every Chinese or Japanese is always obedient to his superiors and tries, in order to avoid trouble, not to show initiative, but to show diligence in the name of the prosperity of his clan or community.
  In other words, the desire for stability and order, for the observance of traditions, prevents within the framework of such local civilization to any creative activity which consists in identifying the new and unknown, which can just disrupt the well-established order.
  Therefore, despite the stormy information flows that swept these countries, the individual self-consciousness of the population of these countries failed to liberate itself, and China or Japan is not destined to steer either technical or cultural progress.
  Russia, like Japan or China, has existed almost throughout its history within the framework of an authoritarian state, whose inhabitants were holops of the rulers.
  Naturally, the manifestation of individual self-consciousness in this country was suppressed, there was no private initiative, but under pressure from Western neighbors, the rulers of Russia had to think about overcoming its technological and cultural backwardness.
  The rather extraordinary Tsar Peter I carried out some reforms, rebuilding the governing bodies, the economy and the army according to the European model. As a result, over time, an educated stratum appeared, each member of which had a certain freedom in their actions, and, therefore, acquired a sufficiently high level of self-consciousness, whereas the individual self-consciousness of the representatives of the main mass of the population, suppressed by the collectivist (communal) self-consciousness of a rather low level, was almost imperceptible, since this peasant population was actually in a state of slaves.
  Similar duality of the self-consciousness of the population laid a certain imprint on the entire subsequent history of Russia, causing the 1917 revolution.
  The peasant masses who fought for alien interests, realizing this fact after several years of deprivation and victims of the First Imperialist War, turned their rifles against power, having changed it as if to their power, but, just like in ancient China, due to the low level of collectivist self-consciousness of this mass of the population and even lower level of individual self-consciousness, gradually came to the formation of a semblance of Asian despotism, led by the first secretaries of the Communist Party - a kind of alpha-males, who succeed each other, and a new religion in which the desire for heavenly grace was replaced by the desire for earthly grace under the name of communism, where everyone will finally eat their fill and live - do not grieving and happily without worries and sorrows.
  This naive belief aroused an unprecedented sacrificial enthusiasm of the population, which led at first to a significant technological and cultural breakthrough, but, like any utopia, which ended pretty soon with a complete ideological collapse in the form of a loss of faith in communism and the subsequent destruction of an artificially created supposedly nationwide socialist power with a rollback from some achieved modernity to medieval methods of government and the existence of a population divided again into estates, and widespread corruption, since in a short time it is impossible to raise a low level of collectivist self-consciousness of a heterogeneous population, until recently illiterate or semi-literate, with its archaic notions of a way of life based most of all on natural consciousness, and all the more, it is impossible forming in the majority of the population a level of individual self-consciousness high enough to become prevailing over collectivist.
  This complex educational and upbringing process, based on a general gradual cultural and technological upsurge, as the development of European countries, now leading in the world, has shown, takes not decades, but centuries.
  Therefore, the population of Russia as a whole has not overcome the barrier between personal self-consciousness and collectivist consciousness, which includes the self-consciousness of the main part of the community and its natural consciousness, in favor of individual self-consciousness.
  Free people - persons with a high level of individual self-consciousness - will never allow the alpha-male to rule them - as the sole ruler, what whatever he may be, and in Russia this has happened for a thousand years and is happening now.
  As for the United States - a former British colony, - then the indigenous population of this country, brought up on the Puritan traditions of Protestantism of the grace of labor, and imbued in its bulk with Hobbes's idea of the need to strive, working for oneself, to take into account the interests of others, which often turns out to be beneficial, that is, having a high level of altruism of both individual self-consciousness and collectivist, but with a predominance of the individual, has overcome the fear of own natural consciousness before the future and tried to implement the idea of harmonizing personal interests with public interests, having really received quite quickly a colossal economic and technological rise, but not having managed to fundamentally change social relations, where the rich continue to grow richer and the poor continue to grow poorer.
  In this regard, it makes sense to note that at present an extremely unfavorable situation is developing for the indigenous population of the leading countries of Europe, as well as the United States, which have fallen into the trap of their own yesterday's enterprise.
  The ruling elites of some of Europe's leading countries have opened access or imported in large numbers of residents from their former colonies to do dirty or hard work, while also cherishing the idea of increasing the birth rate in their own countries, where the indigenous population has long been declining. Apparently, such a practical approach to making life easier for a civilization spoiled by the latest discoveries and restoring population decline turned out to be catastrophic in terms of consequences.
  The ruling elite of these countries did not understand at the time and still has no idea that people of a different culture, beliefs, traditions and, most importantly, a low level of individual self-consciousness with a high level of natural (animal) consciousness, striving to live in a familiar environment, are not able en masse to raise the level of their self-consciousness, which requires hundreds of years and special living conditions.
  Therefore, they are not absorbed by the indigenous population, but, being located in their enclaves, continue to live the same way as in their homeland, and the liberal laws of the Western world lead them to a state of predators, anticipating tasty prey among these liberal idiots, who provide them a decent life because of own humanity which in this case borders on the stupidity of sheep in front of licking hyenas.
  That is, for this most advanced local civilization, the situation with individual self-consciousness, the opposite of the Russian one, nevertheless led to the fact that the altruistic indigenous population of these countries began to feel ashamed of visitors, in general, people wild in nature and culture, and sometimes and falling on knees in front of all sorts of brazen and aggressive idlers with another skin color.
  Assimilation of individuals of a different culture, with a low level of individual self-consciousness and a high level of animal consciousness, which is quite justified in harsh living conditions, is possible only if they appear in a different cultural surrounding, being not yet formed and separate from their community, which imposes on all its members the traditional views and norms of behavior.
  The situation there in other case becomes similar to that that occurred for the late Roman Empire, which has fell under the onslaught of barbarians.
  So, and from this side there is also a crisis of technological local civilizations, which yield to semi-wild communities that are not capable of rapid independent cultural and technological development due to a low level of individual self-awareness, and this situation may serve as one of the factors contributing to the collapse of the current civilization as a whole.
  
  Bibliography
  
  1. Nizovtsev Y. M. It's the other way around. Answers to tricky questions about interesting things (Collection). 2018. [Electronic resource]. Access mode: www.litres.ru, Amazon. Yury Nizovtsev.
  2. Sirota A. Regularities in German history. Partner (Dortmund), No. 6 (105) maranat.de (2006).
  3. Гоббс Т. Левиафан. Соч. в 2 тт. 2 т. М. 1991, с. 192.
  4. Peirce. C. S. The Fixation of Belief. The Writings. Volumes I - VI. Vol. III. Indiana University. [Electronic resource]. Access mode: www.iupui.edu/-arisbe/menu/.../bycsp.HTM
  5. J. A. Gobineau. Essay on the inequality of the human races. Paris. 1853-1855.
  
  
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