Panocracy 82
The Body Politic
“mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body)” - Juvenal, Satires
We can characterise a group of people - a company, a town, a nation, ... - by analogy with the human body. The word corporation itself derives from the Latin word for body and the analogy is ancient.
We can extend the ancient analogies between the organs of the body and the organs of State with newer biological discoveries such as the workings of the human immune system.
Immune Systems
A primary role of the State is the protection of the individual (sometimes from the State itself); a primary role of the individual (and one which we mostly fail at) is to ensure it does so. Our internal organs contribute to the well-being of our immune system and it protects them from pathogens.
The recent 'pandemic' (in quotes because the term is becoming disputed) focussed the attention of many (including me) on the functions and abilities of the human immune system.
Before 2020 we took our immune systems to be 'fit and forget'. My own immune system, I wrongly assumed, was only really called into action when my body was threatened by some especially nasty pathogen. However, anyone who has spent any time looking into natural immunity will have come to realise just how much it does for us. It's constantly in action knocking out bacteria, viruses, fungi and other pathogens that infect us via food, drink, breathing and injury.
We have an innate immune system (you're born with it) and an adaptive immune system which identifies novel pathogens that we get routinely exposed to and creates novel antibodies to remove them.
When a virus, say, gets into our cells (and they do all the time) our immune system identifies the 'foreigner' and springs into action to neutralise and remove it. A healthy immune system is spectacularly good at this.
If it's a virus that we haven't encountered before, our adaptive immune system still manages to protect us. It does this in ways that are not well understood. Our lack of understanding of the immune mechanisms is due to the mind-numbingly complex operation of this system. It has been at war with pathogens for hundreds of millions of years and has evolved fabulously subtle techniques as a result.
So pay attention to your own body's immune system. It's the best friend you'll ever have.
We can extend the analogy to intellectual and political aspects of human existence.
Take free speech for example. Some people believe that others should be protected by law from so-called hate speech or other types of alleged verbal insult.
Such people must regard others as incapable of dealing with words or ideas that they themselves prefer not to hear. This itself is a form of disrespect – a belief that others suffer from your own deficiencies. Perhaps it's because the censorious are themselves afraid of criticism or dissent. Perhaps it's because they set too much store by words. Or perhaps it's because they wish to control the discourse to suppress ideas they don't like.
By analogy with immune system response, unpleasant speech can be handled by the usual societal mechanisms without resort to ill-considered laws: politeness as a virtue, social ostracism as a punishment for impoliteness. And then there is comedy.
This is our current immune system for speech and it's been developing since our ancestors started talking to each other. It's extremely complex and effective and takes many years to appreciate. Some never do.
Further, we can extend the concept of immune function to cultures. By culture we mean a complex network of social norms, stories, myths, public and private behaviours which have evolved over millennia to fit their environment. For example, in the Christian west we celebrate Christmas which itself draws on earlier traditions like Yuletide, Saturnalia or Mithra.
The emblems of Christmas have evolved to fit their environment and have become deeply embedded in our culture. For example, Santa Claus is now universally portrayed as a jolly, fat chap in a red suit. This wasn't always the way St. Nicholas was envisaged so cultures do change - but the keyword is gradually.
There is a constant war between cultural tradition and cultural change. This war is fought - like our immune system – one battle at a time. Someone thinks it's a good idea to add Polar Bears to our fluffy Christmas animal collection
but the idea doesn't get traction. That skirmish is lost and Santa in his red suit retains his position as one of the emblems of Christmas.
So one way to understand the crises of immigration in the west is as an immune response mounted by cultures that feel themselves under threat.
Autoimmune Disease
We can stretch the immune system analogy even further.
In some human bodies the immune system, which ordinarily disposes of invaders such as viruses and bacteria, attacks normal cells. There are apparently more than 100 different autoimmune diseases, some of which involve just one organ and others, such as lupus, which attack nearly any organ or tissue.
These autoimmune responses can occur when
an invading organism resembles the body's own cells and triggers an over-reaction - as in rheumatic fever which affects heart cells
normal cells are altered by a virus or a modern mRNA 'vaccine', so they become mistaken for invaders
abnormal antibodies which attack normal cells are produced by the body's antibody 'factory'
something normally hidden from the immune system becomes exposed to it
It seems to me that what we have recently been witnessing attacks by 'pathogens' on western culture (uncontrolled and illegal immigration), its defence against those attacks (protests against immigration) and an autoimmune response (the use of force against the protesters rather than the attackers).
For example, the UK legal system has been coming down hard on UK citizens who shout at police dogs but not rioters brandishing knives and machetes from non-native ethnic groups.
Our defenders against anti-social behaviour and cultural debasement have begun to attack the very citizens who are not violent, while ignoring criminal behaviour which is.
Whether these responses are justified or not, they are easily interpreted as 'two-tier' policing. The net result is an increase in resentment, inflammation of passion and a downward spiral into a less peaceable society.
A Lesson from Biology
The foregoing suggests that our panocracy must incorporate (the body word again!) the kind of checks and balances that living organisms employ to survive in a hostile world.
Panocracy must demonstrate that it’s resilient against both known and unknowable threats. This is usually called stress-testing when a system is subjected to diverse attacks and its responses checked and its shortcomings addressed.
It's clear that our western democracies and/or republics are not really up to the job of handling new threats. This, we contend, is because their 'immune' responses are limited by the knowledge and imagination of the select few in the administration. The new complexities in our technology and in our society have gone way past these people and they simply don’t know what to do.
In contrast, panocracy can vary its response according to the very best and brightest ideas from its entire citizenry. It can capitalise on the vigilance and ingenuity of its citizens to obtain better responses to the myriad of problems that beset society.
By analogy with the incursion of a respiratory virus into a body's mucous membranes where the immune system can get a head start on forming the necessary antibodies before the virus can get to the lungs and cause pneumonia, our panocracy can identify potential threats early on as everyone is constantly looking to protect their own interests.