A World With No Rules

Human beings have existed for a long time.

We started as primitive creatures merely seeking survival over all other life forms and now, we reached heights in intelligence and technology that would seem strange and alien to people that lived in the 20th century let alone cave men.

Human beings are curious in nature. Asking questions is one of many things differentiating us from animals, in fact Joseph Jordania, an Australian professor, said while talking about the limitations of animals such as Koko the gorilla learning the using sign language, that the ability to ask questions is the central element that distinguishes human and animal cognitive abilities.

As human beings lived amongst each other, it eventually became apparent that human beings' way of life is not much different than that of an animal, human beings need sustenance to survive just as animals do, they also cannot do everything themselves just like how animals in a herd co-ordinate in cooperative hunting. When humans adopted that idea early signs of a society started showing. Groups of people living together allowed for increased safety as well as more people bringing back game from hunting.

For these groups to function, it was natural that a leader was appointed because that would ensure order, and order means continuation of the society. As well as a leader, a set of rules had to come to exist in order to specify how things are run and what members of society can and cannot do. These rules, in their primitive form, can also be described as morals.

Morals can be simply defined as the standards of behaviour that dictate what is right and what is wrong.

Some can argue that morals are sets of principles that are etched into human beings, meaning humans instinctively know what is right and what is wrong and to some degree I agree with that; for example, I believe killing other human beings is an act that every human instinctively knows is wrong.

Behaviour classification of right and wrong can also exist by majority belief. I believe this because we humans are the only intelligent life forms in the universe as far as we know so it is conceivable that we make our own rules, it is much like a parliament where a new legislation needs a majority vote from the MPs (who are representative of the citizens) for it to become law and be imposed against the minority.

If humans didn't have a sense of shame, and it was common belief that humans shouldn't wear clothes, then it would be those wearing clothes that are the freaks. Common belief is what sets standards for right and wrong behaviour even if there are some different opinions.

Common belief is a powerful thing and who knows, even the definition of sane and insane can be the result of common belief. What if those with schizophrenia are ones who are actually sane and everyone else is insane?? No one knows because schizophrenic people are the minority relative to the overall human population. That might be a stretch and highly improbable, but if you think about it, it is possible.

I do not believe that humans know every right or wrong behaviour there is, humans evolve and become more intelligent as they live on, as they experience and as they learn. The set of morals we have today is called the law. The law is different from country to country however they are similar in most major wrongs such as killing, stealing, harming other humans, rape; these are all criminal acts in any country because they are established as wrong in the collective moral compass of humans and that was always the case. However the punishments for these crimes can vary across countries which tells us that yes, the sets of morals is the same but their value can differ to people. Of course circumstances around the crime affects the level of punishment.

An example of weird laws is the illegal obtaining of evidence. If evidence against someone on trial for a crime is obtained via an illegal act then it cannot be used in court even if it unquestionably proves their guilt of the crime. I understand that this rule is there to keep justice seekers from committing crimes to collect evidence and yes, I understand that if this rule was not in place then everyone affected by the criminal in trial can go on a hunt for evidence and that would probably cause more harm than good. But it is still a rule that prohibits justice which is ironic giving that the court system's sole purpose is to reach just decisions.

Now imagine a world with no rules; one with no standards for moral behaviour. A world where everyone is living according to their own moral codes. Would there be more justice? Would life become easier to live knowing that no one is imposing their rules against you? Would life feel freer?

It is my belief that a world where everyone has their own moral codes can force people to begin to think about what is right and what is wrong for themselves instead of blindly following the rules of everyone else which is a good thing.

A world with no standards for moral behaviour will definitely become one engulfed in chaos. That is simply because we are human. Humans are in their nature thirsty for more. More territory (evident by wars and conquests), more knowledge (evident by our advancement in technology and knowledge of the universe) and more intimacy (evident by the ever growing world population). People also need other people, as I said earlier not everyone can do everything, therefore different people with different skills are needed.

And because of the things I just pointed out I believe that if the world suddenly lost all its governments and became territorial and engulfed in chaos that eventually and maybe slowly, it will come back a form similar to how it was before. Payment systems will be resurrected as people will need the help of others and will naturally need to give them something in return, governments will be established to keep peace and order and generally people of similar cultural beliefs will cluster together eventually creating states and even countries again.

This is just how humans are built. Human beings are amazing, intelligent, strong, and fragile species. We cannot survive on our own and we are hard-wired to be together. Even though human beings are greedy and selfish in many ways, our natural instincts are to come together and unite to survive which is a stunning thing.