A record of the voyages of the Magic Carpet Catamaran "Grand Illusion"
Mission
To go where no man has gone before, to seek out and find -
The Perfect Escape
Clearly, there would appear to be only two possible options, in answer to this question posed on the previous page. Either the unquestioning irrational hordes must be persuaded to think and act more rationally, or the technicians , engineers and scientists must be persuaded to think and act more irrationally - thereby producing less effective arms and technology.
It would seem that persons, who choose not to employ rational thought processes, on a regular basis, far outnumber those who do. However, the decision (based on sheer numbers ) to persuade the creators of arms and technology to cease employing rational thought processes and, thereby, create less effective products may not be the right one. When their automatic rifles, cell phones and televisions cease to function properly, the irrational hordes will probably really get pissed off - and irrational pissed off hordes can inflict serious damage.
We are left then, with the only other option of persuading the vast majority of humankind to start adopting rational thought processes, in their daily decisions and choices. Let us assume, (perhaps over optimistically) that 20% of the worlds population are currently guided in their actions primarily by rational thought processes. This would leave approx 5 billion people needing to be persuaded that rational thought processes are a more effective tool, for achieving their goals, than blind obedience to imposed doctrines.
Persuading 5 billion people to do anything would seem an impossible task. The idea then of persuading 5 billion people to relinquish their core beliefs is obviously totally absurd. Or is it?
Remember that these 5 billion people are, by definition, easily influenced by their leaders - of whatever variety. These leaders are certainly far fewer in number and presumably if they order their followers to stop following them, their orders will be obeyed without hesitation.
This leaves the, seemingly, somewhat more manageable, task of persuading the leaders that they will achieve their personal goals more effectively by setting their followers free. However, seeing that the main goal of many of these leaders would appear to be acquiring power (which necessitates followers) it might appear that we have merely exchanged one impossible task for another.
All is not not quite as bleak as it might appear, however. In fact, many leaders of all varieties, whatever the degree of their personal lust for power, are motivated, to some extent, by genuine concern for their followers. If these leaders can be persuaded that their selfish lust for power and their selfless concern for their followers can be advanced more effectively by adopting rational thought processes and encouraging their followers to do the same, there may yet be hope for our species.
