I am on the mission here to destroy the moral version of good and bad since it has mocked and insulted me long enough. It is deluded ignorant nonsense to say to a severely crippled depressed person that he/she can still have good meaning in his/her life.
The moral version of good says that if we personally judge our lives to have good meaning through our thoughts, then that will make it so. But this is nonsense because this would mean that we could go up to a severely crippled depressed person and say in a joyful/excited tone:
“Yipee! Your life is so wonderful since you told yourself that your life was great! Forget the fact that you were on the brink of suicide and were hardly able to function! Your life was so wonderful!”
This, right here, is the deluded mocking/insulting ignorant blatant lie that is the moral version of good. It would be no different than telling a person with Parkinson’s or a stroke:
“Yipee! You can still fully function mentally because you told yourself you can!”
It would also be no different than telling a blind and deaf person:
“Yipee! You can still see and hear since you told yourself you can!”
The fact is, there has to be a scientific version of good and bad that humanity and science is currently unaware of.
It would have to be our good moods (pleasant emotions) that are the scientific version of good and it would have to be our unpleasant feelings/emotions (such as depression) that would be the scientific version of bad.
Good and bad would have to be senses like sight, hearing, and smell. So they are scientific terms like sight, hearing, and smell. Just as how a blind and deaf person cannot give his/herself sight and hearing through his/her thoughts alone, we cannot give our lives any good or bad meaning either without our pleasant/unpleasant feelings/emotions.
If you were to say the phrase:
“My life is nothing but hopeless,” then that would be no different than saying:
“My life is nothing but bad and has no good meaning.” Therefore, since depression is a feeling of hopelessness, then if you were to struggle with depression, then you would feel that your life is nothing but bad. Here again, thoughts of our family and such still giving our lives good meaning during our depression won’t give our lives any good meaning since we don’t have our actual sense of good meaning which would be our pleasant emotions (our reward system).
In conclusion, I myself struggle with depression and anhedonia (absence of all my pleasant emotions). This moral version of good and bad is a deluded and mocking/insulting lie towards people such as me who struggle with these illnesses. It is time we destroy this moral lie and instead create a better life.
An eternal blissful life of no more suffering, depression, and anhedonia created by science in the future and have people such as me who have missed out resurrected so we can live this life. We would create this eternal blissful life based upon the scientific version of good and bad since scientists would be encouraged like never before to find cures and treatments knowing that our pleasant emotions are all that we have in our lives to make us good people and our lives good.
The scientific version of good and bad is different than the moral version of good and bad. It is a feeling/emotional version of good and bad and is not any moral or any other version of good and bad. I realize that science has no moral lessons to teach us. So you might say that there is no scientific version of good and bad. Like I said before, morality is not the same thing as good and bad.
So it would no longer be morality. We would instead have to refer to it as something different. We would instead have to refer to it as us interacting and socializing as human beings and nothing more. Good and bad would instead have to be something completely different. It would have to be the scientific version of good and bad which would be the feeling/emotional version of good and bad.
Why are you unhappy?
Mozart Link, So you might say that there is no scientific version of good and badCorrect. The scientific equivalent are the positive and negative functions. They are neither good nor bad, they are necessary. Good and bad (behavior) are human moral concepts of individual (communal) behavior and vary from community to community. Good and bad feelings (emotions) have nothing to do with morality, they are purely subjective to the individual experiencing them. This is why a person, who apparently has everything a person needs to live a fulfilling life, may feel depressed to the point of suicide, and a Stephen Hawking may lead a rich, fulfilling life in spite of his physical condition.
You might check out Sam Harris’ book, “The Moral Landscape”. He has some interesting ideas about how science can approach morality, including how to define “good” and “bad” amongst other things.
At one time in a civilization far, far away, there was good and there was bad. At night time the people of the kingdom went to sleep knowing that the king had a battle every hour of the nighttime fighting the bad. If the bad won then the sun would not rise in the morning and bad would take over the world. If the king won the battles then the sun would rise and the bad would have to go into shadows to hide from the sunlight and good and happiness would rule the daytime.
You have brought up the scientific and moral versions of good and bad, there is also a superstitious good and bad. Back then in Egypt all you had to do is look at your shadow to know that bad followed you everywhere you went and you could not get rid of bad. It was something that you could deal with by following the directions of RA the god who lived in the Sun and communicated with you by sunlight.
It worked for the people back then for thousands of years and history shows they were a happy and joyful people.
At one time in a civilization far, far away, there was good and there was bad. At night time the people of the kingdom went to sleep knowing that the king had a battle every hour of the nighttime fighting the bad. If the bad won then the sun would not rise in the morning and bad would take over the world. If the king won the battles then the sun would rise and the bad would have to go into shadows to hide from the sunlight and good and happiness would rule the daytime. You have brought up the scientific and moral versions of good and bad, there is also a superstitious good and bad. Back then in Egypt all you had to do is look at your shadow to know that bad followed you everywhere you went and you could not get rid of bad. It was something that you could deal with by following the directions of RA the god who lived in the Sun and communicated with you by sunlight. It worked for the people back then for thousands of years and history shows they were a happy and joyful people.Which only proves that it makes no difference what god you believe in, to be human. But you last sentence is misleading. History shows the exact opposite of your claim of happy, joyful people. p.s. Religion IS Superstition.
But you last sentence is misleading. History shows the exact opposite of your claim of happy, joyful people. p.s. Religion IS Superstition.The history I have been reading shows that they have very few wars. Loved music and entertainment. Food was a big item. Being a chef was a good career. One temple for example received over 5M flower bouquets in one month. Which show the people had the time to grow beautiful flowers. People don’t grow flowers unless they have grown all the food they can use first. The women had time to wear beautiful cloths and use makeup. They wore beautiful jewelry. They had their hair done in fashion. They love their pets to the point of mummifying dogs and cats. From what history is showing us. They had the best medical practices at the time. Where they had problems were in the area of alcoholism. A side effect of plenty of beer and wine. Note, you have to read the new history out about Egypt. The old theories are not holding water.
But you last sentence is misleading. History shows the exact opposite of your claim of happy, joyful people. p.s. Religion IS Superstition.The history I have been reading shows that they have very few wars. Loved music and entertainment. Food was a big item. Being a chef was a good career. One temple for example received over 5M flower bouquets in one month. Which show the people had the time to grow beautiful flowers. People don’t grow flowers unless they have grown all the food they can use first. The women had time to wear beautiful cloths and use makeup. They wore beautiful jewelry. They had their hair done in fashion. They love their pets to the point of mummifying dogs and cats. From what history is showing us. They had the best medical practices at the time. Where they had problems were in the area of alcoholism. A side effect of plenty of beer and wine. Note, you have to read the new history out about Egypt. The old theories are not holding water. You'd better read some real history and anthropology if you have such a view of humanity. As one example of many, a large proportion of the ancient population were slaves, including in Egypt. Grinding poverty has always been a factor in most societies. How about looking at the real world for a change. Your view is complete fantasy. You will never get a realistic view if you see only the people who were comparatively well off. You also don't consoder the Black Death, or any of the history of devastating disease and poverty the world over. Take off the blinders and rose-colored glasses. They are skewing your view. You are living in a fairytale. Lois
But you last sentence is misleading. History shows the exact opposite of your claim of happy, joyful people. p.s. Religion IS Superstition.The history I have been reading shows that they have very few wars. Loved music and entertainment. Food was a big item. Being a chef was a good career. One temple for example received over 5M flower bouquets in one month. Which show the people had the time to grow beautiful flowers. People don’t grow flowers unless they have grown all the food they can use first. The women had time to wear beautiful cloths and use makeup. They wore beautiful jewelry. They had their hair done in fashion. They love their pets to the point of mummifying dogs and cats. From what history is showing us. They had the best medical practices at the time. Where they had problems were in the area of alcoholism. A side effect of plenty of beer and wine. Note, you have to read the new history out about Egypt. The old theories are not holding water. You'd better read some real history and anthropology if you have such a view of humanity. As one example of many, a large proportion of the ancient population were slaves, including in Egypt. Grinding poverty has always been a factor in most societies. How about looking at the real world for a change. Your view is complete fantasy. You will never get a realistic view if you see only the people who were comparatively well off. You also don't consoder the Black Death, or any of the history of devastating disease and poverty the world over. Take off the blinders and rose-colored glasses. They are skewing your view. You are living in a fairytale. Yes, I have read about slaves. And I think Americans confuse slaves of the ancient world with the slave trade in early America. For example, a slave in Egypt might work a second job to be able to afford to be a slave at a temple. They would have to pay to be a slave. Not quite the American system. Now you might ask why they would do this. The reasons are, the temples were the big entertainment centers. Great music, great food. And the temples were known for good health care benefits. We grew up being told the pyramids were built by slaves. To this day, there is no proof. And they are coming out with other views now of the labor market back then. From what I have read is that the biggest changes in labor laws happen in 1700 B.C. with the arrival of the Hyksos. As far as slaves in Babylon, all you have to do is read the laws of the time. They pretty much spelled out how you had to take care of slaves, what their medical costs were. Inheritance laws for slaves and so on. Another problem of understanding is the ownership system. For example. The first born male belonged to the Pharaoh. When you look at the system, it was not a slave system, it was a tax system. When you look at the Indus Civilization of the Harappans, they had houses hooked to sewer systems with bathrooms and kitchens. They did not have electricity, but they built their swimming pools so the breeze over the water would cool the house. There were good times to live at in the past. Times when people got along and there were no wars. And I am sure there were many bad times with plagues and wars as history shows. In reading the old Genesis stories there were natural disasters and population explosions that were reduced by plagues. But I was very surprised they never mentioned any wars.
There were not eough people and plenty of seperation between them to minimize war. Then the conquests started and have
It is odd that you seem to ignore the biblical tale of being crucified for exercising free speech.
You may want to read this: Hypatia
I find it revealing that real wars started with the advent of religion and (forced) conversion.
Golden Ages were always built on the backs of slaves. Today the US is experiencing a Golden Age, but I see no general happiness in the population.
Are we just spoiled or do we have really poor, unhappy people living in the richest country in the world?
But you last sentence is misleading. History shows the exact opposite of your claim of happy, joyful people. p.s. Religion IS Superstition.The history I have been reading shows that they have very few wars. Loved music and entertainment. Food was a big item. Being a chef was a good career. One temple for example received over 5M flower bouquets in one month. Which show the people had the time to grow beautiful flowers. People don’t grow flowers unless they have grown all the food they can use first. The women had time to wear beautiful cloths and use makeup. They wore beautiful jewelry. They had their hair done in fashion. They love their pets to the point of mummifying dogs and cats. From what history is showing us. They had the best medical practices at the time. Where they had problems were in the area of alcoholism. A side effect of plenty of beer and wine. Note, you have to read the new history out about Egypt. The old theories are not holding water. You'd better read some real history and anthropology if you have such a view of humanity. As one example of many, a large proportion of the ancient population were slaves, including in Egypt. Grinding poverty has always been a factor in most societies. How about looking at the real world for a change. Your view is complete fantasy. You will never get a realistic view if you see only the people who were comparatively well off. You also don't consider the Black Death, or any of the history of devastating disease and poverty the world over. Take off the blinders and rose-colored glasses. They are skewing your view. You are living in a fairytale. Yes, I have read about slaves. And I think Americans confuse slaves of the ancient world with the slave trade in early America. For example, a slave in Egypt might work a second job to be able to afford to be a slave at a temple. They would have to pay to be a slave. Not quite the American system. Please provide a valid historical citation for Egyptian slaves paying to be slaves and taking an extra paying job to "afford" being a slave at the temple. Do you know the meaning of the word "slave"? Now you might ask why they would do this. The reasons are, the temples were the big entertainment centers. Great music, great food. And the temples were known for good health care benefits. Valid historical ciitation, please. We grew up being told the pyramids were built by slaves. To this day, there is no proof. And they are coming out with other views now of the labor market back then. Valid historial citation, please. From what I have read is that the biggest changes in labor laws happen in 1700 B.C. with the arrival of the Hyksos. As far as slaves in Babylon, all you have to do is read the laws of the time. They pretty much spelled out how you had to take care of slaves, what their medical costs were. Inheritance laws for slaves and so on. Everyone had rules for how slaves were to be treated, sold and beaten, including American slaves. Another problem of understanding is the ownership system. For example. The first born male belonged to the Pharaoh. When you look at the system, it was not a slave system, it was a tax system. Valid historial citation, please. When you look at the Indus Civilization of the Harappans, they had houses hooked to sewer systems with bathrooms and kitchens. They did not have electricity, but they built their swimming pools so the breeze over the water would cool the house. And slaves were using them, right? Valid historial citation, please. There were good times to live at in the past. Times when people got along and there were no wars. And I am sure there were many bad times with plagues and wars as history shows. In reading the old Genesis stories there were natural disasters and population explosions that were reduced by plagues. But I was very surprised they never mentioned any wars. But plenty of happy, healthy slaves. So only wars count, not plagues, not slavery, not natural disasters and not starvation? Interesting view of "history," anthropology, sociology and human nature.
There were not eough people and plenty of seperation between them to minimize war. Then the conquests started and have It is odd that you seem to ignore the biblical tale of being crucified for exercising free speech. You may want to read this: http://www.womanastronomer.com/hypatia.htm I find it revealing that real wars started with the advent of religion and (forced) conversion. Golden Ages were always built on the backs of slaves. Today the US is experiencing a Golden Age, but I see no general happiness in the population. Are we just spoiled or do we have really poor, unhappy people living in the richest country in the world?Hypatia is proof that people were just as smart back then as we are today. At the time of Hypatia, yes they had slaves as we understand slaves. Slaves like we understand seems too developed with the metal age. People were needed for mining of the ore. Before that the word slave had a far different meaning. There are a lot of words that way. God is another word that changed over time. As far as the early wars. The history and art work does not show a lot of wars in early times. Wars seemed to have started in the Middle East and Europe with the introduction of the Asian olive. The change from flax seed oil to olive oil changed the whole way of life. Moses only reason for going to Israel was the olive oil. He had to wait 40 years, because Egypt and the Hittites were at war over the olive oil. Alexandria the Great’s empire was nothing more than the olive oil production. Once he controlled the oil, he took over Egypt and then headed east.
But you last sentence is misleading. History shows the exact opposite of your claim of happy, joyful people. p.s. Religion IS Superstition.The history I have been reading shows that they have very few wars. Loved music and entertainment. Food was a big item. Being a chef was a good career. One temple for example received over 5M flower bouquets in one month. Which show the people had the time to grow beautiful flowers. People don’t grow flowers unless they have grown all the food they can use first. The women had time to wear beautiful cloths and use makeup. They wore beautiful jewelry. They had their hair done in fashion. They love their pets to the point of mummifying dogs and cats. From what history is showing us. They had the best medical practices at the time. Where they had problems were in the area of alcoholism. A side effect of plenty of beer and wine. Note, you have to read the new history out about Egypt. The old theories are not holding water. You'd better read some real history and anthropology if you have such a view of humanity. As one example of many, a large proportion of the ancient population were slaves, including in Egypt. Grinding poverty has always been a factor in most societies. How about looking at the real world for a change. Your view is complete fantasy. You will never get a realistic view if you see only the people who were comparatively well off. You also don't consider the Black Death, or any of the history of devastating disease and poverty the world over. Take off the blinders and rose-colored glasses. They are skewing your view. You are living in a fairytale. Yes, I have read about slaves. And I think Americans confuse slaves of the ancient world with the slave trade in early America. For example, a slave in Egypt might work a second job to be able to afford to be a slave at a temple. They would have to pay to be a slave. Not quite the American system. Please provide a valid historical citation for Egyptian slaves paying to be slaves and taking an extra paying job to "afford" being a slave at the temple. Do you know the meaning of the word "slave"? Now you might ask why they would do this. The reasons are, the temples were the big entertainment centers. Great music, great food. And the temples were known for good health care benefits. Valid historical ciitation, please. We grew up being told the pyramids were built by slaves. To this day, there is no proof. And they are coming out with other views now of the labor market back then. Valid historial citation, please. From what I have read is that the biggest changes in labor laws happen in 1700 B.C. with the arrival of the Hyksos. As far as slaves in Babylon, all you have to do is read the laws of the time. They pretty much spelled out how you had to take care of slaves, what their medical costs were. Inheritance laws for slaves and so on. Everyone had rules for how slaves were to be treated, sold and beaten, including American slaves. Another problem of understanding is the ownership system. For example. The first born male belonged to the Pharaoh. When you look at the system, it was not a slave system, it was a tax system. Valid historial citation, please. When you look at the Indus Civilization of the Harappans, they had houses hooked to sewer systems with bathrooms and kitchens. They did not have electricity, but they built their swimming pools so the breeze over the water would cool the house. And slaves were using them, right? Valid historial citation, please. There were good times to live at in the past. Times when people got along and there were no wars. And I am sure there were many bad times with plagues and wars as history shows. In reading the old Genesis stories there were natural disasters and population explosions that were reduced by plagues. But I was very surprised they never mentioned any wars. But plenty of happy, healthy slaves. So only wars count, not plagues, not slavery, not natural disasters and not starvation? Interesting view of "history," anthropology, sociology and human nature. I think you need to view a timeline. In five thousand years they did not have as many conflicts as we have had in 400 years. Personally, it is my feeling that the people were so superstitious that they would be hard pressed to whip someone. Curses were very much believed in. And they had that good, bad thing going for them with religion. Americans are unbelievably stupid when it comes to slavery in Egypt. For example. We put pictures in books showing slaves being whipped and pulling big heavy stones. Yet we will show pictures of the same time of farmers plowing the fields using oxen. I guess they want us to believe the farmers were more advanced than the pyramid builders. In the past decade research on the camps of the temple and pyramid builders have found no signs of slaves. They have found families of the builders living in the camps. Everyone had rules for how slaves were to be treated, sold and beaten, including American slaves. No I never read the rules you are talking about in Babylon or Egypt. Those laws were what inherence the slave would receive. Laws on marrying your slave and adopting the children. They lived in a caste system where you were charged rates by the caste you were in. And a slave was in the lower caste. So you could not charge a slave the same rate for services as someone in the upper castes. The slave systems used was more like what we would call the indentured servant that was used in the British colonies of America. The historians call them slaves. Me, I don’t see it. I see a labor method tied to a social method. Like in Egypt, if you worked at the temple (a slave) then you were also protected physically by the temple. The police forces operated differently back then. Remember the temples were also the banks and colleges of the times. And most people yet today have to pay something to be able to go to college.
There were not eough people and plenty of seperation between them to minimize war. Then the conquests started and have It is odd that you seem to ignore the biblical tale of being crucified for exercising free speech. You may want to read this: http://www.womanastronomer.com/hypatia.htm I find it revealing that real wars started with the advent of religion and (forced) conversion. Golden Ages were always built on the backs of slaves. Today the US is experiencing a Golden Age, but I see no general happiness in the population. Are we just spoiled or do we have really poor, unhappy people living in the richest country in the world?Hypatia is proof that people were just as smart back then as we are today. So?
At the time of Hypatia, yes they had slaves as we understand slaves. Slaves like we understand seems too developed with the metal age. People were needed for mining of the ore. Before that the word slave had a far different meaning. There are a lot of words that way. God is another word that changed over time.And there you have it. Mathematics haven't changed, in fact they have been refined. There is no war between Mathematics. There are (and always have been) wars between Gods, since the dawn of Mankind.
As far as the early wars. The history and art work does not show a lot of wars in early times. Wars seemed to have started in the Middle East and Europe with the introduction of the Asian olive. The change from flax seed oil to olive oil changed the whole way of life. Moses only reason for going to Israel was the olive oil. He had to wait 40 years, because Egypt and the Hittites were at war over the olive oil. Alexandria the Great’s empire was nothing more than the olive oil production. Once he controlled the oil, he took over Egypt and then headed east.Thus wars, death, destruction, misery, hardship. So where is the blissful existence? Wars, mostly territorial have existed in Nature for billions of years. It is part of the evolution of species and competition for resources. As a wise woman nce told me; true passive inward posture can only be achieved by hermits. But by definition hermits are useless to human knowledge.
There were not eough people and plenty of seperation between them to minimize war. Then the conquests started and have It is odd that you seem to ignore the biblical tale of being crucified for exercising free speech. You may want to read this: http://www.womanastronomer.com/hypatia.htm I find it revealing that real wars started with the advent of religion and (forced) conversion. Golden Ages were always built on the backs of slaves. Today the US is experiencing a Golden Age, but I see no general happiness in the population. Are we just spoiled or do we have really poor, unhappy people living in the richest country in the world?Hypatia is proof that people were just as smart back then as we are today. So?Add that to the life style of the pagans, and you would have a happier people.
My thinking is a little different. The term “GOD" must have started out as the name of a very smart group of people or tribe. Then evolved into the meaning of the word “Knowledge". The people got more organized and as the earth was opening up land from the northern ice melts the populations grew and expanded. They already had heaven and afterlife and rebirth, but no gods. And we still have some of those religions around today. The Age of Deities (GODS) had to have gotten started after some major natural disaster or plague. The people relocated with very few of the scholars to pass on the knowledge. And the meaning got mixed up and confused. Reason for few scholars was it was before history and the memory and rhyme methods of pre-history is said to have taken 27 years of learning just to get the basics down. The first gods were for different powers. So they would not have fought. They were stars and some animals with limited powers. Then over time the gods grew to more powerful animals and were able to be closer to the leaders than the normal people. The first big god that gave power to the leaders was the fire god. Still here today. Then the gods became part animal and part man. A finally or course the gods became man. After a protein advancement that help create large populations, we got kings and gods of a number too great to count. And yes, a lot of warring. We were still in the Age of Deities and going strong today.At the time of Hypatia, yes they had slaves as we understand slaves. Slaves like we understand seems too developed with the metal age. People were needed for mining of the ore. Before that the word slave had a far different meaning. There are a lot of words that way. God is another word that changed over time.And there you have it. Mathematics haven't changed, in fact they have been refined. There is no war between Mathematics. There are (and always have been) wars between Gods, since the dawn of Mankind.
Well answer this, how fast were their race cars back then? If we just assume that they were people of wars, misery and hardships. Why not assume they had bitchin race cars. What does history tell us? Pick a 400 year period, about as long as the USA has been around. And you would be lucky to find one war in that time period. Now as you move the timeline closer to the 2,000 B.C. you will start having wars. As the Age of Deities becomes more prevalent we start seeing more wars, and the death, destruction and hardships you are referring to. I found one maybe hardship at Babylon about 5,000 B.C. that I have not gotten a handle on yet. When you rent a house, your rental agreement excluded the wood in the doors and windows. Now we know that Rome had an ecological disaster when they cut down all the forests all the way to the Alps. Were they having the same problem in Babylon years earlier? You know the oldest cruciform writings that man has found so far are bar tabs for beer. The data coming out of the ground shows a much happier lifestyle that most of us think could have happened in the past, until the powerful gods showed up.As far as the early wars. The history and art work does not show a lot of wars in early times. Wars seemed to have started in the Middle East and Europe with the introduction of the Asian olive. The change from flax seed oil to olive oil changed the whole way of life. Moses only reason for going to Israel was the olive oil. He had to wait 40 years, because Egypt and the Hittites were at war over the olive oil. Alexandria the Great’s empire was nothing more than the olive oil production. Once he controlled the oil, he took over Egypt and then headed east.Thus wars, death, destruction, misery, hardship. So where is the blissful existence? Wars, mostly territorial have existed in Nature for billions of years. It is part of the evolution of species and competition for resources. As a wise woman nce told me; true passive inward posture can only be achieved by hermits. But by definition hermits are useless to human knowledge.
Mike Yohe wrote:
I think you need to view a timeline. In five thousand years they did not have as many conflicts as we have had in 400 years. Personally, it is my feeling that the people were so superstitious that they would be hard pressed to whip someone. Curses were very much believed in. And they had that good, bad thing going for them with religion.
Americans are unbelievably stupid when it comes to slavery in Egypt. For example. We put pictures in books showing slaves being whipped and pulling big heavy stones. Yet we will show pictures of the same time of farmers plowing the fields using oxen. I guess they want us to believe the farmers were more advanced than the pyramid builders. In the past decade research on the camps of the temple and pyramid builders have found no signs of slaves. They have found families of the builders living in the camps.
Everyone had rules for how slaves were to be treated, sold and beaten, including American slaves.
No I never read the rules you are talking about in Babylon or Egypt. Those laws were what inherence the slave would receive. Laws on marrying your slave and adopting the children. They lived in a caste system where you were charged rates by the caste you were in. And a slave was in the lower caste. So you could not charge a slave the same rate for services as someone in the upper castes. The slave systems used was more like what we would call the indentured servant that was used in the British colonies of America. The historians call them slaves. Me, I don’t see it. I see a labor method tied to a social method. Like in Egypt, if you worked at the temple (a slave) then you were also protected physically by the temple. The police forces operated differently back then. Remember the temples were also the banks and colleges of the times. And most people yet today have to pay something to be able to go to college.
The history of slavery spans nearly every culture, nationality and religion, and from ancient times to the present day. Slavery was a legally recognized system in which people were legally considered the property or chattel of another.[1] A slave had few rights and could be bought or sold and made to work for the owner without any choice or pay. As Drescher (2009) argues, “The most crucial and frequently utilised aspect of the condition is a communally recognised right by some individuals to possess, buy, sell, discipline, transport, liberate, or otherwise dispose of the bodies and behaviour of other individuals.”[2] In the American colonies and other places, an integral element was frequently the assignment of children of a slave mother to the status of slaves born into slavery.[3] Slavery under this definition does not include other forced labour systems, such as historical forced labor by prisoners, labor camps, or other forms of unfree labor, in which labourers are not legally considered property. Slavery typically requires a shortage of labor and a surplus of land to be viable.[1] While slavery has existed for thousands of years, the social, economic, and legal position of slaves was vastly different in different systems of slavery in different times and places.[4]
Slavery can be traced back to the earliest records, such as the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1760 BC), which refers to it as an established institution.[5] Slavery is rare among hunter-gatherer populations, as it is developed as a system of social stratification. Slavery was known in civilizations as old as Sumer, as well as almost every other ancient civilization. The Byzantine-Ottoman wars and the Ottoman wars in Europe resulted in the taking of large numbers of Christian slaves. Similarly, Christians sold Muslim slaves captured in war and also the Islamic World was engaged in slavery. Slavery became common within the British Isles during the Middle Ages. Britain played a prominent role in the Atlantic slave trade, especially after 1600. Slavery was a legal institution in all of the 13 American colonies and Canada (acquired by Britain in 1763). Slavery was endemic in Africa and part of the structure of everyday life. David P. Forsythe wrote: “The fact remained that at the beginning of the nineteenth century an estimated three-quarters of all people alive were trapped in bondage against their will either in some form of slavery or serfdom.”[6] Denmark-Norway was the first European country to ban the slave trade.
But, i’m sure you will continue to claim that ancient slaves loved being slaves and loved being bought and sold and and were as happy as clams! note the line above: “three-quarters of all people alive were trapped in bondage against their will either in some form of slavery or serfdom.” Note the phrase, “trapped in bondage.”