Reading notes for thinking about where the United States is headed

It has been a while since my last reading log. The United States seems to be heading in a confusing direction, but think about it: human history has always been confusing. Unfortunately, the U.S. is still the country leading the way. Why?

Because it is a country of 'idle games' in the name of freedom.

On the surface, America is a land of freedom, but I feel there is an implicit understanding that maybe free will doesn't actually exist. Let me elaborate. The Founding Fathers built the U.S. based on Enlightenment philosophy—the idea of breaking away from tyranny and superstition, organizing politics and laws according to reason and science, and protecting freedom and human rights. The foundation is essentially Christian, with the premise that free will exists.

However, since it was a society centered on white men at the time, there was a contradiction from the start. After all, the will of Native Americans and slaves was ignored. Yet, on the surface, it is a land of freedom. It has been confusing from the beginning.

But it was precisely because of this facade that people who have been historically persecuted and marginalized have fought, leading to numerous breakthroughs and gaining trust from the international community. It has led the world in everything from science and business to pop culture and sports. Imagine a world without Black Americans, active women, and immigrants who bring in various cultures.

Can't you imagine a world that is incredibly boring? lol

In recent years, the understanding of human diversity has grown even further, and LGBTQ communities and immigrant cultures, which until recently could only be seen in large cities, have blended into daily life all over the U.S., making it an increasingly colorful and interesting country.

In this way, for the past 250 years, the U.S. has been conducting an experimental democratic nation, operating on the premise that humans have free will—that is, voluntary choice and responsibility—and therefore, they should participate in politics and take responsibility of their own volition.

But I sometimes wonder.
Is this 'freedom' that the U.S. talks about really individual will?
Is it just a country where humans are forced to be active within the 'freedom' of an idle game? Is it just that this was optimal for capitalism?

This feels more accurate to me.
I read this book to explore this area. I will use AI to summarize this part roughly.

First, the first book.

Behave Robert Sapolsky
A neuroendocrinologist and primatologist at Stanford University, also famous for his stress research. A monumental work that analyzes human behavior from multiple perspectives, including biology, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, sociology, and cultural anthropology.

• 'Good and evil' are not simple individual personality traits, but the sum of complex factors.

• Empathy and morality are also products of evolution and culture, and have biological foundations.

• Humans are animals that react 'contextually' rather than rationally.

• Violence and prejudice often stem from fear, group conformity, and self-defense.

• Structural and institutional approaches are necessary to expand understanding and empathy.

It is a story where a knowledgeable professor analyzes things from various angles and concludes that human behavior is determined by conditions. He couldn't quite go so far as to say there is no free will, so towards the end, he framed it as 'generally speaking' or 'as a tendency'.

This also overlaps a bit.

The second book is this one.
Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond
Evolutionary biologist, physiologist, and geographer. Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). This book won the Pulitzer Prize (1998).

A work that attempts to answer the question, 'Why did Eurasian civilizations develop faster than other regions and possess colonial dominance and technological superiority?' from a biogeographical perspective.

• Guns: Military technology and power of conquest

• Germs: Diseases brought by Eurasians devastated the local populations

• Steel: Development of metalworking technology and tools

It is a huge shock for white people to learn that the development of human civilization was influenced more by geographical and environmental conditions than by racial superiority. Lol
On the other hand, there is also criticism that the argument that 'the environment determines everything' carries the danger of simplification and a Western-centric perspective.

The same goes for the 'Behave' book mentioned earlier, but academia is socially and historically a world dominated by Western men. When I read things written by people of that generation, I can't help but feel that important perspectives are missing. Oh, and for women, that applies to Japanese men too. It reaffirms that we are still living in such an era.

So, I don't really listen to what the great professors have to say. Lol

But even taking that into account, it's an interesting book. This is also a story about something other than 'free will'.

The third book is also by an elderly white man. Lol
It's a book from the 60s, so it's full of discriminatory language. But this book might be the one that hits the core the hardest. That is...

Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut

I read a ton of Hayakawa SF when I was in junior high and high school. Since becoming a university student, I've read Kurt Vonnegut's works in English quite a bit, so this is my third time reading this one.

Looking at the current situation in America, I suddenly wanted to read it again.

This is the one I recommend most out of the three.
Since it's fiction, I won't write the content here to avoid spoilers, but the author is a German-American who was sent as a U.S. Army soldier in World War II and experienced being a prisoner of war in Germany. Therefore, he has complex feelings about war, and he expresses its absurdity and the foolishness of human society using ridiculous characters (especially Americans) in a way that makes you chuckle even though it's hollow. By the way, this work is a slapstick comedy about a scientist who is said to have created the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and the people around him.

What on earth could have happened to lead to such a mess! Lol

That's the kind of book it is.
But it makes you think, 'This is so American,' or 'This is the essence of America.'
That's what happens.

The mysterious pro-wrestling vibe that America exudes. Easy-to-understand conflicts like good vs. evil, science vs. religion, and Republicans vs. Democrats.

I wonder if it's designed like an idle game.

Even the president is being left to idle...
If Kurt Vonnegut were alive, he'd probably be laughing his head off.