subject: If Not God, Where Do Our Rights Come From? [print this page] Dynamics of freedom Dynamics of freedom
After discussing the natural limits of freedom, let's consider the possibilities. Human ingenuity has allowed us to transcend many of our previous limits. With the aid of science and technology we can now better understand the laws that govern the physical world, or the intricacies of the human brain. We can see other galaxies or subatomic particles. Look far into our past and predict what the future holds for us. Explore the depths of our oceans, travel to foreign lands, or reach far above our skies. We can cure debilitating diseases and live long and meaningful lives. We can share our feelings, experiences, and ideas with one another, instantaneously, all the way across the globe. And create the tools to open up even more possibilities for us.
Yet we continually and injudiciously constrict our possibilities and those of others. To clarify this point let's consider the following simple analogy from nature: a bird has the freedom to fly almost anywhere it chooses in the sky. However, the presence of other birds in the sky seemingly obstructs the bird's freedom of movement. Yet, each bird can only be in one place at any given time. This means that - as long as the birds avoid a collision - any bird is in fact free to fly anywhere in the sky. We can see the skill some birds (Starlings in this case) display in moving freely in the sky without clashing - even in the most dense flocks:
(Surely these birds must be very religious, or have a strong government that imposes strict rules of conduct)
To expand our possibilities we must try to avoid obstructing or restricting others. Conversely, others must do the same for us.
Rights
If we try to think of our freedom as Rights "given" to us by a government or by a Creator, we can immediately recognize the fallacy of such thinking. If the government decides that we have the "right" to go through walls we will still be limited by nature from doing so. The same holds true for a "right" to conflict with other individuals. At the same time, governments try to take away many of our natural rights, by imposing what seem to be "sensible" restrictions.
* Obviously, there are many natural limits to our freedom (being exposed to toxic environments, extreme climates, high/low atmospheric pressure, and so on), and we may be able to overcome some of these with the aid of technology. Yet the idea that there are natural limits to our freedom remains.
