A Science of the State

Catalysts and Corrosions: Transportation

1. What are the catalysts of transportation in support of the state?

a.) Transportation makes for a more united nation--it is easier get information and important people to and from the capital.

b.) The maintenance of roads and highways creates more jobs for citizens

c.) Transportation boosts the local economy, making it easier for people to travel for tourism and making it easier to ship goods throughout the state quickly and efficiently.

2. What are the corrosions of transportation that undermine the support of the state?

a.) Unrest of the people--the policy of Eminent Domain as roads, highways, and railroad tracks are built.

b.) Paying workers to keep roads and highways and maintaining them puts stress on the state budgets.

c.) Transportation, at least as it is now, causes interdependence on foreign sources of fuels, which, at the moment, is causing fuels to be inordinately expensive and hard on the state and the consumer. This dependence of foreign oil is also weakening the American dollar, which is not good for the state's station as a world power.

Artificial Politik

It is slightly hard to imagine that artifacts of human creation can have politics, but it is absolutely true. The most common example of this would be the stop sign. What is a stop sign? It is an octagonal sheet of metal, usually red, with four white letters on it, that sits on top of a metal pole. Even if the face of the sign is worn, letters nearly unreadable, drivers everywhere know what it is and what to do when they arrive at one--stop the car. The stop sign represents law and order, controls the way people drive their automobiles and interact with each other on the road. As a pedestrian, the stop sign protects us and watches out for us, a silent guardian. If a person does not see it or chooses to speed right past it, it also punishes us, bringing down the full power of the law (if there is a police officer around to see it). It is amazing what a sheet of metal can contribute to society, when infused with a little politics.

Society and Science

Society and Science, while appearing to have nothing in common except four letters, in fact are very integral to each other. Science cannot exist without society, because only a stable society can allow people to indulge in the sciences, or, in the case of war, motivate them to discover new means to fight. Half of the motivation for scientists is recognition from peers and society, through such awards as the Nobel prize. Society, at least society as we know today, cannot function without science. All of the luxuries that we use every day are the product of science at some point or another throughout history. Science today, or "Big Science" is a social enterprise; scientists with all different specializations brought together on projects to "play nicely" and discover something or produce it. With how advanced technology is, no single person can tackle a project by himself, so groups are needed.

Basis of Religion

The basis of all religions is split into two parts--people sharing a common belief, and people preforming "rituals" based upon that belief. Every religion makes some distinction between that which is "sacred" and that which is "profane". When around an object, or person that is sacred, religious people will act in a certain way, a ritualistic way, which is to say they will not act in the same fashion they would around an ordinary person, or object. A Catholic person, will, for instance, bow his head as he approaches a crucifix. He will show deference to the object. Yet, if he passes an ordinary sign on the street that happens to be in the shape of a cross, he will not act differently. At the same time, any person who does not believe in Catholicism will not show deference to a cross-shaped object, whether it be a crucifix or not--he will not participate in the ritual.
Anything that is not considered sacred, then, or the profane, is any object that one does not show deference to. If one is walking down the street, he is not going to stop and do a jig around a street sign (or if he does, he probably needs help) because it is not part of his beliefs. It is ordinary. It is mundane.
No matter what religion a person prescribes to (or even none at all), he or she still makes the distinction as to whether something is sacred or profane, and acts accordingly. This is the basis of religion.