There are those who believe that everything can be reduced to mathematics; that underlying the order of the universe is a set of immutable laws that govern all things, and these laws can be expressed mathematically. Thus, the future of humanity can be calculated.
I freely admit that I’m no math whiz. Nonetheless, I’ve spent some time lately attempting to construct the algebra of good and evil. Our human condition seems to bounce between the heights of love and compassion and the depths of hatred and mistrust. From moment to moment, place to place, time to time, these two forces drive society this way and that, as we lurch between one pole and the other. History provides no insight or explanation; in every era and every age, examples of love and hate abound. Religion, regional characteristics, level of education, average lifespan, technological sophistication; no matter what period we examine, we find the same forces in opposition.
All equations, as you know, require balancing two sides. In this case, one side is goodness, while the other’s decidedly evil. This being algebra, of course, many variables come into play. Thus to our formula we must add love and trust, compassion, care and gentleness; these all, clearly, fall to the side of goodness. For balance sake the variables impacting evil also must be attached, including greed, aggression, hatred, cruelty, fear and meanness.
Now, what are we to do with fixed factors such as time, technology, weather and the price of eggs? This is, I admit, where for a while I got stuck. Technology can be used for goodness as easily as evil (although among cultural mathematicians this assertion is in dispute), and weather plays no favorites; accordingly we must multiply both sides by these elements equally. However, as to the price of eggs, I for one think money multiplies evil disproportionate to goodness, but that’s just my opinion so let’s call it even.
But that leaves us with time, and infinite time, dear reader, is on the side of goodness. Goodness, you see, is born anew each and every second. We are born through love, in love, to love and to be loved; observe the newborn nursed and cradled by its mother. Evil, on the other hand, like hatred, is something learned or taught, not born. And so it is in Time with each birth, goodness arises, while hatred and evil go to the grave along with those who carry it. Thus evil is constantly diminished, while goodness replenished.
Thus in calculating our future: F = (G ltccg x BT ? ) – (E gahcfm x DT ? ) or, the future is equal to goodness factored by love, trust, compassion, care and gentleness subject to the birth of inborn goodness in infinite time, minus evil factored by greed, aggression, hatred, cruelty, fear and meanness subject to certain death in infinite time.
So there it is; ipso facto, the answer has always been right before us. Human beings have existed for hundreds of thousands of years; this is fact. Moreover, calculating our future using the algebra of good and evil clearly demonstrates that goodness prevails. If it were otherwise, our species would have died out long ago. But don’t trust me; do the math.
