Universal HOPE believes the following knowledge is essential for the formation and continuation of our wholesome societies and their policies.

• Universal Truth is indicated by T

• Universal HOPE ‘s fundamental belief is indicated by B, (further examination required).

-The Universe exists: stars, cameras, T

-Universal Truths exist, which can be identified and modeled by group observation and independent verification (planes do fly, developed from the study of universal truths) T

The universe exists without mankind (history, distance) T

• Life exists T

• Life exists without mankind T

• A universe with life has merit   B

I think, therefore I am T

• we call the essence of a thinking self-aware entity, a soul B

• we believe the soul depends on life and cannot exist without it B

• we believe the soul is more than life B

- The existence and protection of an individual soul has merit B

Each person perceives the universe through their senses and reality is decoded in a number of processes that are not the reality itself. T

- Personal Truths These perceptions help each individual form their own Personal Truths, which are in large part adequate to navigate the rigors of survival, but do sometimes deviate more from reality than do the modeled Universal truths. T

The Orca paradox resolved:

• Orcas are life T

• The existence of orcas has nothing to do with mankind or the merits/ or lack of merit of humanity T

• Orcas are self-aware T

• Orcas have merit B

• To survive, orcas must eat T

• To survive, orcas must eat meat, they will die eating plants T

• Many orcas eat other self-aware animals T

• The fact that orcas (or lions, or tigers) eat self-aware animals does not deny their merit B

• Humanity, eating meat up to the time of the bronze age, has as much merit as orcas do today B

• Humanity has as much merit as orcas do today B

• The fact that people eat meat (or have similar behaviors to other animals such as violence and play) does not reject humanity from the pantheon of life T

Mankind is part of the spectrum of life T

• The existence of mankind has merit B

• Therefore

- People have as much merit as all life B

- Supporting the existence of mankind has merit B

Mankind has merit B

• Our environment affects our survival and quality of life

• The largest element in our surroundings impacting our survival is our society

• The creation and sustainability of a society capable of providing the needs of their citizens is the most important group endeavor mankind faces B

• Understanding human behavior is at the core of creating such a society

• Human group and individual behavior derive from a number of factors

Behavior is genetically and environmentally influenced T

• Genetic, emotional, inherent, instinctual behavior are different words for the same idea in this thesis

• Outside, Environmental and cultural influences are different words for the same idea in this part of the thesis

• Ethically and morally are different words for the same idea in this thesis.  In the world of universities, they have different meanings, and in the world of religion, the meanings are reversed, so I shant distinguish them.

UH believes that human group behavior can be modeled in part: B

• Human instinctual behaviors drive people to form groups (pair bonding, infant/parent bonding, loneliness and withering when left apart) B

• In an untrammeled (by other people) environment, that families form packs that are stable seasonally, and even for a number of years, but become unstable and divisive as generations approach adolescence (weening period?) B

• These packs will sort out into a hierarchy which we define as pecking order groups (POGs).  The POGs are established by minor violence and coercions B

• The level a member has in the hierarchy is correlated with their survival and breeding rights, the higher the level, the more successful B

• That members within the POG jostle for position, but mainly with others in a similar position.  A young low order individual would not challenge the “top dog”, but would compete aggressively with the next order up, and protect from the next order down B

• That people in today’s societies reflect this historical and inherent behavior as a drive for status:  being attracted to individuals of higher status, joining groups with perceived higher status, bullying individuals of lower status, taking slights from individuals of near status, etc. B

Pack and instinctual behavior is also expressed in the following ways: B

• Clench: tightening of the jaw when angry, anger is part of hunting, B

• Chase: running away causes anger and pursuit B

• Shake: anger causes one to shake anything in one’s grip (hatchet, rabbit, baby) B

• Flamingo: the need to be reflected positively to ones self from one’s group, watching others for approval B

• Sparkle: an urge to view and touch anything shiny and new B

• Shout: the need to make noise

• Anger: anger is positive feedback, once in the loop, difficult to get out T

• Fear T

• Comfort B

• Play B

• Despair, positive feedback like anger B

• more

Although essential for the formation of pack and tribal societies, many of these emotions are counter-productive for civil life where equality is the glue that holds society together.  B

• If ignored, they do not go away, but emerge spontaneously, usually in a negative fashion. B

• People have to be trained/educated away from these destructive behaviors. B

The drive for status is also a profound influence on human behavior and civilization B

- Status, driven by a suite of chemical complexes, creates in an environmental vacuum, a pecking order group (POG): B

• A primary drive, of an equal level as sex, on a basic level just above anger or fear B

• Attempt to consort with higher level individuals, brown-nose B

• Show off to peers one’s association with higher level individuals, status by association B

• Jealousy/ Envy of other’s material goods/ status B

• Drive to be famous, such a position then is purported to reflect back on the individual for self-satisfaction, doesn’t always work B

• Drives one to conflict with peers, not superiors B

• Causes bullying, satisfying because no repercussions, dangerous to the lower status individual B

• More

Status is important if one belongs to a pack/tribe/ society that doesn’t meet one’s personal needs, but if the society actively supports the individual, then the drive for status is detrimental B

• Status is mostly a destructive force, it is easier to be a winner by destroying one’s competition (Tonya Harding) than to build each other up (Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson).  As such, the drive for status diminishes everyone. B

• (a society that supports the individual doesn’t necessarily mean a welfare society, but rather a society that provides opportunity and education for all) B

Although in the 1950s it was believed that intelligence was the natural conclusion of evolution, it doesn’t appear to be so.  Why then, humans? Where did these people, capable of thinking outside of the box, come from?  T

• Ravens are as canny as people, and cockroaches are as successful.  T

• Some dinosaurs might have been as canny as ravens.  B

• For hundreds of millions of years there may have been animals capable of evolving into intelligent life, why now. T

• Evolution creates many a capable species but requires time.  B

• Too much change, and nature often wipes the slate clean, longer time allows for specialization.  B

• Perhaps it was due to the 2-million-year cycle of changing environments of the last ice-ages, with its thousand year mini-cycles selecting for that group capable of learning over a quicker pace, (yet not so fast as to wipe the slate).  With generational knowledge transfer, a self-aware communicating species arose.  B

• Then, again, perhaps, luck.

In addition, civilization does not appear to be the natural ascension of life/ humanity, but a construct of the human mind/soul/ intellect, to this generation’s great benefit. B

Mathematical models and observation show that groups that collaborate and work together have a better average survival rate than do individuals (cellular bodies, schools of fish) T

UH breaks down human groups into the following subsets: B

• animal:  individual emotions and learning, tiger style of individualism with all others, predatorial.  Individually and generationally limited to sole survival skills.  Highly adaptive and vulnerable. B

• pack: small, aggressive, competitive family group capable of taking advantage of shared effort, glued together by status bonds, but unstable over a period of a few years as annual competition develops.  Predatory, hunter gatherers. Individuals subject to routine physical and emotional attack as status shifts.  Vulnerable to larger groups. B

• tribal:  small group held together by rules and tradition, leadership is personal and directly known and interacted with by members.  Takes advantage of generational knowledge and shared effort efficiencies.  Cooperation allows for productive methods improving member welfare, but group takes predatorial advantage of environment when encountered.  Strongly combative with other groups.  Generationally stable.  Individuals subject to arbitrary emotional and physical attack if at odds with leadership.  Status creates structural framework for society is most rigid of the social groups. B

• civil: large group held together by tradition and rules based upon a good understanding of the world and behavior.  Highly productive due to strong group cooperation and capable of providing needs of large populations for many generations. Predation reduced and discouraged.  Rumors of leadership drives cultural support.  Inertial and unwieldy, subject to sudden collapse when foundational constructs or environmental supports fail.  Status important but not as fixed as tribal society. B

- UH believes that the civil society is best because it supports the individual (on average) the best.  Additionally,  history shows that civil society has escaped zero-sum support of the individual and all individuals profit from this rising tide: B

• That life on earth has evolved within a zero-sum game set of constraints, that is, when one group gains, another loses (crows attack eagles that share common resources, but not blue herons of the same size; hyenas and lions attack each other since they share a common resource, plants not only compete for light, but fight over it (shedding leaves in the fall prevents survival of sprouts of competitors in the spring, etc).  Many societies and philosophies seem to follow this path also.  B

• However, if it were true about civilization, then human population would have been stagnant since before the Roman times. B

• Agricultural, et al, advances have benefited the individuals within the group better than the individual alone. B

• The sun is (in human terms) going to last forever and provide more energy than we can consume.  However, the Earth’s surface is finite, and consideration must be taken with regards to human population and environmental resources. B

• Therefore, prudent policy would acknowledge both zero-sum and non-zero-sum attributes of the world we live in. B

Models and observation show life on earth have developed four major strategies: T

• Producers (plants, some bacteria) T

• Herbivores (animals that eat plants) T

• Predators (animals that eat animals) T

• Parasites (life that derive resources from other life without directly killing, and without producing) T

Most societies make a large distinction between herbivores, and predators and parasites. But, all take resources (including life itself) from other living things.  T

• The distinction between smashing a mosquito and cutting down a giant thousand-year-old redwood is significant, and this time the larger loss lands on the side of the plant, not the animal.  B

• If we combine herbivores, predators and parasites in the common group of takers, it changes the paradigm of ethical behavior, giving the cow, the human, and the tiger the same weight ethically. B

- UH believes the cow, the human, and the tiger have the same weight ethically.  The ramifications of this model are significant.  B

• Ethically, the role of the predator is as valid as the role of the producer.  B

• Groups have been and are torn asunder by predatorial attacks. B

• Those species and groups that have survived have developed defenses against attack. Many are passive barriers (termite mounds). Many are violent (Rhinoceros horns). T

• Historical human cultures that have survived for generations all have methodologies to ward off attack (religious suspicions and rejection, castle walls). T

Many human individuals and groups historically have adopted the role of predator or parasite, attacking productive human civilizations. T

Those who do not understand the causes of the events of history are doomed B

• Ask yourself why the majority of slaves in ancient Rome did not revolt?  Because the downtrodden position of slave in Rome was better than the position of freeman in the hinterlands where life was even shorter due to the predation of individuals by roving bands of human predators. B

• Why couldn’t the rovers just leave the individuals alone you ask?  Because the rovers did not make their own food, they stole it, along with everything else of value.  B

• It’s not fair or ethical you cry.  Yes it is, just as all predators are ethically the same as producers in nature.  Civilization will not stop predation by moral superiority, but by defending itself. B

• It is a responsibility of civilization to defend itself, for if it does not, then the ethical predators will tear it apart for their own survival. B

• Predators and parasites destroy the fabric of society and cause the downfall of us all, individually and as a group.  B

Individual humans who kill humans are not necessarily insane or sick.  Consider the following: B

• If one can watch a lion carry off a baby giraffe alive, limpid eyes watching its own fate, and say “It makes me sad, but that is the cycle of life”, then lions (and orcas) have the same ethical and merit of life as their prey.  Orcas are not diseased or insane.  Killing does not make one insane or diseased.  It just describes one as a predator (or parasite).  There are many humans filling the niche of predator.

UH believes it is a prerequisite for a wholesome society to protect itself from predatorial individuals and groups. B

- Understanding this basic nature of people is necessary when building the foundations of society T