Madalyn Murray O'Hair wrote in 1978 "Did you know all gods come from the same place?" a storybook for children illustrated by Joe Kirby. It begins with:

"Upon a time people were like kids. They could not read or write. They never went to school. They did not even know how to build houses such as the one you live in. They did not know what caused the rain, or the thunder, or the lighning. If they caught a cold or were ill, they did not know why, or how to help themselves."

But they had a great power. They could think, they could imagine. They used their mind to solve many of these problems, and when thought alone was not enough, they used their imagination. They imagined gods that were similar to them, omnipotent being moving the threads of thinks that they could not explain. Our ancestors also suffered, and were afraid of the unknown and afraid to die, so they invented complex fantasies that gave them the hope of living forever. The best of those fantasies have lasted, and they form the canon of established religions.

Christopher Hitchens says:

"... we’re afraid of the dark and we’re afraid to die, and we believe in the truth of holy books that are so stupid, and so fabricated, that a child can, and all children do (as you can tell by their questions) actually see through them."

But we no longer need these fantasies, least that a few make money with them offering false hopes to the weak. As children that leave their toys behind when they grow, we can abandon the false comfort of childish fantasies, and seek a path of happiness leading to the cultural evolution of our species.

Video with the reading of the book for children:

¿How can we compare the cultures of two countries? Geert Hofstede analized a database of IBM employees (IBM is present in over 70 countries) searching for differences among different countries.For each country, 5 features were extracted:

• Power distance index: the larger this number is, the larger the difference among classes. For instance Germany has a score of 35, while Chile has a score of 63 and Guatemala 95.
• Individualism: this measures the importance of an individual with respect to society. In a country like the US, for instance, the score is 91, while Germany has a score of 67 and China a score of 20.
• Masculinity: indicates the extent to which the values that are more stereotypical of men (material success, self-centering, power, strength, etc.) are more important than values associated to women (importance of relationships, quality of live, etc.). Japan has a score of 95, being the society more prototypically "masculine", while Sweden has a score of 5, being the society more prototypically "feminine" in the ranking.
• Aversion to uncertainty: this indicates how much a society avoids unstructured or uncertain situation. Greece in this regard has an index of 112, while in Singapur uncertainty is much less tolerated, with a score of 8.
• Orientation to long term: measures how important are persistence and tradition with respect to shorter-term values. In this regard China has an index of 118 and this is much larger in general in Asian countries. Norway has a score of 20. Unfortunately this index is available only for a few countries.
  

The official site of Geert Hofstede has a tool for comparing countries. For instance if we compare Chile and Spain, we see that Spain is more individualistic and more oriented toward masculine values than Chile.

The site ClearlyCultural.com has a series of world maps showing these scores. For instance this is the map showing the power distance index (redder = more unevenly distributed):

¿Cómo podemos comparar la cultura de dos países? Geert Hofstede analizó una base de datos de empleados de IBM, una corporación presente en más de 70 países, buscando diferencias en la cultura de los distintos países.

Para cada país, se extrajeron 5 rasgos:

• Distancia de poder(power distance index): a mayor número, más diferencia entre las distintas clases. Por ejemplo Alemania tiene un puntaje de 35, mientras que Chile tiene un índice de 63 y Guatemala de 95.
• Individualismo: a mayor número, más importante es el individuo respecto al colectivo. Un país como Estados Unidos, por ejemplo, tiene un puntaje de 91, Alemania 67 y China tiene un puntaje de 20.
• Masculinidad: indica el grado en el cual los valores más asociados estereotípicamente con el hombre (éxito material, centrarse en sí mismo, poder, fuerza, etc.) son más importantes que los valores asociados con la mujer (importancia de las relaciones, calidad de vida, etc.). Japón tiene un puntaje de 95 siendo la sociedad más prototípicamente "masculina" de las ranqueadas, mientras que Suecia tiene un puntaje de 5, siendo la sociedad más prototípicamente "femenina" en el ranking.
• Aversión por la incertidumbre: esto indica qué tanto una sociedad evita situaciones inciertas o con poca estructura. Grecia en esta escala tiene un índice de 112, mientras que en Singapur la incertidumbre es mucho menos tolerada, con un puntaje de 8.
• Orientación al largo plazo: mide qué tan importantes son la persistencia y la tradición respecto a los valores de más corto plazo. En este sentido China tiene un índice de 118 y el índice es más alto en países asiáticos que en occidente donde por ejemplo Noruega tiene un puntaje de 20. Lamentablemente este puntaje está disponible sólo para unos pocos países.
  

El sitio oficial de Geert Hofstede tiene una herramienta para comparar países. Por ejemplo si comparamos Chile y España, vemos que España es una sociedad más individualista y más orientada hacia valores masculinos que Chile.

El sitio ClearlyCultural.com tiene una serie de mapas del mundo mostrando los puntajes. Por ejemplo este es el mapa de distribución del índice de distancia de poder (más rojo significa más desigual):

“We live in a world in which there are equal opportunities for everyone. Everybody starts at the bottom of the ladder and then goes up by his/her own merits or by the power of fate. Everybody can get to the top of the ladder, and poor people are poor because they do not make the effort. There are rich countries because their people work, and poor countries in which people only sing and dance. And if there is inequality, it is because fate has decided to favor more to some than to the others.”

We dissent. We know that a just world is yet to come. We have been moving towards it for thousands of years, step by step. First the slaves. Then workers. Then women.

But those who have many privileges want to keep them, and make us drag our feet.

We want to stop dragging our feet>>.

We are not saying to take the powerful people out of their homes and hang them in the street. And it is not that some of them do not deserve it. It is because we are no longer stupid.

We will not stop receiving their money. Because that wealth was the fruit of our work, and we cannot live without it.

But we will no longer believe in their lies. Nor in their ghost enemies. Nor in the moral hierarchy of cultures. Nor in good versus the demon. Nor in a thousands threats that claim for their protection.

We will no longer support their wars. Because these are their wars, not ours. Let them go. Let them put their children forward.

We will no longer believe in their lies. We know that in the ladder not all of us start equal. We see this every day. We are not stupid. And that is not the hand of god dividing the goods of the world. It is the abuse committed by those who can abuse and tip the field against everyone else.

The wealth of the world is the fruit of our work. We want our share. A big one. A just one.

We want to create more wealth and to stop misery, but we do not want to let ourselves be blackmailed for those who ask our blood and privileges in exchange of generating wealth with our work.

We want to receive better education. That will make us less dependent. So we will be able to negotiate our share better. So we will not have to give so much to those who organize us, who give orders to us.

That's why the privileged fear universities: because we are teaching people to organize themselves.

We will not let ourselves be used to exploit and make others suffer, not even in exchange for money, not even if that's the usual thing. We will not be one against the other. We have grown.

We are going to be happy. Illegitimate authority makes us suffer. Seeing privileges unfairly earned make us suffer. Misery makes us suffer. Absurd prohibitions make us suffer. Pollution makes us suffer. Fear and war make us suffer.

We have been selling out in exchange of order and security. We are learning to organize ourselves. We can do it. And we will not pay for protection. We will not repeat the stupidity of a war between continents, between cultures. We will not accept it.

They believe that without fear we will not work. This is not true. We work because we want to be more, because everyone wants to be more. Otherwise, there would not be so many students.

They believe that without prohibitions our pleasures will entrap us. Do not worry for us. We have grown.

We will not allow power to keep on concentrating. And we are not only speaking of official leaders. We know they are there just to attract the bullets in case something goes wrong. We are speaking about those who have the money.

We will not allow the power to keep on concentrating, and to do so, we are going to create knowledge and art for everyone. We will grow by creating abundance, not by creating scarcity for the benefit of a few.

Every one of the things we need, will carry more knowledge and art, and less land and money. The freer the knowledge and art, the less valuable money will be, and the more abundant things will be.

And we will grow together until we no longer need to accept the blackmail of a few.

And we will grow together until we can enjoy that wealth.

And we will do it, we are doing it, in a few generations. We will do it fast, because we can not keep on waiting. We will not drag our feet anymore. We will not let the past prevent us from going to the future.

In a few more years our species will reach a population peak and then it will return to a population level that will be more appropriate to the size and resources of our planet.

In the meantime, we will not let our wealth in the hands of a few. We will do it by sharing with others what we have learned. We will do it without pause, without delay, without dragging our feet.

We will move on together learning how to organize ourselves, demanding what is ours and making ourselves freer. As we are doing now. As we have always do.

---

Photos: Kris, Caliope, MTSTrading, Fifila: Flickr // Creative Commons.

The Travelogue of Chile 2007 is ready and available. This time and as many suggested, I've written a bit more details about the places.

In August 2007 I traveled to Chile for holidays; these were five very intense weeks including a couple of weeks of work and three weeks of holidays with friends and family. At the beginning I'm always quite nervous because of all the long time spent without seeing each other, but after a moment you can feel at home very quickly more >>