Philosophical Dialogues, Is a Just Society Possible?, Hunter and Bain, Jake Jackson

Dialogues | Is a Just Society Possible?

Hunter and Bain stare at the moonless sky. They sit in a cafe at the cliff edge of a plateau overlooking the landing bay. A constant stream of small craft arrive, halt for a few moments then fly off again, ferrying hordes of queuing people to the starships above. A huge circle of spinning sliver lights perpetuates the dark sky, reflected in a series of other circles, stretching across the vast landscape of this Way Station in the stars.

The time does not matter, nor the year. 

Bain: It’s a long time since I had to travel like that.

Hunter: There are some advantages travelling with me.

Bain, hesitating: Do you think it’s right, what’s happening down there?

Hunter: Depends which part of it you’re talking about.

Bain: Well, almost all of it. The people shuffling in the queues, clinging onto their single bags, the security staff lording it over everyone, the AI controllers fine-tuning the flight paths to maximise the number of prisoners taken up to the prison ships.

Hunter: Prison ships? I didn’t see that.

Bain, muttering: Thought not.

Hunter: Huh, it just seems so arcane, such an inefficient way of dealing with what this society calls criminals.

Bain: That’s it though, this particular society deemed legal death to be wrong so it locks up all the criminals onto vast ships, away from the colonies, out of sight.

Hunter: Surely that’s better than killing them all.

Bain: Yes. But it’s counter-productive. No-one learns the lessons, whatever they’re mean to be, because the problem doesn’t go away, it’s just hidden.

Hunter: You mean it doesn’t address the bigger issues?

Bain: Something like that. If this society thinks that certain actions don’t fit with it’s view of good behaviour, it should present an honest argument with visible consequences, especially if it wants to stop the actions.

Hunter: Perhaps they’ve decided they can’t stop it, or don’t have the time or inclination but still have to deal with the problem.

Bain: But that’s a society which has given up on being just.

Hunter: Or one that’s dealing with so many problems on such a scale, it has to work that way. Look at how many are being taken up to the ships.

Bain: And look how defeated they are. How many of them are petty criminals, or political prisoners, not just murders or arsonists?

Hunter: You were a thief once.

Bain: A small-time smuggler really, it was a way of life. It meant freedom.

Hunter: And your society seemed to tolerate a certain amount of that.

Bain: You mean the smuggling?

Hunter: I meant the freedom!

They both suppressed a laugh.

Bain: Freedom to transgress, just a little perhaps, without fear of utter defeat, without being crushed. Is that the secret to a just society?

Hunter: But a ‘just society’ the concept of a ‘just state’ at least seems to be a combination of perfections, the unity of tasks, with groups of people willingly submitting to their place in that group, and the group accepting its part in society.

Bain: That sounds more like a high-functioning brain, one without emotions or instinct. The first robots where like that. Even the AIs these days exhibit organic patterns of behaviour on top of their original programming.

Hunter: Perhaps society is like that. Build on a perfect plan, but once it reaches a certain point in development it has to adapt to its circumstances.

Bain: And abandons its ideals? Must it always be so?

Hunter: Without the over-riding element of AI, any society ruled by humans, whether elected or imposed seems to behave the same way: imperfectly. Humans, because their emotions make them fundamentally weak, don’t make rational decisions all the time, they’re easily distracted, tempted, even, especially those in power. The struggle for advantage in human society seems to be an essential element, a destructive way of bringing about change for individuals and groups.

Bain: That’s sounds very gloomy. It’s the weaknesses you describe that make humans fundamentally strong too, it allows for adaptation, and joy, determination and desire, sensation and hope. It brings individuality and idiosyncrasy.

Hunter: Well, the concept of a ‘just society’ doesn’t really acknowledge those things, because they strain against the overall aims of the society, where everyone knows their place, and fits willingly inside it. Whichever way you look at that, it is impossible for a perfectly tuned society to exist for very long. The weakness of humanity, or the desire to allow for the strengths as you describe them bring the sort of imperfection which makes government difficult, and consistent justice even more so.

Bain shrugs: So a society has to confront a series of challenges born out of the nature of humankind with a series of compromises. I suppose that’s how humans have worked for thousands of years.

Hunter: Over the ages it seems always to be about Kings, power and money. Now, it’s the corporations who rule the colonies with their power-broking, legal money-laundering and bribery; they still use force to impose their will, their justice. The people we see on the plateau below, destined for a cramped life in the stars, they are the victims of this all-too human system. If good and just values once existed, they persist no longer for these people.

Bain: So, perhaps a ‘just society’ is impossible because of the weakness and venality of humankind. We have to do the best we can in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

Hunter nodding towards the landing bay below: Unless you are defeated by the consequences.

They both stare at the long lines of prisoners. Whatever differences between the individuals below had existed before, compliant and defeated now each one behaves in the same way; whatever weakness had led them to this point, from now on they are destined to be treated as one, compelled to submit for the rest of their lives, slaves to a society that has abandoned any desire for a truly just society.

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