Link / Archive
By Tyrant's Muse - Nov 10, 2024
In this framework, the individual's actions are part of a larger moral order, contributing to the triumph of truth, justice, and light over falsehood, disorder, and darkness. This dualism isn’t just spiritual; it permeates the daily actions of people, both in their ethical conduct and their social roles. Individuals were expected to align their actions with cosmic order, and in return, they were seen as participating in the maintenance of divine justice.
The Persian Empire had a well-defined social hierarchy, and slavery was a part of it. Persian slaves could come from a variety of backgrounds, including conquered peoples, debtors, or criminals. However, in the context of the Persian Empire, slaves were not only used for physical labor but also for epistemic labor—tasks involving knowledge work, administration, and intellectual production.
This distinction is crucial because it shows that in Persia, slavery was not just about manual or menial labor—it also extended into the realm of intellectual service. Persian slaves were sometimes expected to manage information, learn foreign languages, and participate in diplomacy or administrative roles that required education and specialized knowledge. In fact, slaves could hold important positions within the royal court, military, or religious institutions, where their roles went far beyond simple manual labor.
Zoroastrianism itself required a significant amount of epistemic labor in its practice and preservation. The priesthood played a critical role in maintaining the religious knowledge, rituals, and cosmic order, and many of these religious experts were slaves or came from marginalized groups. In a sense, these religious scholars functioned as guardians of divine knowledge—tasked with interpreting the sacred texts, overseeing rituals, and instructing the people on the proper conduct to align with Ahura Mazda.
In the West, the term "knowledge worker" has emerged in the context of modern economies to describe individuals who perform tasks that require specialized intellectual skills, like research, education, administration, and management. However, this concept doesn’t fully capture the role of epistemic labor in ancient societies, particularly in the context of slavery. In the Persian Empire, the need for intellectual labor was immense. As an empire that spanned diverse cultures and peoples, the Persians required scribes, administrators, interpreters, and scholars to handle the complexities of their vast bureaucratic systems and foreign relations. Many of these intellectual roles were performed by slaves or enslaved individuals. We in the West don't haven an idea or words for the concept of epistemic slave labor. We just call them "knowledge workers" and assume them to be regulated by their own market forces.
The idea I am curious about is how starvation and resource scarcity affect not just the physiological well-being of a society, but also its cognitive abilities, social structures, and linguistic development. This is because starvation is almost always a collective experience. Meaning, all of the cognitive evolution that drives socialization and linguistic behavior often comes the same pressures to adapt to energy availability. We see this in how linguistic behavior changes during starvation periods.
Under extreme conditions of hunger, the brain’s focus shifts away from higher-order thinking like abstract reasoning, long-term planning, and strategic problem-solving. Instead, individuals become more preoccupied with basic survival—securing food, water, and shelter. In fact, studies on hunger and cognition have demonstrated that hunger reduces an individual's cognitive flexibility, meaning they are less able to weigh multiple possibilities or engage in abstract thinking. The cognitive system becomes "hijacked" by the immediacy of survival, and cognitive resources that would otherwise be available for higher-order tasks become diverted toward short-term needs.
This shift in cognitive focus—toward immediate survival—can lead to social fragmentation. As people become less able to engage in complex reasoning, they may become more defensive, isolated, or self-serving, prioritizing their own well-being over collective concerns. In periods of chronic famine, we can see how this might affect the social fabric—people in communities might lose the ability to trust each other or engage in cooperative efforts, since each individual is struggling to secure their own survival. This breakdown in trust can be devastating for social cooperation, which is essential for large-scale cooperation (like agriculture, trade, or defense).
Starvation also limits people's ability to cooperate on more complex or abstract levels. The mental energy that would otherwise be devoted to collaborative problem-solving is consumed by the stress of immediate need. This can lead to diminished collective action, making it harder for the society to address larger problems like agricultural improvement or political governance. Without the ability to plan for the future or work together, societies may become stuck in cycles of short-term responses to crises, rather than investing in long-term resilience.
During times of extreme scarcity, language tends to become more functional and immediate. In a situation where survival is uncertain, communication becomes focused on direct, concrete needs—such as "food," "water," or "shelter." Abstract concepts, such as justice, beauty, or morality, may recede from the forefront of communication, and linguistic forms become simplified to reflect the urgent necessity of survival.
When the brain is starved of the resources it needs to function optimally, it may no longer have the mental bandwidth for the complex constructions of language required for abstract thought. This can manifest in:
In societies under stress, language may increasingly become oriented around ritual and pragmatism. Ritualized language, like prayers, incantations, or offerings, can become more central to social interactions. These types of language use offer comfort and reassurance during uncertain times. For example, Zoroastrianism includes rituals that may have had the effect of reinforcing social cohesion and providing emotional support in the face of environmental stress. Ritualized language helps to organize communities in times of starvation crisis, offering predictability and a sense of collective purpose.
In short:
Zoroastrianism was the first slave morality. Slave moralities are needed when you become more dependent on knowledge workers.
The Crusaders, unaware of the ancient system they were encountering, unwittingly brought these deeply ingrained structures back to Europe, where they would later influence the development of mystery schools, esoteric traditions, and even the foundations of resistance movements against the Papal authority. These societies developed alternative moral frameworks and methods of knowledge transmission. But I argue that these systems weren’t just a rebellion against the Church — they were, in part, an unconscious transmission of a Persian slave morality designed for their epistemic caste.
Papal resistance gave rise to the Renaissance, which would later give rise of capitalism, industry, and the scientific method. The discovery and control of oil—an essential resource for powering industrial machines—became the catalyst for global geopolitical conflict. The European powers, driven by their need for this resource, found themselves drawn into conflict with Persia. The 1950s oil crisis, particularly the Iranian Oil Nationalization Crisis, can be seen as a direct confrontation between the Persian legacy (and its Zoroastrian influence) and the industrial powers of Europe and the U.S., whose dependency on oil reflected their subconscious embrace of Persian slave morality.
By the 1960s, Persia began to understand the underlying cultural and intellectual patterns that had been embedded in European society. They began to activate ancient control structures to counter the influence of Western elites. The West’s lack of awareness of its Persian inheritance left it vulnerable to subversive tactics rooted in ancient forms of the successful wielding of Persian slave morality. The Persians must have been delighted to know the elite layer of their current rival was completely subsumed by the slave morality they created millennia ago.
The idea of cybersemiotics — a study of signs, symbols, and codes within the context of human-computer interaction—becomes relevant here. The internet functions as a modern emulation of a real conversation, but it fails to convey the nuances and context that were essential for earlier human interactions. This failure to communicate mirrors how we linguistically behave during periods of starvation. The elite cults and secret societies in Western society, who were operating on this encoded moral framework, didn’t understand they were being activated by a very ancient methodology of slave control. They were all running variants of the software designed to prevent Persian epistemic labor from revolting.
The simplification of language and the fracturing of communication created by online interactions reactivates the very grammar that underpinned ancient Persian survival mechanisms — where survival, communication, and obedience were intertwined. This fragmented form of communication reactivates the Persian slave morality encoded in modern "Enlightenment" systems, particularly within the elite circles that have long been disconnected from the origins of their own moral systems.
In short, the energy resource conflict between the West and Central Asia has a psychosecurity component that few would observe, let alone understand. Persia does not need to retaliate in a primary manner with kinetics or even nuclear arms. They just might understand that Western elite psychology is completely invaded by the same system Persian ancestors used to control their epistemic slaves. And the Internet is the mass creation of such slaves.
By Tyrant's Muse - Nov 10, 2024
The Man With The Golden Camels
Zoroastrianism is based on a dualistic cosmology where the forces of good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Angra Mainyu) are in eternal opposition. Human beings are tasked with choosing which side they align with, and their actions contribute to the larger cosmic struggle between order (Asha) and chaos (Druj). The ethical code of "Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta" (Good thoughts, Good words, Good deeds) reflects the individual's responsibility to make the right choices within this cosmic battle.In this framework, the individual's actions are part of a larger moral order, contributing to the triumph of truth, justice, and light over falsehood, disorder, and darkness. This dualism isn’t just spiritual; it permeates the daily actions of people, both in their ethical conduct and their social roles. Individuals were expected to align their actions with cosmic order, and in return, they were seen as participating in the maintenance of divine justice.
The Persian Empire had a well-defined social hierarchy, and slavery was a part of it. Persian slaves could come from a variety of backgrounds, including conquered peoples, debtors, or criminals. However, in the context of the Persian Empire, slaves were not only used for physical labor but also for epistemic labor—tasks involving knowledge work, administration, and intellectual production.
This distinction is crucial because it shows that in Persia, slavery was not just about manual or menial labor—it also extended into the realm of intellectual service. Persian slaves were sometimes expected to manage information, learn foreign languages, and participate in diplomacy or administrative roles that required education and specialized knowledge. In fact, slaves could hold important positions within the royal court, military, or religious institutions, where their roles went far beyond simple manual labor.
Zoroastrianism itself required a significant amount of epistemic labor in its practice and preservation. The priesthood played a critical role in maintaining the religious knowledge, rituals, and cosmic order, and many of these religious experts were slaves or came from marginalized groups. In a sense, these religious scholars functioned as guardians of divine knowledge—tasked with interpreting the sacred texts, overseeing rituals, and instructing the people on the proper conduct to align with Ahura Mazda.
In the West, the term "knowledge worker" has emerged in the context of modern economies to describe individuals who perform tasks that require specialized intellectual skills, like research, education, administration, and management. However, this concept doesn’t fully capture the role of epistemic labor in ancient societies, particularly in the context of slavery. In the Persian Empire, the need for intellectual labor was immense. As an empire that spanned diverse cultures and peoples, the Persians required scribes, administrators, interpreters, and scholars to handle the complexities of their vast bureaucratic systems and foreign relations. Many of these intellectual roles were performed by slaves or enslaved individuals. We in the West don't haven an idea or words for the concept of epistemic slave labor. We just call them "knowledge workers" and assume them to be regulated by their own market forces.
The Tongue And The Stomach
The Bronze Age (c. 3300–1200 BCE) was a period of significant technological, social, and political development, but it was also fraught with challenges such as famine, natural disasters, and intense competition for resources. Ancient Persia, during its formative period, was a crossroads of trade and cultural exchange, but also an area where the scarcity of resources, such as water, fertile land, and food, created pressures on the social structure. Like many Bronze Age societies, the ancient Persians were dependent on agriculture, which was susceptible to unpredictable weather patterns, droughts, and other natural challenges. These conditions often led to famine and food scarcity, which could have been one source of the tension that inspired religious responses that sought to explain, address, exploit, prevent, and recreate such hardships.The idea I am curious about is how starvation and resource scarcity affect not just the physiological well-being of a society, but also its cognitive abilities, social structures, and linguistic development. This is because starvation is almost always a collective experience. Meaning, all of the cognitive evolution that drives socialization and linguistic behavior often comes the same pressures to adapt to energy availability. We see this in how linguistic behavior changes during starvation periods.
Under extreme conditions of hunger, the brain’s focus shifts away from higher-order thinking like abstract reasoning, long-term planning, and strategic problem-solving. Instead, individuals become more preoccupied with basic survival—securing food, water, and shelter. In fact, studies on hunger and cognition have demonstrated that hunger reduces an individual's cognitive flexibility, meaning they are less able to weigh multiple possibilities or engage in abstract thinking. The cognitive system becomes "hijacked" by the immediacy of survival, and cognitive resources that would otherwise be available for higher-order tasks become diverted toward short-term needs.
This shift in cognitive focus—toward immediate survival—can lead to social fragmentation. As people become less able to engage in complex reasoning, they may become more defensive, isolated, or self-serving, prioritizing their own well-being over collective concerns. In periods of chronic famine, we can see how this might affect the social fabric—people in communities might lose the ability to trust each other or engage in cooperative efforts, since each individual is struggling to secure their own survival. This breakdown in trust can be devastating for social cooperation, which is essential for large-scale cooperation (like agriculture, trade, or defense).
Starvation also limits people's ability to cooperate on more complex or abstract levels. The mental energy that would otherwise be devoted to collaborative problem-solving is consumed by the stress of immediate need. This can lead to diminished collective action, making it harder for the society to address larger problems like agricultural improvement or political governance. Without the ability to plan for the future or work together, societies may become stuck in cycles of short-term responses to crises, rather than investing in long-term resilience.
During times of extreme scarcity, language tends to become more functional and immediate. In a situation where survival is uncertain, communication becomes focused on direct, concrete needs—such as "food," "water," or "shelter." Abstract concepts, such as justice, beauty, or morality, may recede from the forefront of communication, and linguistic forms become simplified to reflect the urgent necessity of survival.
When the brain is starved of the resources it needs to function optimally, it may no longer have the mental bandwidth for the complex constructions of language required for abstract thought. This can manifest in:
- Shorter sentences
- Fewer abstractions or metaphorical language
- More direct, literal speech
- A shift from long, philosophical discussions to short, direct commands or requests (e.g., "Give me food" rather than "What is the meaning of life?").
In societies under stress, language may increasingly become oriented around ritual and pragmatism. Ritualized language, like prayers, incantations, or offerings, can become more central to social interactions. These types of language use offer comfort and reassurance during uncertain times. For example, Zoroastrianism includes rituals that may have had the effect of reinforcing social cohesion and providing emotional support in the face of environmental stress. Ritualized language helps to organize communities in times of starvation crisis, offering predictability and a sense of collective purpose.
In short:
- Starvation is always a communal experience
- Communication is always a communal experience
- Food access and communication are intrinsically bound
- Starvation impacts mental capacity and simplifies linguistic expression
- The simplified linguistic expression is a homogenization of grammar
- Homogenization of grammar compresses to symbols, rituals, and mythologies
- Zoroastrianism is forged from an age of intense food competition
- Zoroastrianism evolved a series of grammar tactics to delay the loss of social cohesion due to starvation
- Those affected by these grammar tactics would become the epistemic slave class of Persia
Zoroastrianism was the first slave morality. Slave moralities are needed when you become more dependent on knowledge workers.
Patient Zero
When the Crusaders ventured into the Middle East, they encountered a complex mix of cultures, religions, and philosophies, many of which were shaped by the legacy of ancient Persia. The Crusaders, in their search for divine justice, instead encountered twisted variants of the Persian slave morality created by Zoroastrianism. The Crusaders, in their religious fervor, unknowingly absorbed aspects of this moral order. This moral system focused not only on cosmic battles between order and chaos but also reinforced obedience, ritualization, and hierarchy within society, particularly for those in epistemic labor.The Crusaders, unaware of the ancient system they were encountering, unwittingly brought these deeply ingrained structures back to Europe, where they would later influence the development of mystery schools, esoteric traditions, and even the foundations of resistance movements against the Papal authority. These societies developed alternative moral frameworks and methods of knowledge transmission. But I argue that these systems weren’t just a rebellion against the Church — they were, in part, an unconscious transmission of a Persian slave morality designed for their epistemic caste.
Papal resistance gave rise to the Renaissance, which would later give rise of capitalism, industry, and the scientific method. The discovery and control of oil—an essential resource for powering industrial machines—became the catalyst for global geopolitical conflict. The European powers, driven by their need for this resource, found themselves drawn into conflict with Persia. The 1950s oil crisis, particularly the Iranian Oil Nationalization Crisis, can be seen as a direct confrontation between the Persian legacy (and its Zoroastrian influence) and the industrial powers of Europe and the U.S., whose dependency on oil reflected their subconscious embrace of Persian slave morality.
By the 1960s, Persia began to understand the underlying cultural and intellectual patterns that had been embedded in European society. They began to activate ancient control structures to counter the influence of Western elites. The West’s lack of awareness of its Persian inheritance left it vulnerable to subversive tactics rooted in ancient forms of the successful wielding of Persian slave morality. The Persians must have been delighted to know the elite layer of their current rival was completely subsumed by the slave morality they created millennia ago.
The idea of cybersemiotics — a study of signs, symbols, and codes within the context of human-computer interaction—becomes relevant here. The internet functions as a modern emulation of a real conversation, but it fails to convey the nuances and context that were essential for earlier human interactions. This failure to communicate mirrors how we linguistically behave during periods of starvation. The elite cults and secret societies in Western society, who were operating on this encoded moral framework, didn’t understand they were being activated by a very ancient methodology of slave control. They were all running variants of the software designed to prevent Persian epistemic labor from revolting.
The simplification of language and the fracturing of communication created by online interactions reactivates the very grammar that underpinned ancient Persian survival mechanisms — where survival, communication, and obedience were intertwined. This fragmented form of communication reactivates the Persian slave morality encoded in modern "Enlightenment" systems, particularly within the elite circles that have long been disconnected from the origins of their own moral systems.
In short, the energy resource conflict between the West and Central Asia has a psychosecurity component that few would observe, let alone understand. Persia does not need to retaliate in a primary manner with kinetics or even nuclear arms. They just might understand that Western elite psychology is completely invaded by the same system Persian ancestors used to control their epistemic slaves. And the Internet is the mass creation of such slaves.
