My name is Ben and I've just finished my History Ba at Sussex University. I just happen to have grown up in the geographical area known as England, although that is about as far as nationalism goes for me. I appreciate fully the fact that as a UK citizen, born to a well-off but by no means rich family in the heart of the Norfolk countryside, I have led a fairly sheltered life. I have however gone to great lengths to utilize this opportunity to ensure I do not remain ignorant and blissfully unaware of the plight of pretty much 95% of the rest of the world who did not, by pure chance, come to have this security handed to them on a plate. I may only be 25, but I also happen to be in the first wave of what I predict to be the next revolutionary generation, the internet generation.
This website is an introduction to my philosophy. I say my philosophy, but there is very little in it which is genuinely new. Perhaps that in itself is the most original aspect of this book: the complete disassociation of myself from the content. Odd for an author to declare that, no? Yet how can it be otherwise? Cause and effect do not stop happening so that we, as individuals, can pluck ideas from some invisible ether... ideas evolve, and in evolution there are no sky-hooks, no something from nothing. Instead, 'Grime and Reason' brings together ideas from Hegel, Marx, Dawkins, Gramsci, Anderson, Dennett, Kant.... Jedi Mind Tricks, South Park, Sage Francis, George Monbiot, Mark Thomas, Radiohead.
If you think this is somewhat odd, ask yourself why. Reason is not the sole arena of philosophers. Reason is everywhere where people are not indoctrinated with the selfish memes of their birth, where people regard the fate of all equally, where -isms of every sort are ignored in favour of independent, skeptical, reasoned analysis. the only way which this is possible is to educate people in how this world actually works, unmasking the web of motivations and alliances corrupting those leaders so intent on personal gain. Only through a broad and wide-reaching sphere of influence helping create who we are, who we become, can we hope to gain for ourselves the global moral frame-work necessary for a globalised world.
The long-term aim of this page is to evolve into a collective of writers from all over the world debating global topics from a global persepective. I hold no truck with political language of left and right. No world-view can be summarised and partitioned within a single word. The only criteria I use for judging moral and ethical problems are to be found in cognitive science, not politics. When you come to understand the human mind, realise the mechanisms involved in creating a self, only then do you appreciate the common denominator which links us all as humans, exposing the effect of culture and society in creating discrimination and inequality. Once one understands the actual nature of the self, you can find contentment regardless of material wealth, something the west in particular seems to have fled screaming from replete with gucci bags and designer shades.