Chapter 6

Guardrails: Moral Codes, Ethics, and Laws 

 

 If we accept the premise that humans have the capacity for selfishness and cruelty, societies can’t simply rely on the better angels of their citizens to maintain peace and stability. A vibrant and thriving society requires cooperation and trust. How is this achieved? Guardrails, of course.

 In complex societies, darker human nature impulses such as greed, aggression, and tribalism are maladaptive and destabilizing. But rather than totally suppress human nature like traffic barricades on roads, healthy societies use guardrails to channel citizens into constructive behavior. The following mechanisms are most typically employed.

 Laws and institutions

Legal systems establish boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behavior, backed by enforcement and penalties. A typical U.S. citizen is governed by laws, statutes, ordinances, and regulations at the Federal, State, County, city, and even neighborhood levels. There are likely hundreds of thousands of such rules. Even the lawmakers, interpreters, and enforcers are expected to comply. The U.S. Constitution was created to provide checks and balances to limit abuses of power within that nation.

 Moral Codes and Ethics

Beyond formal laws, moral and ethical frameworks function as internalized guardrails. Religious traditions, philosophical teachings, and cultural values and norms have long provided moral compasses to guide behavior. The Ten Commandments have been a guiding force in Judeo-Christian populations. The same holds true with Sharia laws amongst Muslims. These codes don’t just work because of fear of punishment; they are also embedded in the consciences and identities of adherents. Thus, individuals tend to regulate themselves even without the presence of enforcers.

 Social Norm and Culture

Given some thought, you could write a long list of social expectations about politeness, fairness, and reciprocity that regulate human impulses. How about customs, too? When you present your business card, do you do so with both hands? (Japan, Korea, China). In social media, there are often enforced standards around hate speech, harassment, and disinformation. Many cultures honor virtues such as honesty, humility, and hospitality to balance human tendencies such as deceit, arrogance, and selfishness.

Education and sports

Many schools teach (and enforce) values such as empathy, conflict resolution, and impulse control. Organized sports have standards for behavior and promote “sportsmanship” – the respect for opponents following a win or a loss.

Finding a balance

Setting guardrails is a dynamic process. Revolutions often occur when governments fail to find the optimal level of control. Successful governments and societies find a viable balance between absolute authoritarianism and anarchy.

 In honesty, my human nature compels me to prefer more control over your behavior, but less control over my own. So, I suspect an ideal balance will be one in which I feel a little too constrained while feeling you are not constrained quite enough.

 As far as stability goes, most thriving societies are relatively stable because stability creates the conditions for cooperation, prosperity, and trust. But thriving societies are not static - they adapt, reform, and sometimes pass through instability to correct injustices or meet new challenges. The key is dynamic stability: a balance between order and change.

Now that we’ve had a macro-level look at human nature, let’s begin a deeper dive into its specific elements.

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