In golf you are always breaking a barrier. When you bust it, you set yourself a little higher barrier, and try to break that one.  Whether it is in education, sports, or career, it is important to apply the same concept to life. The conquest of the oceans links up directly with the advance toward accurate weather prediction and, ultimately, climate control. What we call weather is largely a consequence of the interaction of the sun, air, and ocean. By monitoring ocean currents, salinity, and other factors, by placing weather-watch satellites in the skies, we will greatly increase our ability to forecast weather accurately. Prior to the 1970’s, it was impossible to monitor the weather around the entire globe, but as Dr. Walter Orr Roberts, past president of the American Association for the advancement of since predicted, we are now able to have the entire globe under continuous weather observation at a reasonable cost. And this has vastly improved forecasting of storms, freezes, droughts, smog episodes, tsunamis, and even earthquakes—with attendant opportunities to avert disaster. However, it was also predicted that lurking in the future would also be the awesome potential weapon of war—the deliberate manipulation of weather for the benefit of the few and powerful, to the detriment of the enemy, and perhaps the bystanders as well. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

In a science fiction story entitled The Weather Man, Theodore L. Thomas depicts a World in which the central political institution is a “Weather Council.” In it, representatives of the various nations hammer out weather policy and control peoples by adjusting climate, imposing a drought here or a storm there to enforce their edicts. We may be currently be capable of having such carefully calibrated control. The ionosphere is the outermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere. It begins at about 50 kilometers (30 miles) above Earth’s surface and contains atoms and molecules that are ionized (that is, they lose an electron and become positively charged) by the Sun’s ultraviolet light. HAARP is a full High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, that uses an ionospheric heater, so called because the excitation of electrons increases their temperature. By altering the density of electrons, in a specific region, scientists using HAARP can study how the ionosphere reacts to changing conditions. Many have accused HAARP of controlling the weather to ensure a global warming conspiracy, which is basically what Theodore L. Thomas predicted in April is 1962. No matter if these predications and allegations are true, there is no question that the day is past when humans simply had to take whatever Heaven deigned to give in the way of weather.  #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

 Many primitive peoples believed that everything was controlled by some sort of spirit. If there was a storm, the reason must be that the gods were angry. If crops were bad, then the first-born son must be sacrificed to appease the gods. A child born deformed was thought to be possessed by an evil spirit, and had to be killed. A person who was emotionally or physically ill must be possessed by a demon. People also assumed that forces or spirits controlled their behaviour. In most primitive cultures even today, people assume that they have little choice in their own destiny, because it is controlled by good and evil spirits. Through the use of technology and the fake news media, it is possible that people are using fear and the age of information to scare people in order to control them. However, “Take heed that no human deceives you,” reports Matthew 24.4. Deception will play a very big role in the last days, for the “devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time,” reports Revelation 12.2. “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of the sky to the Earth in the presence of the people,” reports Revelation 13.13 In the blunt words of the American Meteorological Society: “Weather modification today is a reality.” This represents one of the turning points in history and provides humans with a weapon that could radically affect agriculture, transportation, communication, recreation. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

Unless wielded with extreme care, however, the gift of weather system is an integrated whole; a minute change at one point can touch off massive consequences elsewhere. Even without aggressive intent, there is danger that attempts to control a drought on one continent could trigger a tornado on another. Moreover, the unknown sociopsychological consequences of weather manipulation could be enormous. Millions of us, for example, hunger for sunshine, as our mass migrations to Florida, California or the Mediterranean coast indicate. We may well be able to produce sunshine—or a facsimile of it—at will. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is studying the concept of a giant orbiting space mirror capable of reflecting the sun’s light downward on night-shrouded parts of the Earth. A NASA official, George E. Mueller, has testified before Congress that the United States of America will have the capacity to launch huge sun-reflecting satellites into space, and in the plane of the can be assigned remotely by electrical signals. By appropriately adjusting the segments, it would then be possible, depending on the need, to spread the entire soar energy reflected by the mirror over wide regions of the Earth’s surface or to concentrate it on single points, or finally to radiate it out into space if not being used. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

“Space mirrors” of this type would be in a weightless state as a result of their orbital motion; this fact would considerably simplify their manufacture. Using these large space mirrors, it would also be possible to make other planets inhabitable, as well as areas in the North of Earth through artificial solar radiation, to keep the sea lanes to Northern Siberian harbours, to Spitzbergen, et cetera free of ice, or to influence even the weather by preventing sudden drops in temperature and pressure, frosts, hail storms, and to provide many other benefits. Humans have the technology to renovate and control the Earth, expand livable region and save rain forests. The present natural light-dark cycle is tired to human biological rhythms in ways that are, as yet, unexplored. One can easily imagine the use of orbiting sun-mirrors to alter the hours of light for agricultural, industrial or even psychological reasons. For example, the introduction of longer days into Scandinavia could have a strong influence on the culture and personality types now characteristic of that region. To put the matter only half-facetiously, what happens to Ingmar Bergman’s brooding art when Stockholm’s brooding darkness is lifted? Could The Seventh Seal or Winter Light have been conceived in another climate? #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

The increasing ability to alter weather, the development of new energy sources, new materials (some of them almost surrealistic in their properties), new transportation means, new foods (not only from the sea, but from hydroponic food-growing factories)—all these only begin to hint at the nature of that lie ahead. In War with the Newts, Karel Capek’s marvelous but little-known novel, humans being about the destruction of civilization through their attempt to domesticate a variety of salamander. Today, among other things, humans are learning to exploit animals and fish in ways that would have made Mr. Capek smile wryly. Trained pigeons are used to identify and eliminate defective pills from drug factor assembly lines. In Ukraine, Soviet scientists employ a particular species of fish to clear the algae off the filters in pumping stations. Dolphins have been trained to carry tools to “aquanauts” submerged off the coast of California, and to ward off sharks who approach the work zone. Others have been trained to ram submerged mines, thereby detonating them and committing suicide on human’s behalf—a use that provoked a slight furor over inter-species ethics. If, and when, humans make contact with extra-terrestrial life—a possibility that many reputable astronomers regard as almost inevitable, research into communication between humans and the dolphin may prove to be extremely useful. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

In the meantime, dolphin research is yielding new data on the ways in which human’s sensory apparatus differs from that of other animals. It suggests some of the outer limit within which the human organism operates—feelings, moods, perceptions not available to humans because of their own biological make-up can be at least analyzed or described. Existing animal species, however, are by no means all we have to work with A number of writers have suggested that new animal forms be bred for specialized purposes. Sir George Thomson notes that “with advancing knowledge of genetics very large modifications in the wild species can no doubt be made.” Arthur Clarke has written about the possibility that we can “increase the intelligence of our domestic animals, or evolve wholly new ones with much higher Intelligence Quotients (IQ) than any existing now.” We are also developing the capacity to control animal behaviour by remote control. Dr. Jose M. R. Delgado, in a series of experiments terrifying in their human potential, implanted electrodes in the skull of a bull. Waving a red cape, Dr. Delgado provoked the animal to charge. Then, with a signal emitted from a tiny hand-held radio transmitter, he made the beast turn aside in mid-lunge and trot docilely away. Whether we grow specialized animals to serve us or develop household robots depends in part on the uneven race between the life sciences and the physical sciences. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

It may be more cost efficient to make machines for our purposes, than to raise and train animals. Yet the biological sciences are developing so rapidly that the balance may well tip within our lifetimes. Indeed, the day may even come when we begin to grow our machines. Now the principle of fidelity is but a special cast of the principle of fairness applied to the social practice of promising. Promising is an action defined by a public system of rules. These rules are, as in the case of institutions generally, a set of constitutive conventions. Just as the rules of games do, they specify certain activities and define certain actions. In the case of promising, the basic rule is that governing the use of the words “I promise to do X.” It reads roughly as follows: if one says the words “I promise to do X” in the appropriate circumstances, one is to do X, unless certain excusing conditions obtain. This rule we may think of as the rule of promising; it may be taken as representing the practice as a whole. It is not itself a moral principle but a constitutive convention. In this respect it is on par with legal rules and statues, and rules of games; as these do, it exists in a society when it is more or less regularly acted upon. The way in which the rule of promising specifies the appropriate circumstances and excusing conditions determines whether the practice it represents is just. For example, in order to make a binding promise, one must be fully conscious, in rational frame of mind, and know the meaning of the operative words, their use in making promises, and so on. Furthermore, these words must be spoken freely or voluntarily, when one is not subject to threats or coercion, and in situations where one has a reasonably fair bargaining position, so to speak. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

If the operative words of a promise are uttered while one is asleep, or suffering from delusion, or if one was forced to promise, or if pertinent information was deceitfully withheld from one, a person is not required to perform. In general, the circumstances giving rise to a promise and the excusing conditions must be defined so as to preserve the equal liberty of the parties and to make the practice a rational means whereby humans can enter into and stabilize cooperative agreements for mutual advantage. Unavoidably the many complications here cannot be considered. It must suffice to remark that the principles of justice apply to other institutions. Therefore the restrictions on the appropriate conditions are necessary in order to secure equal liberty. It would be wildly irrational in the original position to agree to be bound by words uttered while asleep, or extorted by force. No doubt it is so irrational that we are inclined to exclude this and other possibilities as inconsistent with the concept (meaning) of promising. However, I shall not regard promising as a practice which is just by definition, since this obscures the distinction between the rule of promising and the obligation derived from the principle of fairness. There are many variations of promising jut as there are of the law of contract. Whether the particular practice as it is understood by a person, or a group of persons, is just remains to be determined by the principles of justice. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

What do you know about covenants? A covenant is a promise or a solemn agreement. When we covenant with another person, we makes promises to each other. When we make a covenant with the Lord, we know that He will keep His promises. It is very important that we also keep our promises, or our part of the covenant, with the Lord. There are many stories in the scriptures about people who made covenants with the Lord. Do you remember the story of Noah? When Noah lived on the Earth, the people were so wicked that the Lord commanded Noah to build an ark to save at least two of every kind of animal as well as his own righteous family. It rained for forty days and forty nights, and the Earth was washed clean by a great flood. The Lord made a covenant, promising that the Earth would never again be destroyed by a flood. As a sign of that covenant, God sent a rainbow. Today when we see a rainbow, we should remember the promise God made. “And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the Earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the Earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be flood to destroy the Earth. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

“And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the Earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the Earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the water shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the Earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant,” reports Genesis 9.9-17. A bona fide promise is one which arises in accordance with the rule of promising wen the practice it represents is just. One person says the words “I promise to do X” in the appropriate circumstances as defined by a just practice, one has made a bona fide promise. Next, the principle of fidelity is the principle that bona fide promises are to be kept. It is essential, as noted above, to distinguish between the rule of promising and the principle of fidelity. The rule is simply a constitutive convention, whereas the principle of fidelity is a moral principle, a consequence of the principle of fairness. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

For suppose that a just practice of promising exists. Then in making a promise, that is, in saying the words “I promise to do X” in the appropriate circumstances, one knowingly invokes the rule and accepts the benefits of a just arrangement. There is no obligation to make a promise, let us assume; one is at liberty to do so or not. However, since by hypothesis the practice is just, the principle of fairness applies and one is to do as the rule specifics, that is, one is to do X. The obligation to keep a promise is a consequence of the principle of fairness. Therefore, by God keeping His promises, He demonstrates that he is a fair God. I have said that by making a promise one invokes a social practice and accepts the benefits that it makes possible. What are these benefits and how does the practice work? Well, let us assume that the standard reason for making promises is to set up and to stabilize small-scale schemes of cooperation, or a particular patter of transactions. The role of promises is analogous to that which Dr. Hobbes attributed to the sovereign. Just as the sovereign maintains and stabilizes the system of social cooperation by publicly maintaining an effective schedule of penalties, so humans in the absence of coercive arrangements establish and stabilize their private ventures by giving one another their word. Such ventures are often hard to initiate and to maintain. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

It is especially evident that these ventures of giving one’s word and taking another by their word is hard to initiate and to maintain in the case of covenants, that is, in those instances where one person is to perform before the other. For this person may believe that the second part will not do one’s part, and therefore the scheme never gets going. It is subject to instability of the second kind even though the person to perform later would in fact carry through. Now in these situations there may be no way of assuring the part who is to perform first except by giving one a promise, that is, by putting oneself under an obligation to carry through later. Only in this way can the scheme be made secure so that both can gain from the benefits of their cooperation. The practice of promising exists for precisely this purpose; and so while we normally think of moral requirements as bonds laid upon us, they are sometimes deliberately self-imposed for our advantage. Thus promising is an act done with the public intention of deliberately incurring an obligation the existence of which in the circumstances will further one’s ends. We want this obligation to exist and to be known to exist, and we want others to know that we recognize this tie and intend to abide by it. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

Having, then, availed ourselves of the practice for this reason, we are under an obligation to do as we promised by the principle of fairness. In this account of how promising (or entering into covenants) is used to initiate and to stabilize forms of cooperation, I have assumed that each person knows, or at least reasonably believes, that the other has a sense of justice and so a normally effective desire to carry out one’s bona fide obligations. Without this mutual confidence nothing is accomplished by uttering words. In a well-ordered society, however, this knowledge is present: when its members give promises there is a reciprocal recognition of their intention to put themselves under an obligation and a shared rational belief that this obligation is honoured. It is this reciprocal recognition and common knowledge that enables an arrangement to get started and preserves it in being. “Ye have entered into a covenant with one, that ye will serve one and keep one’s commandments, that one may pour out one’s Spirit more abundantly upon you,” reports Mosiah 18.10. There is no need to comment further on the extent to which a common conception of justice (including the principles of fairness and natural duty), and the public awareness of human’s willingness to act in accordance with it, are a great collective asset. I have already noted the many advantages from the standpoint of the assurance problem. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

 It is now equally evident that, having trust and confidence in one another, humans can use their public acceptance of these principles enormously to extend the scope and vale of mutually advantageous schemes of cooperation. From the standpoint of the original position, them it is clearly rational for the parties to agree to the principles of fairness. This principle can be used to secure these ventures in ways consistent with freedom of choice and without unnecessarily multiplying moral requirements. At the same time, given the principle of fairness, we see why there should exist the practice of promising as a way of freely establishing an obligation when this is to be the mutual advantage of both parities. Such an arrangement is obviously in the common interest. These considerations are sufficient to argue for the principle of fairness. Before taking up the question of political duty and obligation, as the discussion of promises illustrates, the contract doctrine holds that no moral requirements follow from the existence of institutions alone. Even the rule of promising does not give rise to a moral obligation by itself. To account for fiduciary obligations, we must take the principle of fairness as a premise. Thus along with most other ethical theories, justice as fairness holds that natural duties and obligations arise only in virtue of ethical principles. These principles are those that would be chosen in the original position. Together with the relevant facts of the circumstances at hand, it is these criteria that determine our obligations and duties, and single out what count as moral reasons. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

A (sound) moral reason is a fact which one or more of these principles identifies as supporting a judgment. The correct moral decision is the one most in line with the dictates of this system of principles when it is applied to all the facts it deems to be relevant. Thus the reason identified by one principle may be supported, overridden, or even canceled (brought to naught) by reasons identified by one or more other principles. I assume, though, that out of the totality of facts, presumably in some sense infinite, a finite or surveyable number are selected as those that bear upon any particular case so that the full system enables us to reach a judgment, all things considered. By contrast, institutional requirements, and those deriving from social practices generally, can be ascertained from the existing rules and how they are to be interpreted. For example, as citizens our legal duties and obligations are settled by what the law is, insofar as it can be ascertained. The norms of applying to persons who are players in a game depend upon the rules of the game. Whether these requirements are connected with moral duties and obligations is a separate question. This is so even if the standards used by judges and others to interpret and to apply the law resemble the principles of right and justice, or are identical with them. It may be, for example, that in a well-ordered society the two principles of justice are used by courts to interpret those parts of the constitution regulating freedom of thought and conscience, and guaranteeing equal protection of the laws. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

Although in this case it is clear that, should the law satisfy its own standards, we are morally bound, other things equal, to comply with it, the questions what the law demands and what justice requires are still distinct. The tendency to conflate the rule of promising and the principle of fidelity (as a special case arising from the principle of fairness) is particularly strong. At first sight they may seem to be the same thing; but one is defined by the existing constitutive conventions, while the other is explained by the principles that would be chosen in the original position. In thus way, then, we can distinguish two kinds of norms. The terms “duty” and “obligation” are used in the context of both kinds; but the ambiguities stemming from this usage should be easy enough to resolve. However, one may wonder, is it possible, without appealing to a prior general promise, or agreement to keep agreements, to explain the fact that by uttering certain words (by availing oneself of a convention) ne becomes bound to do something, particularly when the action whereby one becomes bound is publicly performed with the very intention, which one wants others to recognize, of bringing about this obligation. Or what is the something implied in there being bona fide agreements which looks much like an agreement to keep agreements and yet which, strictly speaking, cannot be one (since no such agreement has been entered into)? #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

Now the existence of a just practice of promising as a system of public constitutive rules and the principle of fairness suffice for a theory of fiduciary obligations. And neither implies the existence of an actual prior agreement to keep agreements. The adoption of the principle of fairness is purely hypothetical; we only need the fact that this principle would be acknowledged. For the rest, once we assume that a just practice of promising obtains, however it may have come to be established, the principle of fairness is enough to bind those who take advantage of it, given the appropriate conditions already described. Thus what corresponds to the something, which looked like a prior agreement but is not, is the just practice of giving one’s word in conjunction with the hypothetical agreement on the principle of fairness. Of course, another ethical theory might derive this principle without using the conception of the original position. For the moment I need not maintain that the fiduciary ties cannot be explained in some other way. Rather, what I am concerned to show is that even though justice as fairness sues the notion of an original agreement it is still able to give a satisfactory answer to the question. Everyone will admit that choice is essentially conscious; to choose involves knowing that you choose. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

Now Paradisal humans always choose to follow God’s will. In following it one also gratified one’s won desire, both because all the actions demanded of one were, in fact, agreeable to one’s blameless inclination, and also because the service of God was itself one’s keenest pleasure, without which as their razor edge all joys would have been inspired to one. The question “Am I doing this for God’s sake or because I happen to like it?” did not then arise, since doing things for God’s sake was what one chiefly “happened to like.” One’s Godward will rode one’s happiness like a well-managed horse, whereas our will, when we are happy, is carried away in the happiness as in a ship racing down a swift stream. Pleasure was then an acceptable offering to God because offering was a pleasure. However, we inherit a whole system of desires which do not necessarily contradict God’s will but which, after centuries of usurped autonomy, steadfastly ignore it. If the thing we like doing is, is in fact, the thing God wants us to do, yet that is not our reason for doing it; it remains a mere happy coincidence. We cannot therefore know that we are acting at all, or primarily, for God’s sake, unless the material of the action is contrary to our inclinations, or (in other words) painful, and what we cannot know that we are choosing, we cannot choose. The full acting out of the self’s surrender to God therefore demands pian: this action to be perfect, must be done from the pure will to obey, in the absence, or in the teeth, of inclination.  #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

How impossible it is to enact the surrender of the self by doing what we like, I know very well from my own experience at the moment. When we undertake a task and become thoroughly immersed in it, it will become a temptation rather than a duty. One may still hope whatever the task is, in fact, in conformity with God’s will: but to content that one is learning to surrender oneself by doing what is so attractive to one would be ridiculous. However, the more virtuous a human becomes the more one enjoys virtuous actions. Intuition is always sure of itself, but few persons are always sure whether what they feel is actually intuition or not. They may test it against reasoned analysis. You lift your magical hands, great healer, and send out healing knowledge. You know each medication and its effects, each technique and when it should be used, each symptom and what it means, each illness and how to treat it, each patient and what to do. May my hands be yours. “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your day and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the Heavens are above the Earth,” reports Deuteronomy 11.18-22. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

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