Thomas Hobbes called the state an “artificial person”—an extremely apt term that applies not only to the state but to a whole range of other phenomena in our lives. An artificial person is an external authority that grants certain people the right, in the eyes of others, to do certain things to those around them. Take the militia, for example. In reality, militiamen differ from other people in no way. What allows them to beat, maim, rob, and imprison at will is the artificial person called “the state.” Moreover, this person lives in the heads of the very victims of this militia. It is precisely the belief that state militia is necessary and must have every possible authority to “fight crime” that enables militiamen to do whatever they do.
Probably, the emergence of artificial persons began at the same time as the emergence of living persons—when “society” appeared and human ancestors turned into people. Initially, artificial persons were responsible for maintaining some useful practice. For example, incest “deteriorates the breed” and must be forbidden. Eating one’s own is not good, therefore one must eat others. Here, the artificial person appears, as a rule, in the form of “spirits of ancestors,” which is technically correct, since their words are a generalization of their experience.
Then gods of the most varied religions appear with their own opinions about what is happening. And here the problem of intermediaries becomes obvious. That is, the god is a god, but he always speaks through a shaman or another priest. Or through a booklet. Therefore, the prohibition of cannibalism is accompanied by 150 additional idiotic taboos, and in the sacred booklet, for every normal commandment there are 20 superstitions added by the dealers of artificial persons.
Further, an amazing thing happened—the artificial person was equated to a living real person. This occurred when the Christian church received the rights of a living person—the ability to appear as plaintiff and defendant in court, and so on. Thus the corporation arose—an artificial person that acts like a living one, concludes deals, earns profit, and appears in court.
Artificial persons began to occupy more and more space in the lives of living persons and to control that life to an ever greater degree. During the Hundred Years’ War, no one would have thought to go into battle crying “for England!” or “for France!” Though modern historians serving artificial persons believe that “the national consciousness of the French” began to take shape precisely at that time. Perhaps. One can say with certainty only that “national consciousness” indeed took shape everywhere, and so well that it allowed people to kill each other on an industrial scale, not only without the slightest pangs of conscience, but also with a feeling of deep satisfaction.
Three people who, at the press of three buttons, can launch a rocket capable of destroying several million people at once, it turns out, are not horrifying criminals. It turns out, these are heroes standing guard over the artificial person called “Fatherland.” This catastrophic absurdity well illustrates the triumph of “national consciousness.”
Now artificial persons control the lives of living persons. In Ukraine, for example, in order to do business at a certain level, a living person must receive from an artificial person (the state) permission to become an artificial person (a legal entity). In my opinion, it can’t get any worse than this.
It is clear that living persons create artificial persons in order to control other living persons. It is clear that there are always the interests of the dealers of this process. It is clear that living persons are not at all against artificial persons, which, as they probably believe, simplify their lives. It is also clear that we will hardly be able to do without artificial persons altogether. All of this is obvious and does not require discussion. The point is merely that life is the interaction of living persons, no matter how they try to hide behind various masks. And if we want to live, we need to put artificial persons in their place. And first of all—in our own heads.