The First and Only Law: Part 1

A reflection on the existential difficulty of moral action in the First Law Trilogy and the societal triumph of Moloch in Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten

“Rules are for children. This is war, and in war the only crime is to lose.”

Is it better to stand up for your beliefs now, or to wait until you’re in a position of power to do so? This question seems to get tossed around a lot in my social circles these days, perhaps because I am at the age where this question has started to become less rhetorical. The bright, young, 20-somethings that I went to college with are starting to find themselves at least not at the bottom of the social hierarchy with a real ability to actually make a difference in other people’s lives. And predictably the answer has started to shift from “of course I should always stand up for my own beliefs” towards “maybe after I get a certain job/girlfriend/house/car”.

And I am certainly guilty of this as well. Recent conflicts in my lab have made me realize how little I am willing to rock the boat of my bosses opinion to stand up against what I feel is mismanagement/mistreatment of others. Not to mention the massive system of consumptive capitalism that is tearing us, and our planet apart. It’s an impossible situation to actually deal with.

However, at least in my situation, I don’t think this rhetorical question really accurately describes my personal struggles. The question of standing up for your…