• gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 days ago

    The legal system also only exists because we wrote our thoughts down.

    so does math. still nobody would argue that math is wrong or arbitrary because of that

    • flandish@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      math exists outside of humanity though. it is a priori. nation states exist because some people decided to enslave others.

      • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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        3 days ago

        well i guess law was originally derived from people’s ambition towards power and society’s need to still be organized. that’s a universal phenomenon, even if you encountered an exotic animal species on another planet, i reckon.

        that’s what makes it more universal than you think.

        a lot of details in our law are arbitrary, but so is math notation and even a lot of conventions that we use (consider 2π = 6.28 instead of π = 6.28). still, the core of the field is universal, i believe.

        • flandish@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          1+1 does not equal 2 even if you “notate” it differently. That’s the thing about math. compared to power structures invented by humans who have to kill each other over the “science” behind sharing a fucking drinking fountain with a black person.

    • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      There are and have been many different legal systems throughout the world and history. The one we’re familiar with is from the Romans - hence all the Latin legal terms - and was spread by colonialism.

      It is nothing like math, which was discovered independently by various cultures around the world.

      For more details read chapter 7 of David Graeber’s “Debt”