...wherein, is also briefly explained the philosophy of Apostles of the Flame. In the great tradition which has brought us Heinlein's Church of the All World and Hubbard's scientology, I realized Apostles of the Flame from Asimov's famed Nightfall short-story didn't seem to be used by any major group, and jokingly suggested founding such a religion a few times. But then I started thinking, and thought to myself, the life of a cult-leader... heh, just joking. Actually, adoption of a name helps to tie a group closer together, creating a sense of belonging and community.
I'm honored to be able to use one with such distinction as Apostles of the Flame. Flame has always been associated with wisdom, and this may have been part of the original thinking when Asimov came up with it. In any case, this is the sense in which I have chosen to apply it. Fire may be humankind's first discovery, certainly one of the most important, possibly only surpassed by the wheel. The people who in early societies would watch after the flame, to make sure it wouldn't burn off or get out of control, were guardians of the wisdom of their times. In fact, I have deemed to redefine the meaning of sentience, usually defined through the somewhat vague and circular point of becoming aware of oneself, as the first conscious impulse to preserve and share knowledge. The first awkward syllable uttered, the first thin mark drawn on the shadowy wall of a cave, illuminated only by fire...
If this means many animals who can be said to learn from others are sentient, so be it, but I doubt many of them are conscious of sharing this knowledge. An animal which screams when it is hurt will only hasten it's own end, as first-aid was only invented by humans, but will give a better change to its kin who are now aware of the danger which is likely drawn away from them by the distraction. Yet this is clearly not a conscious decision, while it is an elementary and example of the sharing of knowledge that occurs even when nobody is actively sharing. The need to learn is born-in in every one of us, but the conscious decision to share knowledge is something that rarely occurs even to many "sentient" humans. Altough, honestly, I think the term "sentience" should be replaced by a more descriptive term for whatever it was evoked to classify in that instance. Most people mean human, or human-like when speaking of extraterrestials, but sentients with nothing to teach us would be something of a let-down.
The Mankind's most important calling is the accumulation and conservation of wisdom. Yet history tells us this is probably the most often failed; the destruction of the libary of Alexandria was neither the first nor certainly the last time this has happened. Even now countless of works are disappearing into the darkness of history due to neglect or plain ignorance. Thus comes the importance of preservation and duplication by sharing of that information which we already have, not only for us and our kind, but as the history tells us, even those who might come after us. This is a neverending quest that will never end as the possibility that there is yet another culture or entity somewhere in the wide universe who have come to awareness of the importance of this task can never be totally dismissed.
Thereby censorship is Mankind's worst enemy. It prevents the accumulation of wisdom, which in itself is never good or bad. Governments have also devised some measures ostensibly for the protection of intellectual property to maintain the incencitive to the generation of new wisdom. However, when these tools are harnessed for the purpose of prevention of the accumulation of wisdom - and I do not mean by ensuring authors their just rewards - they in itself become preventatives of Mankind's progression. In such a case it's not just the right, but duty, of each invidual to disregard such barriers. Hopefully in the coming decades we will see a revolution of the intellectual property rights brought about by rampant not by users but owners of such rights, leading to what I have titled "Intellectual Property Responsibilities".
This is a dummy placeholder for data-sorting/organizing talk. ;)
Some pseudo-saying wisdom tid-bits, I don't like the way they sound, still working:
People will come to you and say, "Teacher, teach me!". And you will be tempted to say no, because you know people would soon forget you and tell you "He is the best". But is it not better to be able to then say "And I taught the best"?
Another placeholder to stick the actual content/explanation in...
(Notes: I don't mean "right or wrong" in the way many groups try to deconstruct the whole concept, however "good" and "evil" and the rights people have been awarded have varied throughout history. Societies have existed and imaginary ones constructed with rules very different from ours, which can still be said to have "worked". Incidentally I also concur there's nothing "wrong" with any of the concepts mentioned, I would myself immensely enjoy them, they're just not "forever"). This is also why the accumulation of wisdom - or recording down of the absolute all-encompassing Truth - can be perceived as more important than even life itself, or the continuation or improvement of the species. But these concepts go hand in hand.