Musings on a late summer night:

The written contract is what ends the soul of civilizations. Those who perpetrate it are the true enemies of all that is good about humanity.

While the body of a civilization, i.e. the roads, bridges, books, buildings, law and order, can be built upon the contract, the soul is infused into them by the 'contract-less' past of a civilization.

As the contract gets prominence, speed of building gets faster and arbitration becomes easy. Men start relying on the written word more than the spoken word. Enforcement is done, not by the society through shame and dishonour, but by salaried agents (police, lawyers and judges).

The system remains largely efficient for some time. But eventually, an incentive to use the contract as a weapon against the simple-minded becomes clear to a few (cunning men). By then, the spoken word has lost all value.

Marriage becomes a contract & so does service. Justice becomes a matter of who had the better lawyer when the contract was signed.

No association among men is without suspicion except for in the military, where men still risk their lives for one another.

Distrust becomes norm.

No civilization can survive without healthy tribalism, and no tribe can survive without trust between men. The written contract perpetrates distrust among brothers, replacing sacred honour with signatures.

Such societies get conquered by other cohesive high-trust societies.

So what stops someone from choosing dishonour (with profits) in a 'contract-less' society? Opportunity for long-term reproductive success. For the same reason, habitual defectors gain less in an infinite game of prisoner's dilemma.

In other words, keeping honour is Lindy.

This is why in Hindu scriptures, Satyuga (era of truth, especially in spoken word) is not only the first yuga but also the longest. As it takes a long-time to break down something that's Lindy. The degradation however, is non-linear. Kalyug is the shortest.

Hence, survival of a civilization, corrupted & weakened to the point of extinction, requires the importance of written contract to be demolished.

Sacred duties of a wife, husband, son, daughter, servant, teacher, master and ruler, must never be contractual obligations.

In a living society, people fear the mob more than a salaried judge.