Rules in levels

One of my interests, and thus a recurring theme here, is the interactions between various types and layers of rules. I am constantly working out different models of how various rules affect behavior and our interactions. Much of my time here is going to be writing essays, in the classic "trying" sense, to figure out how different levels and layers work, as well as trying to come up with a better nomenclature than "rules levels."

What do I mean by rules levels? Surprisingly, it isn't in reference to game systems, though the inspiration came from there. I mean that there are different types of limitations on our actions that matter, and they come from different sources and behave in different ways. For example, let me get started with three:

1: Natural rules. (I like Natural Law, but that is already taken...) Basically the rules of the universe, of reality. They just are, and try as we might we can't change them. Yes, you can kill people, but no, you can't bring them back. Or go faster than the speed of light apparently. The key points about these rules are that they are absolute, no breaking or bending, we have to discover them, we can't create or destroy them, and generally society is indifferent to us figuring out ways to work around them. For example, we generally don't mind when someone figures out that the rules work differently than we thought, for instance that hearts can be restarted by electricity sometimes, though we might draw the line at straight up necromancy.

2: Social Rules (Often referred to as Natural Law.) These are the emergent rules we follow in our social behaviors, the unwritten rules (though they can be written down.) Rules like "if someone's stuff is on a chair, the chair is claimed and it is not ok to move the stuff and sit down," "don't wear white after Labor Day," or "murdering your neighbor and stealing his house is bad." These rules cover all human interaction and behaviors, because we socially care about such things. However, they can vary widely from culture to culture, group to group and even within groups between individuals. They also change and evolve over time to match the needs, situations and tastes of the people utilizing them. Some key points are that they are socially created, but not by any individual, and that they can be broken, but only at a greater or lesser social cost.

3: Governmental Rules (Often called laws, but better "legislation" I think.) These are the rules that governing bodies of people make to control those they govern. Sometimes they are simply codifications of Social Rules, such as the prohibition against murder, and usually define the process for punishment of such offenses. However, they also cover a large span of behaviors that the society is not actually against with their own rules, such as gambling, selling toilets that use more than one gallon per flush, etc. That is an important distinction, as it is entirely possible for Governmental Rules to be contrary to society's rules, and conflicts to emerge. Another key difference is that legislation is created by either an individual dictator or a relatively small group of legislators, instead of emerging from social norms of many individuals. They further also have more severe penalties than social norms, as the power of the state rests on lethal force, whereas societal punishments have a broader spectrum of punishments from simple social status loss, to the usual death.

That's it for now; I will save some of the interesting interactions for a later set of posts.