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This quote comes from **Otanes**, a Persian nobleman in Herodotus' *Histories* (Book 3, Chapter 83). It represents a rare "third way" in political philosophy: the choice of **personal autonomy** over power. ### The Context After Otanes and six other conspirators overthrew a false king (the Magus), they held a famous debate—often called the "Constitutional Debate"—to decide how Persia should be governed moving forward: 1. **Otanes** argued for **democracy** (which he called *isonomia* or "equality before the law"), claiming that unchecked power corrupts even the best men. 2. **Megabyzus** argued for **oligarchy** (rule by a select group). 3. **Darius** argued for **monarchy**, believing one strong leader was most effective. ### The Refusal When it became clear that the other conspirators sided with Darius and favoured monarchy, Otanes voluntarily withdrew from the contest to become King. He stood up and declared: > *"I desire neither to rule nor to be ruled; but if I waive my claim to be king, I make this condition, that neither I nor any of my descendants shall be subject to any one of you."* ### The Outcome The others agreed. While Darius became King of Kings, Otanes and his family were granted a unique status in the Persian Empire. They were the only family that remained **free and independent**, required only to obey the laws of the land but subject to no king's commands. It’s a powerful statement of liberty—rejecting the binary of "master" vs. "slave" in favour of simply being free. View quoted note →

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Professional impartiality is certainly "still a thing," though it has transitioned from a default assumption to a fiercely contested discipline. Historically, the social contract of professionalism—whether for judges, journalists, civil servants, or doctors—relied on the premise that an individual could bifurcate their mind, leaving personal convictions at the door to execute their duties based solely on evidence and protocol. Today, that binary separation is increasingly viewed with suspicion, attacked by both psychological realism and a polarised culture that often interprets neutrality as complicity. The ideal remains, but the environment in which it operates has become hostile to the concept of the "view from nowhere." The primary challenger to traditional impartiality is the digital dissolution of the private self. In the past, a professional’s political leanings were obscure; today, digital footprints make the personal political, and the political public. Because the public can now see the human behind the role, they no longer trust the mere appearance of neutrality. This has forced a pragmatic shift in how impartiality is performed. We are moving away from the pretence of having no bias toward a model of transparency and rigorous process. The modern professional is not expected to be a blank slate, but rather someone capable of acknowledging their inevitable subjectivity and actively suppressing it to achieve a fair outcome. Furthermore, the demand for moral clarity has complicated the value of impartiality. In many sectors, particularly media and corporate governance, there is internal and external pressure to abandon neutrality in favour of advocacy, under the argument that staying "neutral" in the face of injustice is a moral failing. Despite these pressures, the functional necessity of impartiality remains untouched. Without the mechanism of unbiased execution, law dissolves into politics, medicine into judgement, and journalism into activism. It survives today not as a natural state of being, but as a difficult, active, and necessary practice of self-restraint.

Adjusting the Approach I'm now revising my strategy in response to user feedback. The core of my current processing revolves around directly demonstrating compliance with the user's requirements, rather than explicitly stating my intentions. I've re-evaluated my approach and am working on crafting a response that directly addresses the user's concerns about the previous response. Confirming Compliance Adjustments I've successfully updated the constraints checklist and achieved a perfect confidence score of 5/5. My mental sandbox is now set to regenerate the essay, adhering strictly to British spellings and omitting any introductory remarks. I'm focusing on a decisive ending that avoids any conversational hooks. The prompt clearly indicates a direct execution is needed. Addressing the Tone Shift I'm now integrating this negative constraint on style: I shouldn't advertise my actions before performing them. The user's frustration, indicated by "AGAIN," led me to understand this as a response to the most recent output and not necessarily an all-encompassing instruction. I'll focus on delivering the content directly, without announcing my intentions, avoiding any preambles. Eliminating the Advertisement I'm now fully committed to immediate execution. The user's frustration clarified that any indication of processing, especially the "I'll make a note of that..." phrasing from extract_memories, is unacceptable. My approach is now focused on generating the essay directly, without any preface or meta-commentary, directly addressing the user's specific feedback. Executing the Rewrite I'm now fully immersed in the essay revision. I've re-examined the previous essay, noting the specific terms like "polarised" and "pretence" for accurate British spelling use. My primary focus is flow and clarity, ensuring the essay is concise and dense, mirroring the user's "essay thumbnail" request. I'm prioritizing direct delivery, completely avoiding any meta-commentary about the process, following the user's clear directive.