Very sly you are Steve Smith, The topic with no Name has been an ever present part of the group discussions. It drifts because we have never nailed it to the wall. There is a propensity to organize and control discussions. The nameless issues are like flies in our face. We try so hard to shoo them away but they leave us all a little silly looking . The fly keeps showing up right in the middle of our brows.
The nameless issue seems to be Human Nature and it is uncomfortably not what we generally assumed from idealistic perspectives. Often we drift directly into this area as a result of some calamitous world wide affair. All of us are showing surprise at the unpredictable recklessness of our global society. Perhaps clutching to the grail of Complexity is a feeble notion. I admit I am awestruck with the bizarre events of recent months, seemingly errant events recurring in greater and greater frequency. These events seem every few days to imply we really have very little understanding of what is going on around us. In retrospect each event was predictable yet we are clearly unable to see the real world beyond the reflection of our own internal fictions. Our brains like most people are handicapped in some way by short cuts in design. We know there is a world or reality beyond ours but rarely take it into consideration. WE get trapped into deviously designed narratives and have to wait for the penultimate chapter to find the hidden passage way behind the fireplace. The last chapter simply reconstructs all the missing bits which we never noticed. We all end up happier with a clean story line that appears self consistent. Unfortunately the desire for a clean story line is the problem with us. Every story demands one topic, one problem, one hero, one villain. The real world is obviously not structured around our prejudices yet we persist in making it so. ( I read Herodotus and laugh at his explanations of the world. He was a charmer I love his style. No one would dare today write ceaselessly with no plot. But maybe that is what is what I relish. He did not really care himself for the nonsense explanations and showed his dismissal ) Perhaps the writer is our God and he will show us the Truth if we listen closely. The Logos, the Word the hand of God may be nothing more than explanations externalized for intrinsic defects in human brains. The Dogma professed to allay our questions and let us live in peace but it never worked as well as hoped. Reality kept showing up as a nameless annoying fly. We always assume there must be a category and that there must be a plot and some obvious truth. Well maybe that is just our addiction to narrative styles. Complexity is part of the future , but by itself at best it can display some shadows of reality. Most of our difficulties seem to me to be the peculiarities of human intelligence. I personally do not actually have any more faith in it now than God, the Soul, Good or Evil or economic reform. I believe that we are so facile creating illusions we can no longer distinguish truth from fiction. I have a bone to pick with the equivalence of narratives. It plays well with people who have nothing of substance to offer but more fears and economic opportunities. Besides I am not the only one to notice each new revolution seems to be a conflict of fictions, or whether or not the young people are willing to endure the tyranny of an older narrative. Perhaps the people have a shelf life for narratives, it used to keep writers busy and paid. Did the digital era start to disturb the functioning of traditional Human delusions? Why is every new TV show a remake or mix up of older stories in new fashions? Steve there is no need to beat your chest in aguish that you feel you violated some form of ethical guide line. When I used to go fishing I have often had to step over a few old fence lines. Being stuck on one side of the fence can be frustrating fishing or with research. The fish seems to be Human Intelligence or the lack of it. The reason for the lack seems awkward because most of us are a little embarrassed to admit we ever were so easily duped. Now why is it that old men look backward and start to feel ashamed at what they once loved so stridently. The truth upon reflection was always obvious so why did we choose to ignore it. The Complexity Theory revelations or truths will also be easily ignored until a catastrophe strikes. Then we go about the business of burying bodies at sea for various reasons. Why is the truth so difficult to face.? I suspect that once our brains are commited to a narrative we do not find it easy to alter it substantially. Like a filing system we make small alterations but big changes need a house fire or a computer melt down before they are implemented. More than filling in gaps we also seem to wilfully ignore certain information to preserve the established narrative. This is difficult to spot. Our brains seem to be wired for short cuts but they can on occasion be overridden and save ourselves from foolish disaster. Why do we immerse ourselves in other peoples narratives and take such pleasure ? Our elusive topic with No Name may be different for many of us. However it appears we all react in some way and then "Move On " to more controlled disciplined areas. Why is "Moving On "such a current mantra? Where do we hope to go by abandoning a topic? What are we avoiding? Why do we every few weeks resurrect this Golem ? Considering the close association with science and arts why so little faith in rambling over the heather? What have we got to lose? Let us start by trying to discover what the participants feel is the hidden topic, call it the search for the Nameless. Personally I am currently struggling with a 3D animation of mathematical functions. The pieces are all basically assembled but for some reason I struggle with the "Narrative"; it is basically text free. A new deviation for me. The images must be sequenced correctly to transfer the desired intent, but my intent seems elusive as I look in detail. A multi body system is a challenge for me. I have learned that it requires better understanding of my own thinking and visualization and that has become my issue with myself. I find that I am rarely sure of whether this is ever exactly as I envisioned or is it what I have decided is expedient. The struggle is with the way the brain appears to require guidance or it erroneously or randomly fills in gaps in seamless manner where there was insufficient data. It has become apparent that what I seek to do requires some insight as to how my brain and that of the audience deceives itself it to believing what is not actually present. Perhaps as with the written native there is a way to constrain the recipients brain from inventing monstrous explanations. I also wonder if there is any mechanism for distinguishing the fabricated understanding from the actual perceived facts. But this does appear much like the problem with optical illusions. We can never quite convince ourselves to disregard our own delusions. The search for the clues by which a brain stiches perceptions together into a narrative is entirely new to me. And all I was trying to do was design some new machinery. I am staggered by the Off Topic area, fortunately it was a wondrous fishing trip. I have discovered much That I had no idea existed. There is something about this journey that leads me to study philosophy and psychology which never interested me previously. Keep some of the fences in place if they serve a function but clearly something is lurking in many minds and I just sincerely hope it is not some new mystical foolishness. Each of us has been confined to some region of human specialization and like chickens released from our pens , by a wind storm we are now discovering a new world beyond the knocked down fences. Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky PhD vbur...@shaw.ca 120-1053 Beaverhill Blvd. Winnipeg,Manitoba, R2J3R2 Canada (204) 2548321 Land (204) 8016064 Cell -----Original Message----- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Steve Smith Sent: May-04-11 2:01 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: [FRIAM] Memetic Drift in Threads, was: off topic....., but still On reflection of Owen's thread hygiene around hijacking, etc., I have to wonder about the implications of what I want to call "memetic drift". We start with a topic, and at some point it has wandered enough to qualify for a new subject... but it is not always obvious when it deserved a new Subject: line. I believe I am as guilty as most for this form of slow hijacking... the vehicle (thread) is not abruptly taken by force and driven off in some totally different direction than it's original route plan suggested, instead it is seduced iteratively into taking us to Havana. To stretch the metaphor from hijacking to kidnapping, are we all the Patty Hearsts of our own discussions? - Steve ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
