Marcus - I don't mean to dismiss the true value of diversity and the phenomena of "punctuated equilibrium". What I think we are describing AS culture would be the equilibrium-of-the-moment/millenia and it would seem natural/inevitable that punctuation will occur.
I think you are advocating for more punctuation more often, or perhaps, just getting a comma, semi-colon, or even full-stop and/or !Bang in sooner rather than later? Deferring/Referring over to Glen's (re)characterization of my maunderings on "search spaces" and the question/answer duality as a complex evolving foamscape: I suppose I agree with *both* of you (even though you might disagree) on the implied topic. You seem to be more leery of the space inside an individual "bubble" in the foam and seek to see it burst or collapse (if it is too big/long-lived?). I feel the same way about such foam-pocket bubbles when they are large/robust compared to my own personal scale and perspective... that is when they become onerous/limiting, though I prefer to develop enough perspective to *recognize* the bubble (subculture?) I am operating in and develop the energy/skills to transcend it... to find a higher-dimension to slip over into another (more interesting to me?) part of the foam? Glen points out that social welfare/justice "systems" are merely "yet more" of the human-built environment which are therefore just another set of dimensions/scaling of the "natural" environment. I generally agree with (accept?) this, and only called it out as something specific because of the *presumption* that we are creating more freedom through these institutions when in fact it seems to be trading "some" for "other". Having a place to live out of the elements and healthy food to eat increase the dignity of the individual and subsequently of the context in which they live, but standing in line to fill out forms and swear on affidavits to obtain a minimal "welfare check" or to fumble out "food stamp coupons" in line at the grocery somewhat undermines those dignities. Of course, I realize both images are somewhat archaic... I was happy when I noticed that food stamp coupons were replaced by EBT cards and I *trust*, maintaining welfare or disability or job-retraining status within the system is less onerous/undignified than it once was. For these reasons, I'm *for* ideas like medicare for all and guaranteed minimum incomes. I suspect there are some (other) unintended consequence to be acknowledged/dealt-with/discovered, but my progressive side wants to see those experiments embarked on as graciously as reasonable. Recasting this topic as "foamscape", I think my point is that some of the "foam we don't know yet" has features in dimensions we may not have considered while clinging to the "foam we know". It might be relevant to reflect on the ideas that: "Constraint provides form", "form leads/follows function". Termite mounds and Social Justice systems exist in response to functional needs in the land(foam)scape that they themselves are part of? Mumble, - Steve > Steve writes: > > < Taking my best guess, I think my answer would be that culture (whatever > that is) as encoded/presented in natural language is a kind of fascia > that does in fact connect people thoroughly and deeply. It might be > arguable what/when/how that is "useful" but the fact that it (rich, > shared natural language, with lots of embedded knowledge about relevant > humans/nature) seems to exist across many (all?) cultures and a great > deal of time (thousands of years minimum?) suggests it is adaptive to > *something*, like living/working/(playing) in large groups while > navigating/negotiating/exploiting novel/harsh environments. > > > My view is that progress occurs in spite of culture and not because of it. > The fascia is too restrictive, and the need for it has passed. What we now > need are tools to collectively function in a large dense, but well-resourced > population. Telecommunication, mass transit, health care, fair access to > jobs and credit. > > A culture is just one of a huge set of local minima in a high dimensional > space. The more one culture becomes dominant, the more minorities are > subjugated and the more today is just like yesterday. The formation of > culture proceeds as a sort of energy minimization. Once the system gets cold > enough, it no longer is possible to find a lower (better) energy state. > Multi-culturalism is a metaphorical heat source. > Ideally each milieu would constantly be destroying and reforming itself. A > preference for sovereignty is a preference to lower the temperature. > > What are billions of people for, if not to explore high-dimensional spaces? > Why cluster around the same fire? > > Marcus > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove