Wednesday, December 31, 2008

It is time to seek solutions out of the system. Incoherent fragments of thoughts struggling to coherence.

It is time to seek solutions out of the system. Incoherent fragments of thoughts struggling to coherence.

Relevant threads

- Abolish money.

Godel's incompleteness theorem points towards a solution for social systems which humanity as a whole should strive

by adapting its tenets

its most significant being, if (?) solutions can not be found within the system, solutions can be looked for outside the system

certainly the theorem predicts that even if you do such thing you end up with more controversies or additional controversies which will plague the newly adapted system with the extended boundaries.

Nevertheless, this practice offers new solutions that despite the predicted controversies will offer a reprieve from the ills of the current system

it is not a matter of ignoring this procedure's pitfalls but we should accept that this is the only way to go forward

any more solutions thought or offered within the given boundaries of a system will never work as already the mechanisms present are so constrained that would never provide .. a viable solution out of stalemates encountered

human ingenuity have tried everything, in what can be taken as mostly secondary parametres, tweaked every variable possible but to no avail

it has reached a stalemate that can not be shaken off. They are nothing near, or even near to half-measures

it is time to work upon earth-shattering parametres, fundamental to the system parametres, the parameter of money

It is simplistic though to assume that solutions should be sought by removing the money factor from the mechanisms ongoing in social systems. Or isn't?

Certainly, by removing the money factor, the many mechanisms currently ongoing will re-adjust themselves

Friday, November 28, 2008

Exercising our chaotic minds. Worldviews built.

Threads relevant to this post

- Not recommended: frantically seeking escape from a chaotic situation, we find ourselves in.
- The Source of All Knowledge
- What is a Question?
- Knowledge Creation
- Introducing chaos into our lives. Its creative potential.
- Throwing overboard relentlessly whatever is remotely connected with what is not agreed now.
- The paradigm shifts in our minds
- Chaotic, could it lead to an answer to the origins and purpose of life?
-


I have been intrigued by this exposition titled as Anti-Knowledge and I would like to go through it, and see how my chaotic mind would respond to it.

"Consider for a moment that we are going to continue to create and archive human knowledge for eons to come. As our knowledge base expands, so does our technological capacity to remember and store it. We soon amass knowledge that will make a terabyte look like a byte. But though we are currently able to amass an enormous amount of knowledge, we are still unable to understand one basic concept: "Where did it all come from?" It almost sounds ridiculous, but that is exactly what is happening.

Many would say that it 'just happens' and we really don't need to know where it comes from. However, But this stance assumes that chaos, confusion, error, and complexity are not a factor in this knowledge advance. But if we don't understand the source of knowledge, how can we expect to manage it in the midst of forces like chaos and confusion? That's a bit like building a house with people throwing wood and nails at the job site.

We are approaching a point in time known as 'Singularity.' There are many definitions and angles for this term, but simply put, it represents a major paradigm shift. This shift will be the end of the information age and the beginning of a new age that has not yet been defined. The information age was simply about cataloging knowledge in paper and electronically. With Web 2.0 and the advent of social media, we've moved into an era in which knowledge is worked 'socially and electronically.' At present, we're experimenting with this new capability and just starting to get our arms around it. As we progress we will move into a solid understanding of knowledge interactions involved in knowledge working. And we will come to understand the cornerstone of all knowledge interactions, knowledge creation. And we will see that the key to understanding this cornerstone is not in knowledge itself, but rather in the question.
"

What is referred to as knowledge and what is knowledge? Are these two things the same? Distinguished between knowledge that has a purpose, a specific goal, differentiated by any other kind of knowledge, whose purpose and use ephemeral, short-lived, as it is portrayed by the tonnes of books, on which they were written, now obsolete and thrown away. Is there knowledge that is not knowledge? What about the paradigm shifts, that the author mentions? Do they not change completely our ways of thinking, and by that knowledge itself? In either on the level of a single individual or collectively for groups of individuals and extrapolated to include the whole of humanity proper? Knowledge which was deemed as knowledge is put aside, sent into oblivion, totally forgotten, never to be looked again, thrown overboard.

I would, after browsing through the website, regard the thoughts conveyed by the author, as products of a chaotic mind, which I regard as a valuable asset in an individual. But I recognise, taking into account the author's apparent disdain for chaos, as it is given out by its definition in the glossary section

"Chaos – The sum of knowledge working issues and problems. This might include confused knowledge interactions, fragmentation or duplication of knowledge structures, or the rise of an unmanageable amount of questions."

would not be appreciated, as it should.

Certainly is confusing as the mind ponders, while the thoughts unravel, in an intricate web of converging and diverging trajectories, but once the debris is cleared, the attractors reached (through the chaotic processes) provide lucid meaning.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

City traffic: Dynamic fractal highway superstructures? No traffic lights, no speed limits? No junctions, no traffic jams? People re-claiming ground?

Thoughts that acted as triggers

- Motorway traffic swarms.


Record my thoughts as they come, before they fizzle out, a drawback (is it?) of consciousness. In my mind, this is connected with reflective reasoning, mentioned in the paper From simple associations to systematic reasoning, but necessary as, by recording the thoughts, they are instantiated, and as such they provide the ground, from where the spark which will ignite another wave of thoughts will come from.

Unconnected thoughts laid out haphazardly, (well, let's say chaotically) , not daring to pause, to put them in order, for fear of loosing touch with the threads still developing.

(A thread still developing?)
It associated, right away, with what I was contemplating about link-node-link chains. So, by saying that a thread is still developing, it means that new links and new nodes are created. Formulated into chains, integrated into threads by contextual cues? The cues being the properties and attributes, each concept, notion or simply a thought drags along, irrelevant to how coherent the thought is? The cues acting as tags, that drag along the rest, of the concept, notion or just thought, and especially (what is more important) their attached properties and attributes? Whether you want it, to happen or not?

So there is an array, to borrow a concept from computing, of 'link-node-link'... What? 'Links'? That each single term in the simple formulation, 'link-node-link', is part of another 'link-node-link', branching out in all possible ways? Attributing it with new dimensions? The thread developing?

Flexible, cohesive material? It would not run off, or chipped or dented, retains its structure? Traffic blocks with a hint of elasticity while it is loose, or free-standing but while it is part of the superstructure, by virtue of the stresses applied as it clips on with adjacent traffic blocks it tenses, becomes rigid and strong enough to withstand the load is subjected to, the cars coursing on it. Which however would not be more than two or three cars at a time, the flow of the traffic controlled to suit the load the block can bear and it would not be allowed to exceed its prescribed limits.

Traffic blocks each equipped with computer chips connected to the overall city-wide traffic controlling network, will release the locks that apply the stresses, will revert into its rigid form (inflated) and in this capacity will join the lower or upper layer of the onion-skin, fractal highway superstructure, as the keyed-in journey of an oncoming car, demands it. Networked?

Traffic blocks utilising as a resource the tarmac material of the becoming obsolete tarmacked city-wide roads, embedded in an elastic material to produce a cohesive but flexible, and at the same time tough and strong. Its flexible to rigid (deflated to inflated) interchange achieved by virtue of beams running through the edges of the block, the size of its inclination calculated to effect the linking with either the upper or the lower layer, and its strength provided by a mesh of interwoven tough fibres all along the length of the traffic block, supported by the beams at the edges of the traffic blocks.

The dynamically altered fractal highway superstructure overall deployment reminiscent of city-wide traffic lights control combined with elements of air traffic control. The route of each car demanding the road is centrally calculated, adjusted with all other routes pending, integrated in moments of city-wide traffic.

Building upon the thoughts unleashed in the initial onslaught triggered by the initial spark.

Roads to pedestrians, with designated segments converted into car parks? Focal points to gather the traffic which will be conducted in a superstructure of highways?
Flexible material.
Dynamic routes to direct the traffic to the highways that run along above the city buildings. By a control unit, that each car is equipped with, which will integrate its route into the traffic in the dynamic lower structures that lead to the highway superstructure.

Arteries, in the equivalent superstructure of the blood flow? The diameter of the vessel, the main component in adjusting the flow, in order to avoid bottlenecks, jams, congestion.

Capillaries, big enough to accommodate a single cell, one-lane roads where a car starts its journey. From the focal points, shopping centres, city centres, entertainment complexes and the city-wide residential car parks. No cars in sight for the pedestrians that enjoy the city?

Interchangeable flexible roads whose shapes are defined by stresses applied as they are fitted with one another into the city-wide fractal dynamic complex of highways?

No limits in speed. Materials and roads only to support car traffic? Fractal? Unfolding, layer upon layer, fractional dimensions, multi-levelled superstructure, like skins wrapped-up tightly to an onion bulb.

Lanes as many as they are demanded by the influx of cars coming out of the stations, the focal points, and the residential car parks. Lanes coming out from everywhere? Stashed or stacked, one upon another when they are not needed, reducing the size of the superstructure? But in rush hours they are deployed to accommodate the demands put forth by the increased size of the traffic.

An awesome image, looked from afar, as the highway superstructure spreads, re-arranging itself as it prepares itself for the rush hour pending. And during calm traffic hours reducing in size as the city quietens.

What the driver is expected to do, is to cruise through an ever changing road ahead, as it adjusts, according to the route demanded, in the first place.

Focal points for the city centres, fully equipped with parking spaces to accommodate all the cars that demand access, at any time.

For neighbourhoods, designated areas for the parking of all residents cars. With adjustable road segments to take them up to the superstructure highway above.

Each car with its control box where the journey is keyed in. The driver awaits and once the journey details have been fed in, gets the OK and of it goes. All the details of the journey have been calculated, what road segments would be required to be laid all the way to its destination.

Rush hours. The superstructure highway gets ready to accept the heavy traffic ahead. Extra lanes unfold from their hiding places to accommodate the extra traffic.

Fractal, meaning decimal dimensions, fractional. The 0.5 dimension in multilevel car parks, which perplexes individual in search for their cars. Chaotic, and the significance of the minutiae for the overall structure as within minutes you go from the lower level to the superstructure above.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Answer to wiseGEEK

Squeeze my mind. Develop the thoughts. In a matter I haven't consider before. A matter however that I find it crucial. Unprepared, but full of thoughts which I need to organise to reach to an answer. My answer.

Certainly there is a stalemate and a real problem. Populations do increase exponentially. But does agricultural produce increase arithmetically? I wonder? Since the time of Malthus, in the 18th century, agricultural produce has increased in unheard of levels of production, that Malthus and his contemporaries could never imagine. I would not attempt to make a comparison in terms of arithmetic or exponential increases since I lack the data necessary to do so, but I only have one thing in my mind. With the current level of the world population size, the world over, agricultural produce suffices to feed it.
And this in my mind provides the answer. That at whatever level population size increases, in whatever age this might be, past or future, agricultural production follows suit, human ingenuity provide and will continue to provide the answer.
Trying to apply Malthus's theories in an isolated way, for one or the other country instead of looking at the problem globally, is misleading to say the least, if not intentionally creating a doom and despair scenario in support for and justify the current trends for accumulation of wealth to a handful of individuals to the detriment of all the rest in humanity.

The logic is that if you share the spoils of economic growth to the masses, ignorant as they are, they will start reproducing like rabbits, hyper-exponential increase in population sizes, so cut their food supply, restrict wages, reduce earnings, tax them to the hilt, let them work from dawn to dusk to make ends meet, (here you have an added bonus as they would have less time to procreate).

Make everything possible, use every trick at your disposal, anything that you can.

Use the media to fill up their lives ... with useless trivial pursuits ... use up the little spare time they have .... drive them towards establishing comfort zones, push them in, isolate one from another, complete alienation ... along the lines of the old colonial british rule, a thousand times tried and tested, the trusty 'divide and conquer'.

Squeeze them as far as you can, use up the monies to alienate one from another, make 'making-more-money' a primary goal in their lives.

Trivialize their lives, their background, their roots, rob them of their dignity, instill in their minds how futile and insignificant the lives they live, are (so they think and they want us to believe), that they are but pawns in a game played by a handful of shrewd and cunning players.

Making the millionaires as the outshining models for every one to pursue, relentlessly, in every waking or not, moment of their lives. The relentless pursuit of making more money their only goal.

The waste of goods and resources a prerogative, a necessity and a supposed privilege of every individual. Turning free will into a wasteful pursuit, meaningless, empty of content.

Bombard them with messages how crucial is their contribution to the state's economic growth, to fight the monster of inflation, that eats up their meager salaries ... confuse the issues .. and continue to apply Malthus's doctrines, as mentioned in 'Europe 1780-1830'‎, book by Franklin Lewis Ford, in page 347, where

"all excess value produced by technical progress and increasing scale of manufacturing being reserved to the entrepreneur and such stockholders as have put up capital in his support."

The Malthusian trap, the continual proliferation of that myth serves one purpose only, to justify the model that promotes the ruthless exploitation of humanity by a handful of individuals, in comparison, holding tight on an illusion of power.

Power, a myth perpetrated and still surviving nowadays, mere figment more than reality itself, as their bearers stand on top of intricately woven but extremely fragile structures, precariously supported on proverbial glass pillars, that a mere flap of a butterfly's wings can trigger a collapse, the ground failing them underneath.

That any improvement in an individual's standard of living would come out of the good will of the millionaires and the like as again one of the thoughts put forward by Malthus states

"In the event, the 'possessing classes' showed themselves disposed, out of a mixture of ...(intentional or unintentional missing line in Google book's snippet search equivalent to ... good will and piety).... to deal back a fraction of the profits, in the form of largesse to schools, hospitals, orphanages and so on."

but he is wrong there too. Anything, since his time in the 18th century human individuals gained, it was not given, it was taken and will continue to be taken as the years go by.

Thomas Malthus, Darwin's and other of their contemporaries ideas of a human individual as prone to

start reproduce like rabbits ... treating the human individual a slave to his animal instincts .... lack the element of reason


do not hold.

Malthus's predictions are wrong. It is not the size of the populations that are the problem but the size of their bellies. An exponential increase of human individuals with oversized bellies.

An increase in girth, more likely.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Malthusian societies? Modern societies determined by bare subsistence wages?

I read in Franklin L. Ford, 'Europe 1780-1830, A General History of Europe' book, first published in 1970, Chapter XIII 'Intellectual Ferment in a Revolutionary Age', Malthus page 346,

"... The implications of his theory for a ruthless young capitalism were none the less apparent. If anything more than subsistence only breeds misery for the mass of mankind, then bare subsistence should determine wages, all excess value produced by technical progress and increasing scale of manufacturing being reserved to the entrepreneur and such stockholders as have put up capital in his support."

Bare subsistence to determine wages? Bare subsistence the criterion that economies is based upon? What human societies, in the world over, are built upon? And based on this criterion the mass of humankind is kept at subsistence levels, as these might fluctuate slightly from decade to decade, a slow linear process, whereas the excess value being reserved for the entrepreneur and such stockholders that put up the capital? An excess value that rises exponentially.

Can this be true? Is it the blueprint that modern societies use to construct themselves? Determine and define the interactions between their individual members? It is mentioned in this website by Gavin Kennedy, that

"... subsistence incomes had remained the lot of the population (the Malthusian trap) for millennia."

A trap by all means. It is generally acknowledged that as the years go by, the rich are getting richer and richer, the gap between low earners and high earners widens.

Franklin L. Ford writes about Thomas Malthus that

"No single writer did more to buttress the forbidding side of this doctrine of economics ruled by egoism and the free play of forces than did the Englishman Thomas Malthus."

and

"In 1798, disgusted by what he considered the vaporizing of men such as Condorcet and William Godwin, author of the utopian 'Social Justice' five years before, Malthus published an 'Essay on Population'".

And as Franklin L. Ford admits,

"This has continued ever since to influence not only economic thought but also the apologetics of imperialism and biological theories of environment and natural selection."

Looking back over the years Malthus influence is widespread in the way modern societies govern themselves, permeating key sectors throughout their structures. It is the way governments and states adhere to. An underlying factor in all the interactions between state authorities and their individual members.

But why did Malthus arrive to that notion?

As Franklin L. Ford, mentions

"Malthus did not seek to spell out any theory of wages of profits. Rather, he thought of himself as a scientific student of demography and, when he urged self-restraint in regard to procreation, as a moralist."

and

"For Malthus, the rationale of population growth, and hence of possible improvement in the masses' standard of living, was as clear as it was discouraging. Given man's capacity for propagation to the absolute limit of numbers supportable by any given level of food supply, the author saw no hope of lifting the race by increasing subsistence. Indeed, he argued, since food production could at the very best increase, generation by generation, in no more than an arithmetic progression -1,2,3,4,5- while population, left to follow its natural tendency, would follow a geometric progression -1,2,4,8,16- the 'improvement of mankind' was an illusion beckoning disaster. The only reason the worst does not happen, he explained, is that natural checks, including famine, pestilence, war and 'vice' (abortion and infanticide) prevent the possible rise in population from being fully realized."

So the fear of over-population? That is what drove Malthus to his notions? Governments and states, following in Malthus' steps, provide additional checks, along with the natural checks, to prevent the rise of populations to unsustainable levels? Doing anything possible, to strengthen the checks even to the point of harboring vice-inducing conditions, such as drug-trafficking, gun-slinging in America, or the vehement opposition against any demands for wage increases with the sole goal of restraining population growth?

Is that one of the ideals of humanity?

Friday, June 13, 2008

The current state of the world determined by individuals trapped in a web which undermines humanity.

In the most unfortunate turn of events in the lives of all individuals, a state which can be classified as schizophrenic, since individuals find themselves trapped in a system that undermines their very nature. A system that destroys everything that is worthwhile in a human individual in favour of returns that are anything else, but beneficial.

Each individual invests a great deal of its resources in the course of its life, resources other than (and more than) material; mental psychological physical resources, only to find out in the end, that the place its investment was put for, sought after, erodes them and diminishes them.

Becomes a turncoat against its own kind, against its very own self. It turns him or her to an individual that seeks to destroy and exterminate other individuals, completely forgetting that other individuals work along the same lines, as hard, to destroy others, the turncoat included.

A capitalist system continuously replenishing its numbers shedding them out, in an all out war against each other. A system that breeds individuals, turning one against another, for crumbs thrown at their plates. States whose primary objective is to sow strife among its citizens. Divide and conquer at its utmost.

A system that is responsible for breeding vultures ready to eat up the guts of other individuals. Of each other. And taken as a whole, humanity, that all 'other individuals' plus self is, devours its own guts.

As, the individual bombarded continuously by talks for profits, economic growth, prosperity, the good of the company, of the corporation, of the state; becomes oblivious of its place in nature, insanely undermines its own (and others) physical, psychological, mental being.

Trapped in a cycle where the monies, he or she so hard are after for, become the noose to hang themselves from. Taking away bit by bit, all that there is value for, what is worth living for; only to end up dried up shells of a man or woman.

This is not a modern trend in capitalism, but what is sick, is that it is allowed to continue on unabated, unchecked. It is intrinsic in capitalism. It is what it was born out of, and fed with, in its nascent steps back in the 18th or so century, as its intellectual elite, its forefathers, the spiritual leaders of young capitalism, have proclaimed.

They had anything short of contempt for humanity, being called the masses, a term that survives our present age and era. Among them, is Thomas Malthus, as it is mentioned in Franklin L. Ford's book, "A General History of Europe, Europe 1780-1830" page 346. As it is claimed in the book

"No single writer did more to buttress the forbidding side of this doctrine of economics ruled by egoism and the free play of forces than did the Englishman Thomas Malthus."

And this doctrine of economics, or as it is mentioned as that of 'classical' economics, is

"... it had no use for corps or orders of men, but neither would it accept any extensive planning or control by the state or by any other representative of 'society' in general."

and continues

"Born of generous efforts by eighteenth-century philosophers, notably Adam Smith and the French Physiocrats, to break down artificial, irrational barriers to commercial development and to discover the true springs of productivity, it was in period moving rapidly to become what its critics would call 'the dismal science'."

Thomas Malthus, as this website informs

".. was a political economist who was concerned about, what he saw as, the decline of living conditions in nineteenth century England. He blamed this decline on three elements: The overproduction of young; the inability of resources to keep up with the rising human population; and the irresponsibility of the lower classes."

Two centuries since then, mankind managed to multiply its food resources beyond the dreams of Thomas Malthus and his contemporaries, but we are still left with his legacy, the irresponsible lower classes along with what another of his disciples inspired by him, left us with. Charles Darwin and his survival of the fittest theory, for which by putting aside any scientific value in its biological sense, turned humanity into an arena where it is legitimate to go about and kill or be killed, a drawn out travesty to justify capitalism.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Tractable and intractable computations human individuals are faced with.

In an uncanny manifestation, as I would call it for the lack of a better word available in my mind right now, sources unravelled before me, without a consciously prepared plan, only to lead me, almost effortlessly, to a sought after solution of a nagging problem. One seemingly intractable problem, in personal terms, on the grounds of the unyielding amount of operations in the process of arriving to a satisfactory solution.

Similar with what I mentioned in that post, the anticipation built-in in the firing sequences of neuron groups, with the additional element of intractable problems. Does that go beyond a simple immediate future anticipation? To processes connected to situations where ever ready, constantly on standby, lingering bifurcations sweep away the thoughts toward new, concluding attractors or falling under the influence of powerful trajectories of all-surpassing, universal attractors? As for example the attractor-notion of knowledge already there, awaiting your mind's arrival? Severely cutting down the number, by-passing unyielding operations? Arriving to a solution sooner?

Computational problems can be "efficiently solvable" or "tractable" or "intractable" as they would require a huge amount of operations, at least n^1000000 (n to the power of 1 million), as it is mentioned here,

"P is often taken to be the class of computational problems which are "efficiently solvable" or "tractable", although there are potentially larger classes that are also considered tractable such as RP and BPP. Also, there exist problems in P which are intractable in practical terms; for example, some require at least n^1000000 (n to the power of 1 million) operations."

These are the kind of problems human individuals face in life situations as it is mentioned in "Fractal Neurodynamics and Quantum Chaos: Resolving the Mind-Brain Paradox Through Novel Biophysics", in Chapter 6.1, The Computational Intractability of Survival in the Open Environment.,

"The principal task of the brain is to compute the survival strategy most likely to enable the organism to evade death and produce viable offspring. A computational problem is intractable if the number of computational steps required grows super-exponentially with the complexity of the problem. The travelling salesman problem (Bern & Graham 1989), finding the shortest route round n cities illustrates this, growing with (n-1)! A problem may also be formally undecidable in the sense of Gödel. Many adaptation-survival problems in the open environment share the characteristics of intractable problems, because each strategy tends to be matched by a competing strategy in another organism and the number of options rapidly exponentiates. An active organism must also complete a processing task within 0.1-1 second if it is going to have survival utility, regardless of its complexity. Such arguments make it clear why parallel processing is an integral feature of vertebrate nervous systems."

In each step in our modern lives, though no different in real terms with the lives of human individuals in any era in human history for that matter, we are required to make decisions about effectively intractable problems. The human individual has largely managed to tackle successfully the computational problems associated with survival, and it did so by utilising our brain's chaotic potential. Thanks to our innate ability to engage and utilise chaotic processes led to the establishment of numerous attractors, providing solutions for many problems. Attractors manifesting in numerous forms and shapes, tangible and intangible, matter-transforming or social and mental constructions, tools in the constant grappling with nature, while at the same time continuously transforming into new shapes and forms.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Visualising fractal dynamics

Fractal dynamics, the communication between the macroscales with the microscales. In the 'Mind and Brain, Chaos and Quantum Mechanics' paper, page 19, I read:

"The dynamics of many important biological molecules may be fractal in this way, which involves the linkage between a variety of quantum excitations of differing energies, and feedback between tertiary structures and active sites."

Communication of higher scales with lower scales. In this example the higher scales being the tertiary structures and active sites of biological molecules and lower scales being the quantum states of the atoms of the biological molecules.

Quantum excitations of differing energies of the atoms of the biological molecules linked with the tertiary structures and active sites of the biological molecules. As the active sites of the biological molecules define the function(s) of the biological molecule and by that the function(s) of the cell organelles it is part of, the higher level of organised matter.

Different levels of matter organisation, fractally connected.

"... structures behaving, not only in a geometrical sense, but also dynamically ..."

Fractal dynamics surpass in breadth and depth, vertically and horizontally, all aspects of human activity among many other aspects of reality. And in each level of organised matter established attractors, a range of stable states as they are defined by optimally maximised local variables and parametres. Such attractors in turn by virtue of the fractal connections determine the establishment of attractors in higher levels as the local variables exert an influence on global variables and parametres.

And since the fractal dynamics provide a two-way path and local variables are influenced by global variables in turn, it leads to the establishment of new attractors by chaotic bifurcations.

If however global variables induced adjustment of local variables and parametres requires tweaking of variables and parametres outside the limits permitted by the local system, the local system will cease to be.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Individuals assume arbitrary standpoints to deal with reality.

On page 45, of "Chaos, Dynamics and Fractals, an algorithmic approach to deterministic chaos", by J. L. McCauley, I read:

"By successive stages of simplification (by making approximations that are abstractly equivalent to discarding information), Lorenz finally constructed a model that he could analyze, and found deterministic chaos ..."

and in the footnote it further elucidates that process.

"Here we must admit that the word 'discard' is not quite appropriate, because we do not have such detailed information to begin with. If one had all the appropriate information (solutions for different initial conditions), one could start by systematically ignoring large amounts of detailed information about complicated trajectories."

So it is not only, that we do not have all the information that there is, meaning that the information already exists, despite our inability to witness it and take it into consideration, but on top of it, even if we had the information, we would still systematically ignore it, as we can not deal with complicated trajectories. Our intellect is not equipped, our intellectual capacity is not enough, to deal with all the information that there is.

This statement freely associated in my mind, generalised, epitomises the standpoints all human individuals assume when it comes to deal with reality.

Since knowledge is limited this leads individuals to make arbitrary choices and based on these choices to define their stance. The objective approach is not enough, it can not unravel reality. The only thing achieved or achieves is to construct structure upon structure, that primarily exists in the minds of individuals who invented them in the first place. As it becomes more elaborate it grows bigger and bigger, a labyrinthine construct that serves little purpose in assisting the majority of individuals to achieve meaning.

Its goal being, to become easily accessible, within reach of more and more individuals, avoiding the constant introduction of obscure concepts, with tiny traces of meaning, unable to confer clarity, prone to multiple interpretations, to as many as the individuals it is exposed to. It becomes the goal not the means. Therefore becomes detached from reality and assumes an essence of its own.

A human construct, on a par to any elaborate architectural construction therefore described as elegant or other similar decorative definition. Its goal should have been to become accessible to more and more individuals by curtailing the plethora of concepts used, instead of lost in the relentless pursuit of inventing more stringent rules and rigorous procedures, to devote as much time towards simplifying the technical language used, by the use of widely accepted, firm footed concepts. Take an extra effort to present models to be, within reach of ever wider audiences, engage that audience in the reality search, increase the lines of attack as they will be provided by the plurality of approach, as each one engaged will contribute.

Propagate the subjective to conquer the objective.