Fans of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series, or A. E. van Vogt's "Voyage of the Space Beagle", may imagine that science will one day help us find the correct "equation of greater good" with which to guide policy decisions. Don't count on it.
If idea pools in cultural communities are like gene pools in communities of social animals, then "greater good equations" will compete with one another. In fact, they already do. Rather than being given or deduced, such equations evolve by selective replication just as nucleic acid strings evolve in complex multi-species communities (like a tide pool).
Although science can still offer sound insight into elements of the greater good, rather than dictating the equation it will be up to science to make its case for consideration by cultures across the globe. The good news is that this can have very positive results. The bad news is that some still see science as a (good or bad) replacement for culture, rather than as a natural complement.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Multiscale traditions
Here's the technical question: What are some elements of existing culture that nurture awareness on multiple scales of space, time and organization, and how might we evolve them so that they do this better downstream? Let's start a list...
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Idea-toriality
How does claiming credit for an idea compare to territorial marking by wolves? How does it differ?
Does such marking affect your intuition about potential value? Does it prompt others to examine an idea more carefully? Is there any context where it also chases interlopers away?
Do wolves and/or people ever mistake this marking ritual for a goal in and of itself? If so, what real tasks at hand might they be distracted from as a result?
Does such marking affect your intuition about potential value? Does it prompt others to examine an idea more carefully? Is there any context where it also chases interlopers away?
Do wolves and/or people ever mistake this marking ritual for a goal in and of itself? If so, what real tasks at hand might they be distracted from as a result?
Friday, July 11, 2008
Lightly salted
I'm not sure how to take the product label: "lightly salted". Is that good news, or bad news dressed up to look good? Compare to "only a touch of sweetness" and "rarely kills patients with no warning"...
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Salsa mystery
Many of the issues discussed in this blog relate to the tomato salmonella problem currently in the news. One of these, of course, is the delocalized nature of our food supply and the ignorance about where that tomato came from.
Perhaps a more important issue is our failure to put facts into media communications to help consumers take responsibility for their decisions. When the FDA is not sure about a cause, they should tell us the facts rather than pretend to protect us with vague and global pronouncements e.g. "distrust tomatoes". In other words, share data with consumers as though they are responsible decision makers (like which of how many salsa eaters got sick where), and then don't speculate but wait until you have more that's worthwhile to say.
Another key role for the media, after they first convey some specifics, is to discuss with consumers ways to make decisions in the face of quantitative as well as qualitative information. Earlier entries on bytes of risk, and everyday nanodecisions, touch on that area. Given that the avenues to inform consumers and voters are potentially broader than they used to be, we'll try to spend more time on that downstream.
Perhaps a more important issue is our failure to put facts into media communications to help consumers take responsibility for their decisions. When the FDA is not sure about a cause, they should tell us the facts rather than pretend to protect us with vague and global pronouncements e.g. "distrust tomatoes". In other words, share data with consumers as though they are responsible decision makers (like which of how many salsa eaters got sick where), and then don't speculate but wait until you have more that's worthwhile to say.
Another key role for the media, after they first convey some specifics, is to discuss with consumers ways to make decisions in the face of quantitative as well as qualitative information. Earlier entries on bytes of risk, and everyday nanodecisions, touch on that area. Given that the avenues to inform consumers and voters are potentially broader than they used to be, we'll try to spend more time on that downstream.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Bubbling life away
The idea that some folks are subhuman and thus fair game is a familiar runaway idea in this age of electronic communications. A more serious runaway idea in the short term may be that "corporations serve only a few shareholders".
Historically corporations in the developed world (on the bright side) have provided significant multiscale value in the form of secure jobs for employees, economic benefits to their regions, as well as a stream of innovative and reliable products to their customers. Alas under the guise of global competition, a new type of corporate management (not yet everywhere) has emerged that preys on such companies.
Hence the new "bubbles" are not in startups, but in companies with established value. This is because the management approach referred to above has a monoscale focus: Convert the multiscale value of established companies (in the form of the employee skill base, regional loyalty, and product reliability) into cash leaving value-free husks in their wake. Do any recent examples come to mind?
Just as multiscale thinking on the part of newsmedia, voters, politicians, and consumers is crucial to our collective long term future, so multiscale thinking on the part of stockholders (particularly the larger ones) may be crucial to many lives in the days ahead. Even if media of the past half decade overlooked the collective stupidity of feedback-amplified xenophobia, in the next can they nonetheless help us slow the continued loss of reputable businesses?
Historically corporations in the developed world (on the bright side) have provided significant multiscale value in the form of secure jobs for employees, economic benefits to their regions, as well as a stream of innovative and reliable products to their customers. Alas under the guise of global competition, a new type of corporate management (not yet everywhere) has emerged that preys on such companies.
Hence the new "bubbles" are not in startups, but in companies with established value. This is because the management approach referred to above has a monoscale focus: Convert the multiscale value of established companies (in the form of the employee skill base, regional loyalty, and product reliability) into cash leaving value-free husks in their wake. Do any recent examples come to mind?
Just as multiscale thinking on the part of newsmedia, voters, politicians, and consumers is crucial to our collective long term future, so multiscale thinking on the part of stockholders (particularly the larger ones) may be crucial to many lives in the days ahead. Even if media of the past half decade overlooked the collective stupidity of feedback-amplified xenophobia, in the next can they nonetheless help us slow the continued loss of reputable businesses?
Monday, July 7, 2008
Ill-posed questions*
The spoken word, like the expressed protein, is a means by which living things communicate. Sending a poorly-chosen enzyme through the body will get an organism in trouble, just as a poorly-chosen question (or statement) broadcast by the media will get a community in trouble.
Media representatives often pretend that poorly-chosen questions have well-defined answers, when in fact they deserve wiggly answers or no response at all. Flip-flop accusers who ask ill-informed questions are like molecule pushers who send enzymes for clotting into their customers' brain. Don't be shy about pointing it out when you see it happen.
* for some earlier more technical examples see "The well-posed problem" by E. T. Jaynes (Foundations of Physics 3, 1973, pages 477-493).
Media representatives often pretend that poorly-chosen questions have well-defined answers, when in fact they deserve wiggly answers or no response at all. Flip-flop accusers who ask ill-informed questions are like molecule pushers who send enzymes for clotting into their customers' brain. Don't be shy about pointing it out when you see it happen.
* for some earlier more technical examples see "The well-posed problem" by E. T. Jaynes (Foundations of Physics 3, 1973, pages 477-493).
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Modernizing content
The least costly path from point A to B depends on where both A and B are located. Does this sound like a useful fact in this age of rising gas prices?
Now imagine that A is the set of concepts and skills initially in hand and that B is the set of skills needed to address current challenges. If either the starting tools (A) or the skills needed (B) change, the best path to gaining the latter may also change.
Does that mean that in a world where both A and B continuously change, educators might want to be always looking for new ways to bridge the gap? In order to overcome the inertia associated with a more familiar path, does it also mean that content modernizers had better specify for which values of A and B an alternate path is taylored?
Example: Students familiar with the meaning of bits and bytes in everyday life might benefit from introductions to probability that use powers of two so as to build on that familiarity, for instance by thinking of probability as 1/2#bits. Does this mean that methods to teach use of probabilities today might be simplified with examples that 50 years ago would have made things worse and not better?
Now imagine that A is the set of concepts and skills initially in hand and that B is the set of skills needed to address current challenges. If either the starting tools (A) or the skills needed (B) change, the best path to gaining the latter may also change.
Does that mean that in a world where both A and B continuously change, educators might want to be always looking for new ways to bridge the gap? In order to overcome the inertia associated with a more familiar path, does it also mean that content modernizers had better specify for which values of A and B an alternate path is taylored?
Example: Students familiar with the meaning of bits and bytes in everyday life might benefit from introductions to probability that use powers of two so as to build on that familiarity, for instance by thinking of probability as 1/2#bits. Does this mean that methods to teach use of probabilities today might be simplified with examples that 50 years ago would have made things worse and not better?
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