Difference between revisions of "Holotopia"
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<blockquote>"Act like as if you loved your children above all else"</blockquote> | <blockquote>"Act like as if you loved your children above all else"</blockquote> | ||
| − | Greta Thunberg, representing her generation, told the | + | Greta Thunberg, representing her generation, told the political leaders at Davos. Securing our children a future, however, will require an unprecedented level of international collaboration, and restructuring of the global economy, the widely read [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-188550/ Rolling Stone article] reeports. The COVID-19 exacerbates those demands and makes them even more immediate. Considering the way in which things are related, restructuring of the world economy will not be possible without restructuring other systems as well.</p> |
<p>So our next question is <b>who</b>, that is <em>what institution</em> will initiate the next urgent task on our evolutionary agenda—tell us how to update <em>the systems in which we live and work</em>; and empower us to do that?</p> | <p>So our next question is <b>who</b>, that is <em>what institution</em> will initiate the next urgent task on our evolutionary agenda—tell us how to update <em>the systems in which we live and work</em>; and empower us to do that?</p> | ||
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<p>But to see solutions, we will need to look at deeper causes.</p> | <p>But to see solutions, we will need to look at deeper causes.</p> | ||
| − | <p>As we pointed out in the opening paragraphs of this website, the academic tradition did not develop as a way to pursue practical knowledge, but (let's call it that) "right" knowledge. | + | <p>As we pointed out in the opening paragraphs of this website, the academic tradition did not develop as a way to pursue practical knowledge, but (let's call it that) "right" knowledge. By bringing up the image of Galilei in house arrest, we highlighted that it was not the pursuit of <em>practical</em> knowledge that led our ancestors to a "great cultural revival", but of <em>knowledge for its own sake</em>. Censorship and prison were unable to contain the new way to look at the world, whose time had come—and it transpired from astrophysics, where it originated, and permeated the society.</p> |
<p>So the core role of the university is to inform us about the meaning and purpose of knowledge, so that we may successfully pursue knowledge in <em>any</em> context. The traditional academic keyword is "epistemology", which is usually interpreted as the exploration of the limits of knowledge, understood as "how and to what degree can we really know reality?". Here we'll use this keyword a bit differently, and let <em>epistemology</em> mean both the "knowledge of knowledge", and the "foundation for creating truth and meaning" that follows from it. </p> | <p>So the core role of the university is to inform us about the meaning and purpose of knowledge, so that we may successfully pursue knowledge in <em>any</em> context. The traditional academic keyword is "epistemology", which is usually interpreted as the exploration of the limits of knowledge, understood as "how and to what degree can we really know reality?". Here we'll use this keyword a bit differently, and let <em>epistemology</em> mean both the "knowledge of knowledge", and the "foundation for creating truth and meaning" that follows from it. </p> | ||
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<p>Of course, innumerable views of this core philosophical issue have been contributed since as far back as our collective memory can reach. But no "official narrative" or consensus has as yet emerged.</p> | <p>Of course, innumerable views of this core philosophical issue have been contributed since as far back as our collective memory can reach. But no "official narrative" or consensus has as yet emerged.</p> | ||
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| − | <p> | + | <p>So all we can do here to begin this exploration is share what <em>we</em>'ve been told, while we were growing up. We'll simplify and caricature—to point to an issue that calls for attention.</p> |
| − | <p> | + | <p>As members of the <em>homo sapiens</em> species, we were informed, we have the evolutionary prerogative to understand the world, and to make choices rationally. Give the <em>homo sapiens</em> a correct understanding of the natural world, he'll know exactly how to go about satisfying "his needs", which he no doubt knows because he can experience directly. But the traditions got it all wrong! Being unable to understand how the nature works, our ancestors invented a "ghost in the machine"—and prayed to <em>him</em> to give them what they wanted. Science corrected this error. It <em>removed</em> the "ghost"—and told us how the nature, or 'the machine', <em>really</em> works. We can now combine scientific understanding of causes with technology, and get out the nature exactly what we want and need.</p> |
| − | <p> | + | <p>And yes, one more thing: Our wants and needs can of course contradict one another. Here "the free market" and "the free elections" will serve as perfect scales, to assure that the majority prevails.</p> |
| − | <p> | + | <p>According to this view, all we need from information is to give us "an objective reality picture", so that we may use our rational faculties and handle our affairs correctly. </p> |
<p>Popular myths of this kind, which began to take hold of our culture around the middle of the 19th century, when Adam and Moses as cultural heroes were replaced by Darwin and Newton, were proven wrong in 20th century science and philosophy.</p> | <p>Popular myths of this kind, which began to take hold of our culture around the middle of the 19th century, when Adam and Moses as cultural heroes were replaced by Darwin and Newton, were proven wrong in 20th century science and philosophy.</p> | ||
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<p>It is impossible, scientists found out, to assert that our ideas and models <em>correspond</em> to reality. There is simply no way to open the supposed "mechanism of nature", and verify that our models <em>correspond</em> to it.</p> | <p>It is impossible, scientists found out, to assert that our ideas and models <em>correspond</em> to reality. There is simply no way to open the supposed "mechanism of nature", and verify that our models <em>correspond</em> to it.</p> | ||
| − | <p>"Reality", | + | <p>"Reality", sociologists found out, should rather be considered as a contrivance of the traditional culture (or of what we called the <em>power structure</em>), invented to <em>socialize</em> us in a certain way. In "Social Construction of Reality", Berger and Luckmann pointed out that throughout history, the explanations how "the reality really works", which they called "universal theories", have been used to <em>legitimize</em> the given social order.</p> |
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<p>Results in cognitive science, and in political science and sociology, showed that we are not the "rational decision makers", as the 19th century made us believe.</p> | <p>Results in cognitive science, and in political science and sociology, showed that we are not the "rational decision makers", as the 19th century made us believe.</p> | ||
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<p>They explained the <em>mechanism</em> of <em>socialization</em>—the way in which our seemingly rational choices are manipulated through the use of "symbolic power", without <em>anyone</em> noticing.</p> | <p>They explained the <em>mechanism</em> of <em>socialization</em>—the way in which our seemingly rational choices are manipulated through the use of "symbolic power", without <em>anyone</em> noticing.</p> | ||
| − | <p>This | + | <p>This, however, <em>has</em> been noticed. The business people were quick to learn that our choices can be manipulated; they now use <em>scientific</em> advisers to do that (the epic story of Edward Bernays, Freud's American nephew, illustrates how this began). The politicians followed.</p> |
| − | <p> | + | <p>As it turned out, the Enlightenment did not really liberate us, as we tend to believe. Our <em>socialization</em> only changed hands—from one <em>power structure</em> (the kings and the clergy) to the next (the corporations and the media). </p> |
| − | <blockquote> | + | <blockquote><em>They</em> are now creating our culture.</blockquote> |
<h3>Remedy</h3> | <h3>Remedy</h3> | ||
Revision as of 22:39, 30 July 2020
Holotopia
Imagine...
You are about to board a bus for a long night ride, when you notice the flickering streaks of light emanating from two wax candles, placed where the headlights of the bus are expected to be. Candles? As headlights?
Of course, the idea of candles as headlights is absurd. So why propose it?
Because on a much larger scale this absurdity has become reality.
The Modernity ideogram renders the essence of our contemporary situation by depicting our society as an accelerating bus without a steering wheel, and the way we look at the world, try to comprehend and handle it as guided by a pair of candle headlights.
Modernity ideogram