new media challenges

 In all this talk about political developments across the world, why is the topic of adaptation to new media so seldom mentioned. In the 1930's the new media was radio. Now the new media is the internet. History is repeating itself in a new form, although sadly this time lots of the players have nuclear weapons.

Metric first motion

 Moving back to the primary focus for this blog, check out these notes about a class period on spacetime smart 3-vectors as a bridge to both high speeds and to curved spacetimes. A short video abstract on this topic may also be found here.

Healing Narratives

I keep hearing media whining about "polarization", and in many cases (certainly with election ads) focusing on "who is the bad guy" (with or without evidence), when the long established and standard solution is to: 

  (a) focus on problems that most agree on, and 

  (b) find ways to address them by trial and error. 

This has not only been humanity's superpower over the past 70,000 years, but it is also how life has evolved and nurtured layers of complexity from the beginning i.e. via the cycle of "vary then select".

A superpower weakness!

 Humanity's superpower is our ability to be moved to action by one another's stories. However, when new modes of communication emerge (like radio or the internet) problems of mis-motivation against one another sometimes arise. What instances of this have you noticed?

internet "kool aid"

Folks become hyperaroused or "ginchee" (i.e. emotionally charged about things outside their control) from "drinking the kool aid" (listening to messages on line), but for many it is almost impossible to stop "drinking it" in this world of portable communications (in part because it is so good at "pushing your buttons"). Sadly, the fundamental problem is not the messages (regardless of which way it tries to "polarize" you), but the medium itself. 

This medium (to which we are only beginning to adapt) manipulates populations quite predictably, whether or not the individuals within it feel as though they are in control. In other words, the internet operates above the "organism" level. The time to work on taming the internet and focusing on community collaboration is 24-7-52, but it is least of all possible to do during times when communication has broken down altogether.

finding what works

If you are serious about any particular problem, ranging from how to fix a dripping faucet or a broken electrical circuit to making gerrymanders constructive, minimizing abortions, or reducing gun deaths, consider adapting a scout (instead of soldier) mindset and explore options based on a cycle of observe => model => apply => predict => implement => observe.... 

This cycle of variation to selection and back is not only how for example science works (although it too often gets bogged down in doctrine), but also how life on earth has always worked. In other words, it is part of perhaps our oldest constitution, namely that on which life itself continues to adapt and survive.

redirecting reproduction

Historically population growth was a robust community goal, while genetic (replicable molecule code) reproduction was a robust individual goal. Hence incentives to marry & multiply were naturally selected.

There are now new opportunities for memetic (replicable idea code) expression, while the challenges of supporting even existing (let alone added) population are growing e.g. with soil depletion, global warming, etc. Therefore community-level health (e.g. measured by task-layer multiplicity) may be better served by redirecting evolved behaviors from their molecule-code focus toward an idea-code focus instead. N'est-ce pas?