On Feb 2, 2005, at 10:20 AM, Nick Arnett wrote:
Kevin Street wrote:
I don't know. Somehow, I suspect human nature is basically the same today as
it was ten thousand years ago, and it will remain that way for thousands of
years to come if the species survives.
I was talking about human knowledge, not human nature.
Specifically, with regard to the middle ages v. today, we know of more sources of authority, as a result of observing and understanding self-regulating systems.
And I think we're at the start of another breakthrough, this one as a result of observing and understanding self-organizing systems.
This has nothing to do with changing human nature and a whole lot to do with becoming more aware of how human and other nature operates.
I think what Kevin was intimating -- and definitely what I was thinking -- is that human nature, which wants things to be polar and simple, is rebelling against all these fuzzy logics.
Physiologically we are not wired, possibly, to see the world in such ambiguous terms. It might cause a lot of discomfort. And it does seem to take some real mental effort.
Look how many people are uncomfortable with ambiguity. We even have special words for the needs we have: "closure", for instance. So maybe some of the tendency to see things in terms of polarities is based, more or less literally, in the gut.
-- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror" http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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