Right! Or perhaps by somebody who anticipated that they would all fail.
Why is not complexity theory a counsel of dispair. And counsels of dispair are
urgings toward a libertine life. On the theory that my raping and muggering
is as likely to produce social good as my non raping and non muggering, why
dont I just go out and rape and mugger? How can I possible be an Apollonian in
a non-linear world.
'Live drink and be merry because tomorrow we will die..... nor NOT."
Nick
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Henshaw
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED];The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Sent: 4/13/2007 3:41:08 PM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source.
No clue, but sounds like a normal view from the 50's 60's 70's 80's or 90's?
Clearly not someone who knew about new classes of promising options that hadn't
been tried yet though...
On 4/11/07, Nicholas Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I am curious to know if anybody in Friam-land will recognize the following
passage. No Fair using google.
It is NOT from the Gettysburg Address.
"Our work is guided by the sense that we may be the last generation in the
experiment with living. But we are a minority--the vast majority of our people
regard the temporary equilibriums of our society and world as eternally
functional parts. In this is perhaps the outstanding paradox; we ourselves are
imbued with urgency, yet the message of our society is that there is no viable
alternative to the present. Beneath the reassuring tones of the politicians,
beneath the common opinion that America will "muddle through," beneath the
stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the future, is the pervading
feeling that there simply are no alternatives, that our times have witnessed
the exhaustion not only of Utopias, but of any new departures as well. Feeling
the press of complexity upon the emptiness of life, people are fearful of the
thought that at any moment things might be thrust out of control. They fear
change itself, since change might smash whatever invisible framework seems to
hold back chaos for them now. For most Americans, all crusades are suspect,
threatening. The fact that each individual sees apathy in his fellows
perpetuates the common reluctance to organize for change. The dominant
institutions are complex enough to blunt the minds of their potential critics,
and entrenched enough to swiftly dissipate or entirely repel the energies of
protest and reform, thus limiting human expectancies. Then, too, we are a
materially improved society, and by our own improvements we seem to have
weakened the case for further change. "
Nicholas S. Thompson
Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
