Yes. I agree. We might get into trouble later regarding understandings of rich, but mostly it's true. It tends to be less true in hunter gatherer groups where less dominant males tend to gang up and control their more successful colleagues. See Boehm's Democracy in the Forest. I think that's it. But ever since it became possible to store grains, sendentary societies have tended to be dominated by people who can corner the storeable resources.
In short let's go on. (I am puzzled why you and Marcus seem to feel that any attempt to nail down our understandings of essential words is bad form or counter-productive, but we don't have to discuss that here or now.) Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ -----Original Message----- From: Friam [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of glen Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 2:22 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] right vs left On 01/10/2014 12:43 PM, Nick Thompson wrote: > Well, we have started. But I don't think we have made a good start. I would > like to be arguing about something about which we agree there is probably a > "truth of the matter." Now that might violate some libertarian's (or at > least some postmodernists) principles from the start. Given that I am a > classic silver spoon (well, at least Ikea flatware) bleeding-heart liberal, > are there any questions, concerning which you think there is a Truth of the > Matter, that you would like to argue about. Or do your values tell you that > all opinions are “just” opinions? Although Marcus' response was harsh, it was right. But I'll try to play anyway. I propose this Truth of the Matter: The world is run by rich people and has always been run by rich people. Now, there's plenty to argue about, there, some of it semantic (what does "rich" mean, what does "run" mean, etc.). And there should be plenty of evidence to cite to help decide whether it's reasonable or not. I don't particularly _want_ to argue about this. I think it's obviously true, but am willing to admit my ignorance and will gladly change my mind. If we end up agreeing that it's basically true, then maybe we can move on. -- ⇒⇐ glen ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
