On 01/20/2014 02:18 PM, Steve Smith wrote: > I find that metaphors help me *express* but they > often muddle or misdirect my thinking. They offer *perspective* and > provide *synthetic thinking* but fail in *analytical thinking*.
Well, I wouldn't go quite that far. [grin] Being a professional simulant, I have to be capable of arguing for analogical thinking, including the willy-nilly use of bad metaphors. But if the analog is constructed well, then it can be very useful in analytical thinking. In particular, it's important to identify where the metaphor works and where it doesn't. I suppose if we stick to the typical conversation context, then I agree with you. Metaphors are great for broaching a subject, either with confrontational jerks like me or with acolytes you intend to lead astray. If Jochen's metaphor between cancer and totalitarianism weren't so flawed, I probably would have kept my thoughts to myself. On 01/20/2014 01:40 PM, glen wrote: >> Does the cell map to the individual? ... if not, then what? > > I think that if there is a mapping, the the cell in the target domain is > any sufficiently small sub-unit with sufficient coherence (membrane?) > and self-sufficiency to allow it identity... "nuclear family", "small > business", maybe "congregation", or "club chapter" might fit this... Jochen raises this in the link "cultural stem cells": http://blog.cas-group.net/2010/10/cultural-stem-cells/ >> If we push the metaphor, I would argue that the humans that constitute >> totalitarian regimes are _normal_ humans. > Very much so! And this is the fallacy in *most* thinking about any > abberant form of society or government... the individual citizens, and > even "statesmen" are not necessarily abnormal... or if they are, their > abnormality is as much a *product* of their circumstance, their > embedding in a crazy system as it is a *cause* of it. While certain > behaviours or perspectives or "values" if you must may help steer the > group toward or away from particular abberations (a relative term in > it's own right?), I don't think we get to blame as directly as we would > like, individual personality (types)? Right. I agree. > I didn't speak up then, but I believe the "image" of the fascia Arlo > Brought up is backed by an anecdote about how "divided we break, united > we don't"... and it was I think a rallying concept between the original > 13 colonies... this was like 3rd grade "government" class I thought... > telling me that the fascia on the dime had 13 sticks to represent those > colonies? Interesting. That would play well into the idea that societal -isms are more like resonances than systemic properties arising from broken constituents. We can doff and don aspects of them to suit our rhetoric, unlike the hallmarks of cancer. >> It's a systemic pattern that, if broken, could >> snap back to a healthy regime. > I don't think the Fascia really suggests that. Unbundle the sticks and > start breaking them, and they don't unbreak and the remaining sticks are > weaker for it. Who said anything about breaking the sticks? Just unbundling them is adequate. I.e. bundled, they are fascist. Unbundled they're ready to fit into any other pattern, including healthy patterns. >> That's definitely not the case with >> cancer. Just breaking the resonant pattern so that the cells can float >> around amongst the their healthy brethren won't do much good at all, and >> would probably make things much worse. > Hmm... I think that is somewhat true... not unlike with Ideological > terrorists... busting them up in say Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, probably > just *makes* them metastasize, go systemic. I don't think so. I think what you see is part of a larger resonant pattern. Breaking a tiny part of the resonator (e.g. putting something inside your guitar, a block of balsa wood, say) reduces the resonance, but does not break it. The larger system still resonates. If you change it in a big enough way, you can destroy it. Or (more likely) you just change the character of the resonator. That entire region of the planet is the resonator. Changes to, say, Egypt or Syria, do affect it, but perhaps not enough to break it. The same could be said of the fascia. Yes, you could loosen the bundle a bit. You could arrange it so that the large ends of all the sticks are up or down, or alternate, or whatever. But only small changes may not change the salient aspects of the pattern. In either case, it is very unlike cancer. -- -- ⇒⇐ 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
