> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron > > /In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the > Constitution dictate that all Americans are fully equal and not > allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able > than anyone else. The Handicapper General's agents enforce the > equality laws, forcing citizens to wear "handicaps": masks for > those who are too beautiful, loud radios that disrupt thoughts > inside the ears of intelligent people, and heavy weights for the > strong or athletic./ > > > I *personally* think there is room for seemingly contradictory ideas. > > The acknowledgement that many advantages (of birth, circumstance, etc) > are amplified by our culture... those with the most aptitude for a > given activity are usually those given the most support (material, > emotional, financial) to continue to exploit/capitalize/pursue the > honing and application of said aptitudes. To those whose parents > were literate, or were native speakers of the lingua franca of the > lands they live in, or who were aware of and supported the activities > and propensities their child(ren) were adept at, and/or were highly > valued by the community, it is *natural* that they would be much more > likely to excel (and be rewarded for said excellence) by the community > which is in some sense selecting for the "good of the group". > > Whether we call it democratization or egalitarianism (I prefer the > latter, as the former implies the "will of the majority", while the > latter implies equal opportunity and support to every individual in a > group), paying attention to these strong positive feedback loops and > adjusting them to feed some of the less *obvious* candidates for > excellence would seem not only like a good strategy in support of pure > egalitarianism (of which Vonnegut presents the > background/complement/dark-side) but also potentially a more optimum > strategy for the "good of the group". > > If we consider *both* strategies to be something like a search over a > landscape, the latter has benefits for very rugged landscapes while > the former would seem to operate best on smooth landscapes. I > propose that "ocracies" have generally been put in place (at least > partially) TO smooth the landscapes and thereby allow for more simple > (and effective?) search/optimization strategies. > > The argument of *diversity* is most often used to promote the latter > strategy, which in my estimation is another way of acknowledging the > rough landscape as a simple fact, attempting to respond efficiently > and effectively to it, rather than trying to > ignore/wish/legislate/regulate the complexity away. > > - Steve Bergeron > > On 6/6/18 10:52 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote: >> Glen writes: >> >> "This reminded me of my (postmodern) criticism of open source (in spite of >> any of my advocacy of it), that open source *can* be exploited by an elite >> set of people who are elite by their capability to know how to read, use, >> and think about code, or design google queries, or SEO. It's only >> "democratization" IF the skills and resources to use it are available to >> everyone." >> >> How about bicycle racing. Not everyone can achieve > 80 ml/kg/min VO2 max, >> but a few people can. These are biologically gifted people, and then they >> train like hell too, and/or sometimes use performance enhancing drugs. >> There are some people that can train like hell but always be beaten by >> someone than trains as hard or less. They just don't have it. >> >> Open source as a meritocracy is attractive to its adherents because it >> selects for individuals that succeed in developing a particular kind of >> sustained intellectual productivity, based on nothing else but the fact that >> they do. You can't just go through a particular training procedure and >> come out a productive peer in this community. It doesn't matter if you are >> born a citizen of a hypothetical Code Nation. People from all over the >> world end-up being recruited to major tech firms who can see the value of >> their work, and not just the bullet points on a resume. >> >> It seems silly to say that one would democratize elite bicycle racing. >> >> Marcus >> >> ============================================================ >> 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-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove >
============================================================ 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-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
