Harry Pollard wrote:
Brad wrote:
[snip]
There are, of course, other luxuries we could
choose instead, like coordinated social
intelligence minimizing labor time and
maximizing leisure like to some extent they
seem to do in the old Europe . . .
Again, this is nonsense. There is no such thing as a "coordinated social
intelligence". There are only individual intelligences.
I have to admit that you have pointed out that I need to find
a better word or phrase to describe individual intelligences
cooperatively planning forms of cooperative life that
are mutually beneficial. What I am against here, of course,
is that limited and almost if not altogether self-contradictory
form of social cooperation which consists in certain persons
agreeing among themselves to turn the whole social
world, including conscripting the vast numbers of persons not involved in
the planning into a modified form of war of all against all
("competition", "free enterprise"...).
But I have to agree with you that "coordinated social intelligence"
sounds better than, on reflection, it seems to mean. I'm working on
this task of rinding a replacement already, and *never* again will
I use that misfortunate phrase.
We now have such an incredible power to produce that we can be vastly
inefficient and still be able to live well.
Why this "incredible power to produce" doesn't translate into an absence
of poverty is something that must be thought about. However, thinking
about such things seems to be remarkably absent in our uncoordinated
social intelligence.
I agree with you here, but you probably would not agree with myu
agreement. But "uncoordinated social intelligence" doesn't
describe the economic model of competition any more than
"coordinated social intelligence" described a humans collegial
social world. There ain't no social intelligence nowhere.
Only individuals, some of whom are intelligent and some not,
and some of the intelligent ones are sociopathic, con men,
etc.
Oh, well, there are lots of other misnomers out there,
like calling a form of politics in which "the people"
"govern" themselves by pulling voting machine levers
at infrequent intervals a "democracy", instead of maybe
a representativocracy (government of and by representatives,
who, with luck, govern for the voters).
I will never use that phrase "social intelligence" again.
I don't why I didn't see for myself how antithetical
it is to my beliefs. Engineering and designing systems
which are easy and pleasant to use for social welfare and
creative cultural endeavor, and difficult
to hijack for private greed is a little closer
to what I think -- I think.
\brad mccormick
Harry
******************************
Harry Pollard
Henry George School of LA
Box 655
Tujunga CA 91042
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel: (818) 352-4141
Fax: (818) 353-2242
*******************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.393 / Virus Database: 223 - Release Date: 9/30/2002
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
_______________________________________________
Futurework mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
