TO: Marco, Jonathan and NEMO Hi gang, This is more of a first crack at the issue than a response to others, though I do address a comment of Jonathan's. The following thoughts are somewhat disjointed thoughts on the topic of freedom.
DEFINITION Freedom? What is it? Freedom is the versatility of possible actions. It is the range of possible Experience. FREEDOM AND THE SOCIAL BARGAIN In a Quality society, individuals have maximum versatility and freedom. However, it is arrived at by somewhat of a bargain. Individuals trade away some freedoms so that they can gain a much larger repertoire. They give up some versatility and possibility so that other, much greater options can be gained. Those lost specifically include the "freedoms" to harm and destroy others. As a member of society, one must agree not to lie, cheat, steal, rape, injure, damage or slander any other member. One must abdicate these freedoms. In fact, the scope of society can be partially defined by the who has and has not agreed to play within these rules. The benefit of being a member of a group abdicating these freedoms is that you gain the freedom of not being terrorized by the other members. Furthermore, the suppression of all the negative freedoms establishes the environment for cooperation, synergy, sharing, and knowledge building. Entire new dimensions of freedom are created that would be impossible alone or in perpetual biological struggle with others. A lone man has hardly the freedom to survive. A society of men has the freedom and capability to accomplish almost anything. A Quality society trades up for better freedoms and expanded ranges of possibilities. More freedom for the individual, and more freedom for the society itself. SIDE NOTES ON FREEDOM Every society must have a police mechanism to correct any tendencies of people to scam the system. Cheating by gaining the benefits of other's cooperation while actually exploiting them for one's own gain would undermine the very foundation of the social agreement. If some could gain the benefits at no cost, then there is no incentive for any to play by the rules. Society would crumble. Individual and social freedom would suffer irreparable harm. In the history of society, one great challenge has been to learn which freedoms are harmful and which are not. Harmful activitiess, once identified, must be repressed, but beneficial freedoms must be allowed to blossom. Many societies have chosen to repress the freedoms to question, think, retain the fruit of ones efforts, and the freedom to communicate. They feel these threaten the static social structure. Quality societies, though, have realized that they must be Dynamic, and that these are the freedoms needed for people to voluntarily form and maintain an adaptive, learning structure. FREEDOM AS THE FOUNDATION FOR LEVEL EMERGENCE It seems to me that the foundation for a Quality society is indeed the foundation for the Intellectual level. Democracy, free enterprise, science, art, free assembly and speech, free religion, and the freedom to question authority and convention are all the essential ingredients to Intellect. In summary, the best biological solution -- the solution providing the most Quality and freedom -- is to form voluntary societies, and the best social solution -- again maximizing Quality and social versatility -- is Intellectual. Jonathan recently wrote: "I always seem to start off by attacking the question;-) In this case the question implies that individual freedom is an intellectual pattern. Just because Pirsig says it does not mean that it should go unquestioned. IMO, individual freedom is a SOCIAL pattern." Rog: I agree. INDIVIDUAL freedom is a social pattern of QUALITY. Furthermore, social freedom is an intellectual pattern of quality. In fact it seems that the emergence of the levels involve major transitions toward enhanced freedom. Life is a major transition in freedom for inorganic patterns, society for life, and intellect for society. SO WHAT WAS THE QUESTION? Is freedom a means or an end? I suspect it is both. Could be wrong though.... Let me know if you see any Quality in these ramblings. Rog MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
