Hi,
Dave Pape <davepape@dial.pipex.com> writes:
<<
I think we should. Stand up and say "I am a social ape that can't
choose not to enter into symbolic fighting for peergroup status" or
some better thought out and more catchy equivalent.
>>
Hmmm. I do like it -- rephrased, it could make a good maxim for Virus.
Does anybody have a copy of The Lucifer Principle (Howard Bloom) on hand? I'm trying to remember if he ever defined the lucifer principle -- cause I'm sure it would be something like the above.
How about removing the double negative?
"I am a social ape: I must enter into symbolic fighting for peergroup
status"
Or even more concise:
"I am a social ape; I fight for peergroup status"
Or perhaps:
"As a social ape, I jocky for a high position on the social hierarchy"
The permutations are endless...
<<
My theory is that people's relationships with others on the list have
probably become ingrained/learned/established, meaning that there's
less flexibility in how people react to each other.
{snip}
Ingrained relationships- self-organising social systems.
>>
Interesting. I've been reading Conscilience (Edward Wilson) for the last week or so, and he talks endlessly about epigenetic rules (hereditary regularities in development). Wilson clearly demonstrates the existence of epigenetic rules for social development -- and I'm betting that's what you're seeing above.
There is no doubt in my mind that rule-based social interaction is not the ideal relationship type -- it tends to coerce both parties, as well as reducing the common-preference finding interaction that is so needed. The flip side of the coin -- conscious common-preference relationships -- are very hard to create and maintain (in fact, recent disucssion on ARR {the autonomy respecting relationship list} has cast doubt on the whole system as regards romantic/sexual relationships)
I think that in discussion via email, however, it is fully possible for each person to benefit (win/win) -- all we have to do is become more aware of the negative dynamics that email sets up, so that we can avoid them. I'm going to send my (incomplete) Epistemology to the list today, for comments -- it's clear that I've run out of motivation to do work on it on my own.
ERiC