Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
Author, VIRUS OF THE MIND: The New Science of the Meme
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/votm.htm
Visit Meme Central: http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
On Wednesday, October 22, 1997 8:45 AM, D.H.Rosdeitcher [SMTP:76473.3041@compuserve.com] wrote:
> Tim Rhodes wrote:
> I wrote
> >> Speaking of taking over the world, does attempting to bring the world
> >> under one rule interfere with naturally emerging complex order?
>
> >Does the attempt increase the complexity of the system or undermine it?
>
> The attempt I have in mind increases the complexity of the system.
> Here are 2 different socio-political theories about how to increase
> complexity.
> The libertarian-oriented paradigm holds that trying to impose order on
> the world by creating a world government only gets in the way of a
> spontaneously emerging order, which naturally yields the most profitable
> results. In this paradigm, the key to greater complexity does not
> consist of any collectivized attempts to govern people, but an attempt to
> leave the free-market alone so that complexity would develop from the
> constantcompetitive market struggle to increase the quality of all goods
> and services while decreasing costs. This competition would not only
> improve the quality and quantity of goods and services, but would improve
> global policies, since those who hold the power to make globally important
> decisions, would be those who are competent to make them--those who succeed
> in the marketplace as opposed to those who simply win votes.
> From a memetic evolutionary paradigm the key to increasing complexity of
> the system is not necessarily laissez-faire competition, but whatever
> accelerates memetic evolution. The progress of our memes determines
> scientific, technological, and other kinds of progress toward greater
> compexity. The memetic paradigm would imply that a new world government
> might be useful to redistribute wealth so that more and more people could
> devote their minds to some type of network which makes progress toward
> memetic evolution.
> I'd say that the memetic paradigm that supports a new world government
> leads to greater complexity than the libertarian system since people could
> afford to spend more energy on the trial and error process required for
> progress as opposed to having to spend time on basic survival actions and
> monetary success. And there would be less energy spent on the cycle of
> needless production and consumption cycle which doesn't always seem to lead
> anywhere. But, is it complexity at a cost? For instance does an individual
> give up his independence, self-sufficiency and freedom by giving up his
> mind to a collectivized neural network which is part of a system he didn't
> necessarily choose?
>
> --David R.