I feel where you’re coming from in your excerpt there. On two levels, actually.
I came to similar conclusions about the need for stability and my own near-agnosticism about the exact nature of the stability. I don’t care what religion, creed, incentive, or whatever other culturally or even biologically engineered nonsense binds us together, at least not all the time. I have my preferences, and a certain way of looking at fairness, but they are socially constructed aspects of my own subjective views and I can get over myself if something new works. Or at least I hope so.
But the other aspect is internal. The stability and continuity is valuable precisely because people should be able to invest themselves in a perspective without it constantly being assaulted and having to change it. It’s lazy, but there’s the potential for trust in that laziness and I don’t know if trust can exist without it. So while I say I am aware of my own socially constructed frame and can be flexible… maybe not. Maybe I just haven’t figured myself out.
The main thing I know is that I have to watch myself today, because there are a lot of views people can adopt out there, and the main thing I seem to be able to count on is that they will adopt them in their self-interest. Some have a longer view than others, but when there’s a zero-sum game being played, cover your throat and spine. I don’t like this.
I don’t know if true belief is even compatible with society as e we know it, and I hesitate to say this, but we may be moving towards a situation where a soft surveillance culture is the only way to make life both livable and culturally reliable. I don’t like this, either.
One thing that makes this all so tricky, imho, is that while reality is to some extent socially constructed, I do believe that there are some social realities that are realer than others. There are some social realities that I don't think I am capable of opting into because I don't think I could convince myself of their veracity. And who knows, maybe there are also some that I wouldn't be capable of opting into because I need social reality to be false in a certain way ;)
I'm not sure previous societies had clearly better ways of doing any of this. But some clearly had more stability and continuity. Can we have a technologically advanced society that cares about equality and meritocracy, and also have stability and continuity? I'm not certain those things are at odds, but sometimes it feels like they are.
I know there are realities of culture beyond social construction. There’s a nascent idea called “social physics” which looks like it’s moving that way, if it goes right. I include hierarchy as an immovable social reality, so yeah, it makes things tricky. Some pepper aren’t hearing it, or aren’t following through on what it means for stability.
And while I’m sure there’s more effective ways to have the stability, the historical answer to creating it seems to feature a lot of potentially violent coercion. We like to say that’s destabilizing, but… of course we do.
It’s a little complicated. Firm rules for unavoidable social realities would be nice, but I don’t trust anyone to come up with them, so it’s not even on my wish list.
I feel where you’re coming from in your excerpt there. On two levels, actually.
I came to similar conclusions about the need for stability and my own near-agnosticism about the exact nature of the stability. I don’t care what religion, creed, incentive, or whatever other culturally or even biologically engineered nonsense binds us together, at least not all the time. I have my preferences, and a certain way of looking at fairness, but they are socially constructed aspects of my own subjective views and I can get over myself if something new works. Or at least I hope so.
But the other aspect is internal. The stability and continuity is valuable precisely because people should be able to invest themselves in a perspective without it constantly being assaulted and having to change it. It’s lazy, but there’s the potential for trust in that laziness and I don’t know if trust can exist without it. So while I say I am aware of my own socially constructed frame and can be flexible… maybe not. Maybe I just haven’t figured myself out.
The main thing I know is that I have to watch myself today, because there are a lot of views people can adopt out there, and the main thing I seem to be able to count on is that they will adopt them in their self-interest. Some have a longer view than others, but when there’s a zero-sum game being played, cover your throat and spine. I don’t like this.
I don’t know if true belief is even compatible with society as e we know it, and I hesitate to say this, but we may be moving towards a situation where a soft surveillance culture is the only way to make life both livable and culturally reliable. I don’t like this, either.
One thing that makes this all so tricky, imho, is that while reality is to some extent socially constructed, I do believe that there are some social realities that are realer than others. There are some social realities that I don't think I am capable of opting into because I don't think I could convince myself of their veracity. And who knows, maybe there are also some that I wouldn't be capable of opting into because I need social reality to be false in a certain way ;)
I'm not sure previous societies had clearly better ways of doing any of this. But some clearly had more stability and continuity. Can we have a technologically advanced society that cares about equality and meritocracy, and also have stability and continuity? I'm not certain those things are at odds, but sometimes it feels like they are.
I know there are realities of culture beyond social construction. There’s a nascent idea called “social physics” which looks like it’s moving that way, if it goes right. I include hierarchy as an immovable social reality, so yeah, it makes things tricky. Some pepper aren’t hearing it, or aren’t following through on what it means for stability.
And while I’m sure there’s more effective ways to have the stability, the historical answer to creating it seems to feature a lot of potentially violent coercion. We like to say that’s destabilizing, but… of course we do.
It’s a little complicated. Firm rules for unavoidable social realities would be nice, but I don’t trust anyone to come up with them, so it’s not even on my wish list.