nation-state – josuterdotcom

This is a response to William Davies book “Nervous States”

Treatment for Nervous States by josuter

It is important to identify the problems. The distinction between fact and fiction is a necessary one. However, facts are only important if there is a decision to be made. A pilot needs facts to make important decisions. If no decision is required, then any narrative will work – until it doesn’t. A further distinction must be made between facts that may be true, but not relevant, and not Useful. We cannot go forward without Useful Information (UI).

The 2008 financial meltdown was actually predicted by a small number of economists but there was no mechanism to get their arguments into the top level decision making circles. So a large part of the problem is Finding, Filtering, and Moving UI. Another example is that of campaign financing where money buys information channels. But UI is the real prize here and it may be impossible for the sender (the politician) to prove their point of view. It is possible, however, for the audience on the receiving end to construct their own filters.

A major advancement is modern communication technology. In your opening story about rumors causing near panic in crowd, it was communication technology that brought in the relevant information and ultimately prevented the situation from becoming worse. Modern communication technology has drawbacks, however. It can usually facilitate movement of information from side-to-side or broadcasting out-and-down to lower levels, but it may be nearly impossible to move UI up the ladder when one cannot get past the front desk.

Consider the Questions that are thrown at us, the Metaphors and Stories that make the pieces of our culture. Do they make sense? Useful Information will never be 100% but maybe enough to act. The all-important Question is “How do you know . . . X ?” How do you know if what the media just reported is true? What is missing? This task may require a division of labor with filters to test the integrity of it all.

One definition of sin is a break in a relationship. This seems to be what is happening between the leadership and citizens in many countries. It can be repaired by the actions of a few people at the top, but if that does not happen it will require a more concerted effort. Vincent Bevins (If We Burn) notes that over the past few decades, social movements have not had the lasting effect that previous ones seemed to have. Governments may be willing to tolerate demonstrations but not real change. So change must be more subtle – maybe a change in direction or a change of the tools we use.

Finding, Filtering, and Moving UI (FFMUI) will be a key to both unlocking the problem and for treatment of the situation. It will require some creative thinking and use of other types of power besides barrel-of-a-gun or the power of money. Other powers might include Division of Labor, Competition, and Targeted Feedback to name a few. A Dynamic Democracy would incorporate many of these other powers, some of them being the power of the groups of people who are chosen in a random fashion with their own panel of judges.

The Nation-State as a mental construct has power because people act together and decide on rules and boundaries. But Nation-States can evolve, however, by putting mild counter stress on the system in the right places. We cannot wait for the unfocused energy of the crowd. Rather, we can structure the growth in the proper direction, like bracing a growing tree to grow upright. We can also push others to make some decision, even if that decision is a small one. Sports-like friendly competition to find and filter UI can also be useful.

A social hierarchy has many layers, each layer using and sometimes abusing the layer below. This is how bad feelings between various groups get started. What are people asked to do by their leaders? Some religions require 5 prayers each day. Many find it to be a source of strength. We cannot wait for extreme emotion to motivate crowds. We need to go into neighborhood communities and challenge individuals and small groups.

Standing at the starting line with a thousand runners ready to begin a race, the energy is palpable. Crowds can certainly feel and act differently than the interaction within small groups and individuals. We can still use competition in new ways, even with small groups. It may work start from outside the group. After all, we are social animals. We can push UI to other individuals and groups to push them uphill. This is the reverse of Stories in the Old Testament where other tribes were pushed downhill and vanquished. We can change the story. Are those guys the enemy or are they our younger siblings? It makes a difference.

Here in parts of the US we are starting a local process called Discovery Games (DG) with a dozen people who push other people to discover new ideas and information. We challenge players to take the game and run with it on their own.

A New Story to Avoid Nuclear War

I was a young boy when my father told me something that I realized was not true. I loved and admired my father, but why would he do that? Maybe he believed it. Maybe that’s what his father told him. Both grew up in different times and different environments. For that I could forgive him.

When the environment changes, the story must change. A powerful story must touch reality at some point yet leave room for imagination. Culture is a collection of stories that work and have value in a particular environment.

Metaphors reflect our vision and understanding of the world. We think in metaphors and use them to influence other people too. Memes are metaphors with feet. Allistair Crook says the fever of misleading memes should be broken. But how do we do that? It takes a long time for a bad meme to burn out. Because of this lag it may be necessary to take counter measures simultaneously at multiple levels.

The Story of The Emperor’s New Clothes is just as true today as it was when written nearly 200 years ago. The Big Lie in the tale was not that the Emperor had no clothes. That fact was evident. The Big Lie was that people who could not see the new clothes were stupid. This made people shut up. When political leaders are afraid to look weak, it increases the resistance to finding Useful Information, both for themselves and others. In the same way, censorship destroys language. People hide what they mean and some others may create a new language.

Israel needs a New Story. Their Old Story worked in the past but not today in this new and different environment. Can they forgive their fathers, or will they continue to be prisoners of an Old Story?

Environment

By themselves supersonic missiles (SSM) can be viewed as a dangerous and destructive weapon. But this is a nuclear weapon environment. If only the Big Players have SSM’s they will simply be another weapon on the shelf and potentially destabilizing. As a part of a larger system with feedback loops, SSM’s can be distributed to both nuclear and non-nuclear countries where they could be a stabilizing force, allowing us to back away from the Nuclear War precipice.

Even several SSM’s fired by mistake or by malice will not destroy the whole world. There will be time to investigate. On the other hand, detonation of a single nuclear weapon will likely lead to thousands of them being launched. Henry Kissinger noted that after the first nuclear weapon is launched everything beyond that point becomes unpredictable. So it is highly likely that all the missiles will be launched. Consideration of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during WWII are not helpful in thinking through this problem since the United States was the only one who had them at that time. This situation is more like the old-fashioned gun fight with two gun-slingers – except we are using nuclear guns and everybody dies, including the crowd. Is this how we will treat God’s Creation, this great and miraculous Creation?

Jonathan Schell’s book “The Gift of Time” was a reflection on the luck – or maybe providence – that kept us from using nuclear weapons in the decades since WWII. But time can be so short and even disappear when leaders have only minutes to make a decision that will affect the fate of the world. “He who hesitates loses”. We must not put anyone in that position. Yet some leaders believe that a nuclear war can be won. That is the Story they tell each other – but it is misleading.

Motivation of those who are Gender-Queer might be, in part, a statement that the alpha male model does not work anymore. The alpha male model has brought us this far but continuing along the same path will lead to destruction of everything. The risks go up even further when more nations want nuclear weapons. Yet Queer people want to be protected too, so we and they must find some other type of defense.

Nuclear weapons are not a “great equalizer” as some have said, but rather a “great destroyer”. They warp reality and make individuals blind. SSM’s could be a key stabilizer and function to keep the larger system stable, but only if distributed among all nations and using interlocking regional groups.

Types of Power

A Story can definitely have power but it must match the environment. It should be obvious that we need other types of power. It may be up to citizens to find and use those powers since current leaders are too busy and may have no motive to do so.

Education is power. 30 years ago, Jackie Jackson, a public school teacher speaking as a guest on The Newshour, clearly stated that the value of education is survival of the group, not just getting a job. We argue over school funding while the Russians educate their students in STEM subjects, allowing Russia to build SSM’s while the US lags behind.

Government, business, and mainstream media use BOG (Barrel-Of-a-Gun), money, and information as tools of power. This aligns with the task of government to set boundaries, business to produce goods and services, and media to gather and filter information.

These types of power might be called Type I or material powers since a person who possesses them has power. Type II and III powers are process-structure types of power and include Division of Labor (DoL), Competition, PIE Games, Feedback (FB), Bottlenecks (BN), Focusing on a Few (FoF), or changing Target Learners (TL).

Other types of power include: Discovery of better Questions, Discovery of Points of Resistance, Creation of New Stories, and various Information Games. These are all types of power if they help to get things done. Organization itself might be considered a power, though it may be more a manifestation of power since many organizations will collapse when the power is shut off.

What is the purpose of the Nation-State?

The Treaty of Westphalia that ended the 30 Year’s War in 1648 was the result of exhausted warriors agreeing on some boundaries and promising to keep their hands off others’ property. Since that time the Nation-State has evolved to become the primary protector of its citizens, plus creating a stable and predictable environment. So the Nation-State can evolve, but can it change itself? How? And in what direction? Feedback will be key.

Can democracy handle these increasingly complex issues? How do we Start? Thinking about HOW we talk can be power.

Small seed groups (2 or 3 people) can start something with one of these powers. A discussion or debate does not have to save the world. It only has to take one step or discover one idea. The next step is a “process” discussion like “How do we get this idea into a larger group?” Alternating Issue Debates with Process Debates will move us forward.

We cannot simply point out mistakes or accuse someone of “hubris”. There is hubris at every level, even among children who are unable to hear others from a lower station. Maybe it’s boredom or not wanting to repeat things already learned. Maybe it is a fear of looking bad or an effort to maintain the social hierarchy. So we must help find a new path.