Dear Gregg

The ToK chain of emergences makes a lot of sense, I'm especially happy that
consciousness/subconsciousness are not part of your definitions and that
each emergence is indeed properly grounded in formal causations.

Your term "justification system" is what we European phenomenologists refer
to as "ideology" (Jordan Peterson uses the word "ideology" wrongly,
mistaking all ideology for being authoritarian-political, not realizing
that his own social-conservative Petersonism is very much an ideology in
itself) meaning a system of ideas (or at least a chaos perceived as an
orderly worldview, psychotics for example have no other worldview then
their own narcissism).

"Ideology" is then the basis for "models" which we either obey or disobey
which in term forms "identities". Where the benefit of our systems is that
it can be used on humans both dividually and socially. "Subconsciousness"
then operates according to an "ideology" that we are not aware of, or that
at least is not transparent to us, therefore the Jungian terms "shadow" and
"collective subconsciousness" also apply to our social philosophy.

The question is then how we deal with epistemology (truth), ethics (smart
versus stupid) and aesthetics (The Beautiful) when The Digital comes
crushing in, absorbs culture and generates a Mind drenched in and obsessed
with Meta-Culture. Memory should mean a renaissance for Factuality that
makes most of value relativism obsolete (and should generate a religious
and spiritual awakening in itself; no more imaginary trips but truly
factual transformations at the core).

But what is the core for ethics and aesthetics here? We have already
applied mass democracy on both as soon as billions of users entered the
Internet and ended up with a bland chaotic mess, from My Space to
Instagram. All built on the ideology of infantilism that was the result of
the absent phallus syndrome following the paradigm shift itself.

I firmly believe that the problem here is that we are constantly left with
grading or degrading accumulations of past experiences. How many more movie
or selfie sequels can we muster before we just puke? So for the grand
narrative to work, it has to be both audacious like hell and truly
challenging, why otherwise even speak of ethics and aesthetics?

Could perhaps the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg as an augmented space
co-created by architectural genius and algorithm point the way forward?
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.elbphilharmonie.de_en_&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=UywGixzksLnprjGVz1anXbdu5Fw3Llhlb3LFJbQRyQ4&e= At least for aesthetics? Gaming stills
merely seems like animation to me by comparison.

Best intentions
Alexander


Den tors 24 jan. 2019 kl 13:50 skrev Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <
[log in to unmask]>:

> Hi Lists,
>
> Figured I would share with folks a post I made this morning with another
> list, where I was asked by Alexander Bard how I define Culture and
> MetaCulture.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Gregg
>
>
>
> *From:* Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 24, 2019 7:46 AM
>
>
>
> Dear Alexander,
>
>
>
> Thanks much for the question. It is indeed crucial to be clear regarding
> the language games we are using. Before answering directly, let me share a
> brief description of my background with IDWers.
>
>
>
> My language system emerged over the last twenty years, starting with the
> Tree of Knowledge System (which first appeared in my head in 1997), which
> is a new approach to natural philosophy/science writ large. The ToK System
> resulted from my realization that modern scientific psychology was
> hopelessly fragmented and confused, in part because philosophy never got
> the matter and mind relationship quite right. I came to call the hopeless
> fragmentation of psychology “The Problem of  Psychology
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.gregghenriques.com_uploads_2_4_3_6_24368778_problemofpsych.pdf&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=j0tgl3r5CN1Q8yqc3qL_EvF77514xxDaiMUDeT4nCZI&e=>,”
> and ultimately the ToK System emerged as a novel solution. In 2003, I
> produced the first outline of the system, in  *The Tree of Knowledge
> System and the Theoretical Unification of Psychology
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.gregghenriques.com_uploads_2_4_3_6_24368778_unifiedtheory.pdf&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=2RJqu9491PfxTZ0rtUT4r56bAcS-jvetApWCoYaX9A0&e=>**.
> *A few years later I examined the system’s capacity to serve as a new
> consilient approach to nature philosophy/science via comparing it to E. O.
> Wilson’s in this paper
> *The Problem of Psychology and the Integration of Human Knowledge:
> Contrasting Wilson’s Consilience with the Tree of Knowledge System. *I
> then provided a book length treatment of the system in A New Unified
> Theory of Psychology.
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.gregghenriques.com_unified-2Dtheory-2Dbook.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=-XP9PzQOdnGb_6lqPaxncoTCqQPBcHQefkVbxegVfpk&e=> I have since
> been working out the practical philosophical implications of the system,
> both for professional psychologists, and for everyday living and
> psychosocial well-being.
>
>
>
> The central insight of the Tree of Knowledge is that the universe (from
> our scientific point of view) is an unfolding wave of behavior (much as
> Whitehead’s process philosophy and Lee Smolin’s version of reality), that
> pops into existence at the Big Bang, and unfolds as four strongly emergent
> dimensions of behavioral complexity, which are labeled Matter (the behavior
> of and on the energy-matter-space-time grid); Life (the behavior of
> organisms); Mind (the behavior of animals w/brains); and Culture (the
> behavior of human persons). The reason that, following Matter, Life, Mind,
> and Culture are strongly emergent (as opposed to weakly emergent
> properties, which is how I conceive of the relationship between physics and
> chemistry and other “within” dimension emergences) is because each is
> associated with the appearance of a novel and functional information
> processing and communication system. Genetics serves that for “Life”; the
> nervous system for “Mind”; and human language for “Culture”.
>
>
>
> Between each dimension of complexity is a “joint point,” which refers to
> the conceptual structure that provide explanations for the emergence of the
> higher order dimension of behavioral complexity.
>
> The ToK posits Behavioral Investment Theory
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.gregghenriques.com_uploads_2_4_3_6_24368778_bsm-5Ffinal.pdf&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=Euv3wan3UB4zhw9p_z4cj0dSH3bIXXUDXxifiFEYwYI&e=>
> as the joint point for the emergence of Mind.  The Justification
> Hypothesis
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.gregghenriques.com_uploads_2_4_3_6_24368778_the-5Fjustification-5Fhypothesis.pdf&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=OPOM6riiQpxKFsIEJdsy9hPsuRb7PnCTc7a4Ens0TKA&e=>
> (now referred to as Justification Systems Theory
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.psychologytoday.com_us_blog_theory-2Dknowledge_201812_the-2Djh-2Djust-2Dwhy-2Dname-2Dchange-2Dis-2Djustified&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=ZaBIq716MFdp0N4wDETd4I85wAbpM8-DMFmIutCTt6E&e=>)
> is the joint point for Culture. It is a framework that allows for a clear
> understanding of the functional organization of the human
> self-consciousness system and the socially constructed systems that
> coordinate/mediate the behavior of human persons. Capital “C” Culture on
> the ToK refers to the large scale systems of justification (i.e.,
> linguistic meaning making) that emerged between 200 and 50K ago, and lines
> up with Donald’s mythic culture. Our laws, politics, scientific theories
> and the reasons we give when we are late, are all “justifications or
> justification systems” in the language game of the ToK. As is this
> narrative.
>
>
>
> MetaCulture has its primary origins in writing, which also represents the
> shift from pre-modern to “modern history” (as opposed to Big History
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__school.bighistoryproject.com_bhplive&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=0Bm544rllgLpSY5BJIq4U1sEV5IYoJbaEyMYwAVJ5kQ&e=>). I am using “Meta” to
> mean above and beyond. So, I am referring to a theoretical conception of
> behavior that transcends modern Culture. On the Tree of Knowledge,
> MetaCulture emerges as “The Fifth Joint Point
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.gregghenriques.com_uploads_2_4_3_6_24368778_fifthjp.pdf&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=fFpL9VXd-qN61GpdrDYymGLY08zJgXvvfIRoTk5I1rM&e=>.”
>
>
>
> Let’s ask: Why is it happening now, what is driving it, and how might it
> be guided? It is happening now because we are seeing the emergence of a new
> form of information processing, communication and memory systems, in the
> form of “digital.” That is, digital becomes akin to genes, neurons, and
> human language, and is the driving force. It my hope that its emergence
> will be fused with the emergence of coherent integrative wise knowledge
> systems that enable a synthesis of human nature, the nature of our planet
> and cosmos, and technology with a valued based vision of the future toward
> the True, Good, and Beautiful. That is, I conceive of the 5th Joint Point
> as a “transcendental beacon” to serve as a call for wisdom that coalesces
> and coincides with the digital revolution and provides a path to a higher
> or meta form of cultural consciousness. In other words, a post, postmodern
> grand meta-narrative.
>
>
>
> Attached is a visual that attempts to capture this graphically.
>
>
>
> Thanks for the opportunity to share my version of reality.
>
>
>
> Best,
> Gregg
>
> ___________________________________________
>
> Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
> Professor
> Department of Graduate Psychology
> 216 Johnston Hall
> MSC 7401
> James Madison University
> Harrisonburg, VA 22807
> (540) 568-7857 (phone)
> (540) 568-4747 (fax)
>
>
> *Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity.*
>
> Check out my Theory of Knowledge blog at Psychology Today at:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.psychologytoday.com_blog_theory-2Dknowledge&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=MJFg522Dq8mHxZ4iAQdc75PDvW8Ku8-TDxHhlA3FbqA&s=VD9nZS8SQJEmnhy-2UMJLs6C6ZIxt3YDTCJ7I0FFoGA&e=
>
>
>
> Check out my webpage at:
>
> www.gregghenriques.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> .
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