On Jul 18, 2018, at 2:29 AM, Frank Ambrosio <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Dear Gregg et al. 

Sincere thanks for this; I think it is just what is needed as a jumping off point. I will try to put together some specific responses to particular components of your statement, and I hope others will as well. It would be very useful if we could work our way toward a broad consensus statement that most/all of us could live with happily and hopefully, and that would serve as an effective introduction of the Society to a broader audience.

more soon,

Frank

Francis J. Ambrosio, PhD

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Georgetown University

202-687-7441

On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 2:25 PM Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi All,

 

  Lots of threads on the list and I attempt here to briefly consolidate them (Thanks to Frank for his call for that).

 

  Fundamentally for me, all of this is about two intertwined elements, one of which pertains to knowledge and technology and the “current-into-future state of affairs.” The other element pertains to moral questions about helping humans flourish and reach their maximal potential. This, BTW, is what a good clinical/health service psychologist does. S/he listens to the narrative regarding the who the person is and the situation they find themselves in, and wonders about the adaptive path forward.

 

  The knowledge situation we find ourselves in is one of “fragmented pluralism.” The amount of information and fragmented knowledge is enormous, but there is much difficulty making sense of it. A series of events during the 20^th Century resulted in a relative collapse of integrated knowledge structures. Science lost touch with philosophy and became hyper empirical. Religious views struggled in the face of science (giving rise the personal v impersonal split). Globalism combined with developments in postmodernism to give rise to the view that all knowledge is relative and positional. All of this gives rise to a head scratching WTF when it comes to being grounded in what we can know.

 

  The technology situation that we find ourselves in is exploding. The industrial revolution was a qualitative shift in technological output. Then electronic and now digital information technologies. If we take the ToK System view seriously, the emergence of computers, AI, and the internet represents the emerging dimension of behavioral complexity ABOVE culture. Thus, the technological paradigms are changing EVERYTHING and doing it FAST.

 

  The psychological health situation we find ourselves in is tenuous. I think there is good evidence that we can consider this, psychologically, the Age of SADness (i.e., Stress, Anxiety, and Depression). Although we are gaining control over the environment regarding our basic needs, our psychosocial world is overloaded and complex and we are not built for the world we find ourselves. There is too much chaos, uncertainty, isolation, and too many goal posts that are misdirecting us away from core values and needs. In other words, there is an ever increasing mismatch between our natures and the techno-knowledge world we find ourselves in.

 

  Without sound too grandiose, I view the ToK/UTUA framework as an outline for therapy for our times. We need to understand the situation we find ourselves in (which is knowledge fragmentation, hyper acceleration of new technologies and psychological disorganization), and move toward adaptive solutions.

 

What it proposes is a vision for value-based knowledge consolidation (AKA Wisdom).

 

The meta-values I propose are dignity (predicated in part on the freedom of persons in a not to Frank and Steve), well-being (defined by the Nested Model) and integrity (defined by truth and honesty). (Note these values correspond to the guiding missions of the United Nations/United Declaration of Human Rights; the World Health Organization; and the fundamental goal of Science…thus they are both global and representative of institutions).

 

The core knowledge system I propose for transforming our fragmented pluralism into an integrated pluralism is the Tree of Knowledge System.

 

The core bottom up way of living that fosters human dignity and well-being with integrity is the UTUA framework. It is grounded on the metaphor that we need to plant seeds and grow our own Gardens that allow for individuals and groups to flourish (framed only by the meta-values).

 

In sum, we need a consolidating force that organizes the information overload to direct it toward the moral good. That is the essence of the 5^th joint point as I envision it.

 

Perhaps others can share their views and ideas about these issues. I would especially like hearing from new folks.

Best,
Gregg

 

PS. Mark, thanks for all your references to the Tree of Knowledge and the Garden. I appreciate the depth with which you seeing those metaphors.

 

 

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