Dear Gregg,

Now that the end of the year approaches, I want to thank you, and all of the ToKers who have made contributions, for the warmth and generosity of thought. I have felt greatly enriched by these discussions.

 

Gregg, Waldemar and Chance – Re: consciousness

 

I am rewriting my last chapter, which summarizes the evolution of my 6 learning systems and describes their relationship to consciousness.  I will email it to you directly (and to anyone else if you are interested).

 

Waldemar and Martin–  Re: the importance of the formal abstract mind and the problem with psychology

 

I see formal abstract thought as necessary for problem solving and responsible for all the innovations that make up our modern world.

 

The problem that I see when I talked about the “overuse” of formal abstract thought, particularly in psychology, is this: I see investigators, having begun their careers using the careful application of the scientific method, go on to make abstract generalizations about their findings. These abstract generalizations are made with not enough attention to the degree to which the abstraction still completely applies to the concrete, tangible thing(s) that the abstraction originally subsumed. Once abstractions are used in this unanchored way, it is hard to know how systems of knowledge can be constructed. I see this as a problem with all efforts to attain an overview, including my own.

 

 

Waldemar -- On utilizing the capabilities offered by the digital world, for the purposes of creating positive outcomes for human kind.

 

I agree that the digital world is with us for good or for ill. The focus for me has been trying to figure out how we got here. If we could detect a repeating pattern in the past, then we might be better prepared for what will come next. The pattern that I see for evolution is the same pattern that Case saw for child development. The question that follows logically is: What is the next stage in child development and the next grade in human evolution? Using Case’s system of analysis, each major stage transition in child development is characterized by a combining of two capabilities that were present but separate at the earlier stage. If the ability to ‘see’ the properties of a system emerges at the formal abstract stage, at around 11 years of age, then the ability to ‘see’ relationships between and amongst systems will characterize the next stage in human development and evolution. Given the collision of systems (government, climate, economics, population, food production) that we are currently observing, I would say that we are already there.

 

With warm regards,

 

Nancy