“The edge of conflict”

I’ve never heard of that term made explicit, but it’s an important element in my personal research on the evolution of culture. 

There is a trajectory of evolution, I contend (a teleology)

It’s something like the increasing integration of increasing complexity:
The real number line.

I’ve suffered from the same concern for decades - struggling with cynicism.

Now that I see life as a bloodsport, I choose to be a good sport. 
Life and death aren’t real either. They’re imaginary. 

That being said, the edge of conflict that makes bloodsports life’s meaning (which it is), will eventually, always, bump up against the moment the interests of the masses align in a satisfying (just) manner:

Bands…Tribes….Kingdoms…..Parliaments……Democracy…..
…Web-Based Collective Intelligence (the psychological integration of humanity, and it’s entire body of knowledge….broader and deeper, on, and on)


On Sun, Sep 5, 2021 at 2:38 PM Victor MacGill <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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I have thought about it from the point of view of the speed limit. I live in New Zealand. We have an open road limit of 100 km/hr that results in around 300 death per year. If we reduced the limit to 80Km or whatever, we know we would reduce the road death, but actually we have determined that 300 deaths a year is acceptable for the convenience of getting from place to place.

Another angle is that as numbers grow in a group, requisite variety increases because there are more people with more skills, that creates more and more opportunities for growth so we co-operate, form bigger groups for the greater pay off, But, greater requisite variety also means greater difference between the parts that means greater conflict. Groups grow to the point of acceptable conflict - and the risk of falling into deep conflict or violence, a point I call the edge of conflict. Any creature not will to embrace an acceptable level of conflict will be out competed by other creatures that will and lose fitness.

On 6/09/2021 9:16 am, Alexis Kenny wrote:
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All,

A few months ago I came across a narrative that described an "invention" that increased deaths and injuries within the population to a significant degree and yet made things easier / more pleasant for nearly everyone. The story ended with a sort of moral dilemma question - asking the reader if they would accept the advantages of the invention even though it would mean also accepting the injuries/deaths it caused. The reader then answers yes or no and then the invention was named...it ends up being the automobile. 

Long story to a short question...does anyone have the actual narrative of this moral dilemma? I cannot, for the life of me, find it online. I think it would be a useful tool within certain group therapy contexts and would love to be able to locate it. 

Many thanks!

Warmly,

Ali

--
Alexis (Ali) Kenny, PsyD, LP
Staff Psychologist
phone: 406.540.3411
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-- 
Victor MacGill PhD
http://www.victormacgill.com
Author of When the Dragon Stirs: Healing our Wounded lives through Fairy Stories, Myths and Legends
and Gonna Lay Down my Sword and Shield: A complexity perspective on human evolution from a Violent Past to a Compassionate Future
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-Jamie 
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