Mid-afternoon.
You did your forty minutes of exercises today and swept the kitchen, family
room and office among other household duties. You had a late lunch at
Potbelly’s on Mason-Montgomery Road after running errands. Presently you are at
Kroger’s and from there, home. Carol will then be off to walk her laps at the
Mason Community Center. Earlier this morning Doug sent you an inspiring
quotation as he does from time to time and this one is apropos.
“The
language of friendship is not words but meaning.” – Henry David Thoreau
The quotation reminds you of what you are about – it is not
the words, per se, but the meaning. – Amorella
1542
hours. I was thinking about the books more than the blog. The quote triggers a
sense of underlying purpose in the GMG trilogy. The ‘meaning’ is from the
unconscious self and from Amorella’s direction.
At
the conclusion of yesterday’s blog I used the word ‘exploit’, rather you used
it and I quickly rebuttalled without actually using the word though ‘exploit’
was the intent – that you only had me to exploit. I was angry and it was a
snide thought. I suppose, in context with the blog’s purpose, thoughts are
always remarks. It is true, what you said, that I have no one to exploit but
myself, it is certainly truer than I concluded at the time. It is human to
exploit herorhis environment, first, in order to survive and second to survive
better, in my opinion. Consciously exploiting people however appears morally
wrong at most and selfish at least. I have enough life experience and enough
background in classical literature to have a broader understanding of the term.
Theatre, comedy, tragedy and otherwise, has to be made in a bed of one’s own
conscious or unconscious making. Fiction has fewer limitations. I long ago
decided, when beginning this experimenting writing (notes and novels) in the
late 1980’s that the unconscious mind may know and understand the world and the
Beyond (if there is one) more than consciousness does. As such, I do
exploit my conscious mind through my own consciousness and Amorella exploits my
unconscious mind through/by whatever means she does. Consciousness demands
words or tears; unconsciousness demands neither. As such, the Merlyn’s Mind
trilogy and the Great Merlyn’s Ghost trilogy may show unintended or
misinterpreted consequences to me and to other readers of experimental fiction.
You are home sitting on the deck while Carol
is walking. You have run out of words. Just as your classroom had a value to a
few you hope the blog and books also have a value to a few. For one reason, it
gives you a continuing sense of dignity in your retirement from the teaching
profession. And, likewise, it gives you a sense of freedom to loose your mind
from being so cocked and wired to speak as you will before you are dead. –
Amorella
1640
hours. Freedom and Dignity before the grave, reminds me of Skinner’s
influential book, that is, it is influential in my thinking after reading it
and summarizing selected parts in my earlier lecture notes particularly at
Escola Graduada and Indian Hill High (Futures Studies/Science Fiction both the
class and in like modern literary themes).
** **
Beyond Freedom and Dignity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971), spent eighteen weeks on the New York Times
Best-Seller list.
Beyond Freedom and Dignity is a
1971 book by American psychologist
B. F. Skinner. Skinner argues that entrenched belief in free will and the moral
autonomy of the individual (which Skinner referred to as "dignity")
hinders the prospect of using scientific methods to modify behavior for the
purpose of building a happier and better-organized society.
Beyond Freedom and Dignity may be summarized as an attempt to promote Skinner's philosophy
of science, the technology of human behavior, his conception of determinism,
and what Skinner calls "cultural engineering".
Synopsis
The book
is organized into nine chapters.
A Technology of Behavior
In this
chapter Skinner argues that a technology of behavior is possible and that it
can be used to help solve currently pressing human issues such as
over-population and warfare. "Almost all major problems involve human behavior,
and they cannot be solved by physical and biological technology alone. What is
needed is a technology of human behavior."
Freedom
In this
chapter Skinner argues for a more precise definition of freedom, one that
allows for his conception of determinism (action that is free from certain
kinds of control), and speaks to the conventional notion of freedom. Skinner
argues against "autonomous man".
Skinner
notes that the forces of Freedom and Dignity have led to many positive advances
in the human condition, but may now be hindering the advance of a technology of
human behavior: "[the literature of freedom and dignity] has been
successful in reducing the aversive stimuli used in intentional control, but it
has made the mistake of defining freedom in terms of states of mind or
feelings...”
Dignity
Dignity
is the process by which people are given credit for their actions, or
alternatively punished for them under the notion of responsibility. Skinner's
analysis rejects both as "dignity" – a false notion of inner
causality, which removes both credit for action and blame for misdeeds,
"the achievements for which a person himself is to be given credit seem to
approach zero." This denial of human dignity by Skinner as been criticized
by Noam Chomsky who said : « It would be absurd to conclude merely
from the fact that freedom is limited, that “autonomous man” is an illusion
(...) It would be hard to conceive of a more striking failure to comprehend
even the rudiments of scientific thinking ».
Skinner
notes that credit is typically a function of the conspicuousness of control. We
give less or no credit, or blame, to those who are overtly coached, compelled,
prompted or otherwise not appearing to be producing actions spontaneously.
Punishment
Skinner
saw punishment as the logical consequence of an unscientific analysis of
behavior as well as the tradition of "freedom and dignity". Since
individuals are seen to be making choices they are then able to be punished for
those choices. Since Skinner argued against free will he therefore argued
against punishment, which he saw to be ineffective in controlling behavior.
Alternatives to Punishment
Skinner
notes that the previous solutions to punishment are often not very useful and
may create additional problems. Permissiveness, the metaphor of mid-wifery (or
maieutics), "guidance", a dependence on things, "changing
minds", all contain either problems or faulty assumptions about what is
going on.
Skinner
argues that this misunderstanding of control championed by the defenders of
freedom and dignity "encourage[s] the misuse of controlling practices and
block progress towards a more effective technology of behavior.”
Values
Skinner
notes a 'pre-scientific' view of man allows for personal achievement. The
'scientific view' moves human action to be explained by species evolution and
environmental history
Skinner
speaks to feelings about what is right, as well as popular notions of
"good". Skinner translates popular words and phrases around value
issues into his view of contingencies of reinforcement. Skinner notes that even
if the technology of behavior produces "goods" to improve human life,
they expose environmental control, which is offensive to the "freedom and
dignity" perspective.
The Evolution of a Culture
Skinner
suggests that cultural evolution is a way to describe the aggregate of
(operant) behavior. A culture is a collection of behavior, or practices Skinner
addresses “social Darwinism” and argues that as a justification of the
subordination of other nations or of war competition with others is a small
part of natural selection. A much more important part is competition with the
physical environment itself. Skinner relates the idea of cultural evolution
back to the question of values: whose values are to survive?
The Design of a Culture
Skinner
notes that cultural design is not new, but is already existing and on-going.
Skinner notes that most discussions of current problems are dominated by
metaphors, concerns for feelings and states of mind which do not illuminate
possible solutions. Skinner notes that ‘behavior modification’ is ethically
neutral.
Skinner
notes that Utopian speculations, like his novel Waldon Two are a kind of cultural engineering. He then devotes much
of the rest of this chapter to addressing the criticisms and complaints against
cultural engineering.
What is Man [Humankind]?
Skinner again addresses the notion of the individual,
and discusses how aspects of a person's character could be assigned to
environmental factors. He also covers cognition, problem solving, self-control
and counters some arguments or possible misconceptions. Skinner notes that his
analysis does not "leave an empty organism". Skinner addresses the
issue of mechanical models of human action, which are better addressed
elsewhere. Skinner notes that, "The evolution of a culture is a
gigantic effort in self-control." and ends with, "A scientific view
of man offers exciting possibilities. We have not yet seen what man can make of
man."
Selected and personally edited from Wikipedia
** **
It occurs to you upon reading the above,
that Skinner’s concepts have been more influential on you than you have
thought. Thus, another example of how your experimental writing helps you better understand
your ‘whole self’ along the way. In this sense both the earlier unpublished
notes, the works and blog are a personalized guidebook into self learning and
knowing yourself better. A tip of the old black beret, you might say, to three
of your early ‘classical teachers’, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. – Amorella
1705
hours. I learned from their writings in my own way, perhaps not accurately from
a philosophical scholar’s perspective, but my interpretations have made sense
in my life experiences. Alas, I am no scholar.
2137
hours. I would like to have something to say, but nothing comes to mind. Good
night, Amorella.
Night or day, it makes no difference. Time
is obviously a reality for those who experience it, but I, unattached, do not.
– Amorella
2140
hours. You experience time through me.
Yes. Within you I experience a shortened
four-dimensional ‘limitation’ of being. I am, from your perspective, mostly one
dimensional touching on two. With two dimensions I can more easily discern
three and four, with four representing a sense of ‘flowing forward’. This is
much the way in terms of understanding as humans gaining a sense of two-dimensional
life, Flatland, as it were. - Amorella
** **
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin
Abbott Abbott. Writing pseudonymously as "A Square",the book used the
fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to comment on the hierarchy of
Victorian culture, but the novella's more enduring contribution is its
examination of dimensions. . . .
Plot
The
story describes a two-dimensional world occupied by geometric figures, whereof
women are simple line-segments, while men are polygons with various numbers of
sides. The narrator is a square, a member of the caste of gentlemen and
professionals, who guides the readers through some of the implications of life
in two dimensions. The Square dreams about a visit to a one-dimensional world
(Lineland) inhabited by "lustrous points", and attempts to convince
the realm's monarch of a second dimension; but is unable to do so. He is
himself visited by a three-dimensional sphere, which he cannot comprehend until
he sees Spaceland (a tridimensional world) for himself. This Sphere visits
Flatland at the turn of each millennium to introduce a new apostle to the idea
of a third dimension in the hopes of eventually educating the population of
Flatland. From the safety of Spaceland, they are able to observe the leaders of
Flatland secretly acknowledging the existence of the sphere and prescribing the
silencing of anyone found preaching the truth of Spaceland and the third
dimension. After this proclamation is made, many witnesses are massacred or
imprisoned (according to caste).
After
the Square's mind is opened to new dimensions, he tries to convince the Sphere
of the theoretical possibility of the existence of a fourth (and fifth, and
sixth ...) spatial dimension; but the Sphere returns his student to Flatland in
disgrace.
The
Square then has a dream in which the Sphere visits him again, this time to
introduce him to Pointland, whereof the point (sole inhabitant, monarch, and
universe in one) perceives any communication as a thought originating in his
own mind (cf. Solipsism):
"You
see," said my Teacher, "how little your words have done. So far as
the Monarch understands them at all, he accepts them as his own – for he
cannot conceive of any other except himself – and plumes himself upon the
variety of Its Thought as an instance of creative Power. Let us leave
this God of Pointland to the ignorant fruition of his omnipresence and
omniscience: nothing that you or I can do can rescue him from his
self-satisfaction."
— the
Sphere
The Square recognizes the identity of the ignorance of
the monarchs of Pointland and Lineland with his own (and the Sphere's) previous
ignorance of the existence of higher dimensions. Once returned to Flatland, the
Square cannot convince anyone of Spaceland's existence, especially after
official decrees are announced that anyone preaching the existence of three
dimensions will be imprisoned (or executed, depending on caste). Eventually the
Square himself is imprisoned for just this reason.
Selected and edited from Wikipedia – Flatland [the
novella]
** **
2154
hours. I first read this book while in Brazil. The math chairman, Vladimir
Rodionoff, suggested the book to me because he knew from earlier discussions
that I was interested in varied dimensions and metaphysics and the like.
Vladimir spent time in Soviet prisons and once out of the Soviet Union he lived
in Brazil a free man. He became a Brazilian grandmaster chess player who once
played Boris Spassky in tournament but lost. In the USSR he majored in Far
Eastern philosophy at the university but moved on. He loved science fiction, as
did I. We got along well. We played one game of chess, which ended very short.
He was good-natured about it and said I was a waste of his chess time. He
laughed at the comment and so did I. He was so correct. What a marvel he was to
watch playing the boards. Sometimes he and Howard (the German teacher) verbally
played games without the pieces on the board. Vladimir was allowed to come to
the U.S. as a visiting professor at Columbia in the summers, but he could not
become an American citizen. To be honest I don’t think he ever tried. A part of
Vladimir is in the fictional character Yermey. I very much respect the man
Vladimir Rodionoff and his memory.
2255 hours. I cannot find anything about Vladimir on the Internet. It is as if he did not exist. Everyone at Graded and at the Sao Paulo Chess Club appeared to know Vladimir. He took me to the club once and introduced me around as a guest – Clube de Xadrez Sao Paulo has no current record of him. This is all very odd. He is listed as head of the math department in the Graded Yearbooks 1971 and 1972.
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