Tranformation Versus Harmony Cultures
Happy Thursday!
Why are we seeing China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea do much better with pandemic response as societies than the US?
In this blog post we will explore one underlying cause that is not being discussed by the mainstream media. This is my pandemic help for the day.
I'm not going to go into already reported factors such as China and Vietnam being authoritarian regimes enacting draconian measures. I'm not dismissing them as unimportant. I am asserting there is more to it: transformation versus harmony oriented cultures. This dichotomy is not being reported on in the news.
Let's define the terms. Modern anthropology, the study of modern man, has classified Western and Eastern religions using a dichotomy of transformation versus harmony oriented cultures. Transformation culture pivots on a Biblical philosophy that a god gave the Earth to humans to do with as they see fit. The Bible asserts that humans have dominion over the Earth, over each other and we can do whatever. Let's call this the strip-mining mentality. Strip-mining is moral because god gave us the Earth to do with as we please. By contrast then harmony oriented cultures fit into nature. However, unlike with Western cultures there is no common written doctrine among harmony cultures. Harmony cultures such as those we find in Asia and the American continents prior to European settlement were harmony oriented as a trait of nature. Harmony oriented cultures try to find a human fit into nature.
Now that the definitions are out of the way then I'm going to examine one key observation from each and apply the observations to the existing pandemic as your pandemic help for the day.
The first observation is with Western philosophy and transformation inevitably being applied to the religion itself. The Western, strip-mining philosophy has one very huge plot hole. What plot hole? The plot hole is that Western religion itself became subject to transformation, to strip-mining. Western culture itself became a product of transformation. Thus it is we see a century long atheist tradition in Western culture that we do not see in Eastern cultures. Further as technology advanced in the 20th century Western culture saw a rapid break-down of the family unit. Western society in general experienced many social breakdowns of neighborhoods; sports like bowling; and even Catholicism itself was changed in order to align with Protestantism during the 2nd Vatican in the 1960s. This plot hole has lead to both Britain and Australia culminating in societies where some 40% of the population no longer identity as religious. The United States strip-mining of its own religion is similarly on a fast track to a cultural breakdown and reaching a 40% non-religious culture. Christian conservatives of today blame those of us in the non-religious culture for this breakdown when in fact the non-religious culture had nothing to do with these systemic problems. These breakdowns happened within the religious community independent of the non-religious community. These breakdowns are not because of the non-religious community compelling the religious community through propaganda. The root cause is the inherent problem with a transformation philosophy that the Earth is ours to destroy. This transformation philosophy is pathological and ultimately leads to transforming the culture itself. Transformation includes destruction and so we find ourselves asking what happens after we destroy the Earth and our culture? The philosophy of transformation ultimately gets applied to the religion itself. It is an obvious plot hole and Christians blaming the non-religious are just scapegoating the transformation bugs of a transformation religious code. That's the Western observation: transformation philosophy transforms itself.
The second observation is with Eastern or Harmony Oriented philosophy and the fitting into nature inevitably leading to stable, tyrannical culture. Harmony oriented cultures prioritize fitting into nature over transforming nature. The logical conclusion of this is that harmony oriented cultures developed substantially more social constructs, traditions, norms, and rules than Western cultures. These strict constructs became fertile ground for tyranny and then became insular walls of stagnation relative to rapid changing Western cultures. The Earth's natural environment changes slowly relative to the pace of Western technology culture changing. Eastern philosophy cultures then are far more accustomed to following strict sets of social rules and do so more diligently. This is the fit aspect of harmony oriented. Americans chafe at the volume and discipline of social rules in an Eastern culture like say with Japan. The volume of social rules are vast and daunting to westerners. Eastern cultures have thousands of years of established social protocols that are far vaster than anything Western cultures have ever attempted. This is why when a new social rule such as a rule to wear face masks is established then Eastern cultures are much better suited at following the new strict rule. The Eastern culture already follows strict social rules where one more is just part of the fitting into nature. That's the Eastern culture observation: that fitting into strict social rules is part of their culture.
These two observations very much are related and apply to the pandemic. Climate change albeit external weather or internal pandemic will be much better addressed in Eastern cultures that have a world view to fit into nature. Contrast this to the transformation Western philosophy of, "Live Free or Die!" Or if you prefer, "Live Free or Die Harder!"
So it is no surprise to me that Eastern philosophy cultures are faring much better at following new social rules to fit into a new pandemic climate. It is also no surprise to me that Western cultures are rallying around, "Life Free or Die!", which they most certainly will in a time of pandemic.
That's the first part of this pandemic help. This first part is just this observation that contrasts why Eastern philosophy countries are in part faring better because they are harmony oriented cultures already geared to following strict protocols of fitting in.
The second part of this pandemic help is to explore any new opportunity possibly made available by this new observation. For example, should Western cultures perhaps dial back the transformation philosophy rate-of-change and adopt more the harmony oriented philosophy to address climate change and pandemic response? Should Western cultures adopt more tyrannical, yet more disciplined strict rules of society?
Once one wanders into the solution space of opportunity then expertise becomes a priority. What is my expertise? Well, as the inventor and designer of Irreni World Scale then I have read up on both Western and Eastern philosophies. I've also read up on the various sciences that exist for culture such as cognitive science and social science. Sadly, there is no paid profession for such a wide survey of knowledge. Sometimes these people are called "Futurists" or as "Generalists" and are paid in on some advisory role. These jobs are few and far between. That is not my experience. I'm a software engineer by day.
The social umbrella under which we cover all the above topics studying human society is called modern anthropology, the study of modern man. Modern anthropology is not a paid profession but rather a survey of everything humans engage so as to model human society in the most broadest fashion possible.
Irreni World Scale models human society in the most broadest fashion possible. So it is no surprise that you are going to read about future opportunities as Irreni solutions because I did not hold anything back from Irreni. Irreni represents the best that I can surmise.
First we to need to recognize that neither Western or Eastern philosophy is singularly the best. Western philosophy is breaking down because of a bug in the transformation code. Eastern philosophy has always meant systemic corruption resulting in tyranny and oppression cynically masquerading as fitting into nature. This is the state of the world today with respect to both kinds of culture. Western culture is breaking down with no bottom in sight and Eastern cultures are perpetually stagnant cultures of tyranny and oppression.
This means we need a solution to resolve somehow the best of both cultures while eliminating the worst of both.
The first law in such a resolution is that we need to balance transformation with harmony. To quote Herman Melville in Moby Dick, “It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter's, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own.”
How?
Well, we need to prioritize as the most important both individual dignity and social responsibility. The trick is that both priorities can't be the most important at the same time. We need a fulcrum with which our culture teeters on. To whit, a single individual should have an infinitesimal chance to change all of culture.
The fulcrum in Irreni is the MGO, or micro-modular governing organization. The MGO is defined as a sovereign nation of size thirty people. That is to say the MGO is the equivalent of the United States or any other country today in its sovereignty. Further, in two-hundred years only MGOs will be sovereign. All other governing organizations are secondary. In this model a single individual can influence the policy of a single MGO to change. Further a single MGO can influence from the bottom up the subsequent governing of collections of MGOs based upon that single individual change. A single individual changes the MGO and the single MGO can cause a ripple, or domino effect across the entire planet of hundreds of millions of MGOs.
The MGO small size of thirty people sparks innovation and averts stagnation found in current Eastern cultures. MGOs resolve Eastern philosophy tyranny by their small size. Also, MGOs resolve Western unfettered transformation of today as MGOs must fit into society because of a large dependency on other MGOs in order to be a nation. Small MGOs fitting into society at large of billions of people is synonymous with fitting humans into nature as a species. Small MGO nations will further spark innovation of new culture as well as new technology.
Finally, MGOs are an answer to a question that Christian conservatives erroneously lay on the non-religious. That question is, "what now?" It is one thing to tear down a culture. It is another to build a new one. Building new traditions, new norms, and new culture needs a starting place. The MGO is this starting place. A nation of size thirty people can innovate not only technology, but also new culture by rapidly developing new customs and traditions. This is the solution needed for Western cultures seemingly eating themselves alive today with no end in sight.
This concludes your pandemic help for the day. If we are going to respond to world scale problems such as climate change and pandemics then we need a world scale plan to align Western and Eastern cultures; cultures that are diametrically opposed as transformation and harmony oriented. Irreni World Scale with its fundamental MGO design is such a plan.
You can learn more about Irreni World Scale by visiting:
Cheers!
Benefit of cooperation replaces rule of law!
Freethinkers unite!
Freedom!
Party On!
Let's get cracking!
Voluntarily Reject Demagoguery!
Politics as Science!
Demand Irreni World Scale!
Anti-theism is feminism!
Think disruption!
Empathy for all!
Moral relativity: think it, breath it!
Prove it or lose it!
Conversations equal consensus!
Welcome to the 21st century!
Scale your empathy, scale the world!
Find your tribe!
Be sexy people!
The future is coming!
Innovate at a rapid pace!
Slow speed ahead!
Well come! and well met!
Transformation Versus Harmony Cultures
Pandemic help, for the day! 2020/04/23
Why are we seeing China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea do much better with pandemic response as societies than the US?
In this blog post we will explore one underlying cause that is not being discussed by the mainstream media. This is my pandemic help for the day.
I'm not going to go into already reported factors such as China and Vietnam being authoritarian regimes enacting draconian measures. I'm not dismissing them as unimportant. I am asserting there is more to it: transformation versus harmony oriented cultures. This dichotomy is not being reported on in the news.
Let's define the terms. Modern anthropology, the study of modern man, has classified Western and Eastern religions using a dichotomy of transformation versus harmony oriented cultures. Transformation culture pivots on a Biblical philosophy that a god gave the Earth to humans to do with as they see fit. The Bible asserts that humans have dominion over the Earth, over each other and we can do whatever. Let's call this the strip-mining mentality. Strip-mining is moral because god gave us the Earth to do with as we please. By contrast then harmony oriented cultures fit into nature. However, unlike with Western cultures there is no common written doctrine among harmony cultures. Harmony cultures such as those we find in Asia and the American continents prior to European settlement were harmony oriented as a trait of nature. Harmony oriented cultures try to find a human fit into nature.
Now that the definitions are out of the way then I'm going to examine one key observation from each and apply the observations to the existing pandemic as your pandemic help for the day.
The first observation is with Western philosophy and transformation inevitably being applied to the religion itself. The Western, strip-mining philosophy has one very huge plot hole. What plot hole? The plot hole is that Western religion itself became subject to transformation, to strip-mining. Western culture itself became a product of transformation. Thus it is we see a century long atheist tradition in Western culture that we do not see in Eastern cultures. Further as technology advanced in the 20th century Western culture saw a rapid break-down of the family unit. Western society in general experienced many social breakdowns of neighborhoods; sports like bowling; and even Catholicism itself was changed in order to align with Protestantism during the 2nd Vatican in the 1960s. This plot hole has lead to both Britain and Australia culminating in societies where some 40% of the population no longer identity as religious. The United States strip-mining of its own religion is similarly on a fast track to a cultural breakdown and reaching a 40% non-religious culture. Christian conservatives of today blame those of us in the non-religious culture for this breakdown when in fact the non-religious culture had nothing to do with these systemic problems. These breakdowns happened within the religious community independent of the non-religious community. These breakdowns are not because of the non-religious community compelling the religious community through propaganda. The root cause is the inherent problem with a transformation philosophy that the Earth is ours to destroy. This transformation philosophy is pathological and ultimately leads to transforming the culture itself. Transformation includes destruction and so we find ourselves asking what happens after we destroy the Earth and our culture? The philosophy of transformation ultimately gets applied to the religion itself. It is an obvious plot hole and Christians blaming the non-religious are just scapegoating the transformation bugs of a transformation religious code. That's the Western observation: transformation philosophy transforms itself.
The second observation is with Eastern or Harmony Oriented philosophy and the fitting into nature inevitably leading to stable, tyrannical culture. Harmony oriented cultures prioritize fitting into nature over transforming nature. The logical conclusion of this is that harmony oriented cultures developed substantially more social constructs, traditions, norms, and rules than Western cultures. These strict constructs became fertile ground for tyranny and then became insular walls of stagnation relative to rapid changing Western cultures. The Earth's natural environment changes slowly relative to the pace of Western technology culture changing. Eastern philosophy cultures then are far more accustomed to following strict sets of social rules and do so more diligently. This is the fit aspect of harmony oriented. Americans chafe at the volume and discipline of social rules in an Eastern culture like say with Japan. The volume of social rules are vast and daunting to westerners. Eastern cultures have thousands of years of established social protocols that are far vaster than anything Western cultures have ever attempted. This is why when a new social rule such as a rule to wear face masks is established then Eastern cultures are much better suited at following the new strict rule. The Eastern culture already follows strict social rules where one more is just part of the fitting into nature. That's the Eastern culture observation: that fitting into strict social rules is part of their culture.
These two observations very much are related and apply to the pandemic. Climate change albeit external weather or internal pandemic will be much better addressed in Eastern cultures that have a world view to fit into nature. Contrast this to the transformation Western philosophy of, "Live Free or Die!" Or if you prefer, "Live Free or Die Harder!"
So it is no surprise to me that Eastern philosophy cultures are faring much better at following new social rules to fit into a new pandemic climate. It is also no surprise to me that Western cultures are rallying around, "Life Free or Die!", which they most certainly will in a time of pandemic.
That's the first part of this pandemic help. This first part is just this observation that contrasts why Eastern philosophy countries are in part faring better because they are harmony oriented cultures already geared to following strict protocols of fitting in.
The second part of this pandemic help is to explore any new opportunity possibly made available by this new observation. For example, should Western cultures perhaps dial back the transformation philosophy rate-of-change and adopt more the harmony oriented philosophy to address climate change and pandemic response? Should Western cultures adopt more tyrannical, yet more disciplined strict rules of society?
Once one wanders into the solution space of opportunity then expertise becomes a priority. What is my expertise? Well, as the inventor and designer of Irreni World Scale then I have read up on both Western and Eastern philosophies. I've also read up on the various sciences that exist for culture such as cognitive science and social science. Sadly, there is no paid profession for such a wide survey of knowledge. Sometimes these people are called "Futurists" or as "Generalists" and are paid in on some advisory role. These jobs are few and far between. That is not my experience. I'm a software engineer by day.
The social umbrella under which we cover all the above topics studying human society is called modern anthropology, the study of modern man. Modern anthropology is not a paid profession but rather a survey of everything humans engage so as to model human society in the most broadest fashion possible.
Irreni World Scale models human society in the most broadest fashion possible. So it is no surprise that you are going to read about future opportunities as Irreni solutions because I did not hold anything back from Irreni. Irreni represents the best that I can surmise.
Let us begin.
First we to need to recognize that neither Western or Eastern philosophy is singularly the best. Western philosophy is breaking down because of a bug in the transformation code. Eastern philosophy has always meant systemic corruption resulting in tyranny and oppression cynically masquerading as fitting into nature. This is the state of the world today with respect to both kinds of culture. Western culture is breaking down with no bottom in sight and Eastern cultures are perpetually stagnant cultures of tyranny and oppression.
This means we need a solution to resolve somehow the best of both cultures while eliminating the worst of both.
The first law in such a resolution is that we need to balance transformation with harmony. To quote Herman Melville in Moby Dick, “It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter's, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own.”
How?
Well, we need to prioritize as the most important both individual dignity and social responsibility. The trick is that both priorities can't be the most important at the same time. We need a fulcrum with which our culture teeters on. To whit, a single individual should have an infinitesimal chance to change all of culture.
The fulcrum in Irreni is the MGO, or micro-modular governing organization. The MGO is defined as a sovereign nation of size thirty people. That is to say the MGO is the equivalent of the United States or any other country today in its sovereignty. Further, in two-hundred years only MGOs will be sovereign. All other governing organizations are secondary. In this model a single individual can influence the policy of a single MGO to change. Further a single MGO can influence from the bottom up the subsequent governing of collections of MGOs based upon that single individual change. A single individual changes the MGO and the single MGO can cause a ripple, or domino effect across the entire planet of hundreds of millions of MGOs.
The MGO small size of thirty people sparks innovation and averts stagnation found in current Eastern cultures. MGOs resolve Eastern philosophy tyranny by their small size. Also, MGOs resolve Western unfettered transformation of today as MGOs must fit into society because of a large dependency on other MGOs in order to be a nation. Small MGOs fitting into society at large of billions of people is synonymous with fitting humans into nature as a species. Small MGO nations will further spark innovation of new culture as well as new technology.
Finally, MGOs are an answer to a question that Christian conservatives erroneously lay on the non-religious. That question is, "what now?" It is one thing to tear down a culture. It is another to build a new one. Building new traditions, new norms, and new culture needs a starting place. The MGO is this starting place. A nation of size thirty people can innovate not only technology, but also new culture by rapidly developing new customs and traditions. This is the solution needed for Western cultures seemingly eating themselves alive today with no end in sight.
This concludes your pandemic help for the day. If we are going to respond to world scale problems such as climate change and pandemics then we need a world scale plan to align Western and Eastern cultures; cultures that are diametrically opposed as transformation and harmony oriented. Irreni World Scale with its fundamental MGO design is such a plan.
You can learn more about Irreni World Scale by visiting:
https://irreni.blogspot.com/p/join.html
Cheers!
Benefit of cooperation replaces rule of law!
Freethinkers unite!
Freedom!
Party On!
Let's get cracking!
Voluntarily Reject Demagoguery!
Politics as Science!
Demand Irreni World Scale!
Anti-theism is feminism!
Think disruption!
Empathy for all!
Moral relativity: think it, breath it!
Prove it or lose it!
Conversations equal consensus!
Welcome to the 21st century!
Scale your empathy, scale the world!
Find your tribe!
Be sexy people!
The future is coming!
Innovate at a rapid pace!
Slow speed ahead!
Well come! and well met!
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