The Gain Paradigm Part 8 - Sociial Revolutions


by Bill Ellis - Date: 2006-12-11 - Word Count: 1360 Share This!

There is a growing interest in creating a social revolution not unlike those brought on by Copernicus and Darwin. The concern is based on the failures and evil of today's society. Before we accept those past revolutions as a model for a new social revolution it may be of value to look deeper into exactly what causes social change and what was the foundation those and other social revolutions.

The Copernicus, and Darwin revolutions were not concerned with fixing a dysfunctional economic or social system. They happened because of the revelation by science of a new base for knowledge. Likewise today we have the revelation of a new base for knowledge in science. This is not something esoteric like quantum theory or the theory of relativity.

Although these theories are in concert with the developing Gaian Paradigm. The social transition comes from many sources and has many relevant actions taking place. It seems to me that it is far more fundamental the any previous shift in the social paradigm It is the most profound and fundamental transition since humanoids first came down from the trees five million years ago. It is recognized in Hart and Sussman's "Man the Hunted" that shows that those small weak animals without tools or fire were the food source for large carnivores until, only 150,000 year ago when their larger brains and proclivity for living in large communities won the the niche in which humanity could survive and become hunters. Prof. Mary Clark in "In Search for Human Nature" goes deeper into how our evolution created the communal beings we've become, and the human need to "belong" that is more basic than our need to survive.

Most human cultures developed with a concept of each person dependent on belonging to a community and devoting their lives to improving the well-being of others. But the EuroAmerican cultures devolved along a different path. Our 'dominator paradigm' is inherent in the Jewish creation myth that the the cosmos was created for the use of humans. It was strengthen with the philospy of early church leaders. It was reinforced by the Inquistion that for 1000 years wiped out other concept by burning some 1,000,000 so called "heretics" at the stake and refusing to even look at any knowledge that disagree with the hierarchy. This dominator paradigm was made the global norm by the sword (technology), the flag (nationalism), and the cross (Christianty) in the age of colonization. It was finally given a secular footing with Adam Smith's tenet of "self-interest," with its offsprings of competition and materialism, would save the world.

But my reason for giving this brief, but still too long, outline of the emerging science/social Gaian paradigm is to suggest that the transition we all want is not just, or even, to fix the past or the present. It is far more basic just as were the Copernicus and Darwin revolutions. Even if there were none of the evils you all spell out in our current culture, the transition from the 'dominator paradigm, to the 'Gaian paradigm' would be the basis for a radical change in our worldviews, our mindsets, and our cultures. The future will be radically different than the past because it will b e built on a different knowledge base. And it is happening.

I could go on giving examples of that happening. Social innovations --e.g cooperatives, Community supported agriculture, peer lending (like the recent nobel prize for it founder), intentional communities, CoHousing, homeschooling, homesteading etc. etc. -- are giving many of us the change to live outside of the mainstream. Religious -- e.g. Fox, Spong, and others -- and non-religious -- e.g. Harris, Smith, Dawkins, Smolin and others -- are leading major transformations of our view of the world. New technologies including computer, and the internet are giving us tools for change. Schools are releasing the hold they had on knowedgle and many students are accepting "personal learning" as their mode of fulfillment. Certainly we are over using and pollution the world resources. But the solution may NOT be to put them up on the bulletin board, But to DO SOMETHING to help create options.

The goal should be obvious. Rather than railing against what is, critics should work for what is not and what should be. (I think someone else suggested that before me.

Many of us think that the transition from the 'dominator paradigm' to the "Gaian paradigm" is such a revoution. In fact the scientific revelation that the cosmos is a interconnected network of holons within holons reveals that we are all interdependent. Any change in any piece of the cosmos causes a change throughout the network of which we are part. Gaia (the Earth and all of it life forms} is a typical example of the interdependence of holons withing both the physical cosmos and the global social network. The Golden Rule has a scienctific base.

But narrowing it to the Copernican/Darwin revolution brings to mind the 'coming out' of atheist and others promoting the rejection of God theories. The books of Dawkins, Harris, Dennet, Smith, Smolin, and many other promote the rejection of any kind of magic, miracles, gods, bibles, divinity or other speculations on a outside design for the evolution of the cosmos. This is a radical break from the religious tolerance that has been (and is) to social norm of our society.

Most people, including most scientists, have (and do) ignore the religion and simply let anyone believe anything they wish. Now with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the incursion of Christian Fundamentalism into American politics there is a ground swell of repudiation of all unreasoned faiths. There is a recognition that if you give an inch they will take a mile. A passive membership in a UU church or even acceptance of the New Christianity of Bishop Spong i support for those who take reasoned Christianity to radical ends. Even the most benign faiths encourage those who promote ten commandments in court houses, prayer in schools, forbidding stem cell research, ending gay marriages, teaching creationism, and all sorts of unsupportable ideas.

The question we should be answering in this list is "What can we do to promote the 'There is not God' movement?" Who wants to write a modern "A Piece of Chalk," "The Soul of an Apathist," or other essays that show the irrelevance of God theories?

Just a clarification, the Giaia theory of Lovelock and Margulis is not about the social paradigm of people. It is a reasonably well proven scientific theory that life on Earth is made possible by life on Earth. For example, the oxygen in the atmosphere is maintained in the narrow range of levels that are necessary for life. It is maintained at those levels by living cells, and now plants, that produce oxygen. And by physical feedback processes that remove oxygen if it gets to a too high level and incrrease production if it get too low. Such feedback processes work to keep the salt in the oceans, the radiation for the sun, the temperature of the Earth, and other qualities of the Earth at life sustaining levels. This is not the will of man, but the property of Gaia (The Earth and all its life forms) -- the laws of nature.

Chaos and Complexity theories suggest that these laws are valid for the physical evolution of the cosmos as they are for the biological evolution of the earth. But the mechanisms are being discovered and seem to be valid. It is a bit of a stretch to apply these theories to the social sphere. But they, and unrelated research, do suggest that human nature too, and its evolution, is based on the basic need for "belonging" and for communal living. Too extend it to the power of money is even more of a stretch.

But it is my view that social evolutions, e.g. Darwin, Newton, and Copernicus, were not initiated to cure the ills of societies. They are results of a new scientific world views based on new knowledge. The social results are not planned, nor can they be predicted. But, as you say, it seems that this time it seems that we are luck and these theories will create very different human societies.

Bill Ellis


Related Tags: learning, community, transformation, cooperation, social change, the future, cultures, grassroots

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