3. Technology as the Medium: Fractals to Reason - Part Three

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Humanity is a differential equation motivated by social competition, and sexual selection.

Individual behavior arises from the complex interaction between our biology and social environment, creating unique psychological traits like emotions, curiosity, and intelligence.

As children, our traits are shaped by social interactions. As we grow into adults, our personality forms and influences how we perceive and interact with the world around us.

Civilization emerges from the complexity of individuals interacting through language. The unique civilization and its language, whether ancient or modern, shape individual character, and individuals collectively define the character of society. The style of a civilization is influenced by its geographic location, historical period, and language, which together define the nature of the era.

There are still undiscovered equations that could predict both individual and social behavior.

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Although we believe ourselves to have free will, we are only objects within this equation, a complex individual within an even more complex stream of cultural evolution, with behavior our behavior and experience relative to the time and place we occupy.

Sexuality underlies our motives, we are not rational thinkers, our actions stem from subconscious drives, and the emotions that form our psychological makeup. To be rational would first require an ability to see the deterministic nature of existence, and recognize the absurdity of much of what we do each day. To be rational would stand us apart from our reality, and without the impulse of sexual desire, we would see reality and behave very differently.    

Throughout human history, we have had  priests explain existence to us through a religious faith based context, without any regard for science or scientific truth. Only since the age of reason did we begin to show significant abilities of discovery, adopted the use of science to explain, and work with the reality that surrounds us to vastly alter the human condition.

The inherent drive behind the exploration and understanding of novel phenomena can be termed 'curiosity' or 'the spirit of discovery'. This intrinsic quality pervades all living organisms, ranging from simple unicellular creatures to complex humans. While the rudimentary expressions of inquiry may exist across species, the heightened capacity of humans to contemplate, analyze, and innovate sets us apart. Driven by this insatiable urge to learn and create, we continue to push the boundaries of knowledge and create advancements, which we collectively label as "progress". As our civilization has evolved, so too has our explanation of the unknown. We could say that our religion or beliefs change according to our apprehension of reality, and that our apprehension of reality is relative to the specific epoch and place we live in.     

I have repeatedly spoken about social competition, and I understand it is difficult to think everything human is motivated by this rudimentary aspect of behavior, in combination with curiosity. Certainly few educated men or women think they are only motivated by this rather primitive desire. Instead, what we prefer to use as an explanation for the motivation of existence and the complex nature of human behavior, is a variety of competing spiritual attributes which must be accepted by faith. For instance;  Astrological motivators, Jungian Archetypes,  Archons of the Pleroma, or good and evil deities, to name a few.  Catholic, Kabbalistic, and Gnostic traditions give to us faith based metaphysical versions of motivation which are needlessly complex, without any proven basis, and unacceptable to rational thinkers within our current epoch.

Is there a God?  I would say, dependent of the definition,  yes.  The word "God" is part of every language, because it defines something real, the unknown and incomprehensible basis of reality. Who could deny reality, or  who can tell you why there is anything at all?  God is the word we use to answer these questions, and with this definition even atheists believe in God. Just as there may be infinite universes, there may be infinite Gods, or maybe there is one universe with infinite human interpretations of God, it is unimportant since regardless what your faith or belief may be, it is your faith based interpretation of something that is in fact unknowable. 

SHORT VIDEO    A GOD FOR THE ATHEIST  (2-3)

The Greek word "meta" signifies "after" or "beyond," which is why we refer to everything that can only be understood through faith as metaphysics.   

"God" is a universal concept across cultures and languages, pointing towards an inherent aspect of reality. Whether seen through religious lenses or philosophical inquiry, the existence of the divine sparks existential contemplation and gives meaning to many people's lives. As such, acknowledging this ubiquitous phenomenon doesn't require belief in any particular deity; rather, it reflects an appreciation for the unknowable depths of the cosmos. In essence, believing in God amounts to recognizing the vastness beyond our understanding while accepting a plausible account of humankind's significance within this mysterious and unknowable context.  God along with any related theology is what is necessary to explain the absurdity of a reality that only has meaning or purpose when seen through faith, since we are unable to rely on personal experience or observation of the unknown.  Mostly, God is our understanding, through faith, without due regard for natural systems or established theory.       

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Many religions claim to possess knowledge about the divine and offer answers to life's most profound queries. However, the sheer diversity of spiritual practices demonstrates the impossibility of reaching absolute certainty regarding faith matters. This uncertainty leads some people to dismiss religion altogether, while others seek solace in its promises of afterlife or divine protection. Regardless, it's crucial to remember that no one can assert objective truth in this domain, given the limitations imposed by our finite minds.

I am proposing that reality is a mathematical equation and as such is deterministic. Our wonder of God is due to our finite minds, or rather our math which becomes  probabilistic when calculating large numbers, and falls apart when trying to calculate infinite sets. Even attempts to understand the quantum nature of atoms forces us into probabilistic solutions, chaos theory may well be the transition point between what we see as factual reality, and what we call theology.     

If reality is a mathematical equation, then the present is the outcome of unchangeable variables which we call the past,  and the future becomes as unchangeable as the past. To change a single variable in any equation changes the result, completely.    

Determinism does not exclude God, but rather affirms God, just maybe not the God described by story books but a God we define through rational consideration. Everything we do is through the grace of God, any free will there may be is only possible by a being so great it could permit a single act to change the outcome of eternity.  To pick a wild flower, is to alter all  past and future events, since all events are underpinned by past causality, and any small change in initial conditions produces drastic future outcomes. Still, we can not escape the sense that we have free will, that we choose to put on socks, or to dislike what is bitter.  None the less, and although it is difficult to accept, you must see reality as deterministic, otherwise every line of reasoning you may develop will be mistaken.    

What greater humility could there be than the acceptance of a deterministic reality, as servants of God - if you will,  where the only potential for freedom is through the grace of God. Humility is a theological goal found in many religions, a deterministic reality requires absolute humility since pride becomes an absurd notion when freewill is nonexistent.

 The following quote serves as a warning against the dangers of arrogance and hubris, encouraging individuals to cultivate humility instead. 

"Pride is the beginning of sin; it was the first among the angels, and it became the last thing in man." St. Thomas Aquinas

Embracing determinism is a recognition of limitations and a willingness to work within constraints, which aligns well with various religious traditions that promote humility, gratitude, and contentment. 

VIDEO CLIP  (3-1)  EDITOR/334      CAN MATH NOW PREDICT THE FUTURE

Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing, were all mathematicians that studied sets, in particular infinite sets. They would tell you that there are limitations to set theory as a tool for describing natural processes. An important fundamental limitation is that we can never know how the processes actually work. We can only offer reasonable explanations that do not contradict what we see when we look closely. Another mathematician, Edward Lorenz would tell us that the present determines the future, but that the approximate present does not approximately determine the future. Lorenz gave us the butterfly effect, the idea that small changes in initial conditions can cause vast changes over time. Chaotic behavior is everywhere, it exists in many natural systems, including fluid flow, heartbeat irregularities, weather, and climate. Chaos is not that things are unpredictable, it is the fact that we, or rather our mathematics and logic can not predict them.       

In other words, calculations to determine what will happen next in any complex system are expressed with differential equations. These are equations where the variables in the equation are changing, for instance, equations for predicting  the weather. Large complex equations appear chaotic to us because our math is incomplete, or maybe we just can not come up with the correct math to get accurate calculations. So we can not predict the weather for more than a few days, or we may be able to predict that you will wake up tomorrow, but not for certainty. Probability is all we have, the systems of reality are deterministic, we can just not do calculations that produce anything other than probable predictions over short time scales. This is to say that -  what will be - will be - , but we can not predict what will be when numbers get too big. Especially when we try to understand infinities, our math and logic fail, and since everything we try to measure closely tends to have an infinite nature, you must accept that all that is left for us when we try to understand reality is faith or probability

Therefore, don't make crazy stuff up, and be as reasonable as possible.  Its bad enough that we can not see reality for what it really is. We must accept that we have vast limitations :  I like to use the example, you can't teach a dog to do algebra, and we hairless apes have limitations too.       

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The skinner box, otherwise known as an operant conditioning chamber, is a laboratory apparatus used to study animal behavior. When humans are placed in such an experiment and a reward is randomly timed, they will begin to develop rituals they think will produce the reward for them.  Similarly, we take all those aspects of life we do not understand, the ones that appear chaotic or random to us, and we create fictions that explain their origins and rituals that will assure better outcomes. Although I posit that reality is deterministic, there is such great complexity within the structure of reality that neither mathematics or reason can predict the next day with accuracy. We are unable to understand the root cause of much of our reality. Therefore we are in a Skinner box, and for all we don't understand, for the metaphysical, we develop rituals and religions to satisfy our ignorance.       

Life is a differential equation within the mathematical expression of a fractal, a simple two variable iteration that creates huge complexity, but remains true to its founding equation.  Consider a simple fractal equation that uses as its variable two differential equations one for social competition and another for discovery or curiosity. I don't pretend to understand the function for life, but I do think the motivation for life is motivated by sexuality and  can be reduced to two variables : "competition" and "curiosity".

Similar to how the function, z_n+1 = z_n² , when plotted and iterated will produce complex patterns, social competition and curiosity causes humanity to evolve, and this produces the complex characteristics of our civilization. 

Snowflakes, trees branching, lightning, and ferns are all examples of fractals in nature. Fractal geometry is capable of describing many irregularly shaped objects or spatially nonuniform phenomena in nature such as coastlines and mountain ranges. I can not give you the formula that would produce human civilization, I only suggest this approach to understanding the human condition is far more promising than the metaphysical interpretations we have been given by mystics.           

Genetics is no longer significant to our evolution. Since the first civilization emerged, we have mostly evolved through a combination of competition, and curiosity which produced our societies particular cultural reasoning. Cultural reasoning is the status quo of any society, it is the norm, or the fashion of the day, it is what we adopt as a culture, and teach to each other. For example there is a set we can call cultural reasoning that is expected if you are an American, another if you are French, or if the epoch changes, for the  1950's were not the same as the 1990's. Each place and time has a different and specific form of reasoning which is subjective, and may evolve, or devolve.      

In this evolutionary equation, humanity has attributes, conditions, and tools which provide advantages in our competition with one another. Social condition pushes us forward while reasoning, and a developing apprehension of reality reveal to us new technologies for competition. It is these technologies that shape the character of civilization and produce what we call progress. For example, it was not democracy that changed society, but rather the longbow that forced democracy upon us. It is not the media that transforms thought, but rather technology of the printing press, television and internet that causes transformation.  "The Medium is the Message," is a book by theorist Marshall McLuhan, where he first explains how technology affects the message provided by the media, but all new technology, from the printing press, to electric lights, changes our behavior. 

The Sociologist Lord Giddens has a similar view, which considers  the start of the modern age to be,  May, 24, 1844 - the date of the first message by Samuel Morse on a telegraph.  Relative to these concepts, November 30, 2022 is the date Chat GPT  was introduced, and we now sit on the verge of a new era. 

 The resulting behavior created by our sexual motivation is attenuated and tuned by our discovery of the environment, which develops technology, which in turn develops our reason, improves the definition of justice, and gives us our logical perspective. Social reality, or our civilization, is the process of developing reason through discovery--- motivated by our emotional aspects, which are produced by our sexual drive. It also appears that, the more reasonable we become, the less emotion we tend to demonstrate.

Although sexual motivation is always present within us, our behavior can be attenuated by the development of our reason, wisdom, and maturity. We consider those who have greater control of their emotions to be wiser and more civilized.       

Emergent behavior is behavior of a system that does not depend on its individual parts, but on their relationships to one another. For example: Colony behavior is an emergent behavior of ants - Civilization is an emergent behavior of humans.

When there is a critical number of individuals, a civilization will emerge; The character of our civilization is determined by our evolutionary stage, which in turn is relative to how reasonable we have become. A measured scale can be seen of human progress by the degrees of reason. The quality of existence is measured by how reasonable we are, or how well we have done in overcoming the first aspect, the emotional, which comes from our sexual motivator.  

This sexual motivator is what enslaves us, it pushes us into competition with one another, while reason develops as we discover reality, this is the basic human equation. It is this equation that changes the shape of our reality over time. As we all know, today is not the same as 200 years ago, and each one individual in that flow is determined by both the time and place of its existence. In other words you are a sub set that is determined by the far larger set of life on this planet, and are specific to your time and place. Your geographic position and the time you live in is what defines your cultural reasoning.    

"The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom"  Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,

We have evolved, and living today is better than 100 years ago, we have air conditioning, airplanes, and cars, all which were the product of reasoning. Would it not be best to help others become more reasonable, to promote education for all, a better civilization is a more reasonable civilization, and is the only way to improve society and quality of life.            

We may prefer to see human complexity and evolution motivated by God, with a an array of Sefirot, Archons, or a Trinity and its Angels, but would it not be more realistic to see our obvious sexual motivation pushing a differential equation.

Plato divides the soul into three parts: the logistikon (reason), the thymoeides (spirit), and the epithymetikon (appetite), I suggest that these three parts which drive our soul are generated by two  motivators or factors, competition and discovery. I also believe the Soul of Plato is different than the Soul of Plato if he had been born in this decade, who we are is absolute and dependent on time and place.   

Regardless of how you choose to see reality or account for evolution, you can not deny that we compete, will kill to get the upper hand, and have had a history of violence and war.  Reality is not only pointless and absurd, but unnecessarily unpleasant and dangerous. 

Other than just to evolve, no one has any idea why we exist. Yet this human equation compels us to compete to the death, enslave the weak, and glorify the mighty. The outcome is a civilization of class distinctions, where the most brutal become the upper class, being called noble, and those that produce the economy are called the lower class, or the servants of the winners of the competition.  This is what we have, but do we really think this is what we must have.     

What is absolute is that this question is yes if we speak of our past, for "what was" is absolute. A society of wars, starvation, and disease is what had to be to get us here, as Leibnitz believed " The best of all possible  worlds."  But this is not what must be for tomorrow, I ask that you recognize the absurdity we are forced to live, become cynical of society, and act accordingly to make tomorrow as it should be. Stop being motivated by competition, let them win the shiny objects, adopt the fashion of education and abandon the material, learn to be collaborative, learn to live without blind suffering, find satisfaction in the esthetics of simplicity.  

To be human you can not escape sexual desire and you must suffer, so be clever enough not to be dominated by sex or absurdity, be certain that the suffering you endure is of your choosing, and aesthetically pleasing to you.