Bob McDaniel wrote,
>The above comments reflect what is amiss with the present economic
>system but say nothing about the system which may be emerging, beyond
>perhaps implying it'll be more of the same.
>
>We should value those thinkers who attempt to get a handle on the new
>system by exploring new metaphors and their implications.
-- snip --
>But now to massive numbers and the speed of light
>must be added rapid, if not convulsive (intra-generational) change,
>leading us to seek the insights of catastrophe theory, chaos theory,
>fuzzy logic and multimedia (sound, video, graphics, geographical
>information systems (GIS)) based methods of pattern recognition.
>
>It is probably true that the transnational corporations which are
>building the infrastructure of the emerging system will fade away as
>they become increasingly irrelevant. The present system of nation-states
>appears destined for a similar fate.
There's a large difference between catastrophe theory, chaos theory and
fuzzy logic on the one hand and the vague use of these terms as metaphors on
the other hand. Although the theories may be new the resulting metaphors are
strikingly anachronistic. The metaphors suggesting awesome, rapid,
convulsive change were tediously popular among hack writers in the 1960s. I
happen to know this because I've done narrative analysis of some of that
1960s sludge. Here's a short quote from 1967:
"As man casts off from the bonds of earthbound knowledge and soars to new
intellectual heights, he must unlearn as well as learn. Only yesterday the
atom was thought to be immutable unit of matter; now it has been split, with
consequences both fearful and wonderful. And learned scholars, considering
strange rays of light, again dispute a question once believed settled -- the
very origin of the universe."
Actually, Bob, you should have a good look at the Ed Wood movie, Plan Nine
from Outer Space, there's a lot of this kind of woo-woo verbiage in it, too
-- along with zombies and Ed Wood's wife's chiropractor pretending to be
Bela Lugosi.
regards,
Tom Walker
www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/worksite.htm
