Category Archives: built-in freedom

The Invasion of the Storytellers

Author: Gerd Doeben-Henisch

Changelog: April 30, 2024 – May 3, 2024

May 3,24: I added two Epilogs

Email: info@uffmm.org

TRANSLATION: The following text is a translation from a German version into English. For the translation I am using the software @chatGPT4 with manual modifications.

CONTEXT

Originally I wrote, that “this text is not a direct continuation of another text, but that there exist before various articles from the author on similar topics. In this sense, the current text is a kind of ‘further development’ of these ideas”. But, indeed, at least the text “NARRATIVES RULE THE WORLD. CURSE & BLESSING. COMMENTS FROM @CHATGPT4” ( https://www.uffmm.org/2024/02/03/narratives-rule-the-world-curse-blessing-comments-from-chatgpt4/ ) is a text, which can be understood as a kind of precursor.

In everyday life … magical links …

Almost everyone knows someone—or even several people—who send many emails—or other messages—that only contain links, links to various videos, of which the internet provides plenty nowadays, or images with a few keywords.

Since time is often short, one would like to know if it’s worth clicking on this video. But explanatory information is missing.

When asked about it, whether it would not be possible to include a few explanatory words, the sender almost always replies that they cannot formulate it as well as the video itself.

Interesting: Someone sends a link to a video without being able to express their opinion about it in their own words…

Follow-up questions…

When I click on a link and try to form an opinion, one of the first questions naturally is who published the video (or a text). The same set of facts can be narrated quite differently, even in complete contradiction, depending on the observer’s perspective, as evidenced and verifiable in everyday life. And since what we can sensually perceive is always only very fragmentary, is attached to the surfaces and is connected to some moment of time, it does not necessarily allow us to recognize different relationships to other aspects. And this vagueness is offering plenty of room for interpretation with each observation. Without a thorough consideration of the context and the backstory, interpretation is simply not possible … unless someone already has a ‘finished opinion’ that ‘integrates’ the ‘involuntary fragment of observation’ without hesitation.

So questioning and researching is quite ‘normal’, but our ‘quick brain’ first seeks ‘automatic answers’, as it doesn’t require much thought, is faster, requires less energy, and despite everything, this ‘automatic interpretation’ still provides a ‘satisfying feeling’: Yes, one ‘knows exactly what is presented’. So why question?

Immunizing…

As a scientist, I am trained to clarify all framework conditions, including my own assumptions. Of course, this takes effort and time and is anything but error-free. Hence, multiple checks, inquiries with others about their perspectives, etc. are a common practice.

However, when I ask the ‘wordless senders of links’, if something catches my attention, especially when I address a conflict with the reality I know, the reactions vary in the direction that I have misunderstood or that the author did not mean it that way at all. If I then refer to other sources that are considered ‘strongly verified’, they are labeled as ‘lying press’ or the authors are immediately exposed as ‘agents of a dark power’ (there is a whole range of such ‘dark powers’), and if I dare to inquire here as well, where the information comes from, then I quickly become a naive, stupid person for not knowing all this.

So, any attempt to clarify the basics of statements, to trace them back to comprehensible facts, ends in some kind of conflict long before any clarification has been realized.

Truth, Farewell…

Now, the topic of ‘truth’ has become even in philosophy unfortunately no more than a repository of multiple proposals. And even the modern sciences, fundamentally empirical, increasingly entangle themselves in the multitude of their disciplines and methods in a way that ‘integrative perspectives’ are rare and the ‘average citizen’ tends to have a problem of understanding. Not a good starting point to effectively prevent the spread of the ‘cognitive fairy tale virus’.

Democracy and the Internet as a Booster

The bizarre aspect of our current situation is that precisely the two most significant achievements of humanity, the societal form of ‘modern democracy’ (for about 250 years (in a history of about 300,000 years)) and the technology of the ‘internet’ (browser-based since about 1993), which for the first time have made a maximum of freedom and diversity of expression possible, that precisely these two achievements have now created the conditions for the cognitive fairy tale virus to spread so unrestrainedly.

Important: today’s cognitive fairy tale virus occurs in the context of ‘freedom’! In previous millennia, the cognitive fairy tale virus already existed, but it was under the control of the respective authoritarian rulers, who used it to steer the thoughts and feelings of their subjects in their favor. The ‘ambiguities’ of meanings have always allowed almost all interpretations; and if a previous fairy tale wasn’t enough, a new one was quickly invented. As long as control by reality is not really possible, anything can be told.

With the emergence of democracy, the authoritarian power structures disappeared, but the people who were allowed and supposed to vote were ultimately the same as before in authoritarian regimes. Who really has the time and desire to deal with the complicated questions of the real world, especially if it doesn’t directly affect oneself? That’s what our elected representatives are supposed to do…

In the (seemingly) quiet years since World War II, the division of tasks seemed to work well: here the citizens delegating everything, and there the elected representatives who do everything right. ‘Control’ of power was supposed to be guaranteed through constitution, judiciary, and through a functioning public…

But what was not foreseen were such trifles as:

  1. The increase in population and the advancement of technologies induced ever more complex processes with equally complex interactions that could no longer be adequately managed with the usual methods from the past. Errors and conflicts were inevitable.
  2. Delegating to a few elected representatives with ‘normal abilities’ can only work if these few representatives operate within contexts that provide them with all the necessary competencies their office requires. This task seems to be increasingly poorly addressed.
  3. The important ‘functioning public’ has been increasingly fragmented by the tremendous possibilities of the internet: there is no longer ‘the’ public, but many publics. This is not inherently bad, but when the available channels are attracting the ‘quick and convenient brain’ like light attracts mosquitoes, then heads increasingly fall into the realm of ‘cognitive viruses’ that, after only short ‘incubation periods,’ take possession of a head and control it from there.

The effects of these three factors have been clearly observable for several years now: the unresolved problems of society, which are increasingly poorly addressed by the existing democratic-political system, make individual people in the everyday situation to interpret their dissatisfaction and fears more and more exclusively under the influence of the cognitive fairy tale virus and to act accordingly. This gradually worsens the situation, as the constructive capacities for problem analysis and the collective strength for problem-solving diminish more and more..

No remedies available?

Looking back over the thousands of years of human history, it’s evident that ‘opinions’, ‘views of the world’, have always only harmonized with the real world in limited areas, where it was important to survive. But even in these small areas, for millennia, there were many beliefs that were later found to be ‘wrong’.

Very early on, we humans mastered the art of telling ourselves stories about how everything is connected. These were eagerly listened to, they were believed, and only much later could one sometimes recognize what was entirely or partially wrong about the earlier stories. But in their lifetimes, for those who grew up with these stories, these tales were ‘true’, made ‘sense’, people even went to their deaths for them.

Only at the very end of humanity’s previous development (the life form of Homo sapiens), so — with 300,000 years as 24 hours — after about 23 hours and 59 minutes, did humans discover with empirical sciences a method of obtaining ‘true knowledge’ that not only works for the moment but allows us to look millions, even billions of years ‘back in time’, and for many factors, billions of years into the future. With this, science can delve into the deepest depths of matter and increasingly understand the complex interplay of all the wonderful factors.

And just at this moment of humanity’s first great triumphs on the planet Earth, the cognitive fairy tale virus breaks out unchecked and threatens even to completely extinguish modern sciences!

Which people on this planet can resist this cognitive fairy tale virus?

Here’s a recent message from the Uppsala University [1,2], reporting on an experiment by Swedish scientists with students, showing that it was possible to measurably sharpen students’ awareness of ‘fake news’ (here: the cognitive fairy tale virus).

Yes, we know that young people can shape their awareness to be better equipped against the cognitive fairy tale virus through appropriate education. But what happens when official educational institutions aren’t able to provide the necessary eduaction because either the teachers cannot conduct such knowledge therapy or the teachers themselves could do it, but the institutions do not allow it? The latter cases are known, even in so-called democracies!

Epilog 1

The following working hypotheses are emerging:

  1. The fairy tale virus, the unrestrained inclination to tell stories (uncontrolled), is genetically ingrained in humans.
  2. Neither intelligence nor so-called ‘academic education’ automatically protect against it.
  3. Critical thinking’ and ’empirical science’ are special qualities that people can only acquire with their own great commitment. Minimal conditions must exist in a society for these qualities, without which it is not possible.
  4. Active democracies seem to be able to contain the fairy tale virus to about 15-20% of societal practice (although it is always present in people). As soon as the percentage of active storytellers perceptibly increases, it must be assumed that the concept of ‘democracy’ is increasingly weakening in societal practice — for various reasons.

Epilog 2

Anyone actively affected by the fairy tale virus has a view of the world, of themselves, and of others, that has so little to do with the real world ‘out there’, beyond their own thinking, that real events no longer influence their own thinking. They live in their own ‘thought bubble’. Those who have learned to think ‘critically and scientifically’ have acquired techniques and apply them that repeatedly subject their thinking within their own bubble to a ‘reality check’. This check is not limited to specific events or statements… and that’s where it gets difficult.

References

[1] Here’s the website of Uppsala University, Sweden, where the researchers come from: https://www.uu.se/en/press/press-releases/2024/2024-04-24-computer-game-in-school-made-students-better-at-detecting-fake-news

[2] And here’s the full scientific article with open access: “Bad News in the civics classroom: How serious gameplay fosters teenagers’ ability to discern misinformation techniques.” Carl-Anton Werner Axelsson, Thomas Nygren, Jon Roozenbeek & Sander van der Linden, Received 26 Sep 2023, Accepted 29 Mar 2024, Published online: 19 Apr 2024: https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2024.2338451

HMI Analysis for the CM:MI paradigm. Part 2. Problem and Vision

Integrating Engineering and the Human Factor (info@uffmm.org)
eJournal uffmm.org ISSN 2567-6458, February 27-March 16, 2021,
Author: Gerd Doeben-Henisch
Email: gerd@doeben-henisch.de

Last change: March 16, 2021 (minor corrections)

HISTORY

As described in the uffmm eJournal  the wider context of this software project is an integrated  engineering theory called Distributed Actor-Actor Interaction [DAAI] further extended to the Collective Man-Machine Intelligence [CM:MI] paradigm.  This document is part of the Case Studies section.

HMI ANALYSIS, Part 2: Problem & Vision

Context

This text is preceded by the following texts:

Introduction

Before one starts the HMI analysis  some stakeholder  — in our case are the users stakeholder as well as  users in one role —  have to present some given situation — classifiable as a ‘problem’ — to depart from and a vision as the envisioned goal to be realized.

Here we give a short description of the problem for the CM:MI paradigm and the vision, what should be gained.

Problem: Mankind on the Planet Earth

In this project  the mankind  on the planet earth is  understood as the primary problem. ‘Mankind’ is seen here  as the  life form called homo sapiens. Based on the findings of biological evolution one can state that the homo sapiens has — besides many other wonderful capabilities — at least two extraordinary capabilities:

Outside to Inside

The whole body with the brain is  able to convert continuously body-external  events into internal, neural events. And  the brain inside the body receives many events inside the body as external events too. Thus in the brain we can observe a mixup of body-external (outside 1) and body-internal events (outside 2), realized as set of billions of neural processes, highly interrelated.  Most of these neural processes are unconscious, a small part is conscious. Nevertheless  these unconscious and conscious events are  neurally interrelated. This overall conversion from outside 1 and outside 2 into neural processes  can be seen as a mapping. As we know today from biology, psychology and brain sciences this mapping is not a 1-1 mapping. The brain does all the time a kind of filtering — mostly unconscious — sorting out only those events which are judged by the brain to be important. Furthermore the brain is time-slicing all its sensory inputs, storing these time-slices (called ‘memories’), whereby these time-slices again are no 1-1 copies. The storing of time-sclices is a complex (unconscious) process with many kinds of operations like structuring, associating, abstracting, evaluating, and more. From this one can deduce that the content of an individual brain and the surrounding reality of the own body as well as the world outside the own body can be highly different. All kinds of perceived and stored neural events which can be or can become conscious are  here called conscious cognitive substrates or cognitive objects.

Inside to Outside (to Inside)

Generally it is known that the homo sapiens can produce with its body events which have some impact on the world outside the body.  One kind of such events is the production of all kinds of movements, including gestures, running, grasping with hands, painting, writing as well as sounds by his voice. What is of special interest here are forms of communications between different humans, and even more specially those communications enabled by the spoken sounds of a language as well as the written signs of a language. Spoken sounds as well as written signs are here called expressions associated with a known language. Expressions as such have no meaning (A non-speaker of a language L can hear or see expressions of the language L but he/she/x  never will understand anything). But as everyday experience shows nearly every child  starts very soon to learn which kinds of expressions belong to a language and with what kinds of shared experiences they can be associated. This learning is related to many complex neural processes which map expressions internally onto — conscious and unconscious — cognitive objects (including expressions!). This mapping builds up an internal  meaning function from expressions into cognitive objects and vice versa. Because expressions have a dual face (being internal neural structures as well as being body-outside events by conversions from the inside to body-outside) it is possible that a homo sapiens  can transmit its internal encoding of cognitive objects into expressions from his  inside to the outside and thereby another homo sapiens can perceive the produced outside expression and  can map this outside expression into an intern expression. As far as the meaning function of of the receiving homo sapiens  is sufficiently similar to the meaning function of  the sending homo sapiens there exists some probability that the receiving homo sapiens can activate from its memory cognitive objects which have some similarity with those of  the sending  homo sapiens.

Although we know today of different kinds of animals having some form of language, there is no species known which is with regard to language comparable to  the homo sapiens. This explains to a large extend why the homo sapiens population was able to cooperate in a way, which not only can include many persons but also can stretch through long periods of time and  can include highly complex cognitive objects and associated behavior.

Negative Complexity

In 2006 I introduced the term negative complexity in my writings to describe the fact that in the world surrounding an individual person there is an amount of language-encoded meaning available which is beyond the capacity of an  individual brain to be processed. Thus whatever kind of experience or knowledge is accumulated in libraries and data bases, if the negative complexity is higher and higher than this knowledge can no longer help individual persons, whole groups, whole populations in a constructive usage of all this. What happens is that the intended well structured ‘sound’ of knowledge is turned into a noisy environment which crashes all kinds of intended structures into nothing or badly deformed somethings.

Entangled Humans

From Quantum Mechanics we know the idea of entangled states. But we must not dig into quantum mechanics to find other phenomena which manifest entangled states. Look around in your everyday world. There exist many occasions where a human person is acting in a situation, but the bodily separateness is a fake. While sitting before a laptop in a room the person is communicating within an online session with other persons. And depending from the  social role and the  membership in some social institution and being part of some project this person will talk, perceive, feel, decide etc. with regard to the known rules of these social environments which are  represented as cognitive objects in its brain. Thus by knowledge, by cognition, the individual person is in its situation completely entangled with other persons which know from these roles and rules  and following thereby  in their behavior these rules too. Sitting with the body in a certain physical location somewhere on the planet does not matter in this moment. The primary reality is this cognitive space in the brains of the participating persons.

If you continue looking around in your everyday world you will probably detect that the everyday world is full of different kinds of  cognitively induced entangled states of persons. These internalized structures are functioning like protocols, like scripts, like rules in a game, telling everybody what is expected from him/her/x, and to that extend, that people adhere to such internalized protocols, the daily life has some structure, has some stability, enables planning of behavior where cooperation between different persons  is necessary. In a cognitively enabled entangled state the individual person becomes a member of something greater, becoming a super person. Entangled persons can do things which usually are not possible as long you are working as a pure individual person.[1]

Entangled Humans and Negative Complexity

Although entangled human persons can principally enable more complex events, structures,  processes, engineering, cultural work than single persons, human entanglement is still limited by the brain capacities as well as by the limits of normal communication. Increasing the amount of meaning relevant artifacts or increasing the velocity of communication events makes things even more worse. There are objective limits for human processing, which can run into negative complexity.

Future is not Waiting

The term ‘future‘ is cognitively empty: there exists nowhere an object which can  be called ‘future’. What we have is some local actual presence (the Now), which the body is turning into internal representations of some kind (becoming the Past), but something like a future does not exist, nowhere. Our knowledge about the future is radically zero.

Nevertheless, because our bodies are part of a physical world (planet, solar system, …) and our entangled scientific work has identified some regularities of this physical world which can be bused for some predictions what could happen with some probability as assumed states where our clocks are showing a different time stamp. But because there are many processes running in parallel, composed of billions of parameters which can be tuned in many directions, a really good forecast is not simple and depends from so many presuppositions.

Since the appearance of homo sapiens some hundred thousands years ago in Africa the homo sapiens became a game changer which makes all computations nearly impossible. Not in the beginning of the appearance of the homo sapiens, but in the course of time homo sapiens enlarged its number, improved its skills in more and more areas, and meanwhile we know, that homo sapiens indeed has started to crash more and more  the conditions of its own life. And principally thinking points out, that homo sapiens could even crash more than only planet earth. Every exemplar of a homo sapiens has a built-in freedom which allows every time to decide to behave in a different way (although in everyday life we are mostly following some protocols). And this built-in freedom is guided by actual knowledge, by emotions, and by available resources. The same child can become a great musician, a great mathematician, a philosopher, a great political leader, an engineer, … but giving the child no resources, depriving it from important social contexts,  giving it the wrong knowledge, it can not manifest its freedom in full richness. As human population we need the best out of all children.

Because  the processing of the planet, the solar system etc.  is going on, we are in need of good forecasts of possible futures, beyond our classical concepts of sharing knowledge. This is where our vision enters.

VISION: DEVELOPING TOGETHER POSSIBLE FUTURES

To find possible and reliable shapes of possible futures we have to exploit all experiences, all knowledge, all ideas, all kinds of creativity by using maximal diversity. Because present knowledge can be false — as history tells us –, we should not rule out all those ideas, which seem to be too crazy at a first glance. Real innovations are always different to what we are used to at that time. Thus the following text is a first rough outline of the vision:

  1. Find a format
  2. which allows any kinds of people
  3. for any kind of given problem
  4. with at least one vision of a possible improvement
  5. together
  6. to search and to find a path leading from the given problem (Now) to the envisioned improved state (future).
  7. For all needed communication any kind of  everyday language should be enough.
  8. As needed this everyday language should be extendable with special expressions.
  9. These considerations about possible paths into the wanted envisioned future state should continuously be supported  by appropriate automatic simulations of such a path.
  10. These simulations should include automatic evaluations based on the given envisioned state.
  11. As far as possible adaptive algorithms should be available to support the search, finding and identification of the best cases (referenced by the visions)  within human planning.

REFERENCES or COMMENTS

[1] One of the most common entangled state in daily life is the usage of normal language! A normal language L works only because the rules of usage of this language L are shared by all speaker-hearer of this language, and these rules are explicit cognitive structures (not necessarily conscious, mostly unconscious!).

Continuation

Yes, it will happen 🙂 Here.