Category Archives: democracy

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

Pain does not replace the truth …

Time: Oct 18, 2023 — Oct 24, 2023)
Author: Gerd Doeben-Henisch
Email: gerd@doeben-henisch.d
e

CONTEXT

This post is part of the uffmm science blog. It is a translation from the German source: https://www.cognitiveagent.org/2023/10/18/schmerz-ersetzt-nicht-die-wahrheit/. For the translation I have used chatGPT4 and deepl.com. Because in the text the word ‘hamas’ is occurring, chatGPT didn’t translate a long paragraph with this word. Thus the algorithm is somehow ‘biased’ by a certain kind of training. This is really bad because the following text is offers some reflections about a situation where someone ‘hates’ others. This is one of our biggest ‘disease’ today.

Preface

The Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023, has shaken the world. For years, terrorist acts have been shaking our world. In front of our eyes, a is attempting, since 2022 (actually since 2014), to brutally eradicate the entire Ukrainian population. Similar events have been and are taking place in many other regions of the world…

… Pain does not replace the truth [0]…

Truth is not automatic. Making truth available requires significantly more effort than remaining in a state of partial truth.

The probability that a person knows the truth or seeks the truth is smaller than staying in a state of partial truth or outright falsehood.

Whether in a democracy, falsehood or truth predominates depends on how a democracy shapes the process of truth-finding and the communication of truth. There is no automatic path to truth.

In a dictatorship, the likelihood of truth being available is extremely dependent on those who exercise centralized power. Absolute power, however, has already fundamentally broken with the truth (which does not exclude the possibility that this power can have significant effects).

The course of human history on planet Earth thus far has shown that there is evidently no simple, quick path that uniformly leads all people to a state of happiness. This must have to do with humans themselves—with us.

The interest in seeking truth, in cultivating truth, in a collective process of truth, has never been strong enough to overcome the everyday exclusions, falsehoods, hostilities, atrocities…

One’s own pain is terrible, but it does not help us to move forward…

Who even wants a future for all of us?????

[0] There is an overview article by the author from 2018, in which he presents 15 major texts from the blog “Philosophie Jetzt” ( “Philosophy Now”) ( “INFORMAL COSMOLOGY. Part 3a. Evolution – Truth – Society. Synopsis of previous contributions to truth in this blog” ( https://www.cognitiveagent.org/2018/03/20/informelle-kosmologie-teil-3a-evolution-wahrheit-gesellschaft-synopse-der-bisherigen-beitraege-zur-wahrheit-in-diesem-blog/ )), in which the matter of truth is considered from many points of view. In the 5 years since, society’s treatment of truth has continued to deteriorate dramatically.

Hate cancels the truth


Truth is related to knowledge. However, in humans, knowledge most often is subservient to emotions. Whatever we may know or wish to know, when our emotions are against it, we tend to suppress that knowledge.

One form of emotion is hatred. The destructive impact of hatred has accompanied human history like a shadow, leaving a trail of devastation everywhere it goes: in the hater themselves and in their surroundings.

The event of the inhumane attack on October 7, 2023 in Israel, claimed by Hamas, is unthinkable without hatred.

If one traces the history of Hamas since its founding in 1987 [1,2], then one can see that hatred is already laid down as an essential moment in its founding. This hatred is joined by the moment of a religious interpretation, which calls itself Islamic, but which represents a special, very radicalized and at the same time fundamentalist form of Islam.

The history of the state of Israel is complex, and the history of Judaism is no less so. And the fact that today’s Judaism also contains strong components that are clearly fundamentalist and to which hatred is not alien, this also leads within many other factors at the core to a constellation of fundamentalist antagonisms on both sides that do not in themselves reveal any approaches to a solution. The many other people in Israel and Palestine ‘around’ are part of these ‘fundamentalist force fields’, which simply evaporate humanity and truth in their vicinity. By the trail of blood one can see this reality.

Both Judaism and Islam have produced wonderful things, but what does all this mean in the face of a burning hatred that pushes everything aside, that sees only itself.

[1] Jeffrey Herf, Sie machen den Hass zum Weltbild, FAZ 20.Okt. 23, S.11 (Abriss der Geschichte der Hamas und ihr Weltbild, als Teil der größeren Geschichte) (Translation:They make hatred their worldview, FAZ Oct. 20, 23, p.11 (outlining the history of Hamas and its worldview, as part of the larger story)).

[2] Joachim Krause, Die Quellen des Arabischen Antisemitismus, FAZ, 23.10.2023,p.8 (This text “The Sources of Arab Anti-Semitism” complements the account by Jeffrey Herf. According to Krause, Arab anti-Semitism has been widely disseminated in the Arab world since the 1920s/ 30s via the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928).

A society in decline

When truth diminishes and hatred grows (and, indirectly, trust evaporates), a society is in free fall. There is no remedy for this; the use of force cannot heal it, only worsen it.

The mere fact that we believe that lack of truth, dwindling trust, and above all, manifest hatred can only be eradicated through violence, shows how seriously we regard these phenomena and at the same time, how helpless we feel in the face of these attitudes.

In a world whose survival is linked to the availability of truth and trust, it is a piercing alarm signal to observe how difficult it is for us as humans to deal with the absence of truth and face hatred.

Is Hatred Incurable?

When we observe how tenaciously hatred persists in humanity, how unimaginably cruel actions driven by hatred can be, and how helpless we humans seem in the face of hatred, one might wonder if hatred is ultimately not a kind of disease—one that threatens the hater themselves and, particularly, those who are hated with severe harm, ultimately death.

With typical diseases, we have learned to search for remedies that can free us from the illness. But what about a disease like hatred? What helps here? Does anything help? Must we, like in earlier times with people afflicted by deadly diseases (like the plague), isolate, lock away, or send away those who are consumed by hatred to some no man’s land? … but everyone knows that this isn’t feasible… What is feasible? What can combat hatred?

After approximately 300.000 years of Homo sapiens on this planet, we seem strangely helpless in the face of the disease of hatred.

What’s even worse is that there are other people who see in every hater a potential tool to redirect that hatred toward goals they want to damage or destroy, using suitable manipulation. Thus, hatred does not disappear; on the contrary, it feels justified, and new injustices fuel the emergence of new hatred… the disease continues to spread.

One of the greatest events in the entire known universe—the emergence of mysterious life on this planet Earth—has a vulnerable point where this life appears strangely weak and helpless. Throughout history, humans have demonstrated their capability for actions that endure for many generations, that enable more people to live fulfilling lives, but in the face of hatred, they appear oddly helpless… and the one consumed by hatred is left incapacitated, incapable of anything else… plummeting into their dark inner abyss…


Instead of hatred, we need (minimally and in outline):

  1. Water: To sustain human life, along with the infrastructure to provide it, and individuals to maintain that infrastructure. These individuals also require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  2. Food: To sustain human life, along with the infrastructure for its production, storage, processing, transportation, distribution, and provision. Individuals are needed to oversee this infrastructure, and they, too, require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  3. Shelter: To provide a living environment, including the infrastructure for its creation, provisioning, maintenance, and distribution. Individuals are needed to manage this provision, and they, too, require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  4. Energy: For heating, cooling, daily activities, and life itself, along with the infrastructure for its generation, provisioning, maintenance, and distribution. Individuals are needed to oversee this infrastructure, and they, too, require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  5. Authorization and Participation: To access water, food, shelter, and energy. This requires an infrastructure of agreements, and individuals to manage these agreements. These individuals also require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  6. Education: To be capable of undertaking and successfully completing tasks in real life. This necessitates individuals with enough experience and knowledge to offer and conduct such education. These individuals also require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  7. Medical Care: To help with injuries, accidents, and illnesses. This requires individuals with sufficient experience and knowledge to offer and provide medical care, as well as the necessary facilities and equipment. These individuals also require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  8. Communication Facilities: So that everyone can receive helpful information needed to navigate their world effectively. This requires suitable infrastructure and individuals with enough experience and knowledge to provide such information. These individuals also require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  9. Transportation Facilities: So that people and goods can reach the places they need to go. This necessitates suitable infrastructure and individuals with enough experience and knowledge to offer such infrastructure. These individuals also require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  10. Decision Structures: To mediate the diverse needs and necessary services in a way that ensures most people have access to what they need for their daily lives. This requires suitable infrastructure and individuals with enough experience and knowledge to offer such infrastructure. These individuals also require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  11. Law Enforcement: To ensure disruptions and damage to the infrastructure necessary for daily life are resolved without creating new disruptions. This requires suitable infrastructure and individuals with enough experience and knowledge to offer such services. These individuals also require everything they need for their own lives to fulfill this task.
  12. Sufficient Land: To provide enough space for all these requirements, along with suitable soil (for water, food, shelter, transportation, storage, production, etc.).
  13. Suitable Climate
  14. A functioning ecosystem.
  15. A capable scientific community to explore and understand the world.
  16. Suitable technology to accomplish everyday tasks and support scientific endeavors.
  17. Knowledge in the minds of people to understand daily events and make responsible decisions.
  18. Goal orientations (preferences, values, etc.) in the minds of people to make informed decisions.
  19. Ample time and peace to allow these processes to occur and produce results.
  20. Strong and lasting relationships with other population groups pursuing the same goals.
  21. Sufficient commonality among all population groups on Earth to address their shared needs where they are affected.
  22. A sustained positive and constructive competition for those goal orientations that make life possible and viable for as many people on this planet (in this solar system, in this galaxy, etc.) as possible.
  23. The freedom present within the experiential world, included within every living being, especially within humans, should be given as much room as possible, as it is this freedom that can overcome false ideas from the past in the face of a constantly changing world, enabling us to potentially thrive in the world of the future.

SUSTAINABLE DEMOCRACIES

eJournal: uffmm.org
ISSN 2567-6458, 28.Aug 2021 – Dec 1, 2021
Email: info@uffmm.org
Author: Gerd Doeben-Henisch
Email: gerd@doeben-henisch.de

CONTEXT

This post is part of the uffmm science blog and will introduce in the new possibility to use the oksimo software for theory development  and theory testing using only everyday language. More options are possible.

PREFACE

What has an engineering blog to do with ‘democracy’ [1]-[5], even with ‘sustainable democracies’?

The answer to this question is embedded in the history of the engineering process which led to this post and in this post to  the idea of defining a process model for an  engineering process with a strong integration of the human-machine interaction perspective. When this has been solved in a first step another requirement showed up: generalize the engineering process for every  kind of solution processes with every  kind of experts. Design a solution process using only normal language, and make the requirements and possible goals to  parts of the process itself. Allow any kind of artificial intelligence and/ or machine learning.

This requirement has been influenced by the application scenario that citizens of a city should be enabled to participate without any restrictions in the communal planning process.

During the elaboration  of this requirement it became clear, that a process model which is able to offer a sufficient environment for citizens is ‘as such’ capable to be a process for every assembly of experts.

Such a process is by design a self-organizing process, enabling dynamic diversity, and produces — by design — empirical theories. If you will apply to such a process, then you will inevitably produce a complete theory.

This is of some interest, but doing this there is no need to think about ‘democracy’.

But, if you start reflecting about the conditions of  a self-organizing processes enabling a dynamic diversity then you can see, that such processes need a certain type of environment without which dynamic diversity is not possible.

The main motivation behind diversity, even dynamic diversity, is the overall aspect of survival on a dynamic planet like the earth embedded in a dynamic solar system, galaxies, the universe. Biological life has succeeded about 3.5 Billion years because it has a dynamic structure enabling by design lots of innovations in advance to be prepared if the situation is changing.  With the advent of homo sapiens and the outstanding capabilities of homo sapiens all processes have been accelerating a lot thereby producing kinds of complexities completely unknown before and faster than the traditional formats of knowledge and learning could cope with. This is a radical challenge to intensify  communication, to enable radical openness and diversity, to improve communication and knowledge technologies, to format the whole society as an intensive living organism.

From all known societal organizational structures so-called democratic structures offer the most of freedom and variety to enable such processes. On the other hand it is well known  that the ‘freedom to act in diversity’ is no guarantee to do it in the right way. Democracies are not protected against failure. But seen from a principal thinking are so-called democracies the best environment for a self-organizing dynamic diversity producing optimal empirical theories. And — this is some flavor of an autopoietic system — having enabled and set up such self-organizing dynamic diversities producing optimal empirical theories is the best support for a sustaining democracy.

This is the logic behind the decision, to see a sustainable democracy as a systemic part for self-organizing dynamic diversities producing optimal empirical theories and vice versa.

The software which is offering application spaces for self-organizing dynamic diversities producing optimal empirical theories is called oksimo and is available on oksimo.com. Ongoing descriptions with examples and theoretical considerations are presented on oksimo.org. At the time of this writing — 28.Aug 2021 — this blog is nearly completely in German only because of lack of resources.

COMMENTS

[1] The website of the V-dem institute, which is a prominent place for empirical research to democracies world-wide: https://www.v-dem.net/en/

[2] Here you can find regular reports: https://www.v-dem.net/en/publications/democracy-reports/

[3] Here you can find interactive graphical user interfaces to work with the data sets : https://www.v-dem.net/en/online-graphing/

[4] Example with the concept  ‚Egalitarian Democracy‘: https://www.v-dem.net/en/news/egalitarian-democracy/

[5] Video about an workshop organized by V-dem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARBBiMgJT7A

CONTRIBUTIONS