At writes in LO26483
...snip...
Here in the RSA it is now said that finally all people are equal under the
law. It is not true. The poorer a person is, the less the law protects
that person equal to the rich. It is also said that all people will
finally have the same opportunities by introducing a complex strategy of
affirmative action. It is not true. By making the playing field in South
Africa more level, even less will be able to play on the unlevel field of
the world.
For example, farming which has inherently a high risk is not protected by
governmental measures any more so that our farmers have to compete
globally in protectionistic markets. Therefore job creation in local
farming has been reduced drastically so that poverty increased. <unsnip>
In the Universal History of Numbers Georges Ifrah (page 10 et seq) writes
of the origins of Arithmetic <quote> It all started with the device known
as one-for-one correspondence <unquote>. It is both prehistoric and
contemporary in its relevance. It is the very basis by which two sets can
be judged to be equal or unequal even by people who cannot count (or
dead-reckon) beyond the number four. As At has pointed out so many times
'=' or equal to signifies a one-to-one mapping, biunivocal correspondence,
or a bijection. Thanks to this principle of one-for-one correspondence it
is possible to (ac)count even in the absence of the right words, memory or
abstraction. An abstract kind of idea is created entirely independent of
the things mapped - less than, more than (thus not equal to) and equal to.
At's observations reminds me that some systems are linked and that all
systems exist in a context called the surrounding universe SU. In linked
sytems a change in quality (BEING) in one place so as to precipitate an
inequality (a difference), is balanced by a change elsewhere (A BECOMING)
so as to precipitate an equality. The overall quality of the SU remains
the same. The TQ(SU) - total quality of the universe is perhaps a
constant? If there are only 30 sheep in our universe and only 10 in my
cave (less than 15) then there must be 5 too many somewhere else.
How many BECOMINGS did 44 years of inequality here in South Africa
precipitate here an elsewhere and how much longer will the entropy thus
produced BECOME visibly manifest...........and how?
To say 2=2 is trivial. To claim that 2 hens = 2 cows could cause a blood
bath. To claim that SY(A) is not equal to SY(B) or that they are better or
worse in terms of their expected future outcomes invokes the law of
Requisite Complexity.
I have found TOC (Theory of Constraints) useful in the face of dauntingly
complex self-organising systems. Every system SY exists for a purpose -
its GOAL. We know that many sytems become (there is that wonderful word
again ;>)) trapped on poor local optima. Agri-business in South Africa is
already there and the rest of the business system is moving there rapidly
(intellectual capital is our best export product at present). Apartheid
was really a very very poor local optimum which became a goal.
Content Analysis of the ambient dialogue (internal with the self), in
households, churches, organisations, institutions, political systems will
prove that about 80% of our capacity (however defined) is devoted to a
pathological pre-occupation with local optima without the slightest
reference to a global GOAL. In each case the local optimum becomes the
GOAL, an end in itself and ultimately a constraint. The only time I will
have a problem with affirmative action or land distribution or whatever,
is when it becomes a black hole into which the global goal dissappears, or
have I perhaps missed the goal?.
How do I run this temporal race, even if the LRC apply, inequalities
abound and the global goals are written up on hidden agenda's? With both
eyes on the eternal Goal.
with kind regards
Chris Klopper
PS. Did I hear someone say panafricanism?
--"Chris Klopper" <syntagm@icon.co.za>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.