Dear Organlearners,
Doc Holloway" <learnshops@thresholds.com> writes in LO15704:
...snip...
> That is what Thoreau did when he refused to accept
> the government's sovereignty as greater than his principles. Jefferson
> said, "In questions of power . . . let us hear no more of confidence in
> man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."
> This great law became the contract between the people to allow them to
> govern themselves. Unfortunately, as Thoreau found, man's mischief still
> abounds, frequently thinly disguised as laws and executive orders that
> courts later find unconstitutional.
Doc, thank you very much for this reference to Thoreau. I have stumbled a
few times on the name, but as a South African I know nothing of the man. I
will certainly study him because of what you have told us.
What we have to understand is that mischief can only be judged to be
mischief by "learned" people. By "learned" I do not mean people who have
qualified by some institute of learning, but people who have made a
definite effort to learn more about life in whatever manner. In other
words, the pricipal enemy of mischief is learning and not a constitution.
Ask us here in the New South Africa. We have now one of the better
constitutions in the world and yet mischief is increasing.
> This is a debate that still rages
> on--however it goes, though, you will make a choice. Whichever choice you
> make reflects the energy and resources that you are willing to expend (or
> the liberty you were willing to sacrifice) as the quid pro quo for your
> choice.
I could not agree more. A person will only choose and honour the choice
for that which he/she has "free energy F" available. In other words, the
person's "free energy F" determines how the person will react.
A person's "free energy F" is the energy required to make an organi=
sational change, physically and spiritually. Think of the total (physical
and spiritual) energy E of the person. Not all the total energy E is
available for an organisational change. Thus the quantity (E - F) is the
energy unavailable for organisational change. Why? The energy (E - F) is
needed to maintain the existing organisation (physical and spiritual) of
the person. To put in more bluntly, the energy (E - F) is the energy
needed to make "the system" a unique person.
(I will simply point your attention to the fact that there is a
simple relationship between the entropy S of a system and the energy
(E - F) needed to maintain the organisation of the system. The
relationship is
S = function of (E - F)
I rather wish to draw some connection between quantum mechanics and
democracy.)
The Schroedinger wave equation of quntum mechanics has the form
P.U + (E - F). U = 0
P is a mathematical operator - a thing which changes the wave
function U. (It is called the "nabla" operator. It changes spatially
the spatial change of U.) The wave function U describes the
organisation of the system. The action of P on U causes only certain
discreet (non-continuous) values of (E - F) to be become acceptable.
Each discreet value of (E - F) corresponds to its own particular
organisation. In quantum mechanics the disgreet values are called
eigenvalues ("eigen" = own) and the discreet wave functions are
called eigenfunctions. It is as if each eiegenvalue plus in
eigenfunction represents a possible identity for the system
Now what does quantum mechanics have to say for us? The energy (E - F)
needed to maintain the present organisation of the democracy cannot be
used to make an organisational change in the democracy! What? Say it
again! The investment which a democracy requires to maintain its present
structure and operation cannot be used to change the democracy for better
or worse. In other words, the investments in a present democracy cannot
ensure its adaptation in a ever changing world. Something else is
required, something which Doc articulated as vigilance!
> That is the true price of liberty, Sherri--being forever vigilant.
Doc, allow me to articulate this vigilance just a tiny bit in order to
connect it to my other contributions the past few days. What has vigilance
(watchfulness) to do with learning in particular and creativity in
general? To avoid immergences far from equilbrium and to avoid consumption
close to equilbrium. How can immergences be avoided? By learning
emergently. How can consumption be avoided? By learning digestively.
Best wishes
--At de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre for Education University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa email: amdelange@gold.up.ac.za
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>