Joe Velikovsky's Blog, page 13

January 19, 2021

TVoL Evolutionary Sociology webinar #1 (2021)

TVoL Evolutionary Sociology webinar #1 (2021)

-----------

So we had the TVoL Evolutionary Sociology webinar #1 of 2021.

It was great!

Like I said here: StoryAlity - News (allow me to Select, Vary and (re) Transmit a post from my PhD blog's News page), below...

January 02021

Attended a great Evolutionary Sociology webinar, provided by TVoL.

Ev Soc TVOL Webinar 1 2021

Session One (2021): “Systemic Explanations of the Pandemic’s Social Impact” with Jonathan H. Turner and Doug Marshall. (Great stuff!)

—-//—-

And here's some Notes I made/ scribbled during the mtg: (who knows, what they all mean? Not me, always. Some of them may even be totally: wrong. I can't even read my own writing, sometimes.)

JTV Q (for Dr Turner): What's the standard textbook in Ev Soc? Is it your (2018)? (& What % of Sociologists are currently: `Evolutionary Sociologists'?) & What about Handbook of Ev Soc (2015). Is that considered a Textbook? (in: Ev Soc)
JTV Q: For either Dr Turner or Dr Marshall - Has there been a: First International Conference for Ev Sociology, yet...(?) (...I like to `track' these things, for all `Domains/Disciplines', in: Culture)
ie William James is the "Founding Father" of Psychology, & Comte the FF of Sociology, but, when (what year) exactly did it (officially) turn "Evolutionary"? (Sociology).
Zoom Note: Shortcut to put your blue hand up is ALT Y on pc.
Russell Schutt (EmCee):individualsgroupscommunityorganizationinstitutionsocietygovernment (eg State, & National/Federal)The World
...Hey! Cowabunga! This list (hierarchy? HOLARCHY/partarchy ??? ) totes reminds me of: the cover (& ideational/text-content by DSW) of: Atlas Shrugged
(Possible... Spoiler Alert? For that great novel by DSW) that I liked so much, I reviewed it twice...(!!)

JTV - And both (Schutt's great List/ HOLARCHY/partarchy & DSW's Atlas Hugged novel cover image / symbol) also totes reminds me of, my 2016-2020 diagrams/book chapters on HOLON/partons... (?!)
So maybe I'm on to something...? (Or not.)

Or compressed (& thank you the great Claude Shannon, a giant whose shoulders I try and clamber up on to, pretty regularly), the above looks like this:

& How come, more folks haven't heard of it yet. Maybe I need to improve my "sales-pitch" for it all, or something. BTW it's free. ("Gifted, not sold!") (I just now borrowed that `phrase/meme', from DSW)So that's SVT (a: cultural evolution algorithm, in action)
...Dang. Gotta work on that "promotion" part. (of, the WHOLE) thing.Get the message: out there....Before I die (or, worse)...It might help somebody, some day.Who knows.
Well, enough: `Notus Interruptus'...
More Notes I scribbled down, apparently? (during: this great webinar):
Schutt notes:
EVERY UNIT (in, that `list' / HOLARCHY/partarchy) HAS AGENCY...
i.e. (So - just to recapitulate, as Darwin once said in `Origin')
Russell Schutt (this great webinar 's, great EmCee):individual/sgroup/scommunity/iesorganization/sinstitution/ssociety/iesgovernment/s (eg Local)government/s (eg State)govt/s (...the Feds :) (i.e. National)The whole dang: World !!!(If I understood him rightly. Communication can go: off the rails. Message-sent does not always equal message-received. See: Claude Shannon, on all of that.)
And yes - I agree! THEY (each level & unit, there) DO HAVE AGENCY!!!
See: `Agency & Structure' (`Structuration Theory') in my PhD, eg Giddens, Archer & whatnot. Gotta love Structuration Theory, & it also (well; kinda?) "solves" the problem of free will.
Rosemary (Hopcroft) mentioned (sorry I'm paraphrasing, can't recall her exact words): Culture doesn't necessarily evolve, does it? It's just an analogy with biological evolution, right?
JTV - Well, I didn't get to say this in response to Reosemary's great point - as, there wasn't time (but I think, maybe Ed saw me: squirming to comment on it :) LOL...
...But I think, both culture AND biology (literally, DO) evolve, & using the same algorithms. (e.g.: SVT, VST, BVSR, etc)...? Evolutionary Algorithms are: substrate-neutral. (They don't care if the units are in Biology, or in Culture, or even in both)
But - see my book ( P3 of EC: Principles, Protocols & Practice of Evolutionary Culturology ) for details - whenever it happens. (in: Nov 2021...
...well, unless I die first (of say, COVID, or in a random accident / car-crash), or whatever.
As, that's also a thing that can happen to you, in: Life. :)
Man I sure hope I get it ( P3 of EC ) done in time (July 2021: then gotta send it out for peer-review. Yikes... Vewy-Scawy. Then published, in Nov 2021. Apparently. We shall see.)
Anyway I could be wrong (and often am) but I think: evolution is an algorithmic process. (eg, SVT, or VST, or BVSR, etc)
And - works on both: units (in the HOLARCHY/partarchy, ie - DSW's MLS) in Biology, AND also, in Culture.
Systems (i.e., HOLON/partons) are a good way to `find' biological: units. And, just use The 3 Laws of H/ps to find (fractal!) units in (external & internal) Culture... (But that's just me. Could be crazy. Might even be so crazy it just might: work?
...But is is: New Useful Surprising? i.e. Creative?)
Well... Not (`new & surprising') to me, as: I've been thinking on it, a loooong time. But - it may be/prove: useful...? (To me, and to: others.)
...It all sure helps me fill the pages of this book I'm supposed to write, so: that's useful? (...for me) anyway.
Anyway - more NOTES I TOOK / MADE / scribbled on a pad, etc:
Doug: Rational vs Adaptive (e.g. adaptivefictions, eg Harari, eg `money', `God', etc)
"Maximizer/Optimizer vs. Satisficer"
(Hey! Good ole Uncle Herbert Simon! I cited him on this, in my PhD... Evolution [those: algorithms] "in the wild", is/are a satisficer, not an optimizer.) (As DSW says: Evolution [by Natural Selection] does not make everything: nice :)
Indeed! Unless, you can somehow `grab it by the [er, a certain bodypart?]' and optimize it... (Predict & CONTROL it) via Intentional Selection... ie Artificial Selection by: (say) us humanimals. Using: the ole SVT algorithm... (e.g. redesigning wolves into lots of different breeds of dogs over 10k years... &/or, redesigning ideas into: an Ideology, or, a Science, etc yada-yada Yoda-Yoda...)
Or even: re-recording a song, until you get it: less-worse. (Or "right") - But see, even that is satisficing (for the creator/artist of the song) as, there is no `perfect song' (or `perfect' movie, or book, or whatevs.) ...You could always make them better (or: less-worse) if you had infinite time to work on it. But these things have "Release Schedules". (Argh. Deadlines. Bane of my life :)
Ok - enough of my musings on Evolution, & back to the SCRIBBLED MTG NOTES I took:
"Tribalism" (!)
Durkheim - intermediate groups
Unity/conflict are wedded... (Conflict CAUSES Unity.)
JTV: Yes! See the 3 Laws of HOLON/partons. eg: for units on the same (scale) level, there is - Competition/Co-operation/Co-opetition . (See DSW on: a healthy organism! e.g. see This View of Life, the book - or Atlas Hugged, the book, etc)
JTV: Note - Curing Cultural Cancer / Fighting Fake News
JTV Q for Dr Marshall - So, in line with Harari, & "fighting fake news", can the social media algorithms (Twitter, FB, etc) be seen as a good solution? (eg A `Twitter Fake News Detector' that then labels a Tweet from - say, the Twit-in-Chief, with (say):

"Science has disputed this claim by the SCROTUS. In fact - it's just a flat-out LIE... In fact it is official LIE #20,992, from that guy, so far... & ...Why does anyone ever even listen to this liar, in the first place? Who elected this guy? What were they thinking? Wait, WERE they: thinking? Shouldn't people have to get a license to vote, like we force people to get a license to drive, so that the roads [and running a country, say] are actually: semi-safe?)

(Also, what about, going one step further & A.I. `tagging' each word/sentence/claim in: everything online. So that, folks can read, and see (as they read), exactly what's (tagged as): `True' or `False' [or even: Semi-True , etc, etc.])
So - as a random Concept / Design Example:

...We already have tons of these (great) Social Media fact-checker algorithms. ...& it's also a "hot/tranding topic" in a journal that I review for: IJCINI ... (& see also this. Or don't.) ...So, bring it on. More of THAT, pls!!! (More: Fake News Flaggers!)
Anyway - maybe see my P3 of EC book, whenever it happens/comes out.
In answer to one of my Q's, Dr Turner mentioned: Spencer. [presumably, Herbert.]
(Which I think, was, in reply to my Q: When did Ev Soc officially "start"? ...I gotta watch the video of the webinar again, and listen more closely. [I am a dude, so I can't take notes and listen at exactly the same time, apparently...? Why did Evolution design dudes to be so single-(laser)-focussed? What's up with that... Females of the same species seem to be able to talk and write [on 2 different subjects] at once. Now, I am jealous of that skill. Multitasking. Amazing! How do they even do it?])
Ok, I think that's all I've got. As far as `MY SCRIBBLED NOTES' goes.
Hey & I bet nobody but me ever actually reads them.
(And probably: not even me? Reads them.)
And so, as our time here draws to a shut (I mean, a CLOSE) -- to Select, Vary (not by much) and [re]-Transmit, a `meme' - a unit of culture - (a: catchphrase?)

[ ...To Be Continued...! ]

...Probably?
When I go to the next great Ev Soc TVoL webinar.

Well; Unless, I miss it, or, die in the meantime, or whatever, as: that's also a thing that can happen to: folks like me. Or, anyone, I guess.

Note To Self - It will be so annoying if I die before this P3 of EC book comes out.

But on the bright side, I bet, it's hard to be annoyed (or even do: anything) when, you're dead. Must check into it.

-------------
And... here's the (public) Zoom-Chat text of this great webinar:
(I edited out the [Private] Direct Messages, to/from: moi - JTV.)
04:02:21 (A.M. in Australia) From David Sloan Wilson to Everyone : My new novel, Atlas Hugged is gifted, not sold, at www.AtlasHugged.world :)
04:03:14 From John Crisp to Everyone : Hi. Is it ok to record?
04:03:23 From dougmarshall to Everyone : yes by me
04:03:35 From Rengin B Firat to Everyone : yes by me, too
04:03:37 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : Sure! We are recording it already however as you can see at the top
04:03:50 From John Crisp to Everyone : Ok. Great. Thanks.
04:03:50 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : These sessions will be posted on thisviewoflife.com/webinars
04:04:47 From Eric Johnson to Everyone : All essays in the series Evolutionary Science and Sociology can be found here: https://thisviewoflife.com/evolutionary-science-and-sociology/
04:14:09 From Russell Schutt to Everyone : Submit your questions in the chat.
04:15:58 From Rosemary Hopcroft UNCC to Everyone : My problem is with the idea that sociocultural systems evolve. They do evolve, but not the way living organisms do. Sociocultural systems are no subject to evolution by natural selection like organisms are, because when the organism dies all its components die, when a system dies, the components (individuals) don't all die.
04:16:00 (AM) From Velikovsky of Newcastle to Everyone : Question For Dr Turner - is your `The New Evolutionary Sociology' (2018), the `founding textbook' for Evolutionary Sociology? (Or - are there prior "founding textbooks"? eg Barkow (2005) 'Missing the Revolution')
04:16:34 From Rosemary Hopcroft UNCC to Everyone : Sorry my question was for Dr Turner
04:17:24 From Simon Bowden to Everyone : Isn't it the case that humans and human sociology must have evolved in parallel (dual inheritance) and you can't separate the two systems? Basically Tooby & Cosmides
04:17:43 From Jill LaPlante to Everyone : Q for Dr Marshall: How do you define rationality?
04:18:02 From David Sloan Wilson to Everyone : I’d like to make a comment on the adaptation vs. rational distinction made by Doug.
04:20:13 From Steve Gilbert to Everyone : For Dr. Marshall: How does society counter the epistemic attack being waged against science?
04:20:14 From Simon Bowden to Everyone : Are adaptioned mechanisms irrational?
04:20:34 From Simon Bowden to Everyone : adapted
04:25:06 From Luiz Lopez to Everyone : It is about to be rational or about be "sincere" with others about evidences. "Sincerety" implies in cooperation among the actors. In a explotation/competition game is more adaptative fool others and favour irrationality.
04:25:27 From Velikovsky of Newcastle to Everyone : Q for Dr Marshall - So, is Harari right to say, we can happily be "culturalists" [`culturists' ~JTV]? (ie There are some "bad" units of culture: ideas, processes, products) eg: misinformation, disinformation, anti-Science ideas, etc ?
04:26:32 From David Sloan Wilson to Everyone : There is a second major point I’d like to make about postmodernism and social constructivism within the discipline of sociology.
04:28:39 From Luiz Lopez to Everyone : the watchers
04:30:56 From Gregory to Everyone : Doug Marshall said, “Just because something's natural doesn't mean it's inevitable.” Is evolution both natural and inevitable in human societies? If not, when don't societies evolve or what stops their evolution? Isn't the non-evolution of society a major question here also? It seems a frustration is being expressed here that “society hasn't evolved” in certain ways.
04:31:04 From Velikovsky of Newcastle to Everyone : Q for Dr Turner - What (approximate) percentage of Sociologists are (currently): Evolutionary Sociologists? [As, whatever it is, I'd like to see it: grow! To encompass: all Sociology :) ~JTV]
04:32:37 From Jill LaPlante to Everyone : My understanding of rationality is that it is "merely" the ability to arrange actions towards a particular goal (system 2), in contrast to merely reacting according with our emotions/impulse (system 1). Typically when we call something "irrational", it is due to misinterpreting the goal. The person being accused of irrationality is pursuing a different goal, with bounded rationality
04:33:01 From Marcel Harmon to Everyone : I understand Dr. Turner's frustration, but I wouldn't say that the non-academic world is completely ignoring behavioral scientists. I'm an anthropologist and not sociologist, but there's a whole world of applied behavioral scientists that I live in. I'm often frustrated on a day-to-day basis, but I and my fellow colleagues in the applied world have also gotten some people to listen.
04:34:17 From Patricia’s iPad to Everyone : more of a comment than a question..I am reading “This Changes Everything” by Naomi Klein which speaks to the decimation of of public infrastructure and deregulated capitalism as it applies to climate change. Even though the book was published pre pandemic there are many common themes with this discussion. The issue is as the previous speaker mentioned is that “who is listening” We have had this information for years about climate change and sociological infrastructure. It does feel like we are often preaching to the choir
04:35:28 From Robert Kadar to Everyone : Except when people actually believe in their lies, DSW.
04:37:55 From Robert Kadar to Everyone : How do you divorce someone of socially maladaptive fictions? That’s an area of research I haven’t seen much work on.
04:38:55 From Luiz Lopez to Everyone : Increase in world "authoritarism" appears to spike some years after world economical crisis. Does economical crisis works like ecological stress that make social systems retrocede back at least partially. But it appears that the long trend (200 years) favor more "rational" pro social societies.
04:38:56 From Marcel Harmon to Everyone : DSW can address this much better, but I disagree that social/cultural systems aren't adaptive or subject to the forces of natural selection. Culture is part of the extended phenotype and impacts the fitness levels of individuals as well as groups.
04:40:44 From David Sloan Wilson to Everyone : TVOL’s series on Advice to an Aspiring Economist affirms what Jonathan just said about the economics profession.
04:41:42 From Eric Johnson to Everyone : Advice to an Aspiring Economist series can be found here: https://thisviewoflife.com/advice-to-...
04:42:07 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : Cultural Attraction Theory helps distinguish forms of cultural evolution that evolve according to social adaptation vs. the many, many other “biased transformations” that select upon the cultural tokens that are actually seen vs. the infinite variety that could exist.
04:43:11 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : Five Misunderstandings of Cultural Evolution and Four Misunderstandings of Cultural Attraction Theory cover the field (California and Paris schools, respectively)
04:45:44 From John Crisp to Everyone : I'm a translator from French. Sociology is one of the academic subjects that I do a lot of work in - every sociological article coming out of French universities at the moment adopts a specifically "Foucauldian" perspective.
04:45:53 From Simon Bowden to Everyone : I wonder how natural selection selects for truth?
04:47:04 From Jill LaPlante to Everyone : The anti-scientific rhetoric from within our discipline is strong!
04:47:51 From Ed Gibney to Everyone : Finland has been fighting Russian disinformation for a long time. They have a program in all their schools to counter it. Has anyone studied the details there?
04:47:53 From Ed Gibney to Everyone : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/28/fact-from-fiction-finlands-new-lessons-in-combating-fake-news
04:50:31 From Robert Kadar to Everyone : Perhaps market the discipline differently such as “Scientific Foucauldians”. “Darwinian Marxism.” Yes, it will annoy people, but at least they’ll want to engage with it. ;)
04:52:07 From Eric Johnson to Everyone : Robert: Or Socialist Darwinism? https://thisviewoflife.com/on-the-ori...
04:54:45 From Robert Kadar to Everyone : Yes! I think a big problem with how we engage with people who hold opposing views is that we don’t want to engage them on their terms. We just want to hammer our ideas into them.
04:54:50 From Luiz Lopez to Everyone : If we reboot Earth does the number of mutualist pair of species world be the same today?
04:56:18 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : https://thisviewoflife.com/join-us/
04:56:27 From Eric Johnson to Everyone : Tony Biglan’s series on the evolution of social pathologies can be found here (links to all at the end): https://thisviewoflife.com/the-cultural-evolution-of-social-pathologies/
04:56:27 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : Support This View of Life and this discussion series
04:56:30 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : https://thisviewoflife.com/join-us/
05:00:08 From Rengin B Firat to Everyone : I apologize everyone I need to leave for a meeting starting now. Thank you for the great discussion. Look forward to seeing you all in the next one!
05:00:14 From Jill LaPlante to Everyone : Thank you, Everyone!
05:00:39 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : Details for our next meeting can be found here:
05:00:40 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : https://thisviewoflife.com/evolutionary-science-and-sociology/
05:00:52 From Sage at TVOL to Everyone : Support This View of Life and this discussion series https://thisviewoflife.com/join-us/
05:03:09 From David Sloan Wilson to Everyone : Check out my TVOL essay titled “Learning from Evolution About Free Speech”
[MTG ends]--------------

Anyway, great meeting. I learned a lot. (JTV)
& Met lots of great people/scholars.
...What's not to like?

--------------//---------------

Well, that's about all we have time for, folks.

You have been reading / viewing a blog-post by:

Dr J T Velikovsky Ph.D

(aka: Velikovsky of Newcastle)
Information Scientist & Systems Scientist & AI Researcher & Enthusiast & Evolutionary Culturologist & Filmmaker & Writer & Artist & Actor & Muso & Rugged Frontiersman & Random Guy
(and, also The StoryAlity Guy)
aka Humanimal
(or, The Artist formally known as Dr J T Velikovsky)

More stuff:

Transmedia Blog: On Writering
IMDb (Movies, Videogames):
Music: Texas Radio & Zen Stupidity
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee (over 100 videos, some are even: good)
Academia page: https://newcastle-au.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
Researchgate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jt_Velikovsky
My ouvre... etc etc.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6741-066X
Forthcoming book (November 2021): https://www.igi-global.com/book/principles-protocols-practices-evolutionary-culturology/267379
-----PS - Hey this is all probably all a satire & a parody anyway, knowing me....Unless it isn't?Not sure.

View more on Joe Velikovsky's website »

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Published on January 19, 2021 13:20

AppEEL webinar #1 - 2021

AppEEL webinar #1 - 2021

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So we had AppEEL webinar #1 of 2021.

It was great!

This post you're reading isn't the Official Page for it.

This is just: my NOTES & whatnot.

(i.e., Velikovsky of Newcastle, or whoever I am)

--------

Like I said here: StoryAlity - News (allow me to Select, Vary and (re) Transmit a post from my PhD blog's News page), below...

—-//—-

Attended the first (& fantastic!) AppEEL webinar of 2021. It’s also great stuff! (If you like that kind of thing?) …You should check it out! Thanks to Nathalie & Antonio for making it all happen.

AppEEL Webinar 1 of 2021 on YouTube

Video includes: Intro to AppEEL and its members / * Michael Bradie on Evolutionary Epistemology and a reinterpretation of his EEM/EET distinction / * Anton V. Sukhoverkhov on the BioSystems paper on Non-genetic inheritance: Evolution above the organismal level

And here's some Notes I made/ scribbled during the mtg: (who knows, what they all mean? Not me, always. Some of them may even be totally: wrong. I can't even read my own writing, sometimes.)

VELIKOVSKY'S SCRIBBLED NOTES:

Antonio [our fearless AppEEL Webinar facilitator - thanks Antonio!] (is originally from: Sardinia; now from Vancouver, Canada)

JTV - must remember to ask AppEEL members: What is `A formal list for the Criteria for a Science'? (NB - Never got to ask AppEEL members this, this time round). I have a list in my P3 of EC book, but, I want to know if it's: right :) (My `list of criteria for a Science' is collated from: Creativity in Science (Simonton 2004), & Kuhn, & Lakatos, & Popper, & Chalmers (What Is This Thing Called Science?) & a few others I can't even recall right now)

Olga - Cog Ev Psych

UBC ...(hmm. Not sure what this "UBC" means, here. But it was in my Scribbled Notes, so here it is again. Probably the acronym for a University... Uni of British Columbia? My memory fails me. SPEAK, MEMORY!)

Lorenzo - Italy

Now the talks are beginning:

(1) Mike Bradie, on EEM/EET distinction (eg his famous 1986 paper)

(Bradie, M, 1986) Assessing Evolutionary Epistemology - December 1986- Biology & Philosophy 1(4):401-459 DOI: 10.1007/BF00140962

EEM: (mechanisms!) - our evolved organs: brains, hearts, etc (biology)

EET: (theories) evolution of Scientific Knowledge (culture)

...They are 2 different things!

Descriptive vs Normative (i.e., What is / isn't: Knowledge?)

EET sub K (Knowledge corpus)

EEM sub N (Epistemic Norms!)

Kuhnian perspective: A `Disciplinary Matrix' (aka: `Scientific Paradigm')

Charles Sanders Pierce (pronounced: "purse")

JTV - A Q for Mike: Is Ev Game Theory (Maynard-Smith etc ) an explanation for nonhumanimal Ethics, but humanimal Ethics also have: extra `rules'? ...Or, is it: Different rules?

Mike had a paper on this, in a volume edited by Ray Fry...

Also: Mike has read my 2016 paper! (JTV - Holy cowbells! JTV goes into mild shock)

(2) Anton's talk... re: this paper

BTW the slide above gives me an idea for a diagram I'll make soon

Amadeu - some languages - eg Chinese - are tonal. (Use tones for grammar, not phonemes.)

See the Sober book... (presumably: Elliot - JTV)

...more on EEM/EET

Dewey - influence of Darwinism on Philosophy... Ruse (presumably: Michael), etc...

Boyd & Richerson

Information transfer (information = culture!)

...note, the old (now deeply un-PC) idea of "culture" vs "barbarians" (the idea of more & less "advanced/ progressed" cultures... c.f Comte's `stage models of cultural evolution', etc...)

Nathalie says Popper's `3 Worlds'

(3 - ideas, 2 - mental processes, 1 - exterior-world "products" eg a bridge, a building etc)

...goes way back to: Huxley !!!

(eg ...his `mentifacts / artifacts' etc), ...BUT NOTE: we don't like a lot of Huxley's (eg racist / `intelligentist' eugenics, etc) ideas... So, hmmm. (I suggest: Trust the art, not the artist. Or Trust the Science, not the Scientist...! eg Not everyone [or anyone] has 100% good ideas, all the time. :) ...In fact, most of us have 99% bad ideas. The trick is to have lots, so, if you have 1,000 ideas maybe 10 of em are actually: halfway-decent-ish.

(JTV - NB, on `Curing Cultural Cancer / Fighting Fake News / Binning Bad Ideas', etc!) Some old ideas should be abandon-ded. ...In fact probably ALL old ideas? Unless they're really good. Same goes for: (old) processes & products.

(Evolutionary) Anthropology

THE END

JTV - I think I know what all these Notes I made, mean? Sometimes I write Notes, and don't know what they mean... Wish I'd stop doing that.

So to recap: (JTV wonders) ...WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN...?

------------------------
Hey and here's also: the Zoom-chat I saved.

AppEEL Webinar 1 (2021) Zoom chat text –

[minus Velikovsky’s DMs (Direct Messages)]

[Zoom-Chat text, after Mike’s presentation…]

04:33:20 AM From João Pinheiro to Everyone : I have a question. [for Mike]

04:35:22 From Denis Noble to Everyone : I have a question/point. Denis

04:39:27 From Velikovsky of Newcastle to Everyone : I have a Q for Mike. (JT) Is Ev Ethics: Ev Game Theory? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evoluti... (& different for human, & non-humanimals)

04:54:27 From Nathalie Gontier to Everyone : i have a question too

04:55:22 From Bhoburg@purdue.edu to Everyone : Look up Peter Godfrey-Smith: Metazoa

04:57:57 From João Pinheiro to Everyone : If I'm allowed a suggestion in line with the current conversation: Andrew Whiten's got a very respectable and optimistic take on cultural evolution in non-human animals for which he wrote a recent literature review: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110218-025040

[After Anton’s presentation]

05:22:56 From Isabella Sarto-Jackson to Everyone : I have a comment on this idea of reciprocal causality (from phylogeny to ontogeny and vice versa)

05:24:51 From João Pinheiro to Everyone : Two commentaries rather than questions:

This is not really a critique, but I'd like to know what the examples of wild/feral children are, for I thought they were all quite anedoctal.

Retrocausality is not so much a discovery of quantum physics so much as it is a (very disputed) way of interpreting the measurement problem, and I'm not even sure it's analogue at all to what goes on in the "offspring effect", as there is no backward temporal causality.

05:25:19 From Nathalie Gontier to Everyone : it(s a bit like the grandmother theory isn't it

05:25:52 From Isabella Sarto-Jackson to Everyone : Exactly grandmother hypothesis

05:26:07 From Amadeu Viana to Everyone : I have some comments to Anton

05:30:17 From Denis Noble to Everyone : I have similar issue to Joao’s. There is an interesting photographic record on the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/2... But this is also anecdotal. Has anyone studied this seriously?

05:30:43 From Bhoburg@purdue.edu to Everyone : Isabella reminded me of the “grandmother hypothesis,” which is discussed in great philosophical detail by Kim Sterelny — The Evolved Apprentice (2012). Here’s a more directed article I thought helpful by Hawkes et al. (1998) here: https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/95/...

05:32:30 From Isabella Sarto-Jackson to Everyone : Thanks Bhuburg@purdue.edu(ie Patrick), I was just looking for one of the Hawkes’ papers! Great!

05:32:49 From Natalie Uomini to Everyone : Thanks for the stimulating discussions today! I'm afraid I have to leave for another meeting. See you all next time!

05:33:01 From Nathalie Gontier to Everyone : ye Nat

05:33:04 From Nathalie Gontier to Everyone : bye

05:33:05 From Bhoburg@purdue.edu to Everyone : Thanks Nathalie

05:33:15 From Nathalie Gontier to Everyone : :)

05:34:40 From Nathalie Gontier to Everyone : i have some comments too

05:36:25 From Isabella Sarto-Jackson to Everyone : In fact, there is even a purely biological example of reversed causality from fetus to mother = microchimerism; cells from the baby get into the mother’s organism

05:39:03 From Bhoburg@purdue.edu to Everyone : Dear Anton, is there an article on “retro-causality” you might refer me to, please?

05:39:44 From Matt Fontaine to Everyone : Sorry, I must leave. Thanks for these interesting talks.

05:40:28 From olgavasileva to Everyone : Can I make a comment on recapitulation?

05:41:18 From David Suárez to Everyone : I think distinctions between upward/downward and ordinary/retro-causation are perhaps orthogonal or separate distinctions and it would be important to distinguish them very well. Do you know if someone has discussed this? (Besides Kant) Thanks!

05:41:23 From Amadeu Viana to Everyone : I agree with Nathalie critique to recapitulation...

05:42:51 From Bhoburg@purdue.edu to Everyone : Hi David, I have a list of sources for the issues you mention. I can email you if you wish,

05:43:31 From David Suárez to Everyone : Yes, please david DOT suarez AT ciencias.unam.mx Thank you!

05:43:41 From Bhoburg@purdue.edu to Everyone : Will do

05:45:31 From Isabella Sarto-Jackson to Everyone : Agreed, Haeckel’s hypothesis (recapitulation) has been largely refuted; von Baer’s rules of development are much more probable

05:46:37 From francescobalzan to Everyone : I am also shifting to an other meeting! Many thanks to everyone and special thanks to the fantastic speakers and super organizers Nathalie and Antonio!

05:46:46 From francescobalzan to Everyone : See you soon!

05:49:56 From Denis Noble to Everyone : Great seminar. Learnt a lot. Must also leave soon.

05:50:05 From Selene Arfini to Everyone : I’m sorry I need to go too. Thank you very much for this first meeting and for the fascinating talks! Till next time!

05:52:33 From Velikovsky of Newcastle to Everyone : I took lots of screenshots already :)

(etc...)

05:52:50 From Isabella Sarto-Jackson to Everyone : Thanks to everybody. Exciting event! Looking forward to Denis’ and David’s talks in Feb!

05:53:17 From Isabella Sarto-Jackson to Everyone : Cmd + Shift = 4 [to take a group selfie snapshot in Zoom]

05:53:33 From Sarah Otten to Everyone : Thanks everyone. I enjoyed the papers. I have to go.

[Post-presentations Discussion on Zoom chat]

06:11:17 From antonio to Everyone : Hillary Kornblith

06:33:19 From Velikovsky of Newcastle to Everyone : Fyi Patrick: Velikovskys 5 chapters on "memes" (2016-2020) https://storyality.wordpress.com/2020/12/21/storyality170-p3-of-ec-book/

06:35:33 From antonio to Everyone : Another interesting paper that... How to derive "ought " from 'is" . By J.R.Searle

06:50:51 From Velikovsky of Newcastle to Everyone : Patrick - I define `culture' as: "ideas, processes,products". (eg Popper's `3 Worlds' :)

(Except also in `PROCESSES', I include: not just mental processes [eg thinking], but also, outside world processes too. Like: baking a cake, riding a bike, writing a blog-post, etc.)

And so, the Evolutionary Algorithms (eg SVT, BVSR, etc) are: processes...

I can't think of anything in culture that isn't an: idea, &/or process, &/or, product.

(...Can you? If so, my Definition of Culture is: now, broken :) ~JTV

[AppEEL #1 2021 - ZOOM-MTG... ENDS]

------------//------------

Anyway,
great meeting. I learned a lot. Met lots of great people/scholars. What's not to like?

--------------//---------------

Well, that's about all we have time for, folks.

You have been reading / viewing a blog-post by:

Dr J T Velikovsky Ph.D

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Published on January 19, 2021 12:03

January 13, 2021

In Praise of `Cultural Science' (Hartley & Potts 2014)

In Praise of `Cultural Science' (Hartley & Potts 2014)

Some praise, by:

Velikovsky of Newcastle

14th Jan 02021

-----

Cultural Science (Hartley & Potts 2014)

So, here is a true fact. Exactly one week ago, (Thurs 7th, January 02021) I first learnt - or discovered - or heard - that there was a thing in the world (a: knowledge domain? an: academic discipline?) called:

`Cultural Science'...!

(...Did you know about it-? If so, why didn't you tell me: sooner? :)

(You'll see exactly why I ask that, below...)

So, in the past, I've published these book chapters:

Velikovsky, J. T. (02020). Technology: Memes (Units of Culture). In M. A. Runco & S. R. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Creativity (3rd ed., pp. 585-604). San Diego, Calif.: Elsevier Science & Technology Books.

Velikovsky, J. T. (2019). The Holon/Parton Structure of the Meme, or The Unit of Culture. In D. B. A. Mehdi Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Simulation, and Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 795-811). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Velikovsky, J. T. (2018). The Holon/Parton Theory of the Unit of Culture (or the Meme, and Narreme): In Science, Media, Entertainment, and the Arts. In IRMA (Ed.), Technology Adoption and Social Issues: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications(pp. 1590-1627). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Velikovsky, J. T. (2017). Chapter 405: The Holon/Parton Structure of the Meme, or, The Unit Of Culture. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition (pp. 4666-4678). New York: IGI Global.

Velikovsky, J. T. (2016). The Holon/Parton Theory of the Unit of Culture (or the Meme, and Narreme): In Science, Media, Entertainment and the Arts.In A. Connor & S. Marks (Eds.), Creative Technologies for Multidisciplinary Applications (pp. 208-246). New York: IGI Global.

And since 2016, I've been writing a book, expanding out the original 2016 chapter (above)...

(Which, is basically the same as the 2017 chapter, the 2018 chapter, the 2019 chapter, and the 2020 chapter, above.)

The original 2016 chapter was an Appendix to my 2016 PhD, is like: a unit of culture, and keeps getting replicated. Republished, once a year. Selected, Varied, and (re)-Transmitted. SVT. The evolutionary algorithm. It's like a viral meme. Hey wait, it IS a viral meme. A unit of culture, spreading out in bio-culture, or, adaptive radiation of a unit, or, whatever.

And so, that whole time, i.e. up till a week ago, I never knew, someone else had published, a VERY similar book to the one I've been writing, for 4 years...

Well, ok - very similar in many ways, but very different in others.

So - I guess, I could retitle this blog post:

In Praise of some specific Parts in the book `Cultural Science' (Hartley & Potts 2014),

And, I very-politely beg-to-differ about other Parts of it..?

...but hey - that's academic conversation for you.

If we all agreed 100%, there'd be nothing to `argue' about.

(Maybe.)

Anyway, the good news is, me finding out about Hartley & Potts (2014) makes my job (in finishing this book I'm writing) sooo much easier...!!

So - thank you Hartley & Potts (2014) !

There is, now, a whole bunch of stuff, I don't need to say for the first time ever in a book, as somebody else has "said it for me", already...

In their book. In 2014!

(Hey, this is great... So, rather than criticize me for saying a lot of the stuff that's in my book, maybe go criticize Hartley & Potts, first. :)

Or if you praise them, praise me too for arriving at the same (or similar?) conclusions. Independently.

Anyway - so, this is my book I'm writing: (& it's only taken 4 years so far)

P3 of EC

It's 70,000 words - and I was going to publish at that length, but my new publishing deal means it will be 110k words.

So - in realizing - just a week ago - that the great book (Hartley & Potts 2014) exists, and I had also arrived at a whole bunch of the same conclusions, (but some, quite different!) independently, (without knowing about their book) - I am reminded of, scientific multiples.

...Scientific Multiple Discovery.

Because, have you ever read D K Simonton's great book on creativity in science...?

Simonton, D. K. (2004). Creativity in Science: Chance, Logic, Genius, and Zeitgeist. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Because - in that, D K lists a whole bunch of: scientific multiples.

Here's just some of 'em:

(Hey - and check this out too: a wonderful & great Metascience presentation by DK. It will make you a genius. Maybe.)
Anyway, so - when 2 independent thinkers (like Darwin and Wallace, Newton and Leibniz) independently converge on the same scientific truth (or a very similar scientific truth)...
It always reminds me of:
2 guys (or gals, or they/thems), unknowingly climbing the same as-yet-unscaled / unconquered mountain-peak - from either side - only to arrive at the top - and suddenly find the other guy.
Another : `rugged [intellectual] frontiersman'!
So - when they both simultaneously arrive at the summit, and both go to stick their flag in it, they halt - as they see the other guy, also looking very surprised!

Which all reminds me of The Simurgh, by Jorges Luis Borges. (One of my favourite short stories. But I digress.)
But, you see - also there's clouds all around the mountain, so - they both can't tell, if it's a local or global maximum (highest mountain peak, locally, or globally). There might be a better (higher) one, nearby...
...Or - maybe I arrived, 6 years later (or 2 years later, in 2016?) at the `top' of what I thought was a previously-unscaled mountain peak, (...a local - or global - maxima, or, highest point of the knowledge-landscape) and found a campsite there, abandoned for 6 years (or 2 years)...!
Although I did first publish this idea in 2013, so, maybe I got there a year ahead? (Who even cares. Time, Schmime.)
(But - is the campsite "abandoned"? Wait, aren't Potts & Hartley still there? We shall see.)
Actually, I may even have accidentally arrived at a higher local maxima, i.e. a global maxima...?
As - their views (2014) are only part of "the big picture" (vista) that I can see...?
(As their "demes" are cities - and see those, i.e., `cities' (& towns, or villages), within this very all-encompassing scientific model of mine...)

Anyway, so I've read 8 pages of of this article, below, and before I read on, I wanna point out, where I'm thinking the same, and where I differ, from....

Hartley, J., & Potts, J. (2014). What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.). Journal of Cultural Science, 7(1), 34-57.

Actually - wait, maybe I'll just point out the differences , as otherwise: this will take too long. :)
Also I want to note: I think Hartley & Potts started working on their stuff, in: 2006...?
Then in 2008, was started up: Cultural Science Journal.

And in 2014, it was published the book:

Hartley, J., & Potts, J. (2014). Cultural Science: A Natural History of Stories, Demes, Knowledge and Innovation. Sydney: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

So, anyway - let's start with the 2014 journal article, then get on to the book. (As, I read it. Literally.)

Bear in mind - I'm only reading them both: now.

Right now.

So - this is all very first impressions stuff...!

I may change my mind, "Ron".

(i.e. "lateR on", aka `Ron'. & Sorry for the Australianese here. Or not.)

...I've never blogged on a book (or article) before, as I was actually reading through it.

Usually, I wait till I've finished reading something (a unit of culture, like an article - or a book), and only then, go back and: blog on it.

So this is: new.

Let's see how it goes?

Ok - so what do I agree with, in this (2014) article?

But when I say "what do I agree with" I mean, what am I doing the same, only different?

Remember this (below) is the article I'm talking about, first. (We'll get to the book, later. Ron.)

Hartley, J., & Potts, J. (2014). What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.). Journal of Cultural Science, 7(1), 34-57.

OK so - Starting with, the Abs[t]ract:

`Hartley and Potts (2014) argue that cultural science represents a new theoretical
and methodological approach to the study of cultural structure, dynamics and use.' (Hartley & Potts, 2014, p. 34)

Good. I like it already.

...I think I have one of those, too!

(And, I didn't know, anyone else had pulled this off, yet. I thought I was gonna be the first...? Thank goodness, I don't have to be. Phew.)

Next sentence, of the Abstract:

`We explain how this differs from the extant analytic frameworks of cultural studies, both as a research program and as a policy platform.' (p. as above, i.e. p. 34.)

Ah, see --- now, there's the first difference, right there.
As I understand this (so far), Hartley and Potts (2014) are coming out of the discipline of Cultural Studies ;
And - I'm not...!!!
At all.
I'm coming out of the disciplines of: Communication Science, Information Science, Systems Science, and, Computer Science.
So - there's your first big difference, right there.
In: Schools of Thought...!
I don't do: Semiotics , or, Ideologies (eg Karl Marx, etc) . I like Science.
(By choice, just my preference: not to ever go there, again, if possible...? I've been there, and I vastly-much-prefer Karl Popper to Marx, and, Systems & Information Science, to Semiotics... You get the idea.)
...Just me? I may be weird. (I like to do Science, every single chance I get.)
Moving on a bit (still in the Abstract of Hartley & Potts 2014, JoCS):

`Cultural science, then, is a new model of the cultural processes involved in socio-economic evolution and innovation of knowledge-making demes.' (p. 34)

Ah yes - I see the difference here too...
Where Hartley & Potts use demes , I use: memes ...
Ok - so, How to best explain the difference to you?
(To: my stuff. Evolutionary Culturology. )
Well, here's one way:
Here are some definitions I use: (I don't see any Definitions so far, in Hartley & Potts 2014, by the way)

JTV’s Definitions he likes to use, in `Evolutionary Culturology':

Culture – units that are: ideas, or processes, or products [and, they can be any 1, 2 or 3 of those, at once]. (These units can be internal to a mind/body or external to it, see Popper’s `3 Worlds'). These units are structured as HOLON/partons. Which have 3 Laws. These things, called memes, or units of culture, occur in: Units, & Levels. You can find them, using the 3 Laws. Which are laws of: Physics.

Evolution - Evolution is a process that occurs, (the evolutionary algorithm), on units (memes, HOLON/partons). The units that get `spat out' of the system by the algorithm, actually change over time in the: ideas, processes, products that occur, when the evolutionary algorithm (e.g. Selection, Variation, Transmission, and there are a few others too) operates on them, in an ecosystem. Same in biology, as in culture.

Ecosystem - A product, a system (a unit, a HOLON/parton, with inputs & outputs - and an algorithm inside it), whether biological or cultural, or even bio-cultural.

Actually - let's also go to Merriam-Webster on this one:

`Definition of ecosystem

`the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit'

(Source: Merriam-Webster online )

Sure, I agree with the above Merriam-Webster definition, but - they only talked about organisms as the units...?

What about: units of culture?

There are cultural ecosystems, too...!

Seriously. Read my 5 book chapters on it.

Or read: Hunter Creative Industries (Final Report) (2019)

Where, they have this model of an ecosystem:

Source: HCI Final Report (2019)

Okay - back to my definitions I like to use: (currently, anyway?)

Creativity - see the bipartite - and the tripartite - standard definitions of creativity. eg (Runco & Jaeger 2012)

Runco, M. A., & Jaeger, G. J. (2012). The Standard Definition of Creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 24(1), 92-96.

i.e. A creative artifact is one judged new and useful by its environment (the Field for a Domain).

Or the tripartite definition of creativity adds: `surprising'.

So: creative = New, Useful, and Surprising.

And my last Definition, for now anyways:

MLS – Multi-Level Selection. ...See David Sloan Wilson on it. (I arrived at MLS, via: Computer Science. Not so much, via Biology. But, if anyone else likes MLS, I like their ideas, already :)

...I actually go all-out, with MLS,

See, this diagram of mine, for example:

The levels above are all levels of Selection . In my view. As they all compete. (And - more importantly - co-operate!)

So - I think, with using demes, (like, a city), I have actually encapsulated/included Hartley & Potts's (2014) view of `the unit'...?

It (the `deme' or `city') is just one of the levels (and, units!) in the memes diagram, above...?

And below - I have highlighted their: "demes" (cities) as a unit.

See what just happened ? I Selected, Varied (add some red stuff), and Transmitted, my diagram.

...I go nuts with the units, and get 'em all: all the way up (to multiverses, which: probably exist - especially if we're in a Sim) and down, to quarks, and whatnot. Like David Bohm, I think these units and levels, go infinitely upwards (larger) and downwards (smaller.) ...I could be wrong, but let's see?

Anyway - all of the units in the diagram above (organs, organisms [people], towns/cities (i.e., "demes"?),) are HOLON/partons - aka memes. aka units of culture... all governed by the 3 Laws of HOLON/partons.

But - that's just me.

(...Call me a `big thinker'...?)

Also I would note:

Systems (i.e., which are also HOLON/partons) are made of: energy, information, and matter.

And, all organisms are algorithms (see: Harari 2017, Homo Deus, on that.)

In fact all processes are: algorithms.

(But hey, I came up through Computer Science, remember? So I like: algorithms. Computer programs are algorithms. So are, the processes, inside systems, algorithms...! An algorithm is just: a recipe.)

Remember, memes, units of culture, (e.g. books, ) are: ideas, processes, products.

A book is a product. So is a person: a product. (...A biological one. In fact a bio-cultural one. As all biology has culture - i.e. information - in it. Systems are: energy, matter, and information - right?)

So a deme (a city) is just one of the (many, multilayered) memes in my: HOLARCHY/partarchy...

So I kinda see: the bigger picture...?

Not just: cities ("demes"), as units of culture (or: units of `socio-culture')...

Also, I reckon: go nuts with this tool (below), to find units of culture (aka, `memes'):

Look for fractal things that obey those 3 Laws, and hey - Bob's your uncle!
There's your unit of culture!
So - yes - I agree, demes, or `cities' are units...
But - so are lots of larger - and smaller - things, in my view...?

(Use that tool above, the 3 Laws, to find 'em. And: study 'em! Scientifically.)

The above (Velikovsky's 3 Laws of HOLON/partons) is a scientific instrument.

And, hey - it's free!

It's a: conceptual tool.

I made it.

And now, I give it to you.

It's an idea, a process, and a product - all at once.

(A meme. A unit of culture.)

Hey... Look how fractal everything is getting, now?

If you're using it, You're now - Using: a unit of culture to find: units of culture...!

But, yeah - I go nuts with that tool:

e.g.

So - I use it to find the units of culture (memes) in: words, sentences, books - songs, inventions, anything you like, in culture...

So; yeah.

See: my five book-chapters (2016-2020)...

...Or - wait for my booky-wook.

Anyway, so - if this is the definition of Cultural Science (2014):

`Cultural science, then, is a new model of the cultural processes involved in socio-economic evolution and innovation of knowledge-making demes.' (Hartley & Potts 2014, p. 34)

Then, I am not quite doing, their: `Cultural Science'...?

I am doing, something, slightly bigger...?

(More: all-encompassing... All of culture. All of it.)

I call it: Evolutionary Culturology...

Here's a diagram, to show what it is.

Anyway - back to the next bit of the Abstract (in Hartley & Potts 2014, i.e., the journal article, not the book), that I want to talk about:

`The paper is in three sections, the first on the exhaustion of cultural studies;' (p 34)

Again, I don't go in for Cultural Studies myself, but I use other methods (and models) to think about: stuff.

More, Science-based stuff.

I don't like `Postmodernism' (and, most Continental Philosophy) at all, and try never to use them; I think it's all very anti-Science?

...I try and do: Science - all the way, Hosay.

But - that's just me?

Hey also - I have a weird Question: I don't know the answer yet, but - I do wonder why, the Journal of Cultural Science isn't listed here, in the list of Cultural Evolution journals, on the CES webpage...?

Maybe, it was judged: not Science-y enough...?

...Dunno?

Anyway. There you go.

Maybe one day I will uncover that current: mystery-to-me.

Here are the journals, currently listed on there (as at: 14 Jan 02021):

Behavioral and Brain Sciences Cliodynamics: The Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution Evolution & Human Behavior Evolutionary Human Sciences Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture Journal of Cognition and Culture Journal of Cognitive Historiography Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion Journal of Evolutionary Economics Nature Ecology & Evolution Nature Human Behavior PNASSource: The CES website

So... Who knows, why JoCS isn't in there?

(Not me.)

One day, maybe I will ask someone who knows.

Ok - back to the Abstract:

`The paper is in three sections, the first on the exhaustion of cultural studies; the second on the emergence of cultural science;' (p 34)

Hey - wait, this reminds me: some Schools of Thought run out of ideas, once they exhaust their subject matter, and models (theories)...

I think that is what the above means: i.e., "the exhaustion of cultural studies".

Then they usually go back to an earlier idea and start over.

(An idea like: Evolution!)

Actually - this seems to be exactly what has happened, in (Hartley & Potts 2014) turning from Cultural Studies, to: Cultural Science...?

Like a `branching off'. A new species.

See my model of Koestler & Garstang's evolutionary spiral, sometime.

It's like, how Philosophy split off (...speciated?) into different "breeds", or "schools", or whatever...

I like: Evolutionary Philosophy, myself. Ed Gibney (2012), and all that.

And, Evolutionary Systems Philosophy. (e.g. Laszlo 1972), and so on.

And - what with `Cultural Science' splitting off from Cultural Studies, it's kinda like how:

"Philosophy is the soil out of which the Tree of Scientific Knowledge Grows."

(Velikovsky of Newcastle, 02021 - in this blog post, right now)

(I just made that up, how do you like my metaphors? I like to go around, speaking in parables, like some messiah, or guru, or Cult Leader or something. Except, I hate all that stuff, I like: Science... Popper and all that. I know, it's called `Ev Cult', but it's: a new Science. ...Really!)

(...Maybe someone also said that parable above, before me, as, it's the obvious move, really?)

And so is: Ev Cult.

It seems to me (so far?), that Cultural Science came very close, to it.

But, I see, it used: demes, and not memes.

And: stuff like that.

(I note: Some "branches" of the tree of knowledge die, and fall off...

(e.g. PoMo...! And Anti-Science stuff like that.))

...Maybe Cultural Studies is dead now, too?

Anyway, the last bit of that sentence, from the Abstract:

`...and the third on some implications for cultural policy – illustrated by reference to Matthew Arnold’s policy on language preservation.' (Hartley & Potts 2014, p. 34)

Well - I don't think I (yet) know what that is, but - I will read on... and, find out!

Then, try and talk about it.

So as for `Our Story So Far' (hey - another meme!) -

...that's my analysis of selected (and varied, and transmitted) parts, of the Abstract of:

Hartley, J., & Potts, J. (2014). What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.). Journal of Cultural Science, 7(1), 34-57.

And - so far - I think the main differences I can see, are:

Hartley & Potts (2014) apparently use demes, but - I use memes, as the units (see: my `3 Laws of HOLON/partons', which also includes: demes/cities... and, everything else, too...?)I don't use: Semiotics... At all! (Don't like: PoMo, or Continental Philosophy. At all. It's Anti-Science. I like: Science, and Evolution.)I don't use `Cultural Studies' theorists/models/lenses. (e.g., Hoggart, Marx, etc - Not my cuppa tea! :)

Anyway - I need some sleep now, but - soon, will comment on the rest of the article, and then move on to the book:

Hartley, J., & Potts, J. (2014). Cultural Science: A Natural History of Stories, Demes, Knowledge and Innovation. Sydney: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

And, will point out the key differences there, as well...

...Differences, to my: Evolutionary Culturology.

But, also - a question I now wonder about:

Do the two domains (`Cultural Science' and `Evolutionary Culturology') ...compete, or co-operate? ...Or, a bit of both?

Both those domains of knowledge, are units of culture (memes), and - see, the 3 Laws of HOLON/partons...

So... Food for thought-!

And now, To sleep, perchance to dream :)

(Hey, another meme, or, unit of culture. From: Shakespeare.)

(...I like co-operating, rather than competing, usually. But - that's just me. :)

Depends on the situation, I guess...?

And so -

To Be Continued...!

(...hey, that's another meme!

A: Unit of Culture...

A HOLON/parton.)

[Try that new tool above... You'll see!]

PS - Hey I also watched these 2 videos, below - one by Potts, and one by Hartley - I liked them! A lot!

I'll talk about them, too.

(Probably? If I get time. Gotta finish this Ev Cult book!)

Blockchain and the future of work, Prof. Jason Potts@RMIT Night (2019)

John Hartley - Humans vs Westworld: A Cultural Science Approach (2018)

-----------

...And - maybe, a way to say this, is:

I think, maybe Hartley & Potts (2014) saw `the trunk', but maybe I saw, the whole elephant?

(As, their `deme' - as "the unit, of culture" - is but a tiny part, of my: whole, broad view of the units...)

I think, their Grand model (or Grand theory) of Culture (and Evolution) is a special (edge) case of my [vastly bigger] Grand Theory (or Model) of Culture (and Evolution)...?

...Am I right?

We shall see?

Anyway - I sure hope, maybe, we can: co-operate...!

(Not: compete.)

Or, our discoveries, can co-operate...

...Maybe my stuff helps them - as well as, their stuff (2014) helping me...?

--------------//---------------

Well, that's about all we have time for, folks.

You have been reading / viewing a blog-post by:

Dr J T Velikovsky Ph.D

View more on Joe Velikovsky's website »

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Published on January 13, 2021 12:14

January 10, 2021

Dear Friends of Science and Evolution

Dear Friends of Science & Evolution

Thank you (so much) for being a part of our community.

There is a war on.

A war of ideas.

In this war, You have chosen the right side; or more correctly, it chose you.

And so -

Dear Enemies of Science & Evolution

We are coming for you.

When I say "we", I mean: Natural Selection.

Evolution and Science.

Truth, Facts, Reality, is: coming for you.

You: COVID-denying, conspiracy theory peddling, anti-truth, (liars, cheaters, deceivers, freeriders, conmen & conwomen): you refuse to wear a mask, as you don't understand how facts, science, and truth works. Or you do, and you are: lying.

You need to read Enlightenment Now (Pinker 2018).

But even then, you would fight it with: some bullshit, or other.

Because: You're an asshole. (Wait - Did I just stoop to your level? Ad hominems? No; you're already lower than that - you're using violence. See Graham's hierarchy of disagreement, below.)

Your values are all wrong.

Liars lie, and then then they: gaslight. (They accuse you of being the liar...!! Two deadly, fatal, lethal insults, for the price of one. Just one of the insults makes me want you to stop existing. Let alone 2.)

Note also: If you refuse to wear a mask - Science will kill you.

The Germ Theory of Disease.

(So, carry on! Don't wear a mask.)

Please thusly, and kindly, remove yourself from the humanimal race.

Natural Selection in action.

(Science i.e. Natural De-Selection, is rather like Islam; it kills its "non-believers" :)

And so:

Dear Science Deniers, Postmodernists, & "Alternate Facts" Liars,

Please, accidentally kill yourself...? Due to your denial of reality. Due to not wearing a mask, and ignoring Science.

The world (reality) is a vastly better place, without you.

Just sayin'.

Hey check this out:

Michael Moore: The Terrorist Attack Is NOT Over. | Rumble with Michael Moore podcast | EP. 153

I love Michael Moore's rewriting of the US Pledge of Allegiance, when he was a (precocious, if not precarious :) 6th grade kid -- (at: 51 mins of the above)

"I pledge allegiance to the people" (not "the flag"!) "of the United States of America, and to this Republic for which we all stand. One nation, part of one world, with liberty and justice for all."

...Reminds me of the great Atlas Hugged !

See: Atlas Hugged World

"The banner of John Galt III’s revolt is a mysterious column of symbols: A dot, a circle, the American Flag, and the planet Earth. Never was an academic critique so decisive and also so much fun." (Source: Atlas Hugged World)

And now...

Let's look at Wars (i.e., competition, not co-operation), in (1) Ideas, (2) Processes, and (3) Products.

Here's one way to see it:

See: On How To Disagree

Wars can be fought in the worlds (domains) of: (1) Ideas [communication using words, language, tools of "messages"], or (2) Processes (change the enemy's thinking), or (3) Products (blood, bullets, bombs in the physical world, Popper's World 1).

But remember - this is a true statement:

"This quote comes from a character, Salvor Hardin, in Isaac Asimov's Foundation saga.

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

Isaac Asimov, American science fiction and popular science writer

Source: One Liner Wednesday

Q: Why is the Foundation series (and science fiction in general) not taught, in all high schools?

Anyway - Here's another hierarchy, along same lines as i=P: (ideas, processes, products)

Or, a simpler version:

...Now look again:

And, read this:

"...knowledge ignorant of consequences is foolishness.

Chemistry that shrugs at pollution is foolishness, Economics that discounts politics and sociology is just as ignorant as are politics and sociology that discount economics.

Unfortunately, it does not seem to be enough to protect the neutral objectivity of each separate science, in the hope that the knowledge generated by each will be integrated later at some higher level and used wisely. The synthetic principle will have to become a part of the fundamental axioms of each science.

How shall this breakthrough occur?

Current systems theories are necessary but not sufficient, as they tend not to take values into account. Perhaps after this realization sets in, we shall have to re-write science from the ground up." (Csikszentmihalyi 2009)

The above diagram of Good and Evil is what happens, when VALUES are built into Science.

Science (and Philosophy) are about the search for truth.

Anything that is anti-Science, (or anti-Philosophy) is evil. i.e., You are the enemy.

Now, Science-Deniers, we can play the game your way, if you want? The bottom rung of Graham's hierarchy. Physical Violence.

That means we just turn Science to: the task of eliminating evil.

Curing Cultural Cancer.

But - you should be grateful we Science-Lovers are: morally better than you.

Killing you would be: too easy.

We'll do it through the war of ideas and processes. Worlds 3 and 2.

...Unless you want to go down to: physical products...?

(I'm fine with whatever, really. And the more you test my patience, the more likely I am to slip down to your level. It takes a lot of energy to stay in those higher levels. Ideas and Processes.)

So the aim of the Science of Evolutionary Culturology is: Curing Cultural Cancer.

Culture is knowledge.

Information.

Ideas, processes, products.

There is good and bad (e.g. EVIL) information.

Good - and Bad - Ideas, Processes, Products.

So - pick your side.

Science, or Anti-Science?

Are you with us, or against us?

Make it clear.

Look at Velikovsky's `3 Laws of HOLON/partons':

Once you've found the unit of culture (the idea, process, or product), - the ideology, philosophy, worldview, etc - you then need to judge it. Is it:
Good - or Evil?
True - or False?

...Do you see ?
----------

PS - In the war of ideas in academia, I was captured by the enemy for a few long years.

I was tortured.

I was screamed at.

Postmodernist, Ideological, Continental Philosophy Science-Deniers made my life: a living hell.

They created a monster.

Me.

Now, I want justice.

I want truth.

I want: revenge. (Fair's fair. That's: justice.)

I want fairness.

This war has to end.

...I also don't want anyone to ever again have to go through, what I went through.

We have to destroy the enemy.

Liars, cheaters, swindlers... people like Trump.

In Politics, the "right(wing)" side is the WRONG side. The EVIL side.

The side that has to: end.

Left-wingers care about: Science, Facts, Reason, The Enlightenment.

You don't have to like it, it just has to be: True.

(Ever notice how Right-wingers lie and gaslight, about pretty much, everything? ...Even the (NOT) "Liberal Party" in Australia is: conservative, right-wing. Even their name is a lie. Pure evil.)

And, Extremists on either side of Politics (i.e. Values) are evil.

See the documentary, Better Left Unsaid.

Source: BLU Review

& Thanks for reading!

And Friends of Science and Evolution - THANK YOU!

--------------//---------------

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Published on January 10, 2021 09:31

January 4, 2021

Alien Ant Farm

I have an ant farm. I like studying ants.

Wide view

Closer view
This ant farm of mine currently contains: 17 banded sugar ants (Camponotus consobrinus).
...It does not have: a queen.
(Let alone two, which some banded sugar ant nests have.)
So, in a sense, all 17 of their lives are pointless, but, such is the Existential Cosmic Horror, so go read some Sartre, or, watch Rick & Morty, or something.
Just kidding, life has meaning.
See Evolutionary Philosophy (Gibney 2012). Or Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (Dennett 1995).

Hey, I also like E O Wilson's novel, Anthill: A Novel (Wilson 02010). I even created a Game Design for it.

I also like Atlas Hugged (D S Wilson 2020), which also mentions ants.

Ants are interesting. Science is interesting. Biology is interesting. So is Culture.

So is Evolutionary Culturology.

I like watching them: dig tunnels, and hang out together, and run through the tunnels, and eat food, and drink water, and sleep, and stuff.

Also, in the wild, these little guys farm aphids. The sugar ants protect the aphids (like humanimals protect their sheep and cattle, or whatever), the ants milk the aphids, and everybody wins. More or less.

Either way: I used to be a sheep and cattle farmer, and used to be an omnivore, but now, after reading Yuval Noah Harari's 3 great books I think it's cruel so I am just an ant farmer now. And, am a pescatarian. So should you be. Farming of animals is cruel, and bad for the greenhouse effect.

Hey there was also a band, called Alien Ant Farm, and now, I often think of them, when I think of my ant farm, but associative memory can be like that.

Then I get an earworm, of Smooth Criminal. (Now, you may have one too. Oops, sorry about that.)

Catchy memes (i.e., units of culture, like songs, or whatever) can be like that.

Ants are kind of like aliens, when you think about it.

They have a different social hierarchy than us: humanimals.

And in terms of biomass, there is probably more ant-mass than humanimal-mass, on Earth. Unless that statement is not true. Who knows. Either way, a lot of folks are overweight, so that probably tips the scales in our favor a bit.

Either way, ants are still: interesting.

You should get an ant farm, and study them!

Because: Science is freaking awesome.

Or, at the very least, befriend them... Especially if, one day they plan to take over the Earth, because there's sure a whole lot of them.

In fact, I'd be careful where you're stepping if I were you, because: an ant never forgets.

Or wait, was it: an eleph-ant?

Look, the point is, I can't remember.

--------------//---------------

Well, that's about all we have time for, folks.

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Published on January 04, 2021 01:10

December 31, 2020

4 types of hierarchies (Gontier 2017)

4 types of hierarchies (Gontier 2017)

In this great article,

Gontier, N. (2017). What are the levels and mechanisms/processes of language evolution? Language Sciences, 63(September), 12-43. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2017.05.002

...in looking at Language, in the light of Applied Evolutionary Epistemology, Gontier rightly notes 4 types of hierarchies: (1) Aggregational, (2) Linear, (3) Constitutive/Embedded/Nested hierarchy (functional arrangement), and (4) Interactional hierarchy or hierarchies (like in networks).

Here is a Table, from that great (2017) article:

And so, I want you to think of those 4 different kinds of hierarchies... (As, I know I will be. They're great! What's not to like?)
Also, I suggest, here are some others, to think about: (as I have been thinking about them. So why not you too?)A hierarchy–groups of units, in ranked (or graded) levels of power. Examples include: a military chain of command; corporate organizational structures; animal group/herd/flock/pack social structures; feudal society; caste systems.A HOLARCHY/partarchy –a set of nested wholes and parts (simultaneously), and governed by the Three Laws of HOLON/partons. Examples include: biological organisms in an environment; external culture (e-memes) such as: books; songs; languages, etc A heterarchy–(1) in the Information and Social Sciences, a network where all agents (units) have equal agency or power; (2) in Biological taxonomy: a species which shares a common ancestor with a different family.A homoarchy–a hierarchy that can be ranked in only one way; the opposite of heterarchyThere is also one conception of `nested hierarchy’ in evolution (in phylogeny) that refers to a family of descent, or common ancestry.
In short, there's a lot of types of hierarchies, to think about.
And it affects: evolution.
Both biological, and cultural.

--------------//---------------

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Published on December 31, 2020 07:39

December 30, 2020

Introducing a new Scientific Instrument: Velikovsky's 3 Laws of HOLON/partons

Velikovsky's 3 Laws of HOLON/partons

------//------

I have something cool I want to show you...

So we all know, there are various scientific instruments for viewing objects at different scales (and distances)...
Instruments such as: the telescope, binoculars, the naked eye, a magnifying glass, and the microscope...
These scientific instruments (or, scientific tools) can be used to view things such as biological units (organisms, cells, bacteria, DNA), and non-biological matter of course (units such as: buildings, vehicles, landscapes, etc.). Well... What if, there was a tool, a scientific instrument, that allowed you to view: Units of Culture?
There is such a tool. I made it.
And now, it is my gift to you.
Welcome to: Velikovsky's 3 Laws of HOLON/partons.

(This is going to sound crazy at first, but - bear with me, this won't take long, and I guarantee - it WILL be worth it!)
So now - imagine a tool that was all 5 things, combined into one:
(1) a telescope, (2) binoculars, (3) the naked eye, (4) a magnifying glass, and (5) a microscope...

Here are the 3 Laws:

You can use this tool to find the units of culture.
i.e., If an entity obeys those 3 laws - It's a unit!
Examples:

And it works for: letters, words, languages, books, music, movies, inventions, poems, religions, scientific theories...
...Anything in culture.

Enjoy!

And for more detail, see the 5 chapters I published on it: (and forthcoming book)
P3 of EC

--------------//---------------

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Published on December 30, 2020 06:40

December 27, 2020

Ev Cult case study: `Jerilderie' (2020)

Ev Cult case study: `Jerilderie' (2020)

(FYI: Ev Cult is short for: Evolutionary Culturology)

So, I wrote & performed & recorded & uploaded, this random song:

`Jerilderie' (tryptych) - (Velikovsky 2020) [15 mins]

...Maybe listen to it / watch it first, before reading the rest of this post...?
(As, the text below has: spoilers...)
& I think it's probably better, if, you "come to it, cold" ... ?
(Well; unless you already know it / have seen it / heard it before.)
Okay so - assuming, you've now heard/watched it...
...First of all, I have a question for you.
Did you find what you just watched/heard (`Jerilderie' Tryptych): New , or Useful , or Surprising ? (or even all 3, at once?)If new , in what way/s?If useful , in what way/s?If surprising , in what way/s?Also: Did you `get goosebumps', at any point in the song? (If so, exactly when & where?)And finally, prior to hearing the song, do you know about: Ned Kelly, & all that? (...I am trying to figure out, if people need prior knowledge of the Ned Kelly story, to make the song: "work".) Pls feel free to Comment, below.
Anyway, so, yeah. - Be all that as it may...
Yes - I do know "triptych" is spelt "triptych"! (I chose to spell it: "tryptych".)
What happened, there:
Since there were 3 versions of the song, but presented as one single 15-minute unit, (on: Youtube), I first: SELECTED the word "triptych", then VARIED the spelling a bit (swapped a "y" for an "i"), then TRANSMITTED it (to you, the reader/listener/audience/receiver of a unit of culture.)
So in that case, the unit of culture was: a word.
"Tryptych."
Hey and I see that the great philosopher, Wikipedia, says this, about the word "triptych":

`Despite its connection to an art format, the term is sometimes used more generally to connote anything with three parts, particularly if they are integrated into a single unit.[3]'

Source: Wikipedia , online
(A Side Note: Did you know, I published a Scientific Theory of units of culture ? ...Anyway if not, now you do.)
Below is a short list of 5 of my prior book-chapters on it... (If not of interest, just skip these 5 chapters. But - by the way - those too, are units of culture. As, a book chapter is: a unit... It's a whole chapter, but is part of a book... It's a HOLON/parton . A part - and a whole - at the very same time.)
[In the word of the great Philosopher, Keanu Reeves:
"Whoa..."
...i.e., Mind = blown, right?]
Those 5 book chapters:

Book chapter: Velikovsky, J. T. (02020). Technology: Memes (Units of Culture). In M. A. Runco & S. R. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Creativity (3rd ed., pp. 585-604). San Diego, Calif.: Elsevier Science & Technology Books.

Book chapter: Velikovsky, J. T. (2019). The Holon/Parton Structure of the Meme, or The Unit of Culture. In D. B. A. Mehdi Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Simulation, and Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 795-811). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Book chapter: Velikovsky, J. T. (2018). The Holon/Parton Theory of the Unit of Culture (or the Meme, and Narreme): In Science, Media, Entertainment, and the Arts. In IRMA (Ed.), Technology Adoption and Social Issues: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications(pp. 1590-1627). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Book chapter: Velikovsky, J. T. (2017). Chapter 405: The Holon/Parton Structure of the Meme, or, The Unit Of Culture. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition (pp. 4666-4678). New York: IGI Global.

Book chapter: Velikovsky, J. T. (2016). The Holon/Parton Theory of the Unit of Culture (or the Meme, and Narreme): In Science, Media, Entertainment and the Arts.In A. Connor & S. Marks (Eds.), Creative Technologies for Multidisciplinary Applications (pp. 208-246). New York: IGI Global.
Source: P3 of EC (online).

Anyway, in a nutshell - with that song, `Jerilderie' - I first wrote the words, then added the music (three chords: E, A, Am).
Then, what I had on my hands was, a song.
Then I:

1) SELECTED, that song (the: words & music, as one unit of culture), then I
2) VARIED it (i.e., I played & sung it, 3 times - twice on acoustic guitar, and, once with the electric stuff [electronic drums, electric guitar, & electric bass]), then I
3) TRANSMITTED it. (To: you. AND/OR, whoever else, ever sees/hears it...)

...Welcome to SVT, one of the evolutionary algorithms...!

And, it works exactly the same way in Biological Evolution (plants, animals, viruses, etc), as it does in Cultural Evolution (words, songs, movies, books, etc).

(Again, in the word of the great philosopher Keanu Reeves: Whoa...)

So, there are 3 versions (or variations) there, on the one song...

Some folks might even term it a `cultural mutation'? Rather than, a cultural variation.

But these words (mutation / variation) mean the same thing. (In terms of what I am talking about here.)

So - the 3 versions of the song in the Youtube video are of varying lengths, too...

The 3 x different song lengths / variations
Anyway so - that's Cultural Evolution in action , for you...?
See how units of culture (e.g. songs, or words, or pieces of writing, or messages, or movies, or whatever) can get Selected, Varied, and Transmitted?
That's the SVT evolutionary algorithm.
If now, somebody ever picks up a guitar (or other musical instrument), and plays (aka "covers") the song, they too will vary it, no doubt.
As, if nothing else, probably their voice sounds a little bit (or, a lot?) different to mine...?
...I mean, here's the official, original, canonical lyrics:
--------//---------
`JERILDERIE'
by JT Velikovsky (2020)
Chords: E, A, Am.

Listen up Ned, it’s Dan

We’re gonna make, one last stand…

No-one can say that we Kellys were losers

If I can take down with me, some of these troopers

Back’s against the wall

One last swing, as we all fall

A gunshot’s the sound of freedom

And I’ve got two more rounds if we need 'em

We ain’t gonna last till daylight

But I think I can take, those 2 on the right?

So you make a run for the horse-pen

Just cover me once I get out in the open…

Think you coulda handled it better

Shoulda never written that Jerilderie Letter

Should held back at Jerilderie…?

Cause you know mate, we’re never gonna be free

No more use in talking

(Tell mum I’m sorry for everything)

And you always said that we needed more men -

But you know that we’ll never be free men again

Ploughshares into armour...

Avenge the farmer’s sweet-hereafter

I’m gonna get my licks in -

Cos everything’s broken, and way past the fixing

Called him `The Iron Outlaw’

Three in the grave, and one out the door

Crooked policemen ought to be flayed

"And all of my orders must be obeyed"

Ned, you’re game, for sure

A widow’s son outlawed

But don’t lose your head over freedom

They’ll put your skull in the Melbourne Museum

[OPTIONAL: also, repeat the last 2 lines.]

-----------//-------------

And so, I guess the above qualifies as a (rhyming) bush (ranger) poem...?
But, when you add music to a poem, it becomes, a song.
(Note that: the universal evolutionary algorithm for creativity - in both Biology and Culture, is:

Combine two existing things together to get a new thing, and the result has to be judged: new, useful, and surprising, by its environment.)

The environment for songs is: the audience for songs. (Which includes: the mass audience, critics, and `gatekeepers'. And of course, other songwriters.)
For more on that, see: What is Creativity, and How Does It Work?
The environment for a newly-emergent species of shark (say) is: the ocean. Including all the predators and local and global environmental conditions, and whatnot. The ecosystem.
Anyway, who knows, just how this new song, Jerilderie, will go.
Let alone, 3 versions of it...?
But, it's a numbers game...
If you release 3 different versions of a unit of culture, "into the wild" as it were, maybe there's 3 opportunities for it to: survive...?
Hey - do you know about r/K selection theory ?
(I am not talking about R Kelly now...)
Good ole `Uncle Wikipedia' says:

`In ecology, r/K selection theory relates to the selection of combinations of traits in an organism that trade off between quantity and quality of offspring...

r-selection
In unstable or unpredictable environments, r-selection predominates due to the ability to reproduce rapidly. There is little advantage in adaptations that permit successful competition with other organisms, because the environment is likely to change again...

Among the traits that are thought to characterize r-selection are high fecundity, small body size, early maturity onset, short generation time, and the ability to disperse offspring widely... Organisms that exhibit r-selected traits can range from bacteria and diatoms, to insects and grasses, to various semelparous cephalopods and small mammals, particularly rodents...
K-selection
A Bald eagle, an individual of a typical K-strategist species. K-strategists have longer life expectancies, produce relatively fewer offspring and tend to be altricial, requiring extensive care by parents when young.

Organisms with K-selected traits include large organisms such as elephants, humans, and whales, but also smaller long-lived organisms such as Arctic terns,[11] parrots and eagles.'

Source: Uncle Wikipedia.

Anyway - so, why don't they release 2 or even 3 versions of a movie (like, the cinema cut, the Director's Cut, and the Extended Version), all at the same time...? Usually, it takes a long time for the Director's Cut to be released.
Also - songs often have: (1) the radio edit, (2) the album version, and (3) the live version, and (4) the extended dance remix, or, whatever... (& I still think, they all should be released at the same time. All at once. In fact, often, they are. So, I'm not sure what am I even complaining about...? So, let's move on.)
Anyway - as promised - moving on.
Things that survive - and, become populous (or: extant) - in culture are called: Canon.
Things that don't (and that go extinct, or are forgotten, or ignored) are called: Archive.
Here's a diagram I prepared earlier:

Source, more or less: The Encyclopedia of Creativity (Velikovsky 2020)
Anyway, every new song is always a scientific experiment. In Bio-Culture.
To explain:

...I first had a Theory, or Expectation, or Hypothesis, that:

I thought, maybe, this "Jerilderie" song (well - in: Australia, anyway? Who knows, about globally...) might make:

1) A nice soft, sad, bittersweet, acoustic-guitar `bushranger ballad'...?

2) A nice song if it was another version, of the above (with, slightly different `breaks' in it - and also, a slightly different vocal performance)...? Maybe, it's better? Or, just: different.

3) A good: drinking song, in a pub/hotel... (See the 3rd, "electric" version, in the Youtube video, above)...

But - the experiment (the actual song, Jerilderie) always needs: Trial, (and hopefully not, Error) - to find out, the Results of the Hypothesis/theory/expectation (see above) !

Because, all of life is: doing science.

(Even, writing/releasing: songs, or, books, or jokes, or new words, or - whatever... Any unit of culture.)

We expect that, if we (the composer/inventor/creator of: a song) find the song (or, our new book, or joke, or word, article, etc...) to be decent enough, then - hey, maybe, some others will, too...?

But - you've always gotta do the experiment...!

i.e.,

...Suck it, and see.

Put it out there.

And, as with every unit of culture, I predict:

1) Some people: will like it.

2) Other people: won't.

Anyway, here's the text from the YouTube Description:

------------

3 versions of “Jerilderie” a song about Dan and Ned Kelly… (written & performed by J T Velikovsky)

(Inspired by Paul Kelly’s song, How To Make Gravy. And also, The Jerilderie Letter.)

Chords for “Jerilderie”: E, A, Am

Words & Music, copyright 2020.

Credits:

Picture of Ned’s head (the day before his execution, in 1880) from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...Movie Still Images, from the very first feature-length movie: The Story of the Kelly Gang (Tait, 1906) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sto... http://soundbible.com/1664-Restaurant... CC 3.0 (Public Domain, recorded by stephan)http://soundbible.com/2163-Party-Crow... License: CC Attribution 3.0Recorded by Daniel Simion http://soundbible.com/1666-M1-Garand-... License: CC Attribution 3.0Recorded by battlestar10

…I did see Ned’s head in the Melbourne Museum (or, a plaster cast of his skull, anyway) years ago, and it freaked me out. (Also, I thought it’d be taller in person.)

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerilde...

This song has no Chorus, just 3 chords & the truth.

See also (Texas Radio album sampler): https://on-writering.blogspot.com/201...

And, if you really want to go hog-wild, see also: https://outrageous-bullshit.blogspot....

------------//-------------

That last line of the electric version is an SVT (Selection, Variation & Transmission) of an Elton John/Bernie Taupin line, "This Song Has No Title" - but see, even there, we see an SVT: as, the actual lyric inside the song, is a variation of the title, as, he actually sings: "this song's got no title, just words and a tu-uuuu-uuuu-uuuu-ne". So, either the lyric - or the title, there - is a variation, of the other.

Selection, Variation, Transmission.

The SVT algorithm.

And so in that final line (of the 3rd, i.e. "electric" version of the song), I varied ("this song has no [swap out: `title' for] `chorus' ") , and then, combined that idea, with - the idea of: "three chords and the truth" - which, is a very popular thing to say, if, you're a songwriter...

Also, the great Philosopher U2 once said it, but, then again, so did lots of folks.

It's a meme.

A unit of culture.

Some memes (words, songs, jokes, books, ideas, etc.) are viral memes...

They spread contagiously, sorta like: a virus.

Which brings us to the question:

Why are some things popular?

And, others, not?

Because it's sometimes good to be reminded: great things are not always popular, and popular things are not always great...

Anyway - my forthcoming book on Evolutionary Culturology goes into this stuff - on, units of culture... i.e., What are the units in biology, and what are the units in culture, and - how do both: evolve?

In fact, it goes into the units, levels, and mechanisms of biological and cultural evolution.

Anyway so, there you go.

And, sorry in advance, if, the song is: an earworm.

But - then again, that's kinda what I was going for. An earworm.

And - Where `the idea' for the song came from:

I heard a program on ABC Radio National, a week or 2 ago, about Paul Kelly's song How To Make Gravy, and wanted to write a song, kinda vaguely like, that one,

i.e.: sad, poignant, moving, catchy, a dialog between 2 or more people, no chorus, etc.

So, as I recall, because of the word "Kelly" (as in: Paul) - I guess, I thought of Ned Kelly, (and then, I thought of Dan Kelly, his brother.) ...Because I already knew about: them.

Also - note how, the opening line of `How To Make Gravy' is: "Hello Dan, it's Joe here"...

Check the first line of Jerilderie. (Similar, kinda.)

By the way, Joe Byrne was also a guy in The Kelly Gang. So, when I think of "Dan" and "Joe", I think of: the Kelly gang... (Though - oddly - my dad's name was Dan, and my name is Joe... When any "associative thoughts" are triggered, I notice, I often tend to think of others, before myself... Maybe I'm weird.) And so anyway, I thought of opening with: "Listen up Ned, it's Dan..."

Then, the next line suggested itself. ("We're gonna make, one last stand.") Probably because, that's what Ned Kelly & co are very famous for.

...That, and, I've written probably hundreds of songs (some of them are even: good), so, I tend to think in rhyme when I'm songwriting. (And, "Dan" kinda rhymes with "stand"...)

Anyway - I could go into, how I composed the rest of the lyrics (BTW, I wrote them all, before finally adding: the chords) - but - this post is getting long and, maybe nobody cares.
But - as a Creativity Scientist type guy, I am very interested in how people make units of culture up, like say: songs, ideas, books, scientific theories, videogames, words, or, whatever.
I mean, I know how I do it, because: I was there at the time.
But - maybe other folks have vastly better/quicker/cheaper, methods / protocols / practises / procedures, in terms of their: benefit/cost ratio...?
So, I also like reading about / understanding, how other songwriters: do their thing.
(And, other: filmmakers, novel authors, game designers, joke writers, scientists, engineers, etc!)
And, anyway, the song happened pretty quickly; kinda "wrote itself":
I heard the Paul Kelly ABC RN show, and then a few days later, when I was in a coffee shop, the first words came to me, and then also, a few more lines while I was in the supermarket (shopping), as: doing boring & repetitive tasks (like say: shopping, walking, showering, doing the dishes by hand, mowing the lawn, chopping wood, taking a dump, etc) are good for letting the creative ideas flow...
(i.e. The Science of Creativity says so, I am not just making this stuff up. See books and papers on creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi & the like.)
Anyway, what else did I want to say...?
Oh yeah, the line "I'm gonna get my licks in" is actually more of an Americanism than an Australianism, but - there you go. It basically means: "I may well lose this fight - but who cares, as I am still gonna enjoy, on some level, hurting/damaging my opponents". Blows in a fight = "licks".In this case, for Ned & Dan Kelly, the opponents are: the troopers (cops)... Anyway - the Kellys were Irish. So, go figure. (I like Irish writers, like Flann O'Brien, e.g. The Third Policeman. Check out the audiobook, read by Jim Norton. Great stuff! James Joyce is also supposed to be a great writer, I read Ulysses, and a few others of his, but didn't understand a lot of it, at the time... I think I need to read them again.)
Also - apart from the obvious, in the song, I'm not 100% sure, when Dan (Kelly) is talking, and when Ned is talking, but - creativity researcher Martindale (in The Clockwork Muse, 1990) shows that ambiguity is a good thing to try and get in, to maybe give an artwork a long `shelf life'...?
People can then wonder about: How to interpret it. Or, can interpret it how they like. (Which is what we all do anyway, right?)
Also, this line: "And all of my orders must be obeyed" - is from the end of the Jerilderie Letter:

`As they can not and will not protect them if duffing and bushranging were abolished the police would have to cadge for their living I speak from experience as I have sold horses and cattle innumerable and yet eight head of the culls is all ever was found I never was interfered with whilst I kept up this successful trade. I give fair warning to all those who has reason to fear me to sell out and give P10 out of every hundred towards the widow and orphan fund and do not attempt to reside in Victoria but as short a time as possible after reading this notice, neglect this and abide by the consequences, which shall be worse than the rust in the wheat in Victoria or the druth of a dry season to the grasshoppers in New South Wales I do not wish to give the order full force without giving timely warning. but I am a widows son outlawed and my orders must be obeyed.'

Source: The Jerilderie Letter (public domain)
And "Ned you're game, for sure" also - loosely - comes from Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, where Jack Grogan tells Barry that he's: game.

"I never saw a lad more game in me life!" (Jack Grogan in Barry Lyndon, 1975)
Also - that film, Barry Lyndon, has the best fight scene I've ever seen in a movie. (But watch it in context, don't go find it on Youtube... Watch the whole movie.)
And anyway, Irish guys like: fighting, as a cultural stereotype. "The fighting Irish", and, all that... (Another meme, or unit of culture, or, cultural cliche.)
Clichés are sometimes handy when writing a song, as people don't find them too: new or scary.
And - that's about all I can think of, that I wanted to say about: that song.
Anyway - I mainly just wanted to make the point about Selection, Variation, Transmission - the evolutionary algorithm - in Cultural Evolution (& Creativity)...
...Can you see how it works?
(The SVT algorithm, in culture.)

We all Select, then Vary, then Transmit stuff, all the time...
Also, maybe the song is interesting structurally, as, it has no chorus.
But then again it's the same with Paul Kelly's How To Make Gravy, that: also has no chorus.
...You know how, a standard song-structure is (something, like):

Intro Verse 1 Verse 2 Chorus Middle 8 bars (aka `Bridge') Chorus Verse 3 Chorus Chorus

(...Or, cultural variations, or, cultural mutations, thereof...?)
Anyway - this random song, Jerilderie, seems not to have a Chorus...? Just: a bunch of Verses.
So, kinda weird... Anyway - it's a fun creative exercise, to try and write a Chorus-less song.
And - maybe see Phillip McIntyre's work on songwriting, and popular music...!
(...McIntyre taught me songwriting, many moons ago!)
Also, he did a PhD on it.

Anyway; so - there you go...?
`Jerilderie'. Tryptych.
And, sorry if I've ruined the song (or even all 3 of them) by explaining all this stuff about it...?
But - maybe, it makes it more interesting...?
...Or, not...?
...You be the judge!

& Please feel free to leave Comments, below.

& Here's my PhD blog on Cultural Evolution, if of interest.

--------------//---------------

Well, that's about all we have time for, folks.

You have been reading / viewing a blog-post by:

Dr J T Velikovsky Ph.D

View more on Joe Velikovsky's website »

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Published on December 27, 2020 09:14

December 23, 2020

In Praise of: `Evolutionary Philosophy' (Gibney 2012)

In Praise of the book: `Evolutionary Philosophy' (Gibney 2012)

(Praise, by

Velikovsky of Newcastle, December 02020)

Evolutionary Philosophy (Gibney 02012)

So, I just read this great book, and - it's: great !

So, now I want to talk about it...

But, the problem there is, I'm a Communication Scientist, and I know for a fact that talking is one of the lowest-bandwidth communication channels that exist, and, life's very short, so, it's best to have the fastest, and most economical, (the best: benefit/cost ratio) communication data throughput.

So, the next best thing is: to write about it, (rather than: talk).

And so, here goes.

(Write on, man! Right on.)

First of all, I'd like you to know, I've been looking for a book like this for years... I didn't even know about it, till super-recently, like, a few days ago...!

So, imagine my thrill of discovery, at finding that, a book I had wanted to read for years, (but thought nobody had written yet), suddenly: existed. (Frankly, it was a huge dopamine rush. And, a huge relief.)

Well; I mean, it existed as an artifact, as a Kindle book, in the "external world", (aka Popper's `World 3') from the year 2012 onwards, but - I for one, didn't know about it, till: the year 2020.

...Holy cowbells!

PS - Wait, did you know about it, until now...?

(...If not: You're welcome.)

(And, hey - if you did, then why weren't you telling me about it, for the past 8 years?)

Because, here's the thing: I wrote a Ph.D, that was published in 2016.

(It's free online, you can read it anytime, if you want; What do I care?)

And, anyway, here's the other thing -

When you write a Ph.D, basically, the algorithm - (or, formula. or pattern, or process, or, recipe) that you have to follow, in the 100,000-word dissertation that you have to write for a Ph.D - is:

Q. 1) What do we already know? (Also known as, a "Literature Review", and then, a Problem Statement/Research Question (i.e., I have read eerything we already know, and so - here is a GAP I have found in the research, that I am now going to try and FILL), and ...

Q. 2) So...What do I, now know? (i.e., After doing my PhD study, and, all of this new research, that: nobody else yet knows - and, frankly, they really should know. [If we assume that knowledge is a good and useful thing, and, I do. Assume that.].)

Q. 3) In the light of my new contribution/s to knowledge (in, this new Ph.D you are now reading), What does this mean-? (Does it change: anything? Everything? Both? Neither?)

4) Finally: Which Philosophical question/s does all of this, speak to? (Does it help answer any unanswered questions, or, solve any as-yet-unsolved important scientific problems?)

...So, yeah. That's the basic, really simple formula, or algorithm, or, recipe, for: a Ph.D.

(Or, for the "standard", regular, most-common form of Ph.D, anyway... There are, likely, some edge cases which are nothing like that... Because: Evolution.)

And so, at some stage of the Ph.D, you really need to pick a Philosophical Question, that your Ph.D helps to answer...! (For, the rest of the world, who probably doesn't have the time - or the energy - to do a Ph.D. on: whatever your new Ph.D is on.)

And, some of the "classic", or, old, or even (so-called) "timeless" Philosophical Questions, include:

`Why am I here?

What is a good life?

What is the right thing to do?

What is right?

What is good?

How do I know?’

Gibney, E. (2012). Evolutionary Philosophy. USA. Kindle Edition (p. 1).

And just for example, in my Ph.D, I used the question "What does it mean to be human?" as the Philosophical Question, which the Ph.D research, shed light on...

And, I said something like this:

`In terms of the philosophical and scientific question of “What does it mean to be human?” these canonical movies [the top 20 Return-on-Investment, or highest benefit/cost ratio movies] generally depict human universals in terms of normative Human
Nature (as understood via Evolutionary Psychology) and partially explains why they
were also selected by Human Nature at the cinema box office.420'

(Velikovsky, the StoryAlity PhD, 2016, p. 245)

Footnote #420: In broad terms the common elements in these narratives are the universal human: “problems of mating: selecting, attracting and retaining a mate and performing the needed sexual behaviour required for successful reproduction” (D. M. Buss, 2012, p. 65). The other part of the broader explanation for these movies’ success is that they adhere to the Anna Karenina principle in both their conception and execution.'

---------------------

And so now, let's check out, this awesome book's Table of Contents: because, why not? It helps to know more about what's inside the book.

(But you already know how Tables of Contents work... They're good like that.)

So, here comes the cover of the book again, and, the Table of Contents:

Contents

Evolutionary Philosophy

Purpose

Evolution 101

Philosophy 101

Main -isms, -ologies, and definitions

Current philosophical camps

Tenets

Know Thyself

Concerning Me

Where Did I Come From? (Past)

Where Am I? (Present)

What Am I? (Present)

Where Am I Going? (Future)

Concerning Others

Other Individuals

Society

Concerning Things

Concerning Places

Concerning Ideas

Survival of the Fittest Philosophers

Ancient Philosophy (Pre 450 CE)

Medieval Philosophy (450-1600 CE)

Modern Philosophy (1600-1920 CE)

Contemporary Philosophy (Post 1920 CE)

My Evolution

EvPhil.com

Gibney, Ed. (2012) Evolutionary Philosophy. USA, Kindle Edition. (p. 2%)

--------------------

So...What do you think of that-?!

Personally I think it's great, as Tables of Contents go.

It has: all the stuff, I always want to know more about. And stuff I worry and think about, a lot.

And so, it's great! Also, just want to note, here's one way to think of The Unity of Knowledge: (also known as: consilience.)

i.e. Look at what happens; thanks to Gibney's great book Evolutionary Philosophy (2012), there's now, (and actually, since 2012) a great book, that helps "fill that domain of knowledge", there! Evolutionary Philosophy!
I mean, there are some other pre-existing books on Evolutionary Philosophy... (See my PhD for the gory details...) But, they're not as accessible, and easy-to-read as Evolutionary Philosophy (Gibney 2012)!
So, get on it! Right away! Read it!

...It's great!

Also, you'll notice Evolutionary Culturology is up the top of that diagram. And, I mean; you could swap it upside-down, it wouldn't matter.

I'm not saying, it has a "top" or a "bottom"...

You could even have it sideways, or whatever...

Anyway, all I mean is, it's: great, any way you look at it.

i.e., Evolutionary Philosophy (Gibney 2012).

And now, maybe you're wondering what Evolutionary Systems Philosophy is...

As, that's at the far right of the diagram above. (Or at the bottom, or the top, of, those other diagrams above...)

Well, it's basically:

Laszlo, E. (1972). Introduction to Systems Philosophy: Toward a New Paradigm of Contemporary Thought. New York: Gordon and Breach.

Which was a yuge influence on my (2016) PhD... You should read that, too.

It has a whole bunch of stuff on Evolutionary Systems, and how they: evolve.

Most people don't know (Laszlo 1972). It's been out of print, for years.

They don't know what they're missing!

The two main (currently, popular) "branches" in Philosophy, are: (1) Analytic Philosophy, (2) Continental Philosophy, and then - there's (3) Systems Philosophy. (Which kinda makes the other two look like child's play.)

Anyway, back to the great: Evolutionary Philosophy (Gibney 2012).

The first two parts of the book, on (1) Evolution 101, and on (2) Philosophy 101, are terrific!

...A great "crash course" (or, even, refresher course, if you already knew it all) on both those topics!

I love it-!

And now I'm going to draw a diagram...

Hey, what do you get, when you combine Evolution, and Philosophy?

Evolutionary Philosophy (Gibney 2012)!

Hey - and I love this quote, in the Pragmatism sub-section of the Philosophy 101 section.

`[In Pragmatism:] Theory and practice are not separate spheres; rather, theories and distinctions are tools or maps for finding our way in the world.'

Gibney, Ed (2012). Evolutionary Philosophy (p. 22). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

And, as well as "tools", or "maps", I (personally) also like to see theories as "models".

For example, scientific theories can also be called: scientific models.

Like, Darwin's scientific model of evolution.

Or, Newton's scientific model of gravity.

Or even, Einstein's scientific model of gravity.

...etc.

I also think, it helps solve (remove) the problem that, some people who don't understand science can say "It's only a theory!".

But scientific theories aren't ever "only a theory", as in: just a random idea that may or may not be true, or right, or correct. They are: scientific models. You can test them. In the real world. And, use them to solve problems, in the real world. And, if a better scientific model comes along, everybody who does Science for a living, uses that one instead.

(I suppose the same Science-deniers that say "But it's [Einstein's gravity, Newton's gravity, Darwin's evolution] only a theory!" could instead be just as ignorant, by yelling "But, it's only a scientific model!"... In which case, they would still be as annoying and ignorant and Science-denying as ever. But, stupid is, as stupid does. Knowledge is finite; ignorance can be infinite.)

...And, the rest of the book (Gibney 2012) is brilliant too, and, I'll finish writing this Review, tomorrow.

So, watch this space. (The big empty one, below.)

[Insert more text here, JTV]

--------------//---------------

Well, that's about all we have time for, folks.

You have been reading / viewing a blog-post by:

Dr J T Velikovsky Ph.D

(aka: Velikovsky of Newcastle)
Information Scientist & Systems Scientist & AI Researcher & Enthusiast & Evolutionary Culturologist & Filmmaker & Writer & Artist & Actor & Muso & Rugged Frontiersman & Random Guy
(and, also The StoryAlity Guy)
aka Humanimal
(or, The Artist formally known as Dr J T Velikovsky)

More stuff:

Transmedia Blog: On Writering
IMDb (Movies, Videogames):

Music: Texas Radio & Zen Stupidity
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee (over 100 videos, some are even: good)

Academia page: https://newcastle-au.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky

Researchgate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jt_Velikovsky

My ouvre... etc etc.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6741-066X
Forthcoming book (November 2021): https://www.igi-global.com/book/principles-protocols-practices-evolutionary-culturology/267379

--------------//---------------

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--//--

View more on Joe Velikovsky's website »

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Published on December 23, 2020 10:01

December 21, 2020

Film Review: `Better Left Unsaid' (Jaimungal 2020) - by Velikovsky of Newcastle

Better Left Unsaid

Documentary Film

(91 minutes; Director: Curt Jaimungal 2020)

Visit: https://betterleftunsaidfilm.com/

Review by

Velikovsky of Newcastle

17th Dec 02020

Better Left Unsaid (Teaser Trailer) 2020
--------//---------

Synopsis

Better Left Unsaid explores the question: When do the extremesof Left and Right politics go too far?

In my view, the two arrows (below) indicate the main focus of the documentary.

The topics explored in Better Left Unsaid include: truth; lies; cancel culture; moral and political outrage; identity politics (race, gender, sexuality); Social Justice Warriors; Antifa; white supremacy; white privilege; colonialism; hate crimes; genocide; freedom of speech; systemic racism; systemic bias; intelligence; science denial; civil rights movements; Modernism versus PostModernism; Western Enlightenment values and ideas; Flat Earth conspiracy theories; whether Chomsky agrees with Hitler on some things; the progressive radical Left; the conservative radical Right; Al Gore’s The Assault on Reason (2007); whether “the white race is the cancer of human history” (Susan Sontag 1967); whether `Political Correctness gone too far’ causes some to turn away, and towards White Nationalism; the history of Marxism including Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro; group oppression narratives through history; America’s historical origins in (trigger-alert word) socialism; Nazi Germany; Fascism, Communism; the Jewish holocaust; equality; how history will judge the present moment; “True Marxism” versus “Fake Socialism”; Uyghurs in China; brainwashing; propaganda; the history of group conflict; religion; Fake News; media bias; On Bullshit (Frankfurt 2005); memes; slavery; radical equality; correspondence to the truth; democracy; Western values; and, freedom of speech.

Interviewees include Chomsky, Pinker, D S Wilson, and many other leading public intellectuals.

Clips feature Dave Chappelle, Joe Rogan, Russell Brand, Andrew Yang, Bret Weinstein, and many more.

Commentary/Review

Thanks to Enlightenment Values, we probably all know what misogyny and misandrymean, but did you know the definition of misology? "A hatred of argument, reasoning, or enlightenment."

In the era of `post-truth politics’ and `fake news’, this smart, thought-provoking, well-researched, balanced, entertaining - and yet also very edgy(!) - independent documentary(Better Left Unsaid) has the great courage to examine current “hot-button” Big Issues for open society liberal democracies, and argues for a return to the Enlightenment Values of truth, reason, logic, rationality, open discussion and debate, freedom of speech, and, science.

…It’s a great antidote to all the `fake news’ filling our feeds.

A truth bomb.

Better Left Unsaid may well be `cancelled’, in the current hysterical frenzy of `cancel culture’.

…We shall see?

Then again, one great way to unwittingly cause a unit of culture (such as a book, or a film) to go `viral’, is: to ban or `cancel’ it… So, a part of me hopes it gets `cancelled’, as, that way - probably even more people will see it.

On the other hand, I see Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth (2006) is the highest return-on-investment (read: most profitable) documentary film… And I also hope that Better Left Unsaid stays un-`cancelled’ – and un-banned - and exceeds that great film’s popularity in mainstream culture?

…Again - We shall see!

Better Left Unsaid (or, BLU) speaks truth to power - and educates and informs as it entertains, even despite some at times difficult, challenging, and even deeply disturbing subject matter (like: genocide, slavery, and violence).

It’s a fascinating scientific experiment!

(The audience’s reactions will be: The Results of the experiment.)

Its purpose is to extend, and deepen – and most importantly, continue – the current public conversation about Values - which can’t really proceed, unless we discuss things rationally (like BLU does). But freedom of speech, critical thinking, and rational debate are crucial values in Western open society liberal democracies; Better Left Unsaid shows why.

I am also a fan of the great book The Open Society and its Enemies (Popper 1945, 2013). (I’m not the only one who thinks it’s great: The MLB also voted it one of the best nonfiction books of the 21st century.)

BLU aims to combat what Popper (1945, 2013) pointed out, were some of Plato’s huge mistakes:

“…He [Plato] was forced to combat free thought, and the pursuit of truth. He was led to defend lying, political miracles, tabooistic superstition, the suppression of truth, and ultimately, brutal violence. In spite of Socrates’ warning against misanthropy and misology, he was led to distrust man and to fear argument.” (Popper, Ryan, & Gombrich, 2013, p. 189)

Better Left Unsaid shows why:

The only thing we have to fear, is the fear of fear itself...

So, watch Better Left Unsaid. Even if you’re afraid to.

And, let’s continue the discussion.

That’s what Western open society liberal democracies do.

VELIKOVSKY’S Verdict: Five out of five stars. Probably, one of the best documentaries you’ll ever see.*

*(If, you like that kind of thing? And, I do.)

See, also: ToE channels

ToE YouTube channels

-----------------------------

P.S. - (Don’t get me wrong: Some things obviously should be – and are – illegal, in open society liberal democracies – things like: slavery, rape, child porn, hate speech, etc. And frankly, anything that causes suffering is: bad. And #MeToois important - and long overdue, in cases like Harvey Weinstein’s - but - I agreed with Matt Damon, most things are: a spectrum. And, PTSD can make it hard to gauge and measure the degrees, or the shades of grey. But: Science is good at measuring things. So, maybe, try that.)

PPS – The Director’s Cut of BLU (120 minutes) also features one of the funniest song-animations I’ve seen in my entire life - including even, `The most dangerous species on Earth' (by Steve Cutts).

PPPS – Wait, what even are, Velikovsky’s personal Values and Politics? …What’s his: agenda?Wow - big question, but here’s a short answer... His agenda is: pro-Science. (And so, he is also anti: Science-Denial.)

He likes: Truth. Empirical facts. Reason. Progress. Enlightenment Values. (You know; all that stuff they killed Socrates for. But, we’ve come a long way since the year 399 BCE. …Haven’t we…?)

In terms of Values, he thinks suffering should be minimized, and, for example, is morally against farming animals (he’s currently a pescatarian). Years ago, he was once a cattle (beef) and sheep (wool) farmer, but became a vegetarian after reading Yuval Noah Harari’s three great books to date.

As for his Political views - it’s subtle, complex and nuanced, and depends on the exact political issue, under discussion? I mean, he did a random Political Compass Quiz online once, but he still doesn’t know how accurate it is... But, if it helps to explain him, here’s a list of some of his favorite thinkers, and, a list of some of his favorite books.

(And, sorry if you don’t like them, or, him. But, hey - it’s a free country. …Isn’t it?)

Velikovsky of Newcastle (aka Dr Joe T Velikovsky) is an Information Scientist, a Ph.D in Communication, Systems Philosopher, and random guy.

Also, a `cisgender hetero white male’, if you like attaching those kind of labels to things.

He also thinks you should read his 2016 PhD, on: movie creativity & profitability , but this is all just his opinion. As far as he knows, he’s not: racist, sexist, genderist, Marxist, or Fascist. He’s just: a Scientist…

But he also thinks, Values need to be integrated more into Science.

He likes: Systems Philosophy(Laszlo 1972).

He was also a volunteer rural firefighter for a few years. He tries hard to be a nice guy, but figures some people will hate him, regardless of what he says or does, as: that’s a thing that can happen.

Also he realizes how risky it is, giving a glowing review to BLU like the above, on such a plethora of “hot-button” issues. (But, meh? You don’t have to like it; it just has to be true - right?)

Also, in the interests of `full disclosure of any possible Conflicts of Interest’ - he sees, he also got a `Thank You’ in the film’s end credits! Probably, because he gave some helpful feedback on an early cut of the film (he’s a filmmaker as well – that’s a whole other story, that we don’t have time for right now)… Do you even have time to keep reading this? You be better off: watching Better Left Unsaid.

Seriously.

He seems to like the film (BLU) a lot - but thinks, like all works of art, it can be misinterpreted by absolutely anybody, and probably will be, by some, or even many, folks? As, that’s also: a thing that can happen... He also assumes that many people are even misinterpreting: this.

He likes long walks on the beach, and listening to music that he likes, but he guesses most people probably do. He likes most people he meets, but is often tortured by all the suffering in the world, and also has a tendency to over-empathise, which causes him a lot of personal suffering, so, he seems to have become somewhat of a hermit in order to focus on his work, in latter years. He also likes consilience, the unity of knowledge.

He also seems to ignore (apart from: reporting to the legal authorities) abuse, death-threats, and hate-mail, so don’t feel offended if he doesn’t engage with any of that stuff. He doesn’t `feed’: trolls, on either sides of the political spectrum. Still; that’s just him.

He also likes writing long Bio’s of himself in the third person like this, that are meant to be short, but frankly, there’s a lot of explaining to do…

And, can you ever really know another person? I mean, really know them.

He also thinks that before you judge him, or jump to any firm conclusions about him - or his views, values or agendas - based on insufficient evidence; maybe you should consider Bayes’ Theorem. And maybe even try to get to know him better – preferably, through his work.

Apparently, he wishes peace on earth, and good will to all living beings. He also likes D S Wilson’s new novel, Atlas Hugged (2020).

...You’d probably like him, if you ever met him, given the law of averages? Who knows.

(Well; unless you didn’t.)

Then again, he seems ambivalent about stuff like that. He often says “You don’t have to like it - it just has to be true, right?”, when talking about Science and Empirical Facts, as: Science doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings – not even his.

He also joined The Heterodox Academy after he saw that Steven Pinker recommended it. (That’s not the only reason.) And, he also loved Pinker’s `Enlightenment Now’ (2018).

He also often thinks `feelings’ (aka emotions) are overrated, and are probably just algorithms that evolved in organisms, including in: humanimals in the EEA (Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness), around the Pleistocene Era, and that `feelings’ don’t always serve us as well, in modern contemporary environments that have evolved, and changed.

He also likes Evolutionary Culturology . And, is frankly amazed if you are still reading this. He’s not sure what else to say.

But, he hopes you enjoy watching Better Left Unsaid, as much as he did.

Which was: a lot!

...He’s also probably a bit Aspie, or something...?

A random online quiz he once did said so, anyway.

Then again, as like most things, like Values, Gender, Sexuality, etc. Asperger’s is a spectrum, so to some degree, we are all a little - or a lot - Asperger’s. Depends who we: are.

I mean, he also views Gender, Sexuality, and Race (and, lots of things) like, this:

(…He is also not denying that there is an X/Y-chromosomes biological-sex-determination system. He likes: Science. There are extremely `masculine’ men, and extremely `feminine’ women. And shades of grey in between. And, he gets that there is: `toxic masculinity’, like: rape culture, domestic violence, and misogyny. Which is all: horrific.)

So anyway, frankly I think there’s something wrong with Velikovsky. But then again, there’s probably something wrong with: everybody, if you examine them closely enough? Nothing’s: perfect.

…Well except, maybe: an egg? Did you see that great David Attenborough documentary, on the wonder of eggs? ( David Attenborough’s Wonder of Eggs, 2018 ) Man, that was a great doco...! Wonderful, even.

Anyway, so is BLU - you should watch it.

It will probably make you smarter. It will certainly make you think.

(It did, Velikovsky. …He thinks?)

I mean, he also thinks, we’re probably living in a Simulation (e.g.: Bostrom 2003 ). But maybe that’s another philosophical discussion, for another time.

Anyway, he loves smart Philosophical Discussions, and watching BLU felt like: a great discussion that needs to be had and heard, right now.

...So, enjoy!

REFERENCES

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misology

https://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-nonfiction/

--------------//---------------

Well, that's about all we have time for, folks.

You have been reading / viewing a blog-post by:

Dr J T Velikovsky Ph.D

(aka: Velikovsky of Newcastle)
Information Scientist & Systems Scientist & AI Researcher & Enthusiast & Evolutionary Culturologist & Filmmaker & Writer & Artist & Actor & Muso & Rugged Frontiersman & Random Guy
(and, also The StoryAlity Guy)
aka Humanimal
(or, The Artist formally known as Dr J T Velikovsky)

Even More Stuff:

Transmedia Blog: On Writering
IMDb (Movies, Videogames):

Music: Texas Radio & Zen Stupidity
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee (over 100 videos, some are even good)

Academia page: https://newcastle-au.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky

Researchgate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jt_Velikovsky

My ouvre... etc etc.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6741-066X
Forthcoming book (November 2021): https://www.igi-global.com/book/principles-protocols-practices-evolutionary-culturology/267379

Joe Velikovsky's Blog

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