The Simplicity of Complexity That Orders the Chaos

In hindsight, I view this post on the illusion of complexity the most important that I've written, primarily because it crystallized my thinking on the fractal nature of human cognition (and, more importantly, human action) and did so in a manner that tied it back to so-called "complexity."

NOTE: those links are to three different posts, the first being the most important and the other two putting stakes in the ground re: fractal cognition and complexity, respectively.

I think I can boil things down further.  My working theory is that the true elite (however you label them) are able to shape and control the illusory complexity of society by manipulating a very simple, fractal function that underlies how human beings make decisions and, therefore, act. I've described the base fractal function qualitatively numerous times in the past, including in all of the linked-to posts, above.  To understand how the same simple fractal function can lead to widely different results, see here.  You manipulate the human fractal through the social institutions that set societal values (i.e., the coefficients in the equation).  The founders of Neoliberalism understood this and set out to control those institutions.  And they succeeded.

My approach to reality forces me to look for the human fractal and its manipulation.  I can't help myself.  For example, whenever I see somebody boil down macro-politics to an either-or, binary choice, I usually confirm both the human fractal and its manipulation.  The fractal is apparent from the urge to drive certainty by limiting the available options to only two.  The manipulation of the function is apparent from the fact that the two options are both ALWAYS dictated by the manipulator.  How is that?  Because the manipulator defines the status quo, and the human fractal naturally creates the opposite of the status quo through the process of normative inversion.  

Another way of getting at what I am trying to say is that if you use their frame, you will lose the game.   An example of this phenomenon may be found here.

What I ultimately hope to accomplish through The Project is to articulate the human fractal in a way that everybody will understand.  Anybody who comes to understand the human fractal can manipulate those who don't and, at the same time, avoid being manipulated.  If EVERYBODY understands the human fractal, NOBODY can manipulate or be manipulated.  My goal is to make sure that everybody gets it.

Change the frame.  Change the game.  Don't get suckered into fighting power with power.  Knowledge trumps.  That's why we're taught to avoid it.

A New Social Contract?

Let's face it.  The way things stand now, our government is a farce.  It has been hollowed out by for-profit, multinational corporations who prey upon citizens qua consumers, and our governments at all levels aid and abet this evil because our government officials have come to believe it is good. 

As a result, the social contract between U.S. citizens and their governments has been rescinded, yet, short of violence, we are powerless to take back the personal liberty we gave up under natural law in exchange for protection and promotion of the general welfare.

Or are we powerless?  The fact is that the "free market" is all about scale.  The bigger you are, the more market power you have.  The entire system is geared to prostrate itself before the largest market participants, which explains why giant corporations have accrued so much political power and control our government.

But is there any reason U.S. citizens cannot recreate their "social contract" through an actual contract by creating their own corporation (the new citizen) that negotiates on their behalf to get the benefits of scale?  The citizen's corporation could be run as a non-profit, or as a for profit business within strict guidelines.  Over time, it could take over many state functions and turn back the tide of "privatization," and by so doing, the citizens' corporation would weaken the power of the governments, and, therefore, the power of the giant multinational corporations that rule our lives today.

Imagine re-expressing Jeffersonian ideals of humanity, community and liberty in terms of corporate law instead of natural law. What would you get? We’ve been conditioned to think in terms of for-profit private business on the one hand, and the government on the other. The neoliberal movement has effectively demonized and co-opted the government for the benefit of for-profit private businesses, transforming citizens into consumers and leaving them to the mercy of these corporation. But can for-profit corporations compete against a massive non-profit corporation that dwarfs them in size by several orders of magnitude?