re: #32 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I have been spending some time learning to decipher this odd old German script.

Because quick action is what sets manly alpha men apart!!!

It defineitely sets authoritarian, hierarchical people apart. And there is a biological reason for this. Human, and most social animals, have a three-fold hierarchy - each level up increases the size by 3. They also have a proclivity to break things down into the simplest of binary questions - black or white with me or against me. This because it becomes very easy to always get an authoritative action when three groups vote on a binary question. There can never be a tie’ either 2 out of three agree or it is unanimous.

Hierarchy always drives for simplicity so it can take a quick action, even if that action is not wise. Complexity breaks it. It is only as smart as the guy at the top. ANd there are too many steps in the ladder to traverse when moving information around.

The balancing approach is a distributed, democratic one. A very flat structure that looks very much like the social web graphs we can now see. This one pushes towards consensus rather than authority. It likes a diverse group of views to make sure all vewpoints are seen and heard. It can move around huge amounts of information and when one person/group knows the answer, everyone does.

The problem is that it can be very slow to action. These groups always want more information to make even a better solution.There is even a name for it - the Seattle process, where talking is often more important than action.

So any successful society needs a balance of these two approaches. I worked at a bioetc in Seattle that praciced the Seattle process. Lots of discussions and vetting. A 60 minute meeting could veer ovet a wide range of topics for 45 of thos eminutes. Then someone would say that a decision needed to be made and Boom, Boom, Boom, it would all be laid out. It allowed us to be very efficient finding success with one third to one half as many researchers as Big Pharma.

The GOP will fail. Its structure is to take actions, even if they are stupid. The modern Dems, by using diversity and flat structures to produce wise actons, will rise to take over.