LS Re: Explain the Dynamic/Static split


Hettinger (hettingr@iglou.com)
Thu, 4 Jun 1998 17:24:45 +0100


Hi, Squad!

I was just reading Orson Scott Card's "Speaker for the Dead", and I
found an
interesting tidbit that describes the former static-dynamic split that
is
now the backbone of biological level PoV's.

He's talking about social structures, and then he makes this biological
simile:

"The bones are hard and by themselves seem dead and stony, but by
rooting
into and pulling themselves against the skeleton, the rest of the body
carries out all the motions of life."
   ---Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card, pg 159

This seems to me to be an apt metaphor for how the static/dynamic split
creates and then functions within all the levels.

If we are going to define static and dynamic so that a new reader would
get
the gist, Mark Lencho gave us a good description (from a more
social-intellectual perspective).

Mark Lencho said:
----------------------------------------------------
Static Quality:

Pirsig says . . .

"static good [is] derived from fixed laws and the traditions and
values that underlie them." It's "the essential structure of the
culture itself and defines it." It is "old and complex" and
"contains a component of memory;" that is, it's " what you normally
expect." It is conformity to an established patern of fixed values
and value objects." It is "quality of order" which we rely on to
"preserve our world." Through it, we can stave off chaos.

Extrapolating, we might say that . . .

Static quality is the great store of common sense identified with
and derived by experience, and it points the way to how we're
supposed to act and think, both in a constitutive and normative
sense. It's goodness gets codified into rules and regulations,
and it lies behind the conventions by which we live. It is the
force of stability and intelligibility. It makes sense; it is
settling. It is conservative, mature and associated with age.
Static quality is the avoidance of badness. It is the voice of
reason and custom; it is responsible. It's what permits us to
get to sleep at night.

Dynamic Quality

Pirsig says. . .

"Dynamic good. . .is outside of any culture," and "cannot be
contained by any system of precepts [laws]." He calls it "the
pre-intellectual cutting edge of reality, the source of all things,
completely simple and always new." It comes "as sort of a surprise."
It is the "Quality of freedom, [and it] creates the world in which
we live."

Extrapolating, we might say that. . .

Dynamic Quality is prior to experience and can only be felt in the
associations it leaves behind. It has to do with what we like
as opposed to what we are supposed to do. It does not follow rules
and regulations, but is evidenced in the instinct of independence.
It is the force of change. It compells attention; it is stimulating
and intriguing. It is reformist, active, and stereotypically
associated with youth. Dynamic Quality finds its effect in the
disobedient pursuit of excellence. It is the voice of intuition
and discovery; it is revolutionary. It is what gets us up in the
morning.

And only through the mutually supporting synergy of these two
antagonistic forces (Catch 25?) do we get evolution.

         --Mark Lencho, lila squad Jan 18
-----------------------------------

Two snapshots of the same function.

Maggie

 



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