Hi David & Squad,
Enjoyed very much your last post. It was a pleasure to read, but
that doesn't mean I agree with it! ;)
David 1/13/99:
> Simply put, I think its beyond the power of the intellect to really
> change the mythos. It seems to me that the three lowest levels can only be
> changed "naturally", that is Dynamically.
In "Lila", Pirsig asked, "...where does a scientific hypothesis come
from?" (pg 343 Bantam paperback). In the same way, I ask, where does
the mythos come from? Pirsig's answer for hypotheses was culture.
Does the mythos then arise from biology? We're told that intellect,
as the highest moral level, is more dynamic than the other three. If
so, why wouldn't it be able to affect the social level? If the
social is only capable of changing dynamically, and intellect is the
most dynamic level, then wouldn't changes to the mythos naturally
derive from there?
In the USA I believe our mythos has been changing rapidly; and I
think it is the result of the mythos' ability to "internalize"
intellectual values. I'll give a quick example which some might find
superficial, but I think is a manifestation of more fundamental
adjustments on the social level.
Less than 20 years ago it was completely accepted for people to
smoke. The thought of asking someone not to was considered rude
(social value). There was no such thing as a non-smoking restaurant
or workplace (except of course if you were working with something
flammable!). But about 20 years before that, the Surgeon General's
report - a manifestation of intellectual value - on the health
dangers of smoking had been published. At first, it was scoffed and
virtually ignored (social value), but as more and more scientific
information became available to the public the number of smokers
began to decrease and society began to take a less accomodating view
of it.
Before the report, over 50% of the adult population smoked. This has
slowly dropped over the years to about 25% today, and as anyone who
lives or has visited here knows, the smoker today is a social pariah.
The mythos has changed! Not only is it not 'cool' to smoke anymore,
but it's considered downright thoughtless and rude. Where before,
practically every movie star in every movie had a cigarette dangling
from their fingers, today we have protests when anyone does that.
The mythos of the "Marlboro Man" has been discarded in light of
scientific discovery.
What do you think?
Best Wishes,
Mary
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