MARCO WILL ARGUE THAT THE GIANT IS ALIVE AND CONSCIOUS;
THAT WE CAN, AND MUST, BE AWARE OF ITS CONSCIOUSNESS,
IF WE WANT TO BE FREE FROM ITS DEVOURING NATURE.
Moffers,
> I suggest that we discuss "the Giant." Cities as living entities, larger
than
> ourselves. Not against or for us. Does the Giant have a Devouring nature?
> How do we relate metaphorically to the "City" as the "red blood cell" does
> to the body or carbon based life forms does to the inorganic
> level? Do you feel the pulse?
A brief story ..
I live in a small town, less than 100.000 people, nothing compared to Giants
like Rome or NY City.
Few years ago in my town a friend received a letter by the City Authorities.
In few words they communicated him that his house had to be pulled down as a
new road had to pass just there. The letter was signed by someone my friend
had never heard about before.
My friend and all the other people involved in that sentence begun a battle
against that decision. They talked with a lot of people in the Municipality
(Mayor, Borough Council Clerks and so on...) and every one told them: "I
understand you, but I can't do anything". There were always someone else to
contact. They tried with lawyers, newspapers... nothing to do. Every
petition they made was rejected by the "competent bureau".
Now they agreed on a compensation for damages. My friend is living in a new
house, and the road will be finished within this year. I hope so, as I will
pursue it to go to my job, saving a lot of time every morning.
During those days, I talked about this story with that friend. He told me
that in the beginning it was like to be in a nightmare: he wasn't able to
understand how the whole thing was working. Then he realized he was fighting
something "too big to be defeated". Too money and time were necessary to
prosecute such a "battle", and there was no certainty about the result,
however. And another big problem was that a great part of the citizens
agreed with the authorities, as that road seemed to be necessary.
Conclusions:
1. The Giant is ALIVE.
(not biologically, of course)
The Giant is that "something too big to be defeated". It's not just composed
by single people: in fact everyone told my friend "I understand you, but I
can't do anything", but their individual behavior had to respond to a
different logic. This logic is the real "nature" of the Giant. We can try to
change a Giant's decision, but there's no certainty about the result.
2. The Giant is CONSCIOUS and HAS a WILL.
There's no fortuity. That road is necessary in that place to solve traffic
problems. This is a decision. And there's a competent bureau supporting that
decision. And when the Giant sends you a letter to communicate you
something, you can well read on the top of the sheet its name: "City of
....". In the bottom of the same sheet you will find also another name:
some obscure clerk just to make you know who is the person you can contact,
but surely not a person able to easily change that decision.
Bo:
<<I think it's misleading to formulate the topic question this way ...the
eternal "consciousness" confusion! According to my MOQ all
static levels are levels of experience, and my sense of consistency
tells me that Q-intellect can't be a leap into this enlightened state
intellect pompously has allotted itself. Q-intellect is merely another
static experience. >>
I agree. Awareness and consciousness are in some way derived from
experience, and IMHO they're related to subject/object logic. If 4 levels of
experience are existing, also 4 level of consciousness are existing.
J.Marder asked:
<<1. Is the Giant conscious of its own behaviour in the same way that the
individual person is conscious of his/her own behaviour?>>
"In the same way" no. In a different way, yes.
3. WE CAN be aware of its consciousness
Intellectually, we can understand the logic and the behaviors of the Giant.
It's not easy, like it's not easy to understand how the DNA works. And
there's always a little bit of uncertainty, like every time we deal with
living entities.
4 .The Giant has a DEVOURING NATURE.
Needs people to bring on its logic. They spend the most time of their life
for it, and usually they don't agree with its logic, but they can't do
anything. And when a decision is made, no matter if someone is damaged.
Quick traffic is good for the economy of the city, and economy is necessary
for the city to go on.
5. AND IF WE WANT TO BE FREE?
We have two chances.
The former (static) is to come to an agreement with the Giant. Actually,
money seems to be the unit of measurement of the damage: the Giant takes
money from people (taxes) and pays us for our disturb.
The latter (dynamic) is to use a different logic. Want do you think it would
be happened if the whole citizenship did not agree with that decision? Only
public opinion is able to control the Giant.
tks
Marco.
p.s.
Horse,
I agree with you that
<<A Giant in MoQ terms is (simply put)
some pattern of values created by Social value of which a City is but one
instance.
A Giant can be a University or a Corporation or a Government or whatever
Social pattern
utilises biological patterns for its own ends.>>
You ask:
<<Are Giants limited to _Human_ Social patterns
or do other instances exist ( beehives, termite mounds etc)>>
I'm not even sure that beehives are exactly "social". Last October I wrote:
"Pirsig doesn't draw perfect lines to classify patterns in levels. Every
division risks to be arbitrary. For example: it's usual to think that bees
nests are social patterns. I'm not sure: bees build nests under a necessary
force filed in their DNA. They are not able to live alone in a jungle. They
don't choose to live in a nest. So their "social" behavior can be seen as a
pure Bio Pattern."
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
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