Hi there
As your program host this month, I want to start to say that I do read all
the posts before letting them through. There have been some rough words
lately but sometimes it's useful to get some adrenaline pumping to get a
different view on matters. I don't think anyone has been hurt so far but
we might calm things down by re-reading our posts before we send them.
I'd like to start heading back to the program with a little something
that has really started to bother me. It's such a general matter about
the MoQ that it could actually fit into any program but its consequences
are maybe most obvious and bothering when it comes to social patterns,
Giants. Here goes:
Why do everybody try to fit everything into one and only one level?
Take the discussion about the evolution of biology from inorganic stuff.
Time after time objections are raised as to where the border between the
inorganic and biological level should be drawn. Most of us seem to agree
on the values of the inorganic level, gravity, light, etc. Also biological
values are pretty clear, taste, smell and so on. So why fuzz about if a
DNA molecule belongs to the inorganic or biological level? As if the molecule's
gravity would disappear when it magically evolves into biology!
The same goes for ants and bees in their societies, and I do want to call them
societies. They might not have schools or churches, but they do have an egg
nursery, and a well drilled defense army. None of those are intellectually
designed, but they have evolved because they have social value.
When saying that beehives and anthills are Giants, or societies. I don't take
away *any* of their biological value. The ants still use their smell to find
food, the queen still lays quite biological eggs, and both beehives and anthills
are still bound by gravity, they don't float around in mid-air. But you can't
say that the queen *is* the beehive. The queen is just a queen. Without defense,
egg nursery and workers to fetch food for it, she would just dry up and die.
I think I'll stop there tonight. Time to rest.
Magnus
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
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