Democratic interlude

[Ed. note: My original intention for this post was to share some more pretty pictures with you all, but unfortunately I had to replace my 'phone after inadvertently leaving the old one in a restaurant bathroom this week and being unable to find it upon my return. The circumstances were indeed more than a little suspicious, but given my full plate (as it were) and the relatively low cost of un-smart flip phones, I elected not to put any further effort in locating it and simply purchased another one. 

Rest assured, more pics still are on the way, but first, here's a far more serious post about the future of democracy. I hope you enjoy it anyway! - D.B.]  

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The formidable challenges facing democratic governments in the 21st century are not limited to questions of survival in the face of authoritarian onslaughts from without and so-called "populist" demagogues from within (as if there could be no legitimate rationale behind any movement challenging the political establishment's priorities). 

It also remains to be seen whether democracies like the United States can successfully navigate a path toward reconciliation with their own serious historical shortcomings, grave injustices and outright failures in implementing a series of policies that have fostered inequality to a degree sufficient to destabilize the entire political structure, leading to a crisis of disillusionment among diverse segments of the public. I refer in the most general terms to the relentless commercialization and commodification of life and society, which has surely reached some kind of apotheosis beyond which no further inroads may be envisioned or imposed, and beyond which no sensible human existence can be imagined. 

The net effects of this fatuous project of upward redistribution, so much a part of the fabric of civilizations for centuries and now amplified enormously, threatens to undo the tenuous yet very real partial progress that had been made in addressing those historical wrongs and mitigating the worst injustices that were, sadly, all too often carried out under the banner of freedom and prosperity. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrated last month, understood just how far America needed to go to even begin to reflect its stated ideals, given the brutal reality of our nation's history. And for those whose boats were cast adrift to founder under the rising tide of global mega-finance, that vision of freedom and prosperity remains scarcely more than an empty promise and a dream left gallingly unfulfilled more than 50 years later. 

Gore Vidal, who ought to have been featured on a postage stamp but probably never will be, was avowedly more skeptical about the country's progress: "We should stop going around babbling about how we're the greatest democracy on earth, when we're not even a democracy. We are a sort of militarized republic." Shortly before his death he quipped, with characteristic nonchalance, that the political system and much else in the United States was "rotting away at a funereal pace. We'll have a military dictatorship pretty soon, on the basis that nobody else can hold everything together." 

It could be further noted that there are moments when the former reality and the latter unnerving possibility suddenly become much more apparent. This is clearly one of them, now that both major parties are driving a very hard line indeed on immigration. It wasn't so long ago that even the current administration's rhetoric would have been derided as morally bankrupt, but unfortunately over the intervening years, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, nothing in this country has piled up quite so fast as the empathy deficit.

So as the ultra-rich, the corporate charlatans and their lobbyists, together with the aid of both major parties, continue to siphon off the wealth and vitality of the nation like some kind of vampiric rogue state, leaving behind not so much as an empty husk for future generations, we may well ask ourselves not what we might do for our country, but whether any of it will be left by the time they've finished nailing their selfies to a newly redrafted constitution declaring themselves and their descendants (unelected) planet-devouring overlords in perpetuity. 

Can't we do better?

Maps of maps

For "Clarification, etc.", near the end...

Another way of saying this could be: "The map is not the territory", a quote that is sometimes attributed to Borges, although it originates from a lecture given by semantics scholar Alfred Korzybski. Tragically, all that human beings have ever gotten to see thus far are maps, and have only begun to speculate on the existence and possible nature of actual territory.  

 "We say the map is different from the territory. But what is the territory? Operationally, somebody went out with a retina or a measuring stick and made representations which we then put upon paper. What is on the paper map is a representation of what was in the retinal representation of the man who made the map and as you push the question back, what you find is an infinite regress, an infinite series of maps. The territory never gets in at all. The territory is Ding an sich and you can't do anything with it. Always the process of representation will filter it out so that the mental world is only maps of maps of maps, ad infinitum. All 'phenomena' are literally 'appearances'."           

     - Gregory Bateson, from Steps to an Ecology of Mind, 1972 ("Form, Substance,           and Difference", reprinted from the General Semantics Bulletin, No. 37, 1970)

And all appearances appear to appear in time. For it is we, through something called "mental activity", who bring the whole world into being. 

But what, exactly, is a mind? ...The knowing and the doing work together, but they are joined at subtle and unaccustomed angles, twisted into filament and stretched until the boundary between them dissolves.

The only AI I'll ever need

Some time ago I neglected to mention that my collection of Warp Artificial Intelligence series CDs is now complete! It's about time, isn't it?? (Sorry..) Ironically the last one to make it onto the shelf was the first compilation album from 1992, which I'd somewhat overlooked, possibly because it contains tracks I'd already heard on other releases. 

It's hard to say which is my favorite, though if pressed I might have to say "Ginger" by Speedy J, or possibly Autechre's "Incunabula". All are great though, and while perhaps not every single track has aged gracefully in its entirety, the vast majority of them have, and quite a few still sound very much like the future indeed! But mainly the appeal of these works lies in the sense of adventure in the exploration of novel sonic universes combined with an almost eerie, slightly alien, yet zen-like warmth and generosity of spirit that suffuses the mood of the pieces. (And, uh, Dimension Intrusion is arguably some of Richie Hawtin's finest work outside of his collaborations with Pete Namlook! Just had to throw that in there of course...)    

Clarification, etc.

For the prior post entitled "Hammer heads"...

Lest I mistakenly fall into common habit and assume that such nebulous and frothy concepts as "intelligence" can even be precisely defined, let alone measured, allow me to give credit where it is due for so elegantly pointing out just how problematic such efforts proved for even the most enthusiastic experimenters -- especially so for those, perhaps, whose assumptions about race pushed them to distort not only the data itself, but even more crucially the interpretation of data in order to fit preconceived ideas in support of the prevailing social order of the day. 

The Mismeasure of Man, one of Stephen Jay Gould's most popular and enduring works, is also one of his most engaging and provocative. Exhaustive in detail and overflowing with historical intrigue, Gould paints a nuanced portrait of some of the recurring motifs that manifest as unconscious bias in pursuit of the statistical support of hypotheses while mounting a subtle and potent critique of how inattention to such effects has been used specifically to advance the doctrine of biological determinism.

 

"Objectivity must be operationally defined as fair treatment of data, not absence of preference. Moreover, one needs to understand and acknowledge inevitable preferences in order to know their influence -- so that fair treatment of data and arguments can be attained! No conceit could be worse than a belief in one's own intrinsic objectivity, no prescription more suited to the exposure of fools." (Excerpted from the introduction to the revised edition; see below).

Gould presents a compelling case that various flavors of biological determinism (or the belief, as he puts it, that "the social and economic differences between human groups - primarily races, classes, and sexes - arise from inherited, inborn distinctions and that society... is an accurate reflection of biology) have been advanced in support of a vast array of regressive social policies throughout history, and I would wager there are relatively few people who would disagree with this no matter their favored position on any particular social policy. "Resurgences of biological determinism correlate with episodes of political retrenchment, particularly with campaigns for reduced government spending on social programs, or at times of fear among ruling elites, when disadvantaged groups sow serious social unrest or even threaten to usurp power", he writes. 

Moreover, even Gould's staunchest critics and ideological opponents surely can't help but admire his relentless attention to detail and the pointedly effective punch his arguments pack. A somewhat ironic, almost bemusingly detatched style in certain places belies what is clearly an intense passion not only for getting things right, but for accurately gauging the limits of statistical methodology itself; something few writers have managed to do at all, let alone with such clarity and insight.  

"If", he writes, " -- as I believe I have shown -- quantitative data are as subject to cultural constraint as any other aspect of science, then they have no special claim upon the final truth."  

Note he said "quantitative", not "qualitative". This will seem a bold claim to many people, no doubt, but history is replete with examples of supposedly sound, factual, "objective" numerical data being used to justify beliefs that had absolutely no merit and no bearing whatsoever on the truth. Indeed, most people simply take it as given that humans and other animals (or possibly machines) are possessed of a singular, unified quality or property known as "intelligence", or other such as what we might call "meta-properties", whose real, factual existence we are inclined to believe for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that many scientists have at least tacitly taken their existence for granted in their attempts to measure them.  

But while the act of measurement may be endowed with some special significance in certain areas of quantum physics, it seems less likely that the same effect can be generalized across the multifarious domains of human experience, or extended to our interpretation of human affairs. The broader lesson is that "data", by itself, hanging in the void, unconnected to any conceptual schema or hypothesis is not only a formal indulgence but a historical anomaly, and that assigning a number to a set of properties brings little to bear on the underlying ontology of the universe. There could scarcely be a better moment to remind ourselves of this as the intellectual currents seem to have inexorably drifted again back towards bio-determinism in one form or another.

As a final note, the 1996 edition of Gould's The Mismeasure of Man (W. W. Norton) is to be preferred as it contains a number of responses to his critics, along with a cogent critique of The Bell Curve (1994), the publication of which was apparently the event that prompted Gould to revise and update his own work, the first edition of which was published in 1981.

Rogers Park beach montage #1

Not much to say this time, just the first in what will probably be another periodically recurring series featuring some of the scenes I've come across with my tragically unsophisticated phone camera (camera phone?). These were all taken just a few blocks from the place I now call home. So glad to have made it! 

Click on any to enlarge.

Um, Happy Halloween...?

I know this is not supposed to be a political blog (I am steering clear of it for the most part) but alas, no one is an island. It's too difficult for me not to comment on the events of the past month which are of course only the latest in a series of setbacks for humanity. The following is not on behalf of any organization, group, or ideology; it is simply my personal opinion...

It's a sad day in America when nominally sane politicians like Hakeem Jeffries step out beating the war drum on behalf of not one, but two overseas conflicts with inexcusably high human costs while simultaneously claiming to represent the only political party holding the line on authoritarianism here in our midst. The depressingly familiar refrain of "Israel above anything of genuine national importance", and the impossibly vague and likely meaningless verbiage offered in explanation of how such escapades could possibly make Americans safer, are becoming daily all the more difficult to stomach, let alone accept on a theoretical basis, as if their particulars are couched on some lofty logical escarpment above the messy and assuredly international-law-violating fray unfolding beneath. And it is sad to see defense industry hacks like Antony Blinken courting the Saudis; again, not once, but twice, to firm up US support for yet another ethically challenged regime in the region, one that happens to be implicated in the dismemberment of a journalist. Surely, one could be forgiven for asking: with friends like these, who needs enemies? 

Gone from the perpetual special coverage is any mention of the UN Special Rapporteur Report released this past June, squarely implicating the Israelis in a pattern of serious and systematic human rights violations in their treatment of the Palestinian people, all carried out in the open for years and with the tacit approval of our own State Department. Yet any criticism of the Israeli apartheid regime, regardless of content or implied sentiment, has rapidly become verboten in quite a few circles in response to the renewed conflict. Disturbingly, this would seem to imply that what would normally be considered protected speech and part of the depth and range of healthy dialogue in a democracy is now being used arbitrarily to deny people opportunities in a discriminatory way that would never be accepted in any other context, simply because it is convenient for power brokers who happen to have interests in a particular region that -- in a manner of speaking -- transcend the ideological. 

But it remains to be seen how much longer the public will tolerate what had until recently been the not so much unquestionable as rarely questioned status quo regarding large commitments of military aid granted without, so it would seem, any genuine accountability to a country whose track record on human rights has now been shown by some of the world's top experts to be nothing short of atrocious. The hypocrisy of so-called mainstream politicians in their collective and personal failures to acknowledge and address this reality is the proverbial monkey on the back of the political establishment of the United States, who need to keep peddling increasingly unbelievable tales about our foreign policy interests to justify the billions in aid spent making Israel one of the most highly equipped and potent security apparatuses ever assembled. One doesn't read much about this now either, presumably to preserve the popular narrative of a "contest of equals" engaged in what is primarily a regional ideological conflict, far removed from the base concerns of commerce and international finance. 

The long and short of it is the war profitteers wanted their bloody little war and they bloody well got it, didn't they? That's what happened in Ukraine and now that's what happening in Gaza. If our strategic regional allies have a right to "defend" themselves, does that mean we are now supposed to ignore our own machinations during the lead-up to the Maidan coup, and the systematic rejection of diplomatic alternatives that led to the Russian invasion? Do the Palestinians also have a right to defend themselves against decades of abuse and systematic confinement, or is simply continuing to deny them the ability to form an internationally-recognized democratic state sufficient to ensure that any such effort on their part will be labeled "terrorism" and therefore presumed morally bankrupt? Which people does the American government wish to enjoy the fruits of democracy: all people or only those who don't happen to inconvenience our strategic partners? Does recent -- let alone ancient -- history count for anything, or does the stadium clock start ticking only when our own "team" says it does?

Well, I don't know about you, Joe, but I'd like to be on a team that doesn't commit war crimes. At the very least. Does that make me a radical?

Maybe it does now. 

Do enjoy the rest of your Halloween! 

P.S. This is the first post I've both written and posted in Chicago since moving here just a couple of weeks ago. Of course no place is perfect but on the whole my experience here has been overwhelmingly positive, and I'm surprised at how smoothly the transition has gone so far. More on that to follow... Sorry about the slow pace of personal updates. They will appear in time.

I'm moving to Chicago

Yes, as the title suggests I am soon packing up everything and relocating to the fair shores of Lake Michigan. I ought to be fairly well settled in by Halloween, if everything goes according to plan. These are my few last weeks here in Minneapolis.

So, what's the big deal? Why am I doing this?

Well, after over 40 years in Minnesota and a number of life-changing experiences both good and bad over the course of my time here, I feel the time is more than ripe to start again fresh amid new surroundings. Although this decision may come as a slight surprise to those who have known me, rest assured that this is neither a sign of incipient madness nor a lark concocted on the spur of the moment. This move has been a long time coming. I have carefully considered my situation in exhaustive detail and now can come to no other conclusion that my needs would be better accomodated approximately 400 miles to the southeast. There is a lot to like about Minnesota, but there can even be too much of a good thing, especially when what ought to be good doesn't seem to be actually all that good, perhaps, on a more personal level. Perhaps some of you can relate to such an experience.   

But before clueing in the reader with a few more juicy details, allow me to take the opportunity first to briefly apologize for not updating this blog very recently and for my lack of obvious productivity in general this year so far. As it turns out there is quite a bit happening behind the scenes, so by no means is this the last you'll hear from me or from my music projects, thankfully. I have been spending a lot of time trying to consolidate and organize various unfinished writing projects (including for this format), along with doing a fair amount of in-depth research on some of the scientific and philosophical topics I've touched on in these posts. I would like to comment on some of the more recently popular "realist" views of time that have since risen to prominance in certain quarters in the 25-odd years since Barbour introduced his notion of time capsules, and I also intend to say something about philosophical skepticism (Interestingly, Barbour barely mentions J. M. E. McTaggart, referring to him only briefly in a post-textual note and largely disavowing his ideas, describing them as purely logical in nature and therefore outside the proper realm of scientific inquiry!). 

Beyond this I have returned to an earlier skill and avocation, electronics, both to further restore my vintage Prophet for many more years of use-worthiness, and to design and build a stereo spring reverb system as a DIY analog outboard effect. All of this while getting some new web-camera and video projects started, rehearsing some new music based around performance and improvisation... and planning for an interstate move at the same time! You can easily see how I have become a victim of my own ingenuity. Thanks for being patient as I slowly disentangle the throbbing pile of accumulated mentality that seems like would easily take two or three lifetimes to do complete justice to. I'll get around to it all eventually, right?

Yes. But first, I'm moving to Chicago. That much is certain.

The rest?

I'll keep you posted!