Towards a New Kind of Social Science
Foreword of the book A New
Kind of Social Science: Study of Self-organization in Human Dynamics submitted for publishing in Springer (Berlin, Heidelberg,
New York)
This book introduces a new kind
of social inquiry centred in the exploration of the self-organizing
nature of human dynamics. The unfolding of each individual life is
driven by an inherent urge towards self-organization: self-finding,
self-realization and self-fulfilment. By studying the ways this urge is
manifest: its origin and characteristics, its stimulators and
impediments, catalysts and inhibitors, factors which support, sustain,
impede, or block its inward and outward realizations, we are able to
understand human society in a much deeper way than if we continue to
study it as an object of research separated from the unique and
fathomless richness of individual dynamics.
The main premise of A
New Kind of Social Science: Study of Self-organization in Human
Dynamics reflects the core idea of Wolframs A
New Kind of Science (Wolfram, 2002): what goes
on inside us can ultimately achieve the same level of computational
sophistication as our whole universe. By projecting this idea on the
study of individual and social dynamics, our research develops it
further while bringing forth whole new discoveries.
Individual dynamics
energize ones search for truth, enlightenment and wisdom, ones creative
insights, endeavours and actions. This kind of dynamics has no
pre-imposed constrains on its inherent capacity to self-organize,
evolve, and transform. It is the individual alone who chooses to
stimulate or obstruct their unfolding. If not obstructed, individual
dynamics can become as complex - interconnected, holistic, harmonious -
as universal dynamics. This is possible because each individual is an
embodiment of the same forces and energies which sustain the whole
universe. Individual dynamics express the universal wholeness; they are
imbedded in it, centred in its centre and driven by its dynamics. Nature
does not select one set of forces and energies for humans and another
for the rest of the universe. As Heisenberg pointed out, the same
universal forces and energies are responsible for the existence of every
single entity in nature; individuals are bearers of their limitless
potential (Heisenberg, 1971).
The book presents
three major research findings:
(1) The Individual is capable to
comprehend the Social and achieve complexity
of the Universal.
(2) The
Universal needs the Individual in order to realize itself.
(3) The
Social can neither comprehend the Individual nor achieve complexity of the Universal.
At the level of an
individual, people are able to develop and sharpen their awareness, so
as to consciously facilitate the realization of the Universal through the unfolding of their lives. As it is shown in this
book, society is unable to do this.
Dominance,
Control and Lack of Authenticity in Society
Human societies have been always dominated and controlled by
powerful cliques of different origin - religious, military, economical,
political. Through permanent suppression of peoples actions against
their hegemony, these cliques have irreversibly distorted the impetus
for self-organization of social dynamics an impetus that can be
sustained only in societies where people are equally
empowered to seek their self-realizations. In
the whole history of humankind, there have never been social conditions
in favour of peoples equal empowerment. There has always been an
unsurpassable gap between a handful of richest and most powerful social
players the elite, and the vast majority of people who have been
economically enslaved: destined to work all their lives in order to etch
out a living while supporting the superior life style of the elite.
Although the will to
power has its roots in individual nature, it needs a social environment
group, organization, community, society, humanity in order to fully
manifest its oppressive character (Nietzsche, 1987). Normally, at the
level of an individual, one respects and cares for oneself. There is no
reason to exercise ones will to power for self-destruction, on the
contrary - one tries to use it constructively: to live in a wholesome
way, to grow in intelligence, and so forth (Dimitrov, 2001a). When the
will to power is directed towards others (and this is what happens in
society), it is hard to stop its destructive manifestations. Millions of
individuals (whose names are not known worldwide like the names of
Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King) were extinguished because they
tried to do the impossible: to help society use the will to power wisely
- not for further empowerment of those who already have power in
abundance, but for helping those who are powerless in society.
In the beginning of
2003 there were millions of people who protested worldwide against the
war in Iraq, and yet the US war machine was set in motion killing many
innocent people. Millions of people protest worldwide against the
establishment of a global economic empire, and yet the process of
economic globalization continues with ever-accelerated tempo fostering
global injustice, cultural and political discrimination, oppression and
wars. Millions of people try to stop the environmental degradation, and
yet the biggest industrial and military corporations continue to operate
in full capacities and thus to irreversibly destroy the ecological
balance of the planet.
Self-organization
works only with authentic dynamics. Unfortunately, social dynamics are
not authentic: the unequal distribution of power in society, together
with the suppression and fear it causes, impede the authentic expression
of human dynamics. People are forced to play games, pretend, exhibit
vanity and pride, reputation and fame, ambition and honour; all these
qualities inevitably require the social arena to express and gratify
themselves. At the level of an individual, these qualities are no longer
needed and therefore, it is not too hard for an individual to behave
authentically; when communing with oneself, one is able to genuinely
express ones thoughts and feelings, honestly reflect upon ones
experience, and see oneself as s/he is -
with no masks to carry and roles to play.
One needs to be
aware of the obstructions which society tries to create on individuals
understanding of social reality; all kinds of manipulation, propaganda
and brainwashing bombard our minds, obscure our consciousness, and
weaken our ability to navigate through social complexity. When aware of
this, one is able to protect oneself - to activate tools for minimizing
the effects of the destructive social interventions.
Society:
Deprived of Ability to Acquire Wisdom
The
efficiency of individual protection depends on the degree of
development of ones ability to implode to reflect upon oneself,
concentrate on ones experience, master ones will power, strengthen ones
intuition, and raise the potential of ones creativity. The ability for
implosion is sine qua non for ones growth
in intelligence. Moreover, any process of growth in nature happens from
within the living entity and therefore, needs to be preceded by some
kind of implosion: drawing energy inwards. In the realms of plants and
animals the implosion is guided by nature, while in humans it needs to
be guided consciously; a consciously guided implosion makes it possible
for us to learn from our mistakes, transform our failures into lessons,
and thus grow in wisdom.
Society is deprived
of ability to implode, to silently concentrate inwards, contemplate,
relax and meditate; social dynamics are destined to be expressed only outwards. Society is a product of outwardly directed
(explosive, dissipative) activities of its members. Because of this,
social dynamics inevitably dissipate. Every civilization in human
history ended with self-destruction. It is not hard to see the symptoms,
both social and ecological, of an intensive and irreversible
self-destruction of todays developed Western models of civilization.
Society
can grow in size, generate complicated social structures, produce
scientific, technological and cultural miracles, but with no capacity to
implode, it can never become wise. Wars and
bloodsheds accompany the whole history of human society; there are
present-day wars also - wars with much graver consequences than before.
Todays production of tools for killing people and destroying nature has
achieved far more advanced levels of technological sophistication and
efficiency than ever before. Oppression and exploitation accompanied the
history of human society; oppression and exploitation continue to
destroy human lives our days also. The unscrupulous forcing of society
into a global economic order aims at turning the largest part of
humanity into economic slaves (Dimitrov, 2001).
With no
ability for implosion, self-reflection and learning from its own
mistakes and failures, society is open for manipulation and deception.
Mighty propaganda machines installed by the servants of the social elite
permanently mix truth with lies and thus distort our perception of
society and its dynamics. When dissolved in lies, truth can never be
discovered. Therefore the study of society (as an object of research
separated from the exploration in depth of the innermost dynamics of
those involved in the research) cannot reveal its true picture, no
matter how honest the intentions of the researchers are. So efficient is
the work of the machines for delusion and brainwashing in the countries
with Western type of democracy, that they have even made the majority of
people believe that they are free, that their votes matter, and that
those who rule the system listen to their needs. None are so helplessly
enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free said Goethe almost
two hundreds years ago and his words reflect precisely the present
situation of the largest part of the people in capitalist societies.
Individual:
Custodian and Executor of Self-organizing Drive of Universe
It is the individual
who is custodian and executor of the self-organizing drive of universe,
and not society. The individual has heart, will and intelligence;
society has neither. For an individual it is possible to learn from his
or her mistakes and experiences, and to become wise; for society this is
impossible. A high level awareness is needed in order for an individual
to discriminate between lies and truth, and steadily pursue
understanding and wisdom. By harnessing the power of will, one is
capable to reach such level of awareness, while society can never do
this. Lack of capacity for implosion, combined with an ever-growing
power differential and spreading delusion and trivia by the mass media,
creates irremovable obstacles for society to develop a common awareness
and exert coherent actions.
As seen from
history, if some individuals wholeheartedly persist in sowing truth and
wisdom, society condemns them to the stake, crucifies, stabs them in the
back, or guns them down. And yet, this does not stop our urge to pursue
wisdom. When society suppresses the external (social) realizations of
this urge, it moves inward to facilitate the opening of the inner eye -
the ability to penetrate into the complex and enigmatic essence of human
nature. Individuals, who succeed in grasping this essence, acquire an
understanding of social dynamics as well, because the essence of ones
own inner nature mirrors the essence of the whole web of life at every
level of its manifestation, be it individual, social, or universal.
For social
researchers, to centre their research in the self-organization of
individual dynamics means to dive deeply into the space defined by their
own experiences and derive meanings and insights out of it. The emergent
meanings and insights reflect both the external influences coming from
society and the internal influences brought about by ones mind and soul.
Therefore, by exploring the space of their own experiences, researchers
gain knowledge about society and themselves at once - about the limits,
which society imposes on the researchers efforts to pursue truth and
wisdom, and about the freedom they have within themselves to reveal and
realize ways for transcending these limits.
Individuals
endeavouring to understand the meanings of the events they experience in
their lives not as isolated phenomena but as closely related, connected
and dependent on one another existential events, are potential
researchers into A New Kind of Social Science (NKSS). And every human being, whose life experience
resonates with the life experiences of NKSS researchers, is a unique
source of new findings and discoveries.
It is clear that the
deeper ones understanding of her or his own experience, the better s/he
understands the experiences of others. This eventually leads to a
greater ability to express empathy, compassion, and support towards
those who are oppressed in society. In this way,
the researchers in NKSS acts as catalysts for practical action aimed at
mutual understanding and support.
This book elicits
human dimensions of A New Kind of Science
originated by Wolfram and is centred in the discoveries he made when
studying dynamic interactions of cellular automata. Simple rule of
interaction of these automata produce extremely sophisticated patterns
of complex interconnectedness, and in a similar way, simple rules of
interaction of individuals produce extremely sophisticated patterns of
social behaviour. The interactive effects of only three groups of forces energizing human dynamics explosive forces
manifested through the infinite spectrum of outwardly expressed
(interpersonal) individual realizations, implosive forces responsible
for inwardly expressed (intrapersonal) individual realizations, and
harmonizing forces aimed at balancing the effects of the above two
groups propel social complexity as reflected in the ever-changing
kaleidoscope of social events and processes.
Irreducible
Uniqueness of Individual Dynamics
While aware that
society cannot grow in consciousness, we understand the vital importance
of our own efforts to advance on the way to wisdom a way which one
creates by oneself when walking on it. There is no social structure for the individual
to rely upon when walking on this way; one alone is responsible for
every single step - for every single thought, word and action. Society
provides the common ground where one can consciously test ones ability to deal with emergent
difficulties and specially created obstacles, to learn from failures and
successes, to help those who are victims of social injustice and
oppression, to express tolerance, compassion, solidarity and love.
NKSS explains that
the level of integrity and harmony of individual dynamics tends towards
the level of integrity and harmony of the universe. Society does not
exhibit such tendency, and yet, even if we know about this, and when we
know about this, and because we know about this, we continue to fight
for justice in society and die, as the millions before us who
endeavoured to make it better. One cannot live contentedly when so many
suffer in the world: it appears that humankind is an inseparable whole
imbedded in the wholeness of existence.
The phenomenon of
computational irreducibility in Wolframs New Kind of Science reflects the fundamental boundaries to science and knowing to
explain every dynamic entity and process in the universe. As shown in
the research of social fuzziology - the study of fuzziness of human
knowing, fuzziness can never be eliminated from our understanding and
experience of reality. It can only move from one
level to another, where the levels of fuzziness correspond to the levels
of our capacity for understanding and development (growth) of our
consciousness (Dimitrov, 2000; Dimitrov and Hodge, 2002; Dimitrov, 2003).
To say that the
fuzziness has moved to another level means that the process of our
understanding has moved to another level also, and what was fuzzy and
incomprehensible for the mind at the level, from where the fuzziness has
pulled itself, has become clear and comprehensible. Of course, this does
not mean that there is no more fuzziness in our understanding, that we
have won the battle with the fuzziness and succeeded to extinguish it
once and for all.
Fuzziness is still
'alive' on each new level - full of vigour and potential to become
denser and to expand wider. One can call the new level 'higher' or
'deeper', it does not matter; what matters is that one's understanding
has become deeper, that one's consciousness has been expanded, that the
limitations which fuzziness used to impose on the process of thinking at
one level of one's understanding have been transcended. The inquiring
mind will soon encounter the limitations that fuzziness brings with it
to the new level of its evolving dynamics; these limitations challenge
the human mind to explore it further and make it move again.
The research into
the self-organizing nature of human dynamics confirms Wolframs inference
that there can be no abstract basic study of these dynamics. Something
irreducible has been achieved in the process of evolution of the human
species: a fundamental uniqueness of expression of the universe through
each individual uniqueness that is sine qua non for the immortality of the human kind.
The author expresses
gratitude to Prof. Bob Hodge for the inspiring discussions and
assistance in writing the first and fourth chapters.
References
Dimitrov, V.
(2000) Fuzziology: Applications for Studying Complexity of Existential
Dynamics, Internet publications: http://www.zulenet.com/VladimirDimitrov/pages/fuzzycomplex.html
Dimitrov, V. (2001) Fuzziology
in search for Insights for Dealing with Global Economy, Internet
publication: http://www.zulenet.com/VladimirDimitrov/pages/FuzziologyInsight.html
Dimitrov, V. (2001a) Bridging
Complexity and Ecology: An Outline of Health Ecology, Complex Systems, 2001, vol. 13, No 4
Dimitrov, V. and Hodge, B.
(2002) Social Fuzziology, Heidelberg and
New York: Physica Verlag.
Dimitrov, V. (2003) Fuzziology:
A Study of Fuzziness of Human Knowing and Being, Kybernetes:
International Journal of Systems & Cybernetics, 32, 4
Heisenberg, W. (1971) Physics
and Beyond: Encounters and Conversations, NY:
Harper and Row.
Nietzche, F. (1987) The
Will to Power, Random House
Wolfram, S. (2002) A New
Kind of Science, Wolfram Media Inc.
May
2003
University of Western Sydney
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