> On Fri, 3 Jan 1997, Lior Golgher <efraim_g@netvision.net.il> wrote:
>
> >One cares towards himself, his friends, his family, his values, his
> >life, his society\nation\tribe, and it's *all* self-interest. It works
> >fine in a tribe in which all knows all, but it can't work in
> >metropolines of millions of people.
> >Alienation is the problem of Anarchy, and in fact of all other regimes
> >too. Democracy isn't stable when you have statu\etnho-centric lobbies
> >within it which see for their own tribe's interests rather than those of
> >the whole. Fascism speaks of the 'nation' as an entity of its own and
> >Nazism of the 'race' in the same way. Both are popular because they give
> >oneself a solid status in his own tribe.
>
> This ties in with something I see as a potential stumbling block for the
> society I'm trying to outline. Mankind traditionally lived in a tribe.
> That tribe would have been small enough that its members were easily
> recognisable, as were non-members. Our population densities and societal
> structures now mean that each of us is a member of many different
> tribes; where I work, what religion I am, where I live, national
> allegiance, hobbies and interests, to name a few, all contribute to the
> often overlapping, and at times conflicting, tribal bonds we host. This
> has contributed quite positively to our technological development but I
> suspect it also causes internal conflicts (any thoughts?).
"Internal conflicts"? I think Dr. Milquetoast would use that term, here.
How many of us can say that our personality *doesn't* drastically shift,
depending on which of these "tribes" we are currently immersed in?
I'm assuming that memories are not being shifted by such immersion. I
know people where that fails outright; the results are truly interesting
[although I don't like associating closely with them....]
> In a self-regulating society the tribal multiplicity would, I think, be
> even more pronounced (or at the very least, differently structured). How
> much of a hurdle would reluctance to amend those mental structures be
> WRT the formation of self-government?
Extreme. I would want someone with expertise in advertising to assist here.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
/
/ Kenneth Boyd
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////