From e.e-owner@visionplants.org Thu Dec 13 07:43:06 2001 Return-Path: Received: from mta576.mail.yahoo.com (mta576.mail.yahoo.com [216.136.172.105]) by mail2.thuntek.net (8.11.6/8.11.0) with SMTP id fBDEh6J31082 for ; Thu, 13 Dec 2001 07:43:06 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from e.e-owner@visionplants.org) Received: from mta576.mail.yahoo.com for valor@global-dialog.org; Dec 13 06:43:05 2001 -0800 X-Track: 3: 40 X-Yahoo-Forwarded: from eedonut@yahoo.com to valor@global-dialog.org Received: from 207.153.90.205 (EHLO visionplants.org) (207.153.90.205) by mta576.mail.yahoo.com with SMTP; 13 Dec 2001 06:43:05 -0800 (PST) Received: from priv-edtnes11-hme0.telusplanet.net [199.185.220.238] by visionplants.org with ESMTP (SMTPD32-6.04) id AE6C63021E; Thu, 13 Dec 2001 09:42:52 -0500 Received: from [207.102.34.14] ([207.102.34.59]) by priv-edtnes11-hme0.telusplanet.net (InterMail vM.5.01.04.01 201-253-122-122-101-20011014) with ESMTP id <20011213144250.TJPV23043.priv-edtnes11-hme0.telusplanet.net@[207.102.34.14]> for ; Thu, 13 Dec 2001 07:42:50 -0700 X-Sender: a5b43805@POP.telus.net Message-Id: In-Reply-To: <20011213075946.88588.qmail@web12603.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20011213064258.1901.qmail@web12604.mail.yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 06:40:44 -0800 To: e.e@visionplants.org From: Linda Subject: corporations are anti-life was -- Re: EE: nice writing (&erotic rocks) Precedence: bulk Sender: e.e-owner@visionplants.org Reply-To: e.e@visionplants.org Status: RO >some nice writing: > >http://www.geocities.com/pa_hodges/front.htm Evan that's a great looking site, and note the Burning Man stuff... also, this re corporations!!!! (I had pushed the idea of corps. as backwaters where psychopaths can really wreak havoc with broad effects across populations....) http://www.geocities.com/pa_hodges/nocorp.htm The Corporation: An Evolutionary Dead End? I always listen to talk about artificial life with a little mirth. The way I look at it, we have already spawned a line of artificial beings: corporations. Darwin explains survival of the fittest as a process of "natural selection"; the fittest are those chosen by Nature to survive. It just so happens, however, that modern scientists have found that Mutual Aid is exactly how nature works. There are many examples but one of my favorites is a test for artificial intelligence called "The Two Prisoner Problem." It is a simple test, but from a small change in starting conditions a vast number of outcomes are possible: So many possibilities that the system is considered unpredictable, or chaotic. Since chaos is the nature of nature , chaos theory is used to model evolution, and the test was designed by scientists to mimic the process of evolution. The test goes like this: Two men have committed a crime. They are taken to the jailhouse and asked one at a time who committed the crime. If one rats the other guy out, the other guy stays in prison. Whoever stays out of prison is considered to have done better on the test. They are a "success" and chosen by nature. The answer, of course, is for both prisoners to not say a word and both get out. We know this because our brains are also chaos computers and we can figure it out rather quickly. Writing a computer program that has to learn and adapt to pass the test serves to formalize Kropotkin's idea within the mathematical theory: It gives a scientific mathematical model of mutual aid in action. The structure of DNA, the growth of cells, our heartbeats and brain waves, even the orbits of planets are all modeled by chaos theory with Kropotkin's "mutual aid" built in to the process. It would appear God is an anarchist. Nature is by design chaotic and self-organising. The key to success is for autonomous actors to co-operate and adapt to a changing environment. You might notice that corporations, however, don't really fit this model: Instead of self-organising from co-operation of the parts, the parts are forced into order through domination. Corporations are centrally controlled, whereas the universe is formed of autonomous actors. Where nature strives towards ever greater complexity, the corporate model obliterates the opposition and extends uniformity. Instead of adapting to the environment, corporations destroy the environment. etc.