05/31/23

Looking at Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s Book (2020) “A Hunter Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century” (Part 1 of 16)

0001 Twenty-two thousand years ago, during the maximum of the last ice age, people roamed (along with other large mammals) in a land that bridged modern-day Siberia and Alaska. Glaciers on the eastern (or American) side prevented humans from advancing further. Until they didn’t.

Humans found a way around the blockade. By ten thousand years ago, humans occupy both American continents.

0002 The Siberian-Alaskan landmass displayed one type of ecology (some would call it a frozen wasteland). Yet, Paleolithic people migrating into the Americas adapted to a large variety of ecologies (including the tropics).

0003 How could this be so?

The authors conclude that humans are adapted to niche switching. Humans culturally adapt to novel ecological niches by operating as both generalists and specialists. Humans are behaviorally flexible because they can oscillate between established traditions (which the authors call, “culture”) and problem-solving (which the authors call, “consciousness”). Consequently, humans can “switch” from one niche (such as ice-laden Beringia) to another niche (such as California’s San Joachim Valley).

0004 But, I wonder, “Are not traditions (‘cultures’) specialist oriented? The specializations may not be wildly complicated, but meaningful enough. For example, someone who does well at running with a lance might fit in to the specialty of hunting large game. Someone who is good at identifying mushrooms may fit into the specialty of fungi forager. So, everyone can be a generalist problem-solver, but also work as a specialist too.

“Plus, everyone, whether lance-bearer or mushroom-gatherer, must learn their craft, and must innovate in the face of new challenges.

“So, the human gift of ‘niche-switching’ indicates that humans can find ways to make a living in every ecology. The recent territorial expansion of anatomically modern humans into the Americas serves as an outstanding example.”

0005 Okay, then what is a “niche”?

The authors are modern biologists. When modern biologists hear the word, “niche”, they think “ecological or environmental conditions”. But, there is another technical definition for the word, “niche”, that expands that narrow frame.

0006 What is a “niche”?

The Darwinian paradigm can be diagrammed by following A Primer on the Category-Based Nested Form (by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues).

Here is a picture.

The normal context of natural selection₃ brings the actuality of adaptation₂ into relation with the potential of ‘something’₁, which biologists label “niche“₁.

05/24/23

Looking at Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s Book (2020) “A Hunter Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century” (Part 5 of 16)

0026 How to theorize the nature of the author’s portrayal of an omega principle?

Humans adapt to the potential of triadic relations. Triadic relations are indifferent to nature and culture. Nature is perfused with triadic relations. So is culture.

0027 How does the intersection change when passing from the biological to the cultural?

Here is my guess.

The niche_1H situates ‘something’ external to the species. Adaptations_2H exploit that ‘something’ in the normal context of cultural selection_3H.

The genome_1V situates ‘something’ internal to the species. DNA resides in lineages. So, this ‘something’ is foundational to a cultural lineage_1V and gives rise to the form of the cultural being_2V in the normal context of institutional development_3V.

0028 So, here is the resulting intersection.

0029 How about an application?

Here, I will develop a narrative… a theoretical expression… applying the omega principle to the authors’ professional trauma.

This theoretical expression does not capture the nightmare that these professors endured. Rather, it is a speculation about the evolutionary changes within their narrative. In particular, the intersection for biological evolution somehow applies to a contemporary shift occurring within cultural selection_3H and institutional development_3V. Figuratively, the intersection applies to a cultural episode of punctuated equilibrium.

0030 I start with the institution that these two professors labored in for fifteen years. Evergreen State College (pre-2017) is an institution that evolved in American civilization.

Here is a picture of the intersection for Evergreen State College (before 2017) at the beginning of the authors’ journey.

That is a start.

Further specification is required.

05/23/23

Looking at Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s Book (2020) “A Hunter Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century” (Part 6 of 16)

0031 How should I specify the elements in the prior diagram?

A little history may assist.

State colleges spring up to train returning soldiers after the Hot War Among Fraternal Ideologies (1938-1945 AD). The authors are employed by one of these colleges, located in the State of Washington. Then, the institution changes in 2017

0032 Let me consider Evergreen State College prior to 2017.

The adaptations_2V?

Obviously, the term goes with the faculty. Professors_2b(2H) are selected for by the college_3b(3H) for their disciplinary expertise_1b(1H). Disciplinary expertise_1b expresses the potential of empirio-schematic inquiry_2a, characteristic of such fields as physics, chemistry, biology, quantitative sociology, cognitive and evolutionary psychology, and so on. Empirio-schematic inquiry_2a is a style of rational thought_2a.

Diagrams for empirio-schematic inquiry are developed in Comments on Jacques Maritain’s Book (1935) Natural History. The empirio-schematic judgment is rational thought. However, it is not rational in the same way as Aristotelian or scholastic thought. Empirio-schematics characterize the modern Age of Ideas, which starts around 1600 AD. Scholastics characterize the Latin Age, stretching from around 300 to around 1600 AD.

0033 Here is the two-level interscope for the axis corresponding to Darwinism, for Evergreen State College, before 2017.

0034 Heying and Weinstein are selected as professors_2b and serve well, for one and one-half decades, until a shift in both cultural selection_3b and the actuality_2a virtually underlying their positions_2b.

0035 What happens leading to 2017 and beyond?

On the content level, an imitation empirio-schematics_2a fashions itself as a style of rational thought_2a. Consider the blog for April at www.raziemah.com, titled Looking at Gad Saad’s Book (2021) “Parasitic Mind”. Like all fashions, inquiries pursuing social construction, critical theory and social justice take on the appearance of ‘something’ beautiful in order to adorn the one who wears the fashion.

Something beautiful?

Think of an adornment that signals one’s virtue, while sparkling with the certitude that accompanies empirio-schematic research.

On the situation level, the ones who fashion themselves as “righteous, in addition to rational” are instructors_1b. Why? Instructors are defined by the potential of the faux empirio-schematics of social construction, critical theory and social justice_2a. Their reward is in a fascination of their own varieties of righteousness.

In contrast, administrators_2b exploit instructors_1b, just as adaptations_2a exploit a niche_1b, in the normal context of cultural selection_3b.

Here is a picture of the horizontal axis after 2017.

0036 In 2017, Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein resign their professorships at Evergreen State College.

05/19/23

Looking at Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s Book (2020) “A Hunter Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century” (Part 8 of 16)

0044 Where did I leave off?

After 2017, Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein find that they no longer have jobs. But, surely, they remain professors.

0045 So what happens next?

The culture of podcasting on the internet_3H values (selects for) people_2H with disciplinary expertise_1H.

Yes, the podcasting “culture” is looking for pre-2017 types of professors_2H.

0046 Bret Weinstein launches the Darkhorse podcast, a very attractive production in the internet arena. He remains a professor. Now, he also professes more than biology.

And, that brings me to the book, which applies lessons from evolutionary theory to life in the 21^stcentury.

Podcasting and book-writing are very similar to higher ed. Each podcast has its own mission statement. Each podcast format displays a certain expertise. Advertisers support well-subscribed podcasts. Patrons support the podcast directly.

0047 Here is a picture of what (I suppose) podcasting looks like, in terms of an intersection that appropriates the relationality of biological evolution for cultural evolution.

0048 What label applies to the single actuality that is the union of professor_2H and podcaster_2V?

How about the term, “guidance”?

One watches podcasts for guidance.

0049 On that note, allow me to recall the full title of Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21^st Century: Evolution and The Challenges of Modern Life.

If the single actuality is “guidance”, then I ask the reader how phrases in the title associate to elements in the above intersection.

05/18/23

Looking at Brian Kemple’s Book (2019) “The Intersection” (Part 1 of 4)

0001 According to Neoplatonic legend, the descent of the soul starts with a small immaterial gem resting on an undefinable pillow in the presence of transcendental beauty. Then, a trap door opens and the little source of illuminationbegins to fall. As it descends, it accrues matter. Matter enters form.

One may say that the matter is evil and the soul, good, and conclude that the immortal soul becomes encased in corruptible matter. But, the story is more complicated, because the term, “matter” slyly includes the capacity to become entangled with purely relational being. Matter holds the capacity for meaning. Matter substantiates form. So Christians, following the complication, witness the baby as bearing a message. The message? Baptize me.

0002 The book before me is Brian Kemple’s The Intersection of Semiotics and Phenomenology: Peirce and Heidegger in Dialogue, published in 2019 by Walter de Gruyter Press (Boston/Berlin). The masterwork is dedicated to the memory of John Deely (1942-2017 AD), who served as Kemple’s professor.

0003 The book presents a complex argument. I, a simpleton, fixate on the titular word, “intersection”.

For me, the term has a technical definition, as formulated in the chapter on message in the e-book How To Define The Word “Religion” (by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues). An intersection is a single actuality composed of two actualities, each with its own category-based nested form.

Say what?

See A Primer on the Category-based Nested Form.

0004 A photon is an example of an intersection of two actualities: a wave and a particle. The normal context of a diffraction apparatus₃ brings wave properties of light₂ into relation with the potential of ‘observations of wavelengths’₁. The normal context of a metal plate₃ brings particle properties of light₂ into relation with potential ‘observations of the photo-electric effect’₁.

0005 Here is a picture.

0006 Here is another way to look at the photon as intersection.

0007 In the following blogs, I will endeavor to visualize whether Kemple’s use of the term, “intersection”, coheres with this technical definition.

In order to do so, I will locate two category-based nested forms, one for both Peirce and one for Heidegger, and see whether the two actualities meld into one.

05/17/23

Looking at Brian Kemple’s Book (2019) “The Intersection” (Part 2 of 4)

0008 The intersection is a technical term describing a single actuality constituted by two seemingly independent actualities.

Now I collect two nested forms from prior works by Razie Mah.

0009 For Peirce, I consider A Primer on Sensible and Social Construction. Point 0062 presents a three level interscope, depicting Peirce’s social construction. Here is a diagram of the virtual nested form in the realm of actuality.

0010 The content-level actuality_2a is the discovery that signs are triadic relations_2a. Triadic relations are luminous_2aand Peirce cannot situate that luminosity_2b within the modern philosophies of his day. This difficulty_2b situates the content-level actuality_2a and demands social construction_3c. Peirce realizes that three categories contextualize all experience_2c(because all experience utilizes signs_2a). The categories of firstness, secondness and thirdness are discussed in detail in chapter four of Kemple’s book.

0011 For Heidegger, I turn to Comments on Alexander Dugin’s Book (2012) The Fourth Political Theory. Point 0037 presents a three-level interscope for Heidegger’s construction of Being (Sein). Once again, the virtual nested form in the realm of actuality captures my attention.

Here is a diagram.

The normal context of inzwischen_2c (in between-ness) brings the actuality of Dasein_2b (the realization that Being is there (da-)) into relation with the possibilities inherent in Sein_2a (Being Itself).

0012 For these two virtual nested forms to serve as the nested forms for an intersection, the perspective-level actualities_2c, must take on the character of thirdness (over and above their location in secondness). This makes sense in so far as the perspective_c level corresponds to thirdness, the realm of normal contexts.

The same “taking on” applies to the content-level actualities_2a. They take on the character of firstness (over and beyond their location in secondness). This makes sense because the content_a level corresponds to firstness, the realm of possibility.

0013 Here is the resulting intersection.

05/16/23

Looking at Brian Kemple’s Book (2019) “The Intersection” (Part 3 of 4)

0014 Unbeknownst to author, Razie Mah proposes a technical definition of the term, “intersection”, that adorns the title of Brian Kemple’s book. An intersection is a single actuality composed of two actualities. Every intersection is riddled with unresolved, and unresolvable, contradictions. The intersection is inherently mysterious. The philosopher strives to delineate these contradictions, not to resolve them.

0015 Here is the intersection derived from Peirce’s social construction and Heidegger’s construction of Being in the prior blogs.

0017 To me, the coincidence is amazing. Kemple identifies the category-based structure that brings Peirce and Heidegger together and, in the subtitle, suggests a name for the single actuality. The name is “dialogue”.

I wonder if “dialogue” is the same as “delineating a union of two actualities without resolving their contradictions”.

The word that labels the single actuality should intimate the difficulty of Kemple’s task and perhaps, the genius of his approach.

0018 At first, Kemple tempts the reader by mentioning an author who, early on, inspires both Peirce and Heidegger. A manuscript by Thomas of Erfurt, long attributed to the scholastic philosopher Scotus, discusses modes of signification for a speculative grammar. Speculative grammar? Look at the above figure. Should the single actuality be labeled, “speculative grammar”?

Yes, Peirce and Heidegger are inspired by Thomas of Erfurt.

0019 After that tease, Kemple devotes a division (chapters two and three) to Heidegger, followed by a division (chapters four and five) to Peirce. In these two divisions, Kemple introduces a term that takes a step beyond the German compound-words of Umwelt and Lebenswelt. The Umwelt is the significant world for each type of animal. The Lebenswelt denotes the world of signification for our kind, to which I add a caveat.

There are two Lebenswelts. The first is the Lebenswelt that we evolved in (characterized by hand- and hand-speech talk). The second is our current Lebenswelt (characterized by speech-alone talk). In one more step, Kemple introduces the compound-word, “Bildendwelt”, for civilizations within our current Lebenswelt, such as the one discussed in Looking at Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s Book (2021) A Hunter-Gather’s Guide to the 21^st Century.

05/15/23

Looking at Brian Kemple’s Book (2019) “The Intersection” (Part 4 of 4)

0020 The term, Bildendwelt, sounds like the concatenation of the words, “Bilden” and “dwelt”, as in the English statement, “I dwelt in that Bilden, before it came crashing down.”

In order to appreciate my humor, consider the October 1, 2022, blog at www.raziemah.com, titled, “Fantasia in G Minor: A speech written for Gunnar Beck MEP”.

Da Bilden is coming down!

Oh, I meant to say… the Bildendwelt makes no sense at all.

0021 So much for wordplay.

The compound-word, Bildendwelt stands, waiting to be refined in the furnace of postmodern use.

0022 The third division of Kemple’s book weaves together divisions one and two, titled World and Sign, into an intersection. In the process, Kemple focuses on two elements in the following figure: Sein_1V and sign_1H.

0023 To me, Kemple’s focus is remarkable, because Being_1V and triadic relations_1H are crucial for bringing our lineage from Umwelt, to Lebenswelt, and further into Bildendwelt. Indeed, I wonder whether these compound terms should be used to label the single actuality of Peirce’s experience_2H and Dasein_2V.

0024 But, let me not ignore one further possibility, the single actuality is us.

Here is a list of labels for the single actuality.

0025 Now, I can portray our descent.

Imagine us, as purely spiritual illuminations, perched on undefinable pillows, in the presence of transcendent beauty in an era when all time is now. A trap door opens and we descend into Being and Time. As we fall, we accrete two actualities, coinciding with Peirce’s experience following his realization that signs are real_1H and with Heidegger’s vision of Dasein_1V. These actualities are full of contradictions.

As we descend through Being and Time, we accrue World and Sign. We pass through our primordial Umwelt, the Lebenswelt that we evolve in, the first singularity, our current Lebenswelt and now, our Bildendwelt. Descent with modification. Then we are born, in the present, and each one of us bears a message. Baptize me.

0026 What does baptism do?

Baptism cleanses us of Gestell, the grammars of our world, carrying temptation, misdirections and lures that entrap us, confound us, and, in the end, convince us that the truth can never be found.

How so?

Truth is just a spoken word. We create our own “truth”. Spoken words are merely projections of our Innerwelt upon that which is outside ourselves. After temptation fixes our occasions of sin, after our own projections redirect the projections of others and weave a veil of reality, and after we begin to believe in our own self-divinizing speculative grammar, we construct artifacts that validate our spoken worlds. We build our own prison. Heidegger calls it, Gestell.

0027 When the waters of baptism pour over an infant, the baby often cries. The baby represents all of us.

The waters of baptism disturb. Dasein_2V! We enter a world perfused with signs. We are welcomed into a world where the material finds meaning in the immaterial. The human niche is the potential of triadic relations. How all encompassing will Peirce’s experience_2H be? We stand on the threshold of a new age of understanding.

Kemple offers the reader a portrait of John Deely’s vision, in a book that lives up to its title, in more ways than one. Bravo!

05/12/23

Looking at Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s Book (2020) “A Hunter Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century” (Part 9 of 16)

0050 In the normal context of cultural selection_3H, the actuality of the authors_2H emerges from (and situates) the potential of expertise in biological evolution_1H. That expertise_1H covers the natural history of the Homo genus.

The normal context of institutional development_3V brings the actuality of podcasting_2V into relation with the possibility of addressing people who would otherwise be hunter-gatherers and who are now facing the novel Lebenswelt of the 21^stcentury_1V.

0051 Here is a picture of the intersection for the cultural evolution that Heying and Weinstein now enter.

0052 The mission statement intimates that we are adapted to survive as hunter-gatherers. Figuratively, we have “ancient bodies”. Hunting and gathering describe team endeavors in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. Team endeavors? Surely, no one hunted or gathered on his or her own.

According to Clive Gamble, John Gowlett and Robin Dunbar (in their 2014 book, Thinking Big), hominins evolve in social circles, including family (5), intimates (5), team (15), bands (50) and communities (150). These social circles play big roles in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. Indeed, the German word, “Lebenswelt”, means “living world”. The German language is ideal for synthesizing words through concatenation.

What does that imply?

Heying and Weinstein are on your team. So read their book. Plus, tune into the Darkhorse podcast!

0053 After dealing with theory in chapter one (titled, “The Human Niche”), the authors provide a broad view of all of evolution (chapter two, “A Brief History of the Human Lineage”). In chapter three (titled, “Ancient Bodies, Modern World”), the authors present the mission of their book. Our bodies are innate expressions of our DNA. Yet, our Lebenswelt has radically changed. It is no longer the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. Rather, our current Lebensweltincludes a hypernovel postmodern civilization filled with hazards, such as colleges_2V that switch from traditional mission statements_1H to statements of advocacy_1V.

0054 Yes, the postmodern world of the 21^st century is a dangerous place.

It is especially hazardous because administrators_2H are selected for, rather than faculty_2H.

Plus, instructors_1H manifest the potential of the appearance of expertise_2a, because certification triumphs over… well… dealing with observations and measurements of natural phenomena. What certification do instructors_1H obtain? Instructors_1H are certified to promulgate knowledge about models that are endowed with certitude and supported by certain observations and measurements of social phenomena. State bureaucracies provide certitude. Selective observations provide proof that the models are… um… beyond question.

0055 How does instruction work?

Well, it starts with a sales pitch, sort of like that serpent in the garden of Eden telling Eve, who is obviously not aware that the serpent is instructing her, how the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is beautiful and should be tasty. Oh, did I mention that it will also make Eve wise and, even better, if she eats the fruit right now, if she buys into the narrative, she can be even more powerful than that patriarchal, know-it-all, busy-body, who thinks that He can tell Her what is or is not forbidden?

Talk about hyper-novelty befuddling innate adaptive tendencies.

0056 Our current Lebenswelt is clearly not the same as the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.

05/11/23

Looking at Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s Book (2020) “A Hunter Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century” (Part 10 of 16)

0057 What is the concept of punctuated equilibrium?

Steven J. Gould came up with the idea that natural history contains long periods of stasis followed by sudden unravelings of the stasis… or should I say?… changes. So, the pattern is long period of one configuration, change, then long period with a different configuration. Punctuated equilibrium is not a theory. It is an observation that makes sense of the fossil record.

0058 Now, I would like to consider the author’s creation of the omega principle, as a principle where apparently distinct concepts get muddled.

0059 For example, consider this claim. A cultural adaptation may be in the service of the genes of a particular human lineage. In other words, there is a crossover from adaptation_2H to phenotype_2V, even though their nested forms are distinct.

How could this happen?

They belong to a single actuality!

0060 Another example is the way that the intersection for biological evolution (unexpectedly) applies to cultural evolution. The cultural trauma endured by the authors fits a cultural evolution version of punctuated equilibrium. Higher ed₂, as a cultural species, foundationally changes between the pre-2017 and post-2017 intersections. The unraveling of the pre-2017 stasis presumably will end in a post-2017 stasis. At least, administrators_2H hope so. But, the instructors_1H are restless. State funding is increasingly limited. Plus, there is an entirely new species evolving, called “guidance₂“.

0061 Now, I ask, “How can I appreciate cultural punctuated equilibrium using the intersection? Is there more to the picture than snapshots labeled ‘before’ and ‘after’?“

Perhaps.

The intersection is a single actuality₂ composed of the contradiction-filled union of two actualities, each with its own nested form.

Here is a picture for biological evolution.

0061 Long periods of stasis (the “equilibrium” aspect of punctuated equilibrium) may be depicted as the single actuality₂of the intersection entering into a category-based nested form.

0062 As long as the normal context₃ and the potential₁ remain stable, then the single actuality₂holds together, despite the contradictions between the two wedded actualities, adaptation_2H and phenotype_2V.

Take a look at the phylogenetic trees in chapter two (A Brief History of the Human Lineage). Each branch point may be viewed as an episode where one nested form “branches” into two. Because normal contexts₃ tend to exclude one another, each lineage goes its own way.

0063 The beauty of this depiction of the equilibrium aspect of punctuated equilibrium may be found in the divergence of the chimpanzees and humans (on page 31). One lineage stays in tropical wet regions. The other moves further into mixed forest and savannah. The phenotype for the former remains knuckle-walking. The phenotype for the other shifts to bipedalism.

Once the second lineage is fully bipedal, the human niche (of the potential of triadic relations) opens up and the genome (the potential of australopithecine DNA) begins to produce phenotypes that are more attentive to signs, mediations and other triadic relations. The second lineage changes through descent with modification.

0064 So, I can label the normal context₃ for the human genus₂ as “the Lebenswelt that we evolved in” and I can imagine that the potential corresponds to actualities_2a on the content level below the situation-level actualities of adaptation_2b(2H)and phenotype_2b(2H).

0063 As long as the normal context₃ and the potential₁ remain stable, then hominins become more and more adapted to triadic relations₂, such as signs, mediations, judgments, category-based nested forms and so on. Plus, they become more phenotypically capable in cognitively processing triadic relations. This is discussed in Razie Mah’s masterwork, The Human Niche.

0064 Now, I shift to the cultural, using the example of higher ed (before 2017). Recall, higher ed₂ is the intersection of professors_2H and colleges_2V.

Here is a picture of cultural equilibrium before 2017.

Here is a picture of the category-based nested form that allows us to understand the single actuality.

Here is a picture of how I configure the normal context₃ and potential₁ for the single actuality of higher education (before 2017)₂.

Once again, the potential₁ consists in the content-level actualities that underlie the situation-level nested forms that comprise the intersection.

An Archaeology of the Fall

A Horror Story by Razie Mah

Category Archives: message underlying religion