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 actuality₂ holds 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.