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.
Figure 07
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 21st Century.
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: Sein1V and sign1H.
Figure 08
0023 To me, Kemple’s focus is remarkable, because Being1V and triadic relations1H 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 experience2H and Dasein2V.
0024 But, let me not ignore one further possibility, the single actuality is us.
Here is a list of labels for the single actuality.
Figure 09
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 real1H and with Heidegger’s vision of Dasein1V. 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. Dasein2V! 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 experience2H 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!
0050 In the normal context of cultural selection3H, the actuality of the authors2H emerges from (and situates) the potential of expertise in biological evolution1H. That expertise1H covers the natural history of the Homo genus.
The normal context of institutional development3V brings the actuality of podcasting2V into relation with the possibility of addressing people who would otherwise be hunter-gatherers and who are now facing the novel Lebenswelt of the 21stcentury1V.
0051 Here is a picture of the intersection for the cultural evolution that Heying and Weinstein now enter.
Figure 18
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 civilizationfilled with hazards, such as colleges2V that switch from traditional mission statements1H to statements of advocacy1V.
0054 Yes, the postmodern world of the 21st century is a dangerous place.
It is especially hazardous because administrators2H are selected for, rather than faculty2H.
Plus, instructors1H manifest the potential of the appearance of expertise2a, because certification triumphs over… well… dealing with observations and measurements of natural phenomena. What certification do instructors1H obtain? Instructors1H 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 ofthe 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.
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 adaptation2H to phenotype2V, 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, administrators2H hope so. But, the instructors1H 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.
Figure 19
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.
Figure 20
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, adaptation2H and phenotype2V.
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 actualities2a on the content level below the situation-level actualities of adaptation2b(2H)and phenotype2b(2H).
Figure 21
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 professors2H and colleges2V.
Here is a picture of cultural equilibrium before 2017.
Figure 22
Here is a picture of the category-based nested form that allows us to understand the single actuality.
Figure 23
Here is a picture of how I configure the normal context3 and potential1 for the single actuality of higher education (before 2017)2.
Figure 24
Once again, the potential1 consists in the content-level actualities that underlie the situation-level nested forms that comprise the intersection.
0065 Here is the first picture of cultural equilibrium after 2017.
Figure 25
In this cultural equilibrium, administrators2H, not faculty, adapt to the niche of an education system composed of instructors1H. Heying and Weinstein depart.
Here is a picture of how I configure the normal context3 and potential1 for the single actuality of higher education (after 2017)2.
Figure 26
0066 Where do Heying and Weinstein migrate to?
They enter another cultural equilibrium, discussed before, where professors adapt to the challenge of applying the lessons of biological evolution to life in the 21st century. The metaphorical genome of podcasting are individuals who sense that our current Lebenswelt is not the same as the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. We are adapted to the lifestyle of hunters and gatherers. But, that is not all, we are also adapted to the potential of triadic relations.
Here is a picture of a new single actuality2, guidance.
Figure 27
0067 Here is a picture of how I configure the normal context3 and potential1 for the single actuality of guidance (after 2017)2.
Figure 28
0068 Listening to a darkhorse podcast is more rewarding to a team of moderns (remember hunters and gatherers work in teams) than attending a formal lecture by an instructor who is grading on the curve. How so? The darkhorse podcast is a conversation geared to draw people into conversation. In the course of conversation, one learns information and how to be a member of a team. If one becomes a member of the podcast community, one joins the team.
The cost is small, compared to a college course.
0069 The exorbitant cost of higher education pays tribute to the long-held belief that certification opens the door to professionalism.
So, what happens when podcasts offer alternate certification?
Then, guidance2 will directly compete with higher education2.
0069 Chapter three (Ancient Bodies, Modern World) completes the author’s theoretical approach, which has been critiqued, using the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce. The authors are not aware of a novel vision that encompasses their view that biological evolution involves adaptation into proximate niches of material conditions. The ultimate human niche is the potential of triadic relations. Why are hominins capable of switching proximate niches? All proximate niches are perfused with signs.
Heying and Weinstein are not alone in this regard. Few modern biologists (before 2023) have considered Razie Mah’s three masterworks, The Human Niche, An Archeology of the Fall, and How To Define the Word “Religion”, that pertain to the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, the first singularity, and our current Lebenswelt, respectively.
Yet, even without a well-articulated theoretical framework, Heying and Weinstein can draw lessons from biological evolution as it is currently configured, as if adaptations2H and phenotypes2V belong to the separate disciplines of natural history and genetics, and no one is quite sure how they belong to a single actuality.
Plus, disciplinary knowledge in biological evolution is superior to advocacy, in the same manner that a professor is superior to an instructor.
0070 Our bodies evolved in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.
Our modern world in the 21st century is a hypernovel episode of our current Lebenswelt.
So, lessons from our biological evolution will show how our modern world is not so good for our ancient bodies.
0071 The remaining chapters contain applications.
Chapter four (medicine) applies guidance to the topic of medicine.
Figure 29
And, the cultural intersection looks like the following.
Figure 30
0072 At the end of chapter four, the authors offer a section called, “The Corrective Lens”, in which they encapsulate their guidance on medicine.
0073 For purposes of this examination, I will look closely at chapter five (Food).
Figure 31
0074 Guidance2, the intersection of professors2H and podcasting2V, enters into the nested form of postmodern internet education3 and situates the possibility of the authors’ disciplinary expertise along with their mission (which is to join your team at the same time that you join theirs)1.
0075 The chapter starts with two warnings. First, there is no fixed recipe as to what to eat. Second, food is not merely nutrition for survival. Eating food occasions social engagement. Yes, cooking is important. So, is eating with others. Know the culinary habits of your lineage.
Here is a picture of what the authors are offering.
Figure 32
0076 Here is how they proceed. Place food2 in the place for species2 as the single actuality2 that is composed of adaptation2H and phenotype2V. Then, consider the following intersection from more than one point of view.
Figure 33
0077 The first adaptation2H that comes to mind is cooking with fire2H. What does fire do to raw food? Elevated temperatures break down cellular and structural impediments to digestion. Cooked food provides more calories than raw.
The corresponding phenotype2V includes changes in the ways that we perceive flavors. Cooked food tastes good. But, that is not all. Cooking offers an occasion for everyone to eat together and talk. In the Lebenswelt that we evolved in,humans practice hand talk, which means that no one talks while eating raw food. But, with cooked food, one does not have to eat and eat and eat and chew and chew and chew to get nutrition. Plus, cooked food tastes better! Plus, afterwards, everyone can sit around the fire and enjoy conversation.
In this respect, after the domesticatin of fire, hunter and gatherers have it good.
Figure 34
0078 But, what about our current Lebenswelt? What about the 21st century?
0079 Our current Lebenswelt is one of specialization. After the mechanical revolution starting in the early 1800s, specialization increases beyond imagination. All sorts of new species of “food for humans” arise in the 21st century. And, one popular item is called, “fast food”.
On the horizontal axis, the normal context of product selection3H brings the actuality of processed food2H into relation with the potential of industrial food processing1H.
On the vertical axis, the normal context of business development3V brings the actuality of restaurants2V in line with commercialization1V. Commercialization1V appears to be like the genome1V. Think of brand recognition. Each brand has a slogan. Slogans are the DNA of advertising.
0080 Here is the resulting interscope.
Figure 35
0081 Well, that is my guess as to how the author’s discussion plays out.
Every inquirer will come up with a different scenario.
That is one beauty of this type of exercise.
0082 Once can replace restaurants with diet regimes. Once can replace processed food with vitamin supplements.
On top of that, different topics are available. Fire is just one. Fire is domesticated in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.
What about other domestications?
Animal and plant domestication occurs much more recently. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether animal and plant domestication begins in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in as opposed to our current Lebenswelt. Dogs are domesticated in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. What about pigeons?
0083 The topic of food shows me that there is a big difference between cooking2H and eating2V in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in and processed foods2H and restaurants2V in our current Lebenswelt. Guidance is required. Guidance2 is the single actuality that combines the professor2H and the podcaster2V.
0084 The same exercise of playing with intersections can be performed for the family, covering chapters seven (Sex and Gender), eight (Parenthood) and nine (Childhood).
Oh yeah, guidance is needed here. The authors provide valuable insights.
0085 As a complement to the authors’ guidance and insights on these topics, consider A Second Primer on the Organization Tier and A Primer on the Family, by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-work venues.
0086 In chapters ten (School) and eleven (Becoming Adults), the authors wrestle with 21st century social constructions that do not adequately conform with human adaptations that belong to the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.
On top of that, contemporary grammar schools, high schools and colleges in the modern West are… um… not what they were before 2017.
That ship has sailed.
On all levels, your instructors1H are now assigned2H to inform you, the student, of an actuality2a(1V) that guides the internal dynamics of the postmodern educational system2V: political advocacy.
More on that later.
0087 Former hunters and gatherers face questions, such as, “What are schools supposed to do? Why are the rituals of becoming an adult tied to modern schools?”
Yes, children are raised by parents. But, are schools more than an extension of parental authority? Yes, they are.
In terms of our evolutionary history, childhood and adolescence prepare the individual for a certain degree of specialization, characteristic of team activity.
0088 This allows me to propose, for the authors, an approach to include in their next book. After all, if anything, this examination shows that their guidance is the first step towards an entirely novel curriculum outside the bounds of higher education2.
0089 In the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, children and adolescents are “schooled” in the ways of team activities. Plus, each individual is given opportunities to compete to join a cooperative team. Each individual is expected to exercise his or her talents.
If there is guidance by adults who are not the parents of a child or an adolescent, then that guidance opens a door to joining a team activity. Teacher and student share risks within the team. Every success benefits the team, directly, and all social circles, indirectly. These risks and benefits accrue as the team encounters the world out there (the ecology and environment).
0090 Here is a picture.
Figure 36
0091 At this point, I can see that Heying and Weinstein’s book recapitulates an ancient paradigm, within the hypernovel world of the 21st century.
The student says, “Guide me.” The teacher says, “Join my team.”
Patronize the darkhorse podcast and join the team.
0091 What is team activity2?
Team activity2 is a genus-specific trait2 that regularly entails guidance by non-parental members of a band. Team-activities2 is a single actuality2 that contains adaptations2H and phenotypic traits2V. So, I can place the term, “team activities”, into the slot for “species” in the intersection for biological evolution.
Figure 37
0092 Now, I can make alterations to this intersection, based on literal and metaphorical interpretations of the elements.
0093 First, I alter the potentials, then the other elements of each intersecting nested form, as follows.
The genome1b((1V) decodes DNA2a. Similarly, one’s motivations1b decode one’s talents2a. Talent2a supports an internal motivation to join a particular team1V. The phenotypic expression2V is a desire to participate2V. To participate2V is to belong2 in the normal context of both individual and team development3V.
The niche1b(1H) is the potential of an actuality2a that is independent of the adapting species2a(2H).
What is the actuality that is independent of all team activities?
It is the world out there!
Adaptation2H occurs in the normal context of natural (the individual must perform the appropriate tasks) and cultural (the individual must work for the team and with other team members) selection3H. I call the adaptation competing to cooperate2H. I shorten the slogan to comp-to-coop2H. Comp-to-coop2H coheres to the definitions of direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity and altruism. Compete-to-cooperate2H explains their evolution. Comp-to-coop2H emerges from (and situates) diverse potentials of the proximate niche1H.
0094 Here is a picture of the adjusted intersection.
Figure 38
0095 Well, this does not look modern at all.
Where are the desks lined up in rows, facing the instructor? Where are the threats by administrators2H for instructors1H to tow the line of the latest trend in advocacy2a(1H)?
Take a look at the corrective sayings that Heying and Weinstein offers as guidance. Do not fear. Respect others. Follow fair rules. Protest unfair rules. Do not get comfortable. Do not get complacent. Take risks.
All these suggestions describe the intersection of team activities2, in the normal context of the Lebenswelt that we evolved in3, arising from the potential of our talents and the world out there1.
0096 How does the current state-supported education system twist our natural being into something that can be controlled in a top-down political regime?
It channels the competition to cooperate2H into state-defined (and regulated) specializations2H. In order to gain entrance into a specialization2H, one must attend school and become certified.
It channels the desire to participate2V into state-defined (and regulated) bodies of knowledge2V. One must go to school in order to achieve certification in regards to that body of knowledge2V. Mastery of the real separates professors2H (pre-2017) from instructors1H (post-2017). State-regulated bodies of knowledge may be real. Or, they may be fictions that high-level administrators want to be advocated. Who knows the difference?
0097 In the 21st century, expertise2 is the single actuality2 that encompasses specializations2H and certification2V.
Here is a picture.
Figure 39
0098 With this diagram in mind, take another look at what Heying and Weinstein have to say.
Plus, consider the trauma that they endured.
Higher education (post-2017) has become a gamed and rigged system.
0099 Surely, there is more to Heying and Weinstein’s guidance than meets the eye.
Higher education (post-2017) resolves the intersection, by removing all the mystery.
Perhaps, the mystery dissolves into ways that administrators and their political allies rig and game the system.
When an intersection breaks down (that is, when it loses its mystery), it resolves into a two-level interscope.
0100 The following two-level interscope resolves the contradictions of expertise2.
Figure 41
0101 The actuality of postmodern (and modern) specialization2b virtually emerges from and situates school certification2aas the gateway to participation in a state-regulated system. State-management1a channels personal motivations1a. So, jobs1b are never satisfying, because they satisfy regulatory requirements1a and simply assume that personal motivations1aapply.
0102 At this point, I look backwards to chapter three (Ancient Bodies, Modern World) and forwards into chapter twelve (Culture and Consciousness).
Consider the following figure.
Figure 42
Can I say that culture goes with adaptation2H and consciousness goes with phenotype2V?
Figure 43
If so, then the above figure re-articulates the mystery within chapter twelve. Chapter twelve juxtaposes culture2H and consciousness2V and plays the one off the other. But, in reality, these two actualities pertain to a single actuality2, the Homo genus.
0103 “Homo” is Latin for “man”. “Genus” is Latin for “general kind”.
Consider how modern wordplay has twisted the meaning, presence and message of these terms.
Then consider the value of this book, as well as Weinstein’s darkhorse podcast.
0104 Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein are professors, once adapted to the niche of higher education (pre-2017) and now adapting to the niche of podcasting (post-2017).
Currently, higher education eliminates the distinction between disciplinary mastery and educational mission. Higher education (post-2017) resolves the mystery of team activities into a rigged system of regulated specializations situating school systems that game certifications.
The niche of podcasting keys into the evolution of team activities. In order to join the team, one patronizes the podcast. The next step, a crucial endeavor, concerns certification. How does one certify what another person has mastered while listening to and supporting podcasts?
This is the question that I pose at the end of this examination of Heying and Weinstein’s book.
Surely, we need guidance in answering the challenge.
