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.

0065 Here is the first picture of cultural equilibrium after 2017. 

In this cultural equilibrium, administrators_2H, not faculty, adapt to the niche of an education system composed of instructors_1H.  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.

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 21^st 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.

0067 Here is a picture of how I configure the normal context₃ and potential₁ for the single actuality of guidance (after 2017)₂.

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 adaptations_2H and phenotypes_2V 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.

And, the cultural intersection looks like the following.

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).

0074 Guidance₂, the intersection of professors_2H and podcasting_2V, 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.

0076 Here is how they proceed.  Place food₂ in the place for species₂ as the single actuality₂ that is composed of adaptation_2H and phenotype_2V.  Then, consider the following intersection from more than one point of view.

0077 The first adaptation_2H that comes to mind is cooking with fire_2H.  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 phenotype_2V 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.

0078 But, what about our current Lebenswelt?  What about the 21_st 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 21^st century.  And, one popular item is called, “fast food”.

On the horizontal axis, the normal context of product selection_3H brings the actuality of processed food_2H into relation with the potential of industrial food processing_1H.

On the vertical axis, the normal context of business development_3V brings the actuality of restaurants_2V in line with commercialization_1V.  Commercialization_1V appears to be like the genome_1V.  Think of brand recognition.  Each brand has a slogan.  Slogans are the DNA of advertising.

0080 Here is the resulting interscope.

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 cooking_2H and eating_2V in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in and processed foods_2H and restaurants_2V in our current Lebenswelt.  Guidance is required.  Guidance₂ is the single actuality that combines the professor_2H and the podcaster_2V.

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 21^st 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 instructors_1H are now assigned_2H to inform you, the student, of an actuality_2a(1V) that guides the internal dynamics of the postmodern educational system_2V: 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.

0091 At this point, I can see that Heying and Weinstein’s book recapitulates an ancient paradigm, within the hypernovel world of the 21^st 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 adaptations_2H and phenotypic traits_2V.  So, I can place the term, “team activities”, into the slot for “species” in the intersection for biological evolution.

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 genome_1b((1V) decodes DNA_2a.  Similarly, one’s motivations_1b decode one’s talents_2a.  Talent_2a supports an internal motivation to join a particular team_1V.  The phenotypic expression_2V is a desire to participate_2V.  To participate_2V is to belong₂ in the normal context of both individual and team development_3V.

The niche_1b(1H) is the potential of an actuality_2a that is independent of the adapting species_2a(2H).

What is the actuality that is independent of all team activities?

It is the world out there!

Adaptation_2H 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) selection_3H.  I call the adaptation competing to cooperate_2H.  I shorten the slogan to comp-to-coop_2H.  Comp-to-coop_2H coheres to the definitions of direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity and altruism. Compete-to-cooperate_2H explains their evolution.  Comp-to-coop_2H emerges from (and situates) diverse potentials of the proximate niche_1H.

0094 Here is a picture of the adjusted intersection.

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 administrators_2H for instructors_1H to tow the line of the latest trend in advocacy_2a(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 cooperate_2H into state-defined (and regulated) specializations_2H.  In order to gain entrance into a specialization_2H, one must attend school and become certified.

It channels the desire to participate_2V into state-defined (and regulated) bodies of knowledge_2V.  One must go to school in order to achieve certification in regards to that body of knowledge_2V.  Mastery of the real separates professors_2H (pre-2017) from instructors_1H (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 21^st century, expertise₂ is the single actuality₂ that encompasses specializations_2H and certification_2V.

Here is a picture.

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.