Paradigm Shift

There is a paradigm shift that has been emerging with the introduction of the Internet into human culture.

For the past four or five thousand years, humans have adopted a Rule-Based Model for socio-political self-regulation.

Sometimes the rules were said to come from Divine Sources, as expounded and promulgated by Monarchs or Theologians. Giambattista Vico noted a 3-phase cycle among a triumvirate of authorities.

The Viconian cycle consists of three recurring phases:

(1) The Theocratic or Divine Age, represented in primitive society by the family life of the cave, to which the thunderous voice of God has driven mankind; 

(2) The Aristocratic or Heroic Age, characterized by incessant conflict between the ruling patricians and their subject plebeians; 

(3) The Democratic Age, in which rank and privilege have finally been eradicated by the revolutions of the preceding age.

Currently, we are ensnared in the Fourth Age, as anticipated by Vico, and as explicated by any number of modern sources:

(4) The Chaotic Age, characterized by the bewildering collapse of democratic society, which is inherently dysfunctional and therefore riddled with a panoply of hellish and baffleplexing problems: conflict, violence, oppression, injustice corruption, poverty, ignorance, alienation, abuse, despair, suffering, and terrorism.

The resolution of this nightmare age of unrelenting chaos is to evolve to the Fifth Age where we master the art of taming the ill-mannered recursion laws that define and characterize the Chaotic Age:

(5) The Cybernetic Age, in which the otherwise mind-boggling math of recursive loops is tamed and tuned to gracefully converge to the long-dreamed-of Omega Point.

To emerge from the Chaotic Age and evolve into the Cybernetic Age, we are going to have to conscientiously educate ourselves in the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) with a concentrated effort to master the fractious mathematics of recursive systems.

The key to mastering the Fifth Age is to embrace the Fifth Discipline of Peter Senge. The key is to master Systems Thinking.

Once STEM fully integrates Systems Thinking into our tools for thought, we can then team up with Artists who can shape this work for public consumption as part of the evolving Canon of Western Media. Once STEM is teamed up with the Artistry, we’ll be on our way to the Cybernetic Age with a full head of STEAM.

So, how does the emergence of the Internet help pave the way?

The Internet introduced a major paradigm shift that evolved above and beyond the traditional Rule-Based Paradigm.

Here is the progression embraced by the architecture of the Internet:

1. Heap of Rules ~ The stuff of children's games as played by scheming adults 

2. Suite of Protocols ~ Carefully crafted sequences of agile rules with feedback and alternate branchings 

3. Library of Functions ~ Continuously variable responses employing the mathematical tools of the Calculus (e.g. Gradients and Optimization) 

4. Collection of Models ~ Collections of Functions instantiating a System Model 

5. Ecology of Systems ~ The application of Cybernetic Concepts to the overall architecture and functioning of a complex system comprised of multiple interacting sub-systems and components.

Employing and applying the tools for thought of Systems Thinking, we can begin to make real progress in solving humankind’s long-festering Systemic Problems: Conflict, Violence, Oppression, Injustice, Corruption, Poverty, Ignorance, Alienation, Abuse, Despair, Suffering, and Terrorism.