quote:

From Achilles Choice by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes

p61: In Matthew 26:11 Jesus said that the poor will always be among us," Jillian said. Her words appeared as white strokes upon a blue visual field. They floated in the air like crisply perfect skywriting.
"And in that sense, he may have been the first theorist in the social applications of fractal geometry.
"The concepts of cognitive dissonance and the inevitable breakdown of communication therefrom have been understood for centuries. However, the unavoidable disintegration of systems as those systems become more complex and unweildly has rarely been considered within a socialogical lattice."
...
"A stable society functions much like an organism, with communications between the organ systems, the organs, the tissue structures, the cells, and the organelles. As instructions flow from one level to another, and the inevitable distortions in communication accumulate, what happens?
"At the top, a plan may be shaped to provide the greatest good for the greatest number. But no plan conceived at one end of the spectrum can take into account all of the individuals at the other end. It simply is not possible--there is too much breakdown in communication along the way. Conversely, any system which is modular enough to deal intimately with those at the bottom is too unweildly to be governed from the top.
"Fortunately for those who govern, the appearance of fair play is more important than the reality. At least that's what Machiavelli thought."

I'm sharing this "omwork" with you friends because I see parallels with what is in this book and the choices that are made in our world by our leaders or lack of leaders. The title of the book refers to an oft-quoted myth:

quote:

p35: The tale was told to three billion TV sets during every Olympiad. The gods had offered Achilles a short, glorious life, or a long dull one. He chose glory...

My choice is a long glorious life. Heavy on the long, the gloriousness can trickle in.. he he..

When I was young in California a class project was to create a world. Mine was "Burpth," a positive energy Earth where everyone did what they wanted all day. Little did I know that the millennium would bring the worse to the top, not the cream.

I have to see if I can get my "Don Choprano the godfather of the Highest Family" fiction theme / idea to Steven Barnes. If he can compose around a positivity cult rather than human sacrifice one, many the copy cults.. I mean copy cats would all try to out do each other in positive-visualizing super-heros! Yay! Berkeley Utopianism has a function in this world! he he..

Love and *LIGHT* *BEING*, Teom