This book covers the work of Erik W. Aslaksen who continues to develop the view of society and its evolution published in earlier work – The Social Bond (Springer 2018), The Stability of Society (Springer 2020), and Measures of Social Evolution (Springer 2021), bringing together core material of that work with the results of recent investigations in order to present the evolution of society as an integrated and continuous story leading right up to the present time. A story of human action driven by our beliefs, desires, and an ideology arising out of our ability to transform and exploit our environment through the development and application of technology. The distinguishing feature of the work is the treatment of society as an information-processing system and applying the system methodology for handling complexity, as it is applied, e.g., in engineering. This focus on information is particularly pertinent in the current circumstances, where the world has arrived at a critical point in its history through the conjunction of a number of issues that appear to be spiralling out of control: Global warming and the associated climate change, the destruction of our environment through such processes as land clearing and industrialisation with associated loss of biodiversity, the rapidly increasing visibility of the inequality in the quality of life with associated tensions, and above all, the determination of the US-led Western alliance to cling to its hegemonial role, apparently at all cost. With the sophistication and proliferation of nuclear weapons, the latter has the potential to bring on the end of civilisation as we know it. The resolution of any of these issues depends on the information available to all parties involved, and hence, the availability and quality of information is seen as the crucial and overarching issue of the present time. A number of aspects of this issue, including the role of education, economic inequality, and the control of the media, are treated in some detail, and proposals for some small steps in the right direction are put forward.
Author(s): Erik W. Aslaksen
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 438
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Symbols
Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Motivation and Background
1.2 The Current Situation
1.3 The Approach to Describing Society and Its Evolution
1.3.1 Society
1.3.2 Society as a System
1.3.3 Information, Action, and Will
1.3.4 Evolution of Society
1.4 Location Within the Body of Knowledge
1.5 Overview of the Book
1.5.1 Structure
1.5.2 The Chapters
2 Evolution
2.1 A General Process
2.2 Evolution of Organisms
2.3 Evolution of Society
2.3.1 It Is not a Random Process
2.3.2 Survival
2.3.3 The Time Factor
2.3.4 The Importance of Information Exchange
2.3.5 Measures of Evolution
3 The Two Views
3.1 Choice of Views
3.2 Structure of the Two Views
3.3 The Information View
3.3.1 The Main Components
3.3.2 Identity
3.3.3 Identity Items
3.4 The Action View—The Physical Domain
3.4.1 The Two Cycles
3.4.2 Types of Activities
3.4.3 Technology
4 Model of the Individual
4.1 Model Development
4.1.1 First Level
4.1.2 Second Level
4.1.3 Third Level
4.1.4 Fourth Level
4.2 Process Parameters
4.3 Model Dynamics
5 The Interaction
5.1 Types of Interaction
5.2 Binary Interactions
5.2.1 The Basic Model
5.2.2 Binary Interaction Strength and the Social Bond
5.2.3 Persuasion
5.2.4 Some Additional Results
5.3 The Individual’s Interaction with Society
5.3.1 Definition of the Interaction
5.3.2 Some General Features of the Interaction
5.3.3 The Information View
5.3.4 Dynamics of the Interaction
5.3.5 The Public Discourse
5.4 Interaction and Structure
5.4.1 Interaction Leads to Structure
5.4.2 Structure Determined by Interaction-Induced Stress
6 Operating Conditions of the Collective Intelligence
6.1 Some Basic Considerations
6.2 Operating Conditions of the Collective Intelligence
6.3 A Composite Measure of the Good Society
6.3.1 The Good Society
6.3.2 Definition of the Measure
6.3.3 Economic Inequality
6.4 Income Inequality
6.4.1 A First Model
6.4.2 A Second Model
6.4.3 A Third Model
6.4.4 World Level
6.4.5 A Comment
6.5 Wealth Inequality
6.6 Freedom
6.6.1 Freedom in the Context of This Book
6.6.2 Freedom in the Context of Society
6.6.3 Freedom of Expression
6.6.4 A Concluding Remark
7 Adaptive Action
7.1 The Concept
7.1.1 The Individual Level
7.1.2 The Society Level
7.2 Freedom and Will
7.2.1 Freedom of Action
7.2.2 Will
7.3 The Political Framework
7.3.1 The Political Process
7.3.2 The Political Party
7.4 A Final Note
8 Technology
8.1 What is “Technology”?
8.1.1 The Meaning of “Technology”
8.1.2 Understanding Technology
8.1.3 The Influence of Technology
8.2 The Role of Engineering
8.2.1 A Short History of Engineering
8.2.2 The Process of Engineering
8.2.3 Applications of Technology and Our Model
8.2.4 The Industry/Business Framework
8.3 Technology and Our View of the World
8.4 Information Technology
8.4.1 Background
8.4.2 The Interaction Channel
8.4.3 Manipulating Information
8.4.4 IT in Numbers
9 The Role of Education
9.1 A Brief Review
9.1.1 A Simple Taxonomy of Education
9.1.2 The Interaction Between Education and Society
9.1.3 The Concept of Bildung
9.2 Education as a Process
9.2.1 Lifecycle of the Individual
9.2.2 Inter- and Intra-Generational Information Transfer
9.3 Education and the Model of Society
9.4 Education and Technology
9.5 Education and Economics
9.6 The Challenge for Education
10 Measures of Evolution
10.1 Some Basic Concepts
10.1.1 The Essence of Society
10.1.2 Common Infrastructure
10.1.3 Types of Measures, and Social Integration
10.1.4 Structural Complexity
10.1.5 Social Complexity
10.2 Economic Measures
10.2.1 Approach
10.2.2 Macroeconomic Model
10.2.3 Level of Economic Integration
10.2.4 Education
10.2.5 Art and Culture
10.2.6 Significance of the Economic Measures
10.3 Other Measures
10.3.1 Taking a Step Back
10.3.2 Work and the Individual
11 Tension and Instability
11.1 Introduction to This Chapter
11.2 Structure
11.2.1 Structures in Society
11.2.2 Structure in the Information Domain
11.2.3 Structure in the Physical Domain
11.3 Acceptance, Compromise, and Consensus
11.4 Ideology
11.5 Power, Tension, and Stability
11.5.1 Types of Power
11.5.2 Influencing Society’s Belief System
11.5.3 Tension
11.5.4 Stability
12 Modifying the Nation
12.1 Utopia and Reality
12.2 Politics and People Power
12.2.1 Liberal Democracy
12.2.2 Role and Purpose of Political Parties
12.2.3 A Proposal
12.2.4 One-Party System
12.3 A New Economic Paradigm
12.3.1 The Need for Change
12.3.2 The Current Paradigm: Neoliberalism
12.3.3 The Road to a New Paradigm
12.3.4 Arguments for the New Paradigm
13 The World Society
13.1 Recent History
13.1.1 The Starting Point—Colonies and Imperium
13.1.2 The World Wars
13.1.3 Superpowers and Hegemony
13.1.4 The Rise of China
13.1.5 Background to the Main Issues of Contention
13.2 Representations of the World Society
13.2.1 Structure and Infrastructure
13.2.2 Representation as a Society of Individuals
13.2.3 Representation as a Society of Nations—The Information View
13.2.4 The Action View and the Physical Domain
13.3 Central Issues in the World Society
13.3.1 Power in International Relations
13.3.2 Global Problems
13.3.3 Stability and Tension
13.3.4 Tension Between China and the West
13.4 Looking Ahead
13.4.1 The Dynamics of Society
13.4.2 Two Approaches
13.4.3 Structure and Tension
13.4.4 Intelligence and Transformation
Appendix—List of Nations
References
Referenced Authors
