"In the case of societies, justice systems based on truth will inevitably replace those based on deceitful harmony (see the anthropologist's surprise in the court case relayed in A Dispute in Donggo). Societies based on the truth of the natural world (i.e., science and engineering) will overtake societies based on myths that explain natural phenomena (e.g., sacrificing children to the sea to survive a storm in The Argonauts of the Western Pacific)."
Societies 'based on truth' win because of their technological superiority, which comes as a result of evading the scaling traps of traditional societies. They don't win because they are more aligned with universal 'truth', they win because, lacking the constraints of tradition, they are free to innovate. In the same sense, cancer cells win over non-cancerous cells - not because they are more 'true', rather they lack traditional constraints.
We might be looking at the same thing from different angles. Or we might have divergent definitions of "truth" and the value of modernity.
In Part II of this series (https://www.explorations.ph/p/triangulations-ii-across-a-galaxy) I start with different definitions of "truth." In what you quote, I'm using the word in the same sense as Deutsch's "good explanations" or "knowledge," which I guess is the same as what you call "technological superiority." In this sense, modern societies have better knowledge of the natural world than pre-modern societies. The constraint of pre-modern societies is precisely lack of knowledge.
Deutsch also has a good explanation of the difference between biological growth and growth of collective human knowledge and wealth. The growth of cancer cells, or a population of animals, is random: the self-reproducing system happens to find itself in an environment conducive to its reproduction (or absence of constraints, in your framing). The creation of human knowledge is not "pre-programmed" the way biological reproduction is. According to Deutsch, we still don't have a good explanation of consciousness, so this creativity is still a mystery, but clearly there is more there than the knowledge stored in organisms.
Your POV reminds me of a podcast between Nick Land and Justin Murphy where Capitalism is seen to be an intelligence, possibly hostile to humans, and the customs of archaic societies are seen to be brakes to the unfettered growth of this intelligence, similar to metastasis. Whether modernity is fundamentally good is a presupposition rather than a conclusion. I'm assuming Deutsch would think it is, given that it creates knowledge and wealth. Land seems to be on the same side, possibly because he does not seem to be on the side of (biological) humans. I haven't made up my mind on this yet.
This essay has been a great prism to focus my own thoughts on this same matter. It's directly related to my current essay, and I'm gonna respond to your points about the Triangle and especially Nietzsche's comments. But first a question - how do I tag someone on Substack? Sorry I'm new at this ;-)
"In the case of societies, justice systems based on truth will inevitably replace those based on deceitful harmony (see the anthropologist's surprise in the court case relayed in A Dispute in Donggo). Societies based on the truth of the natural world (i.e., science and engineering) will overtake societies based on myths that explain natural phenomena (e.g., sacrificing children to the sea to survive a storm in The Argonauts of the Western Pacific)."
Societies 'based on truth' win because of their technological superiority, which comes as a result of evading the scaling traps of traditional societies. They don't win because they are more aligned with universal 'truth', they win because, lacking the constraints of tradition, they are free to innovate. In the same sense, cancer cells win over non-cancerous cells - not because they are more 'true', rather they lack traditional constraints.
We might be looking at the same thing from different angles. Or we might have divergent definitions of "truth" and the value of modernity.
In Part II of this series (https://www.explorations.ph/p/triangulations-ii-across-a-galaxy) I start with different definitions of "truth." In what you quote, I'm using the word in the same sense as Deutsch's "good explanations" or "knowledge," which I guess is the same as what you call "technological superiority." In this sense, modern societies have better knowledge of the natural world than pre-modern societies. The constraint of pre-modern societies is precisely lack of knowledge.
Deutsch also has a good explanation of the difference between biological growth and growth of collective human knowledge and wealth. The growth of cancer cells, or a population of animals, is random: the self-reproducing system happens to find itself in an environment conducive to its reproduction (or absence of constraints, in your framing). The creation of human knowledge is not "pre-programmed" the way biological reproduction is. According to Deutsch, we still don't have a good explanation of consciousness, so this creativity is still a mystery, but clearly there is more there than the knowledge stored in organisms.
Your POV reminds me of a podcast between Nick Land and Justin Murphy where Capitalism is seen to be an intelligence, possibly hostile to humans, and the customs of archaic societies are seen to be brakes to the unfettered growth of this intelligence, similar to metastasis. Whether modernity is fundamentally good is a presupposition rather than a conclusion. I'm assuming Deutsch would think it is, given that it creates knowledge and wealth. Land seems to be on the same side, possibly because he does not seem to be on the side of (biological) humans. I haven't made up my mind on this yet.
This essay has been a great prism to focus my own thoughts on this same matter. It's directly related to my current essay, and I'm gonna respond to your points about the Triangle and especially Nietzsche's comments. But first a question - how do I tag someone on Substack? Sorry I'm new at this ;-)
Just type @ then start typing their name or handle... Substack will produce a dropdown, similar to Twitter
Please tag me when you post your draft, would love to be an early reader in anything related to Nietzsche, power and sociopaths!
Change log.
Removed: He called for a RETVRN to the wild Dionysian age of paganism, back to when power and life were unfettered by truth.
Ref https://twitter.com/kcorazo/status/1720676811557020013