[ExI] External costs (was Re: are all cultures equivalent?)

[Aware]

On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 11:02 PM, Rafal Smigrodzki
<rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thanks Rafal.  I see no disagreement at this level of detail or
>> principle, but I expect we'd reach an impasse of differing
>> interpretation at the level of individual versus group agency implied
>> by the polycentric "overall ordering" mentioned above.
>
> ### More details? (if compatible with your wows of abstention from
> wasting time :)

I'm talking about interpretation of independence versus
interdependence, more subtle than generally conceived.  Not in the
single-tier sense which promotes regression to the mean, but in the
hierarchical sense, in which (cultural) hierarchy is built up through
hard-won selection for what works to preserve and exploit synergies
over increasing context of interactions. Such an evolving hierarchical
framework, in my view, supports increasing freedoms for those who work
within it, but necessarily constitutes competition, even to the extent
of being construed as coercion, by those outside its framework.

My impression of the (pure, naive) Libertarian philosophy is that it
aims to maximize individual liberty above all else, and that all other
good will follow.  My point, mainly on an information-theoretic basis,
is that the inherent limitations of cognitive capacity of the nodes
must give way to the increasing intelligence of the network that
supports the nodes' increasing capacity and variety of
self-expression.

Whether we agree on this interpretation has practical consequences for
best allocation of our limited resources with respect to maximizing
growth in the direction of what most matters.

- Jef