TCP - Fresh start - now that the public blog for N4W is under way

 Okay - bullet points

• the N4W blog has a structure which I will emulate here - search engine, followed by categorised headings.

• The really big ideas emerging from within N4W are 
• three levels of abstraction / generalisation 
• societal/cultural
• collective/networked
• Individual cognitive
  
• discourse / communication linking all these
• different levels of observation
• zettels - philosophical level 
• snippets - collective level / story-telling level
• insights - intra-personal. 
  

•  Toward Collective Praxis: complexity, pragmatism and practice
• A paradigm shift - an increased focus on 
• emergence as opposed to fixed truth
  
• language as a tool within discourse 

That's enough for today! Let's see where I get to

Big Ideas - flowing from a conversation between Ian and Elaine

Talking one-to-one (kanohi ki te kanohi -(kktk)) is so very helpful.  Yesterday's conversation led to the following snippets. ("I" is Elaine in the following; "We" stands for Ian and Elaine)

• Toward Collective Learning seems to work as an ideal for the movement which is N4W. 
  

• The two dimensional model of a three circle Venn diagram representing three entities  i.e. (*Seven Plus *Networking for Well-being *Transitions65) suits both of us when we are looking at the level of the interests of individuals.   We agreed that the boundaries are porous in that people can shift their interests. 
  

• I can also think of this 2D diagram as having depth which links to the interest or commitment the individual has in the topic.

• It is useful to think about the same diagram at the level of collective knowledge and understanding - the assumptions and culture of each of the entities.

• About the three entities:  {N4W} has a whakapapa dating back to the time of the earthquakes.  {Tr65} also has a long whakapapa.  {7Plus} is an entity that emerged as a result of the meeting of these two histories on 07/07/21. 

• This two dimensional model can be used for any project that arises out of an interest in collective learning. The third entity in the conversation space for {7+} {N4W} in Ian's case is {Transitions65}.  Mine, right now, would be {games} i.e.  the people who are interested in learning and exploring ideas through games.

• We also agreed on a three dimensional model where the entity of N4W.AoNZ is about ideas - it is a movement toward the (unwritten) aspirations of creating a better world through Networking for Well-being with a focus on Aotearoa New Zealand {N4W.AoNZ}  The entity is a movement. It is about adaptating ideas and traditions (it is not a gathering of people or organisations) with the aim of shift our society toward better, more democratic, healthy spaces.  
• In this sense, the entity which is 7+ (not the individual people, but the shared values etc.) is part of the movement which is N4W. And also, the individual people as entities are part of the movement. 
  

Concepts that need definition - Mahi, Kanohi ki te kanohi, whakapapa, entity

Casuistry - thanks, Tony

 

I learnt a new word yesterday while reading a retirement-finance-article: “casuistry”. A new one for my vocabulary. Has a couple of distinct meanings, but the one that applied in the context I was engaged with was:

specious, deceptive, or oversubtle reasoning, especially in questions of morality; fallacious or dishonest application of general principles; sophistry.

Elaine to sort - Links to articles

Ian has pinged through some links to articles that he would like to appear on this blog.  See the list on the right. 

 

Worthy articles are being collected here - 

** Maths education - from GOrdon's link

 

** climate change

 https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018937961/climate-change-from-a-wild-animal-s-point-of-view-adam-welz

 

** simpsons from Roy 

 

TCP Snippets - an index of short items from the thesis.

Pseudonyms - Helene, Ernest, Karl and Meanui

Wicked Problems -

Experiment

 Niki is popping in an experimental posting

Tue Group - 240206 - Sam Harris - Myths about Israel

Five myths about Israel and Gaza - 

Sam Harris begins by describing two important but easily forgotten things given the various pseudo-moral hallucinations being spread, especially by social media

• Jihadists (Islamic extremists) vs the rest of extremists - is that they will sacrifice their own lives and that of their children in the confident belief that such acts will take them directly to Paradise
• War is sometimes necessary: Jihadism is more dangerous than Nazism

[Elaine:] - I agree with the final statement in this section .. that "a disavowal of Jihadism needs to become the majority opinion among 2 billion Muslims world wide.  Until this happens there will be no exit from these sorts of conflict. 

[Elaine:] - And/but - Muslim extremists have been pushed into corners for a very long time by Western powers.  Some could argue that this approach has fostered extremism.  

Myth #1: Israel is guilty of “genocide” in Gaza 

Basically this section argues the genocide is too strong a word.  Hamas is the target and they are a political force - and they are using their own people as shields. As a side story, Harris reminds the reader that youth wired with explosives were also used in war between Iran and Iraq. 

Myth #2: International Humanitarian Law Requires that Israel’s response to Palestinian aggression be “proportional.”

 The myth is about the use of the word proportional.

" the concept of “proportionality” [in this context] doesn’t refer to the numbers of casualties on either side of a conflict, much less insist that they be equal. It simply asks that we weigh the military importance of an action against the resulting destruction of civilian life and property." 

The final paragraph of this section makes a binary distinction:

"The crucial distinction, which almost no one can keep in view, is that there are now two types of people in this world: those who intentionally torture and kill children and other noncombatants, to maximize horror, and those who seek to avoid doing so, however imperfectly, while defending themselves against the first sort of people. The gulf between these two groups could not be wider, and everything we care about—literally everything—exists on one side of it."

My thoughts - cornered rats fight hard - the question is how to tame the rats.  

Myth #3: The Jews Are Colonizers and the Palestinians are Indigenous People.

[Elaine:] Both are indigenous - and used to be able to live in some sort of harmony.  

Myth #4: The atrocities committed by Hamas (and over one thousand Palestinian civilians) on October 7th were a legitimate response to oppression.

[Elaine:] No - it was not. 

Myth #5: The two sides in this conflict are equally civilized, equally entitled to respect, and equally worth protecting.

[Elaine:] Clearly a myth!!  - each side has its own spin on civilisation, its our understanding of respect - and both cultures are worth protecting.  The expectation of equality is part of the problem.