Nov 15, 2022·edited Nov 15, 2022Liked by Tereza Coraggio
Hi Tereza!
Wow, I appear to the first to upvote and comment ... unusual for most substack readers because I live in a Japanese time zone.
I am on lunch break at one of the public elementary schools, but your fantastic writing chops provides for a smooth read.
I like how you promote positive action at the micro-scale, and support your ideas with personal experience. Still reading Andrew Lobaczewski on the nature of the evil part of our collective genome, but something that you, he, and I have in common are the intuitions common to fractal theory.
But this also presents a possible conflict with some of the assumptions from emergence theory ... the argument that some 'levels' of analysis can not be reduced to or predicted from smaller units ... in the same way that the most salient characteristics of an ant colony can not be predicted from observing the behavior of any single ant.
The reason I am bringing this up is because I am struggling to integrate those two ways of looking at what I am experiencing in the Japanese public education system. Some of the better overtly stated goals of the Ministry of Education include English for communication - not standardized testing, motivating students through adapting 'realia' — material that is originally intended to motivate native speakers, and providing opportunities for students to negotiate for meaning from a position of ambiguity. But the Jr. Highs are failing miserably at this. The 5th and 6th grade elementary school kids are a bit wild, but so curious and communicative. By the time they finish 9th grade, a 'chain of command' mind-set is so ingrained in them, they ready for the disposable work force. It is not so much because of incompetence or willful corruption of the teachers. On the contrary, they are hard working, and for the most part, pretty good compared to what I remember from America.
There is something about the default position of human psychology so that in large populations, a systematic approach tends to relegate empathy to the losing end of a zero-sum game. The teachers, even those with altruistic temperaments, simply do not have the time to think, discuss, and create ways to implement the Ministry's ideals.
But this seems to be one of the same 'big' questions in economic theory ... and a good argument against centrally controlled economies. I am guessing that what is good at the micro level of the family can be scaled to the local community level (populations of Dunbar's number or less), but there is a limit to fractal scaling. And my guess that limit is when rules and systems take such precedence over empathy-driven behavior as to allow Cluster B personality types to expand, thrive, and wreck their havoc upon the rest of us.
Just chatting to myself here, as much as to you. These were some of the things I was thinking about this morning on the way to school ... chatting to the voice recorder app in my iPhone.
Ooops. Back to work. Will chat soon.
Cheers Tereza.
It's good to chat with someone struggling with similar problems, especially when concrete, positive directions are suggested.
Thanks for that kind compliment on my writing, Steve. I was feeling disjointed on this one, trying to bridge two worlds--the feminine one of parenting and the masculine one of money. I wasn't sure I pulled it off so I'm happy to get your response.
Personally, I don't think that empathy has any place in an economic system. A system should be fair, not kind. If it's based on need, like my Machiavellian midgets <grin>, people will figure out how to game the system rather than doing what needs done. IMO. Or IMexperience.
The system you're dealing with is 100% totally completely unfair and rigged. They all are. If it was fair, those who couldn't find an agreeable way to succeed would be a small minority--easily absorbed by the natural kindness of family and community. But now we have 99% of all people on the edge, ready to fall through the cracks, precarious. It overwhelms our empathy.
David Graeber disputes Dunbar's number in The Dawn of Everything. He says that larger 'spheres of influence' and networks have been common throughout anthropology without falling into violence or hierarchy. I don't know if it's true but his argument is compelling.
hmm..."parents" have a biological god-given inborn/understood "authority" with kids, that no school teacher, mayor, governor of a state, could ever substitute for with their constituents! Not that parents have it easy, but teachers mayors and the like have it far worse!
I would never have liked my parents running points system on me, no way! (but then I'm from a small family; I can imagine, it's different if you have 4 or more kids!).
Ah kiers, I think you're getting to the crux of the problem. There was a time that was true but I'd now say the opposite--education and media conspire to ridicule any idea that parents know anything. Pick a random Disney and the plot's all the same--kids know better than their parents. Teachers give grades, so they have a reward system with a 4-yr sleepover with your friends at the end. Parents have nada.
One of the Subs I read had "Parents are an oppressive class just like white or the wealthy."
What do you see as the alternative? Do parents just pay for everything their kids want, do they pick and choose, or do they not pay at all? In my experience that turns kids into lawyers who are best at arguing.
I once paid for a therapist for my middle daughter because our relationship was so bad at the time. The therapist decided it was my fault because this system was manipulative. The other two were indignant and wanted to go tell the therapist why she was wrong and how their friends either had no money or got everything they wanted ... and never learned how to do anything for themselves.
She and I ended up bonding over it. That daughter, once she was reconciled to it, made extensive notes and we had great discussions, especially when her rent was due. She couldn't believe there was so much going on that people didn't know, and it gave her the confidence to speak up in her Latin America studies.
Without this, I would never have had the chance to teach my daughters ANYTHING. Parents have NO clout.
Nov 15, 2022·edited Nov 15, 2022Liked by Tereza Coraggio
Hi again Tereza,
I'll have to think a lot about how the dynamics of Japanese families play out. Just guessing, the elementary school kids' parents can have more influence over what goes on in the classroom than from Jr. High onward. But from Jr. High, that's where the cultures may start diverging the most. A combination of peer-pressure and pressure from parents gets the kids outsourced to various private after school prep schools and classes.
The kids' time becomes micro-managed to the point that few can reach what some of us in the West would call moral autonomy. Was just chatting about this yesterday (or the day before) with an excellent subsstack writer regarding the biological mechanisms behind some societal dysfunctons (Gary Sharpe). One of several books that came up which unintentionally eveals something about human nature in general is Takeo Doi's 'Amae no Kozo' (The Anatomoy of Dependence), of which the original purpose was to shed light on the specific nature of Japanese social dynamics. But I think it is worth re-reading to shed light on general human nature from another angle.
Oh that's really fascinating. What an interesting observation. I watch a fair amount of K-pop with my daughter Cassandra and acting like a baby is a big skill set. There's a word for that too. It's curious that indigenous cultures of Japan don't have amae. I wonder if it has to do with pure consumer cultures vs. producers.
What I see the schools doing is creating learned helplessness and incompetence in all the 'servant' skills or 'women's work.' With the severe class consciousness of Japan (and Korea and China) it seems like that would be even more pronounced there than here. Kids are much too busy with their rigid sports schedules and homework to be expected to wash dishes, much less cook. Breaking the servant mentality was my mission as a mom.
o yeah! the propaganda against children showing affinity/dependence/loyalty what have you...to their parents is verboten in murican culture! [And yet, the super elite kids NEVER FALL FAR FROM THE TREE. The press gives their achievements cover, but the real biography is one of constant concealed family network support!...a la Jared Kushner for example!] For everyone else the ridicule is acidic, constant, and hard. No doubt! What a matrix. You only can break "free" by living in other countries for a while. Only then does your mind begin to OPEN. AS A RULE: For TV/Movies keep your firewalls up, and teach your kids....take a bucket of salt not a grain of salt with their "medicine". I mean, Look at EVERY woman who acts in a movie....JOB 1 is "goo-goo eyes" to the male lead, lips parted, straight back, blah blah blah, constant beaming smile....I mean, entertainment is one thing, but subliminal gratification-messaging to sell to men whatnot...keep your firewall up at all times!
You talk "matrix"? I just found out (an hour ago) the Erin Brockovich lawfirm shafted indonesian air crash victims by disappearing with their winnings! No news on MSM. NATURALLY! (https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/8/11/lion-air-victims-compensated-after-lawyer-accused-of-stealing-settlement). With The elites, it's always one thing in public, another in reality. I just found out, FTX has nearly a million clients(!) whose money went "to vegas"!, many affinity recruited from.....DNC (teachers unions)! No mention on MSM.
You want me to believe Hollywood diktats? HELL NO! Teach your kids!
AS for "big families"...my Mom HERSELF as a chile (swear to God) was PAID for every little thing done right: chores, homework time, going to temple, etc etc...LOL. She's from a family of 9! LOL. Don't ask me......i'm just a schmuck in these things!
Not every woman who acts in a movie gets to be sexy. Mothers are only sexy when they're doing something creepy, like competing for the daughter's boyfriend. Otherwise they're clueless wage-earners in this era, servants to the family in the last one.
So let me get this right, when a boss pays you to do something you don't particularly want to, with no pretense that s/he is doing it for your own good or cares about your wellbeing, do you see that as manipulative? When you compete for your whole life, 40 hrs a week, to break your back to make the rich richer, just so you can get the things your parents provided for free, is that a fair deal?
Certainly I do things I don't particularly want to for my kids. Should there be no reciprocity or should I be guilt-tripping them and emotionally manipulating them instead of paying them?
I think the fate of the world rests on your answer kiers ;-) We accept that people who are using us have the right to the money that gives them power over us. It seems like we'd prefer that to the use of money to give us power over ourselves. Jus' sayin'.
Yeah, that makes sense too. I could not have imagined my family being run by points. I suspect circumstances .... I'm from a rural, lower middle-class family and the first to go on to graduate school and academia ... and temperament. My family just didn't have the systematic mind-set to follow a system. But I had to giggle at Tereza's correct coinage of 'machiavellian midgets'. Yup. At early stages of developmen, aren't we all?
LOL. this article had me thinking on my "midget" misdeeds [not to be shared]! yeah same my family, points would have been too much extracurricular admin work, besides not being received right ! But, that's the thing....your statement echoed the "policy zeitgeist" prevailing today when undergrad students are studying AI (that's right UNDER-grads!), [Underlying it: Mere statistics and "form follows function". ], people want big data driven POLICY! But you can not "program" human behavior. IN fact, one should be very very careful ascribing even "goals"! Unfortunately, AI is being taught to undergrads! Even worse, IVY LEAGUE undergrads. Big trouble ahead! CHeers.
Nailed it! Critical thinking skills, collaborative problem solving skills, and hopefully enough moral autonomy to go against group-think when necessary and choose to empower the marginalized and hold authority accountable ... these should be more basic to a well-rounded education than disposable programmers ... or 'quants' using Wall Street lingo.
Sweet dreams! Just a post-script: even mathematically speaking, they should be at least making these public policy AI programmers aware of Ken Arrow's "Impossibility Theorem" and the like in "Social Choice Theory". Social choice is NOT about simple math "digital" programming!
Instead it pays the education complex to one-sided teach them to play with the world (natch, it empowers the students, give corporations something to play with, and ...consequences be damned! LOL). Cheers.
Though in a permanent state of waking, never woken ... I'm just waking up Wednesday morning Japan time (day off). Both the 'Impossibility Theorem' and 'Social Choice Theory' are new to me, so I have my morning's work cut out for me. Thanks for the heads up.
Russell Brand seems to like Yuval Harari quite a lot. I do not trust either of them. Notice how Russell never gives you concrete actions to take, just rants and challenges, but no movement. He wants to keep you outraged but not acting. Search Russell Brand loves Yuval Harari, interviews, etc till it is scrubbed.
Hi, Jacquelyn and thanks for responding! I'm guessing this is in response to my mention of Russell under We Need to Agree to Agree. I actually have four episodes that mention the two of them together, including the photo of Russell kissing Yuval on the forehead. My most recent, and the one on Substack, is this: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/yuval-harari-and-the-metawealth-miniverse.
In it, I talk about Yuval making the agenda of the Great Reset crystal clear, in a way that makes me wonder if he's a 'double-agent.' He's actually telling us how and why we should oppose it, all the while speaking for it. What he says is so outrageous that we'd be called conspiracy kooks if WE said it about Davos. But now we can talk about them trying to cull all the 'useless eaters' because he said it first.
I don't really trust anyone to lead us. I think we're going to have to keep thinking for ourselves, dammit ;-) I can't find anyone I agree with 100%, sometimes not even myself.
Thank you for filling me in on your prev posts, will take a better look. It took me a minute with Russel Brand, he talks a good line. But I do wonder what his off camera persona really is. Your point about warning us is understood, though I am incredulous. best
I agree. I'm almost wishing for another pandemic for Russell, so he can slow down. It's hard to imagine how he's finding time to be a dad or a husband. I'm listening to his old Luminary interviews, now that he's no longer with them but my subscription's not run out, and he seems more attentive to his guests and thoughtful. They weren't always famous back then. And I agree, he doesn't have a plan, which is why he needs me ;-)
Somehow I missed this one last year and a good one at that. I like the follow up recommendations that you always do. I also love hearing about your family.
Hi Tereza!
Wow, I appear to the first to upvote and comment ... unusual for most substack readers because I live in a Japanese time zone.
I am on lunch break at one of the public elementary schools, but your fantastic writing chops provides for a smooth read.
I like how you promote positive action at the micro-scale, and support your ideas with personal experience. Still reading Andrew Lobaczewski on the nature of the evil part of our collective genome, but something that you, he, and I have in common are the intuitions common to fractal theory.
But this also presents a possible conflict with some of the assumptions from emergence theory ... the argument that some 'levels' of analysis can not be reduced to or predicted from smaller units ... in the same way that the most salient characteristics of an ant colony can not be predicted from observing the behavior of any single ant.
The reason I am bringing this up is because I am struggling to integrate those two ways of looking at what I am experiencing in the Japanese public education system. Some of the better overtly stated goals of the Ministry of Education include English for communication - not standardized testing, motivating students through adapting 'realia' — material that is originally intended to motivate native speakers, and providing opportunities for students to negotiate for meaning from a position of ambiguity. But the Jr. Highs are failing miserably at this. The 5th and 6th grade elementary school kids are a bit wild, but so curious and communicative. By the time they finish 9th grade, a 'chain of command' mind-set is so ingrained in them, they ready for the disposable work force. It is not so much because of incompetence or willful corruption of the teachers. On the contrary, they are hard working, and for the most part, pretty good compared to what I remember from America.
There is something about the default position of human psychology so that in large populations, a systematic approach tends to relegate empathy to the losing end of a zero-sum game. The teachers, even those with altruistic temperaments, simply do not have the time to think, discuss, and create ways to implement the Ministry's ideals.
But this seems to be one of the same 'big' questions in economic theory ... and a good argument against centrally controlled economies. I am guessing that what is good at the micro level of the family can be scaled to the local community level (populations of Dunbar's number or less), but there is a limit to fractal scaling. And my guess that limit is when rules and systems take such precedence over empathy-driven behavior as to allow Cluster B personality types to expand, thrive, and wreck their havoc upon the rest of us.
Just chatting to myself here, as much as to you. These were some of the things I was thinking about this morning on the way to school ... chatting to the voice recorder app in my iPhone.
Ooops. Back to work. Will chat soon.
Cheers Tereza.
It's good to chat with someone struggling with similar problems, especially when concrete, positive directions are suggested.
steve
Thanks for that kind compliment on my writing, Steve. I was feeling disjointed on this one, trying to bridge two worlds--the feminine one of parenting and the masculine one of money. I wasn't sure I pulled it off so I'm happy to get your response.
Personally, I don't think that empathy has any place in an economic system. A system should be fair, not kind. If it's based on need, like my Machiavellian midgets <grin>, people will figure out how to game the system rather than doing what needs done. IMO. Or IMexperience.
The system you're dealing with is 100% totally completely unfair and rigged. They all are. If it was fair, those who couldn't find an agreeable way to succeed would be a small minority--easily absorbed by the natural kindness of family and community. But now we have 99% of all people on the edge, ready to fall through the cracks, precarious. It overwhelms our empathy.
David Graeber disputes Dunbar's number in The Dawn of Everything. He says that larger 'spheres of influence' and networks have been common throughout anthropology without falling into violence or hierarchy. I don't know if it's true but his argument is compelling.
hmm..."parents" have a biological god-given inborn/understood "authority" with kids, that no school teacher, mayor, governor of a state, could ever substitute for with their constituents! Not that parents have it easy, but teachers mayors and the like have it far worse!
I would never have liked my parents running points system on me, no way! (but then I'm from a small family; I can imagine, it's different if you have 4 or more kids!).
Ah kiers, I think you're getting to the crux of the problem. There was a time that was true but I'd now say the opposite--education and media conspire to ridicule any idea that parents know anything. Pick a random Disney and the plot's all the same--kids know better than their parents. Teachers give grades, so they have a reward system with a 4-yr sleepover with your friends at the end. Parents have nada.
One of the Subs I read had "Parents are an oppressive class just like white or the wealthy."
What do you see as the alternative? Do parents just pay for everything their kids want, do they pick and choose, or do they not pay at all? In my experience that turns kids into lawyers who are best at arguing.
I once paid for a therapist for my middle daughter because our relationship was so bad at the time. The therapist decided it was my fault because this system was manipulative. The other two were indignant and wanted to go tell the therapist why she was wrong and how their friends either had no money or got everything they wanted ... and never learned how to do anything for themselves.
She and I ended up bonding over it. That daughter, once she was reconciled to it, made extensive notes and we had great discussions, especially when her rent was due. She couldn't believe there was so much going on that people didn't know, and it gave her the confidence to speak up in her Latin America studies.
Without this, I would never have had the chance to teach my daughters ANYTHING. Parents have NO clout.
Hi again Tereza,
I'll have to think a lot about how the dynamics of Japanese families play out. Just guessing, the elementary school kids' parents can have more influence over what goes on in the classroom than from Jr. High onward. But from Jr. High, that's where the cultures may start diverging the most. A combination of peer-pressure and pressure from parents gets the kids outsourced to various private after school prep schools and classes.
The kids' time becomes micro-managed to the point that few can reach what some of us in the West would call moral autonomy. Was just chatting about this yesterday (or the day before) with an excellent subsstack writer regarding the biological mechanisms behind some societal dysfunctons (Gary Sharpe). One of several books that came up which unintentionally eveals something about human nature in general is Takeo Doi's 'Amae no Kozo' (The Anatomoy of Dependence), of which the original purpose was to shed light on the specific nature of Japanese social dynamics. But I think it is worth re-reading to shed light on general human nature from another angle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anatomy_of_Dependence
Later!
steve
I asked Cassandra about this and she said that it's called 'aegyo' in Korean, which literally means baby.
Oh that's really fascinating. What an interesting observation. I watch a fair amount of K-pop with my daughter Cassandra and acting like a baby is a big skill set. There's a word for that too. It's curious that indigenous cultures of Japan don't have amae. I wonder if it has to do with pure consumer cultures vs. producers.
What I see the schools doing is creating learned helplessness and incompetence in all the 'servant' skills or 'women's work.' With the severe class consciousness of Japan (and Korea and China) it seems like that would be even more pronounced there than here. Kids are much too busy with their rigid sports schedules and homework to be expected to wash dishes, much less cook. Breaking the servant mentality was my mission as a mom.
o yeah! the propaganda against children showing affinity/dependence/loyalty what have you...to their parents is verboten in murican culture! [And yet, the super elite kids NEVER FALL FAR FROM THE TREE. The press gives their achievements cover, but the real biography is one of constant concealed family network support!...a la Jared Kushner for example!] For everyone else the ridicule is acidic, constant, and hard. No doubt! What a matrix. You only can break "free" by living in other countries for a while. Only then does your mind begin to OPEN. AS A RULE: For TV/Movies keep your firewalls up, and teach your kids....take a bucket of salt not a grain of salt with their "medicine". I mean, Look at EVERY woman who acts in a movie....JOB 1 is "goo-goo eyes" to the male lead, lips parted, straight back, blah blah blah, constant beaming smile....I mean, entertainment is one thing, but subliminal gratification-messaging to sell to men whatnot...keep your firewall up at all times!
You talk "matrix"? I just found out (an hour ago) the Erin Brockovich lawfirm shafted indonesian air crash victims by disappearing with their winnings! No news on MSM. NATURALLY! (https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/8/11/lion-air-victims-compensated-after-lawyer-accused-of-stealing-settlement). With The elites, it's always one thing in public, another in reality. I just found out, FTX has nearly a million clients(!) whose money went "to vegas"!, many affinity recruited from.....DNC (teachers unions)! No mention on MSM.
You want me to believe Hollywood diktats? HELL NO! Teach your kids!
AS for "big families"...my Mom HERSELF as a chile (swear to God) was PAID for every little thing done right: chores, homework time, going to temple, etc etc...LOL. She's from a family of 9! LOL. Don't ask me......i'm just a schmuck in these things!
Not every woman who acts in a movie gets to be sexy. Mothers are only sexy when they're doing something creepy, like competing for the daughter's boyfriend. Otherwise they're clueless wage-earners in this era, servants to the family in the last one.
So let me get this right, when a boss pays you to do something you don't particularly want to, with no pretense that s/he is doing it for your own good or cares about your wellbeing, do you see that as manipulative? When you compete for your whole life, 40 hrs a week, to break your back to make the rich richer, just so you can get the things your parents provided for free, is that a fair deal?
Certainly I do things I don't particularly want to for my kids. Should there be no reciprocity or should I be guilt-tripping them and emotionally manipulating them instead of paying them?
I think the fate of the world rests on your answer kiers ;-) We accept that people who are using us have the right to the money that gives them power over us. It seems like we'd prefer that to the use of money to give us power over ourselves. Jus' sayin'.
Yeah, that makes sense too. I could not have imagined my family being run by points. I suspect circumstances .... I'm from a rural, lower middle-class family and the first to go on to graduate school and academia ... and temperament. My family just didn't have the systematic mind-set to follow a system. But I had to giggle at Tereza's correct coinage of 'machiavellian midgets'. Yup. At early stages of developmen, aren't we all?
LOL. this article had me thinking on my "midget" misdeeds [not to be shared]! yeah same my family, points would have been too much extracurricular admin work, besides not being received right ! But, that's the thing....your statement echoed the "policy zeitgeist" prevailing today when undergrad students are studying AI (that's right UNDER-grads!), [Underlying it: Mere statistics and "form follows function". ], people want big data driven POLICY! But you can not "program" human behavior. IN fact, one should be very very careful ascribing even "goals"! Unfortunately, AI is being taught to undergrads! Even worse, IVY LEAGUE undergrads. Big trouble ahead! CHeers.
Nailed it! Critical thinking skills, collaborative problem solving skills, and hopefully enough moral autonomy to go against group-think when necessary and choose to empower the marginalized and hold authority accountable ... these should be more basic to a well-rounded education than disposable programmers ... or 'quants' using Wall Street lingo.
Cheers, Kiers!
Good night from Japan.
steve
Sweet dreams! Just a post-script: even mathematically speaking, they should be at least making these public policy AI programmers aware of Ken Arrow's "Impossibility Theorem" and the like in "Social Choice Theory". Social choice is NOT about simple math "digital" programming!
Instead it pays the education complex to one-sided teach them to play with the world (natch, it empowers the students, give corporations something to play with, and ...consequences be damned! LOL). Cheers.
Hi Kiers,
Though in a permanent state of waking, never woken ... I'm just waking up Wednesday morning Japan time (day off). Both the 'Impossibility Theorem' and 'Social Choice Theory' are new to me, so I have my morning's work cut out for me. Thanks for the heads up.
Cheers Kiers!
steve
Russell Brand seems to like Yuval Harari quite a lot. I do not trust either of them. Notice how Russell never gives you concrete actions to take, just rants and challenges, but no movement. He wants to keep you outraged but not acting. Search Russell Brand loves Yuval Harari, interviews, etc till it is scrubbed.
Hi, Jacquelyn and thanks for responding! I'm guessing this is in response to my mention of Russell under We Need to Agree to Agree. I actually have four episodes that mention the two of them together, including the photo of Russell kissing Yuval on the forehead. My most recent, and the one on Substack, is this: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/yuval-harari-and-the-metawealth-miniverse.
In it, I talk about Yuval making the agenda of the Great Reset crystal clear, in a way that makes me wonder if he's a 'double-agent.' He's actually telling us how and why we should oppose it, all the while speaking for it. What he says is so outrageous that we'd be called conspiracy kooks if WE said it about Davos. But now we can talk about them trying to cull all the 'useless eaters' because he said it first.
I don't really trust anyone to lead us. I think we're going to have to keep thinking for ourselves, dammit ;-) I can't find anyone I agree with 100%, sometimes not even myself.
Thank you for filling me in on your prev posts, will take a better look. It took me a minute with Russel Brand, he talks a good line. But I do wonder what his off camera persona really is. Your point about warning us is understood, though I am incredulous. best
I agree. I'm almost wishing for another pandemic for Russell, so he can slow down. It's hard to imagine how he's finding time to be a dad or a husband. I'm listening to his old Luminary interviews, now that he's no longer with them but my subscription's not run out, and he seems more attentive to his guests and thoughtful. They weren't always famous back then. And I agree, he doesn't have a plan, which is why he needs me ;-)
Somehow I missed this one last year and a good one at that. I like the follow up recommendations that you always do. I also love hearing about your family.