Matrix Thinking

 

David Noel










BFC PRESS

 



ISBN: 09587 63704


For Peter Good,

who understood

and encouraged.




Copyright 1992, 1995, 1997 by David Noel.

Published by BFC Press,

a division of

Ben Franklin Centre

PO Box 27, Subiaco, WA 6008, Australia

Fax number +61-8-9388 1852

e-mail: bfc@AOI.com.au









**********

Printing history

Beta-release version 1992

Part issued in parts 1995

First edition, first printing 1997






Contents

 

Book I



Chapter Page

Fore Word 5

101 What is Matrix Thinking? 8

102 The Substance of Society -- Infocap 12

103 The House on the Polish Border -- About Systons 17

104 I've Got You Under my Skin -- Syston Boundaries and SIOS 25

105 A Complicated Recipe -- Diversity and Infocap Content 31

106 Love Makes the World Go Round -- The Synenergy Story 40

107 Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat -- Systel Allocation 44

108 Going by the Rules -- Living in the Syston Mix 50

109 Deviating from the Mean -- Standardization and Diversity 56

110 Pushing Off from Pommyland -- Syston Budding & Merger 67

111 The Foreign Ideas Review Board -- Syston Openness 82

112 Liechdorrino Legislation -- Laying Down the Law 88

113 With Stars Upon Thars -- SIOS and Infocap Flow 93

114 What's Good for General Motors -- Matrix Additivity and Conservation 106

115 Stop the World, I Want to Change Seats -- Synenergy and Infocap Measuring 110

116 It Just Doesn't Follow -- Syston Government 115

117 It's Not My Fault -- Scapegoats, Idols, and Resonodes 124

118 Four Cells in a Cockroach -- Syston Pacemakers and Halflives 135

119 No Closer to God -- Imports, Exports, and Infocap 142

120 Don't Tell Me About It -- Arms-lengthing 150

121 Picture This -- Tools of Matrix Thinking 156

122 The Right Thing to Do -- Matrix Morality 167

123 The Face of the Future -- Matrix Machines 170

124 A Matter of Motive -- Syston Psychology 176

125 When the Locusts Swarm -- Matrix Geography 188

For Now Word 198

References 200







Contents

 

Book II



Chapter

Mid Word

201 Matrix Economics

202 Inflation and Currency

203 Taxation and Motivation

204 Language and Communication

205 Politics and Nationality

206 Peace and War

207 Law and Compliance

208 Education and Learning

209 Agriculture and Land Use

210 Business and Employment

211 Sport and Entertainment

212 Music and Performance

213 Fine and Coarse Arts

214 Science and Research

215 Health and Medicine

216 Ecology and the Wider World

217 Religion and Belief

218 The Supernatural and Parapsychology

219 Philosophy and Matrix Thinking

220 Looking Back

After Word

References

Appendix: Infocap & Synenergy Dimensions, Structure, Embodiment

Collected Propositions

Glossary










FORE WORD




"The art of discovery is to to see what everybody sees, and think what nobody thinks"



The Origins of Matrix Thinking


This book grew out of my previous book, "Nuteeriat" [Noel, 1989]. In "Nuteeriat" I was able to present a rather new picture of the Earth, its history and development, and its interaction with its living inhabitants.

The book looked at three broad divisions of the Earth's development. First there was the Physical Earth, the result of the operation of the physical laws of nature upon the substances and energies of the planet.

Then there was the Biological Earth, showing the development of life on Earth and its interaction with the physical components, and, further, the back-influence of the biological elements on the physical world.

Thirdly, there was a brief and hesitant entry into the Intelligent Earth, the ever more powerful influences of intelligent species, in particular man, upon the physical and biological components of our planet. In this section I was able to bring forward perhaps generally unappreciated evidence of the profound changes wrought by man upon our world, not just over the last few hundreds or thousands of years of his existence, but far, far beyond, back into the time when man, as the creature we recognize as such, was in his earliest beginnings.

The broad-spectrum, synthetic approach used in "Nuteeriat" was able to yield a rich haul of new ideas about our world. In the words of one reader, it was able to bring out 'many new truths'. None of these was actually claimed as a 'truth', but instead was presented as a 'Proposition', an Aunt Sally put up for questioning, testing, rejection, or tentative acceptance, to stand or fall on its own merits.

This fertile approach to looking at the world was, in fact, Matrix Thinking, although it was not named as such in "Nuteeriat" .

Throughout its history the scientific world has, in some times, advanced through brilliant feats of deduction, and in others been held back and diverted from progress by entrenched concepts, which have fallen from acceptance only after prolonged assault by the new ideas and reasoning which replaced them. Moreover, science is no stranger to the prejudices, politics, and emotions which have such a major influence in the social world of man.

In "Nuteeriat" I put forward the suggestion that, if the Matrix Thinking approach used could be used successfully in the so-called 'hard sciences' of physics, biology, and the like, could it not also be applied in the 'soft' sciences of politics, law, sociology and their sisters? The present book is the response to that question. It will be for the reader to judge the success of that application.

The broad plan of the work is a conventional one. Successive chapters look at what is meant by Matrix Thinking, how it fits in with existing philosophical approaches to the world, and how it can be applied to yield general conclusions, rules, laws, about the makeup of the Society of Man.

The total work consists of two separate parts, called Book I and Book II. In one departure from general practice, the chapters in these books are numbered like the rooms in a multi-storey hotel, so the third chapter in Book I is Chapter 103, the sixth chapter in Book II is Chapter 206, and so on.

A fundamental feature in the development of the topics covered is the progressive introduction of new entities, new or re-formulated concepts which will be put together to form a composite whole -- the components of a Matrix Model. In gaining a better understanding of how parts of our universe operate, the development of suitable entity models is often an essential first step for success.

As an example, in the history of discovery of the properties of matter, a fundamental step required for understanding these properties was the postulation of an entity which was assigned the name 'atom'.

Similarly, in developing an understanding of how human diseases act, a fundamental first requirement was to suggest the existence of entities named 'germs', as the active agents of diseases. In neither case was the exact definition or description of the relevant entity needed, what was important was to put in place the concept. Increasing knowledge of the entities, and their definition and classification, could and did follow only when their broad existence had been accepted.

And so, in moving to build a greater understanding of human society and how it operates, the first steps will involve extraction of the essential entities involved. Once this has been accomplished, a start can be made on setting down the properties and classifications of the entities, and thought given to how they interact. Gradually we will build up a model of our Matrix, and begin the slow process of refining and improving this model to the point where it can be practically applied to tell us more about our world.

Later, in Book II, the framework or machine so erected will be applied to specific areas of society to yield various conclusions about each of these areas -- economics, politics, business, education, law, entertainment, the 'arts', and sports are among them. Scattered throughout the chapters, at appropriate places, are formal 'Propositions' put up for criticism by those who feel inclined.

These Propositions vary enormously in importance and relevance. To give some measure of my own assessment of their importance, most are followed by a number of stars, increasing with importance.

It is perhaps inevitable that some of these Propositions will offend, annoy, or arouse antagonism in some. In a recursive twist to the book, I will also be looking at reasons why the mere presentation of such ideas can arouse antipathy and approval both.

Many of the Propositions presented will be simple. For this reason, they will be open to attack as being simplistic. My own feeling is that we should never underestimate the power and importance of simplicity. After all, five simple symbols, in the form E=mc2, changed our world forever.

Ambition and Scope


The aims and scope of this work are very broad. On the theoretical side, the Matrix Model which is developed is underlain by the skeleton of a Unified Theory of human society. And on the practical side, a Matrix Toolkit is developed which goes some way toward providing a mechanism, first for the analysis of aspects of society, and then for the construction and revision of societal interactions. These deal, not exactly with human behaviour as such, but more with the interaction of other elements of society which will themselves be exposed in the following treatment.

All these things are only different facets of a whole which I may refer to simply as The Matrix. All are part of what might be described as a powerful Intellectual Engine, one which, if it were a nutcracker, should be capable of cracking some pretty hard nuts.

Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that this Engine is but a prototype. I hope that its release to the World will encourage others to descend upon it, take it apart, improve, update, and extend its various parts, and perhaps even replace it completely with something better.

So this book attempts to dive into some pretty deep waters -- the reader is advised to plunge only when equipped with the lifebelt of commonsense and the scuba gear of logical reason. In its consideration of society, this book is not about what is moral, but about what morality is; not about what we should do, but about what we could do; and in the final analysis, it is about what 'we' means.

And now, on to the fray . . .



First chapter: What is Matrix Thinking?

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Last update '02 Apr 10