[Fis] THE ROOTS OF MODERN CIVILISATION
Pedro C. Marijuán
pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com
Sat Jan 7 14:21:40 CET 2023
Dear Plamen & FISers,
Thanks a lot for the opening text. It is thoughtful essay that
synthesizes so many threads of thought. The emphasis on the monastic
system as the first vertebration of Europe, giving rise to what later on
would be the Western civilization and the expansion to the globalized
world of today, is totally shared. About the title, the term "roots" is
quite meaningful to promote and articulate the discussion. In this
initial response I will focus on two main aspects.
First, about "roots" themselves. I continue with this significant
metaphor, applying it generationally. I mean, every generation
approaches the civilization "tree" and makes some adjustment in its
branches and roots. Branches would be more apparent than consequential
(fashions, codes, tastes, etc., think on music e.g.). Roots are those
fundamental underground elements that deeply affect the way of thinking
and the way of life. So, cutting some of them, or letting them rotting,
may represent a risky civilization experiment. As Plamen has implied in
the Intro and the Conclusions, we are in the middle of one of these
dangerous historical experiments. There is now a widespread criticism
and rejection of the whole values and knowledge that have taken us up to
this epoch. But or Pinker, Rosling and many others it is the most
benevolent and prosperous time for living in our planet. Personally I do
not quite share that optimism, but it looks closer to social realities,
and more rational, than the 'cancel' radicalism seemingly in vogue.
And second, about an interrogation. What external or internal factors
have pushed societies in these new 'negative' directions. Very briefly
and echoing McLuhan, I would point to media, Internet, and social
networks. The new generation (millenials or Z, or whatever they are
called) have passed their adolescence texting and texting hanged on the
screens of their mobiles. It has been a curious new way to access
sociality, to build and develop to what could be called their own
independent "sociotype". The result seemingly is increased anxiety and
intolerance, and diminished rationality. In "The Coddling of the
American Mind" : How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a
Generation for Failure" Lukianoff and Haidt develop in depth the psycho
'roots' of this strange new culture.
And I conclude, agreeing with the succinct analysis made below on the
troubles in our system of knowledge, for this is a fundamental root that
is getting cut or rotten or whatever --it is getting massified,
bureaucratized, and more uncreative. OK, but what about the other major
roots? If we also consider as fundamental roots the ecological
(&biomedical), the political-managerial, and the moral-religious (the
value system), what can we say?
Thanking again to Plamen for the inspiring text,
Best wishes to all --Pedro
El 06/01/2023 a las 12:49, Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov escribió:
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I wish you a HAPPY; HEALTHY AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR 2023 !
>
> It is my pleasure to announce, -- also on behalf of our generous and
> hard-working host Pedro C. Marijuan who has provided us with this
> forum of wonderful exchange for so many years (Hallelujah!), -- the
> opening of our New Year's discussion session under the topic THE ROOTS
> OF CIVILISATION. that will end on January 31st, 2023.
>
> I am eager and curious to read your ideas. Please feel free to share
> whatever comes to your mind.
>
> Here is the abstract with the focus and some idea we can
> extract/expect at the end:
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> THE ROOTS OF MODERN (WESTERN / EUROPEAN) CIVILISATION
>
> INTRO: We are living today in uncertain times with multiple
> overlapping human-made crises which an advanced civilization is
> supposed to anticipate and prevent -- ecology, epidemics,
> overpopulation, economy with disproportional energy and resources
> consume, cultural and generational polarization, even questioning
> science, moral values and an individual’s identity. Furthermore,
> ideologically led old ghost teachings of division, conflict and
> confrontation among social groups and utopic tech visions for
> remodeling and resetting the world with unpredictable consequences are
> contributing to the overall confusion and wrong choices, thus
> deepening the crises even more. Could we look back at the past for
> some lessons?
>
> THE MAGISTERY OF HISTORY: There have been many episodes of
> civilization crises along human history. Each one of them has left a
> "recipe" in our collective memory of how to overcome it. Maybe this
> time things have become too complex and multi-faceted, like society
> itself. Or maybe an evil intention is lurking behind? There are so
> many different aspects at multiple levels in social life all over the
> world that have been increasingly challenged by our tunnel vision on
> technology oriented towards more production/profit and less
> cleaning/reuse/benevolence, away from a stable equilibrium
> (“homeostasis”). They need to be reorganized coherently and in a
> commonly agreeable way, not in one imposed by self-proclaimed
> authorities who got used to changing long established definitions and
> rules of conduct following their own agenda. This takes time, of
> course, as it has always been. What about looking for lessons to learn
> from the past, or at least to obtain some orientation in order to make
> the right decisions in this difficult time? This appears to be more
> reasonable than starting to invent novel directive-guided solutions
> from scratch deploying not yet proven as safe technologies in a
> trial-and-error fashion. We have an intriguing proposal for you. Let
> us focus on a fascinating period in human history and find out how the
> Western world was rebuilt and reintegrated from the ruins of the Roman
> Empire.
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=1708__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Ry1bD5y3DBLOojqNM9ug4J3MQk7ku4Oe59bxUlTBrYFItRp5ZFjl-MiiVX2iKLeB8O-_YfT8kMwLLbArZVuLpuvJKlGh$
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=1708__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Rg9EurD0-ICyn68-QPfWNXtUmZH8tNOYk7zRY33Dy7GGR2nVCGcIUyhiRCktmagzi0QscagoZaBpzu6YLWoXVIMjd4Ya$>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire-paved-the-road-to-modernity__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Ry1bD5y3DBLOojqNM9ug4J3MQk7ku4Oe59bxUlTBrYFItRp5ZFjl-MiiVX2iKLeB8O-_YfT8kMwLLbArZVuLpmZT9EWa$
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire-paved-the-road-to-modernity__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Rg9EurD0-ICyn68-QPfWNXtUmZH8tNOYk7zRY33Dy7GGR2nVCGcIUyhiRCktmagzi0QscagoZaBpzu6YLWoXVOOlOPg8$>
>
> THE MONASTIC SYSTEM - A GREAT IDEA. A handful of people may be
> credited with the design and realization of this truly civilization
> project. During its golden ages, Rome was defended by more than
> 200,000 legionaries, but after its fall in 466 AD they were replaced
> by other, more powerful spiritual warriors. They gradually covered the
> fragmented (Western) Europe and expanded Christianity through
> missionaries in the North by a coherent space of several thousand
> Catholic Benedictine monasteries that peacefully preserved and
> cultivated education, technology, economy, medicine, law, art and
> moral values that integrated the wisdom of the classical antiquity
> (Rom and Greece) and enlightened the local communities through the
> Dark Ages. Their success in ameliorating and guiding the human spirit
> paved the way for the urban "cloisters" of universities during the
> Renaissance Era (XII century ff.) where the seeds of science found
> their fruitful grounds to grow. Thus, several major crises, incl.
> alien invasions, the plague, internecine wars and famines were
> overcome thanks to this new resilient social scaffold.
>
>
> In Eastern Europe, theRoman-Byzantine Empire in Constantinople,
> although shrunk through the waves of plague and foreign invasions,
> survived for almost 1000 years thanks to expanding Christianity and
> culture to its new neighbor and rival, but also ally at times in the
> North, the Bulgarian Empire. The latter developed the Cyrillic
> alphabet during the IX century AD, translated the holy
> books/prayers/songs in their language and began disseminating them to
> the other Slavic people in today’s territories of Serbia and
> Montenegro, Wallachia (Romania), Ukraine and Russia. When the
> Bulgarian 3 kingdoms and Constantinople surrendered in 1396 AD and
> 1453 AD to the Ottoman Empire, the conquered people on the Balkan
> peninsula continued to exist spiritually through a growing network of
> Christian Orthodox monasteries that kept the local communities
> together and finally led them to freedom through the national
> liberation movements in the XIX century.
>
>
> Both Eastern and Western Europeendured those crises, calamities and
> invasions because they maintained firm, sound civilization roots based
> on the monastic system, the universities and schools as education
> centers, and later on industrial corporations.From today’s viewpoint
> the monastic system is analogous to a modern resilient, redundant,
> fault-tolerant and flexibly configurable computer network,
> particularly with respect to its data storage and processing
> resources, capable of self-diagnosis and self-healing, a critical
> infrastructure per se. If a monastery was destroyed or burned, the
> monks escaped with most of their valuable books and artefacts via safe
> routes to neighboring monasteries, where they could be preserved,
> replicated and distributed again.
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_script__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Ry1bD5y3DBLOojqNM9ug4J3MQk7ku4Oe59bxUlTBrYFItRp5ZFjl-MiiVX2iKLeB8O-_YfT8kMwLLbArZVuLpicv6FjC$
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_script__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Rg9EurD0-ICyn68-QPfWNXtUmZH8tNOYk7zRY33Dy7GGR2nVCGcIUyhiRCktmagzi0QscagoZaBpzu6YLWoXVNiPvsKe$>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/boyana-church__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Ry1bD5y3DBLOojqNM9ug4J3MQk7ku4Oe59bxUlTBrYFItRp5ZFjl-MiiVX2iKLeB8O-_YfT8kMwLLbArZVuLpoBl7Jav$
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/boyana-church__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Rg9EurD0-ICyn68-QPfWNXtUmZH8tNOYk7zRY33Dy7GGR2nVCGcIUyhiRCktmagzi0QscagoZaBpzu6YLWoXVNLujNTC$>
>
> THE SUCCESS OF THE WESTERN WORLD: Arguably, what we call cultural
> Renaissance followed by scientific and industrial revolutions were an
> evolutive product of medieval society and the era of great
> geographical discoveries in the New Worlds beyond Europe, North Africa
> and Asia. Quite probably, they were only possible thanks to the first
> missionary globalization and peaceful goods exchange along the silk
> trade route following the pattern of the Antique World trade across
> the territories surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Spain and Portugal
> brought to Europe not only spices and silk, but also fundamental
> technologies from Asia (gun powder, magnetic compass, paper,
> porcelain), and later on a regular maritime trade routes from China
> via Philippines and Mexico over the Atlantic that were active for more
> than 250 years before Holland, France and England became colonial
> powers dominating the sea trade, yet at the price of slavery and
> exploiting the native population. The further role of science and
> technology in the task of changing Western societies was awesome,
> perhaps with the infamous Cartesian breach between science and the
> humanities, which no doubt has delivered a biased conception of our
> rationality limits and led to awful ideological misunderstandings that
> are absent in oriental civilizations.
>
> BACK TO THE PROBLEMS OF OUR TIME
>
> And here we are. In a world that again faces illnesses and adverse
> events from their anecdotic treatment to ask: “How is the state of our
> civilization and our roots today? What do we identify with today? Do
> we recognize the patterns that let us down before and now? Do we know
> what can reconcile and heal our multi-facetted society?”
>
> We modestly, as scientists recognizing the societal immune system,
> acknowledge the fact that we have the duty to contribute to recovering
> the system with coherent visions illuminating the "forking paths
> ahead" (as Borges put it). First of all, on our own turf -- the
> flagrant incoherence and misunderstandings around most fields where
> information and communication, meaning and knowledge, as well as
> collective intelligence need to be cleared up and nailed down. We need
> to clean up our own backyard on this planet and evolve to a new level,
> -- not necessarily a purely technocratic one, -- before we set off for
> new missions in space and meeting other civilizations out there.
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://interestingliterature.com/2021/07/jorge-luis-borges-the-garden-of-forking-paths-summary-analysis/__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Ry1bD5y3DBLOojqNM9ug4J3MQk7ku4Oe59bxUlTBrYFItRp5ZFjl-MiiVX2iKLeB8O-_YfT8kMwLLbArZVuLpkfY7vxN$
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://interestingliterature.com/2021/07/jorge-luis-borges-the-garden-of-forking-paths-summary-analysis/__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Rg9EurD0-ICyn68-QPfWNXtUmZH8tNOYk7zRY33Dy7GGR2nVCGcIUyhiRCktmagzi0QscagoZaBpzu6YLWoXVHm0PUvc$>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/william-shatner-space-boldly-go-excerpt-1235395113/__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Ry1bD5y3DBLOojqNM9ug4J3MQk7ku4Oe59bxUlTBrYFItRp5ZFjl-MiiVX2iKLeB8O-_YfT8kMwLLbArZVuLpjWoeB-H$
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/william-shatner-space-boldly-go-excerpt-1235395113/__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Rg9EurD0-ICyn68-QPfWNXtUmZH8tNOYk7zRY33Dy7GGR2nVCGcIUyhiRCktmagzi0QscagoZaBpzu6YLWoXVFp49Ast$>
>
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> With best wishes,
>
> Plamen
>
> ___ ___ ___
>
> *Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov*
>
> Director Research Integral Biomathics
>
> /InBioCe
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.simeio.org/focus/about/inbioce/__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Rg9EurD0-ICyn68-QPfWNXtUmZH8tNOYk7zRY33Dy7GGR2nVCGcIUyhiRCktmagzi0QscagoZaBpzu6YLWoXVEEpTrC0$>/ –**
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> Biomathics Centre
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.simeio.org/focus/about/inbioce/__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Rg9EurD0-ICyn68-QPfWNXtUmZH8tNOYk7zRY33Dy7GGR2nVCGcIUyhiRCktmagzi0QscagoZaBpzu6YLWoXVEEpTrC0$>
> /
>
> phone1: +1 (213) 822-7245
>
> phone2: +49 173 7816 337
>
> email: plamen at simeio.org <mailto:plamen at simeio.org>
>
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>
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> ibiomath.org
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> OurWorldInData.org/coronavirus
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> Scopus Author ID: 7006001629
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> ResearcherID: T-4786-2017
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