[P2P-F] Fwd: Synthesis - Chinese Thinking and Complexity

Fri Apr 26 18:06:39 CEST 2013

Dear all,
I find very interesting your remarcs about the different mindsets of Westerners and Chinese. I, ve been studying our Westerner mindset for decades, and one of the first aspects that hit me was our self assured assumption that we "know" the world, that we assume to be the way we describe it. An example> I suppose most of us has read the American Declaration of Independence>"...we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal...and they are endowed... with inalienable rights...life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" (I am writing by memory, excuse me any inaccuracy). What surprised me at the time of my first contact with the text is that most, if not all of the signants of the Declaration were slave owners: no one found it necessary, following such solemn words, to free their slaves. No one found it necessary to change the wording (" all white men are created equal" for instance ) and nobody, among the millions who applauded
 their words, were surprised, or suspicious of the contradiction.
  In the French newspaper Le Monde, about 40 years ago, a French teacher talked about her perplexity when, while teaching Descartes in Burkina Fasso, her students found Descartes increasingly  funny, and when she asked about the reason of their amusement they answered: "He speaks like the typical white guy: full of self assurance, knowing the words and using them to carry what he wants them to carry".
There are many similar examples of our inconsistencies, and this aspect might very well be related to what you call complexity, or rather, in our case, lack of it.
Thrilling, isnt it?
A pleasure to be able to talk to you about it, thanks
                                                                               Carmen

________________________________
 De: Michel Bauwens <michel at p2pfoundation.net>
Para: p2p-foundation <p2p-foundation at lists.ourproject.org> 
CC: Nicolás Mendoza <nicolasmendo at gmail.com> 
Enviado: Domingo 17 de marzo de 2013 21:16
Asunto: [P2P-F] Fwd: Synthesis - Chinese Thinking and Complexity

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Greg Fisher <greg.fisher at synthesisips.net>
Date: Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 8:40 PM
Subject: Synthesis - Chinese Thinking and Complexity
To: Michel Bauwens <michel at p2pfoundation.net>

Dear Michel,                                                                                                      

Chinese Thinking and Complexity

"...when I talk about Complexity theory with fellow Westerners who are unaware of complex systems, I sometimes feel they think me insane because my framing sits uncomfortably with their view of the world.  Equivalently, when I have the same conversation with Chinese people, they often think me insane because what I am saying is blindingly obvious."

At a conference I attended last week in Singapore, a question occurred to me about whether the Chinese mind-set is more conducive to Complexity theory than the Western mind-set.  At the conference, research was presented suggesting there was a material difference between the two.  I discuss this in the article, concluding that it might well be that the Chinese tend to think more "complexly" than Westerners. 

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Best wishes,

Greg Fisher
Managing Director
Synthesis IPS

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