Measuring 'Progress'

There's all kinds of waffling all the time about social and economic progress.

I think it's easier to just consider two likely factors, based on empirical observation. Societies and economies that are said to have progressed relative to others are those with a higher information flux density or energy flux density.

For those less enamoured of technical-sounding terms, 'flux density' is a measure of the rate at which something flows through a cross-sectional area. So a high information flux density implies that a lot of information is flowing through a specific cross-section. The more 'units' (how ever measured) of information or energy flow through an average cross-section of the society being evaluated, the more 'socioeconomically progressive' it can be said to be.

Whether this is a valid formulation or not is still debatable. However, it's an interesting place to start — my personal thesis that socioeconomic progress can be measured by information and/or energy flux density, or some combination thereof.

Why would such measures be valid?

Well, if information is being transferred from node to node (that is, meaning is successfully conveyed — a la communication theory — from one place to another), then teaching and learning, and other social tools, are implied. The higher the density, the more likely it is that it is for some purpose; it is unlikely that a lot of information is being routed from point A to point B for no reason at all (except, perhaps, for back-up and other 'modern' purposes). If large amounts of energy (of any kind) are being transferred from point A to point B, it is also unlikely that it is being used for no reason at all (except, perhaps, for aesthetic purposes such as decorative lighting).

Although there will certainly be exceptions, the chance of social complexity, diversity of thought, and diversity of purposeful action being present should increase with the increase in these flux densities. In order to make this more robust, I'd propose that successful 'flow' should be measured in terms of what was sent at the transmitting end and what was used at the recipient end. So if someone sends me an email and it is routed to my junk folder and deleted, that doesn't count, since no information transfer in a practical sense has occurred.

Let's see how it goes...

National Education(al Technology Standards)

No, this is not about National Education.

Today as part of our course, we're being asked to take a look at the 2007 ISTE NETS.S — the National Educational Technology Standards for Students. (Link here.) I think these standards make perfect sense in a world where the primary information technologies are essentially digital and which are now a part of daily life.

We were asked to respond to the question, "What surprises you most about these standards? Why?"

I don't think much surprises me anymore. Looking at these standards, I am instead struck by a sense of how inevitable every one of them is. They are not just core ethical principles, but rather principles of a core ethic: the world in which we live has to be handled this way, or all will be chaos. Actually, the chaos bit is inevitable too, come to think of it; it's the management of the chaos which is important. As in the older Greek myths, and before that the Babylonian, power and will mould chaos into substance—and from substance comes the promise of better things.

We look towards a better age, it seems. The way we look at this age, however, is rather interesting. By the sheer fact of calendar change, the start of the 21st century is seen as some sort of incredible watershed in human progress. Organisations like the Partnership for 21st Century Skills seem to believe that human nature has changed so much that the kind of skills that would have been important in any century have been appropriated entirely by the 21st. Just look at this!

Congress

Etymological studies are often fraught with irony, as I've shown in the common root of 'slug' and 'slog' earlier on. Sometimes, the irony approaches a step at a time; this is the case with 'congress'. The Latin word gradus means 'step'; it can be seen in the words like 'gradual' (='stepwise') or 'graduate' (='move up a step').

But there's a whole bunch of words based around a modified version of gradus, the '-gress' version which is found in 'congress', 'progress', 'egress', 'digress', and 'regress'. 'Congress' has to do with 'step together'; 'progress' is 'step forward'; 'egress' is 'step out'; 'digress' is 'step away' and 'regress' is 'step backwards'.

That's probably why I once said, "I prefer egress to regress, and egrets to regrets." There is a whole ball of meaning in there which is best captured via haiku or some such. It is fascinating when a whole bunch of things congress and progress is thus made.

Kuru (Part 2)

The dream I had was very real. I remember the texture of the stone slabs, concrete with large jagged bits of stone and big grains of sand in it. I remember the smell of the sewers, the hissing of the drains; and as I walked the concrete paths between round-pillared façades, I smelled Chinese herbs and Indian spices, the smell of fat pork sausages and curing roast pork. I saw the cracks in the cement-coated floors, the grimy paint and grey whitewash; I saw the men in white singlets with holes in them, and khaki shorts.

When you have a dream like this, it is very real. It makes you think about labyrinthine ways that lead you back to where you were before, of the hollowing-out of small shops, the cramped quarters and the high houses which are falling apart. You think of what the mission used to be and what it has become. And you know that without the clean air, the fresh wind, it will all fall apart.

It is almost like extreme fear or like enlightenment; you wake up laughing and you wonder if you are crying and whether it matters or not. And you wonder if, with all those years left behind, washed away, washed up on another beach too far from home, you are not already too old to do anything about it.

Perhaps, nobody wants to do anything about it. Some people just want to move on, out of their lost neighbourhoods. They won't look back until somebody else has levelled the shameful old places and built new glass and steel and stone to replace them. It may have been home; then it became just a place, not even a memory. This is what progress is all about.

Journey to the West (Part 2)

It strikes me that you can sell snake oil in many ways, but that a few are somewhat eliminated if your clientele does its research. For example, if you sell Programme A that will make your wrinkles go away, but five years later, everyone is wrinkly and worse, then it isn't good to ride into town announcing that Programme A is very good and you should try it too.

It is interesting to see people make a purse out of a sow's ear. My very first thought on observing this ancient skill being practised again was that the plural of 'sow' is 'swine' and the plural of 'cow' is 'kine' and I am so lucky to be alive to see it all come to pastoral fruition in the fields of barley. I note that the Germans are very good at leatherwork, and their wallets of pigskin are actually quite lovely and last a long time.

The main problem, I suppose is that it is hard to show that a programme aimed at the top 10% is actually useful for the top 1%. In a large population, ideally, schools should cater to the top 0.01%, 0.1%, 1%, and 10%. This is because each group really has different needs. A person in the top 0.01% is more different from a person at the 1% level than a person at the 1% level is from a person in the 5% level or perhaps the 10% level. You can't use the same programmes for chemical engineers as well as sanitary engineers, and wordsmiths as well as locksmiths, unless both groups are equally competent or incompetent at the skill to be taught.

And that hasn't even touched the area of what learning really is, and how we can help differently-intelligenced (haha, I can be politically correct too) people do their best.

This then was Day Two. Oh yes, I actually bumped into the Head of Government and a couple of ministers. Unfortunately, this was at a rather sad event, at which we were all bidding farewell to a loyal and very loud-spoken servant of the state. Sigh.

Psalms 126-127: Building The Future

The previous readings from the Songs of Ascents talked about looking upwards. To some extent, that's what the faithful do all the time. But the readings for yesterday and today speak a lot about looking forward once the upward dimension has been acknowledged. Psalm 126, for example, says this:

When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.
The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

It is a song of release from the past; things done of old have had their consequences, but the penance is over and the work can begin. The work is not that of slavery, with no reward save the ending of pain; it is the work that bears fruit and builds for the future.

That theme of building is even stronger in today's reading, the well-loved 127th Psalm, which is a foundational hymn to many:

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

The main point here, however, is that progress towards the future is dependent on trust in the blessings of youth. As a more modern translation has it, "Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain," and "He brings sleep to those He loves." There is no point in rising early or toiling late without the understanding that you do it in a secure faith and a good conscience.

I've been blessed with the ability to sleep anywhere, at any time, in any place. Very rarely do I find myself too awake to sleep; and these occasions are certain indicators that whatever is wrong has to do with my own errors. The downside also comes in that when others are talking without an end in sight, I tend to fall asleep as well. As Earthsea author Ursula Le Guin once famously said, "When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep."

Of course, one shouldn't sleep too much; that way lies the defeat of the sluggard. But hoarding one's energies while all other avenues are fruitless is wise.