Lou Gold wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 4:01 amActually, the questions of structure are more complex. They would also have to include the patterns of wealth and power that largely determine the course of collective actions taken by a society. In this sense (but not necessarily in ultimate truth) we really do seem to have a mix, as when Jesus says, "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."
This just speaks to my point above that while BK's model is isomorphic to the structures of the natural world, e.g. the structure of a bee hive, such structure can't necessarily be extrapolated to the world of monetary wealth and political power, as these are based in metacognition, which is implicated in those natural structures being disrupted rather than propagated. So when you say that BK's model lacks structure, if instead what you mean to say is that it can't be extrapolated to account for the chaotic disruptive effect of metacognition on such natural structures, then I'd suggest that is not what his model is intended to address, as it only tends to address how we got to that point. So what you really find lacking in his model is your own PolSci conditioning, affinity and projection. Not surprisingly, you get truly turned on when he writes pieces in which he rips into the corrupted metacognition of Vatican politics, or other such dysfunctional quagmires that make a bee hive look like a model of ideal inter-beeing. In that regard, BK joining in with the likes of many other political commentators offering their preconditioned opinions doesn't do much for me.
As for Neil Thiese being totalling in sync with BK's version of idealism, I only know that he is familiar with it, having attended some of the same conferences, like Sages and Scientists, SAND, etc, and having sat on panels with BK listening to, and to some extent supporting his arguments. They've also both collaborated with Menas Kafatos, so there is that too. But if he fully grasps and embraces BK's ideas I can't claim to know for sure. As I recall, he also has an affinity for Kabbalah, given his cultural heritage.