Coalescence and evolution

There is a lot of talk about controlling the narrative, and the object of this post is to point out why that is a fool's errand at the current point in time.

Society sits on two foundations:

• order and
• belief.

Both of these undergo a cycle that either progresses or is being reset. The phase in which it progresses shall be called evolution and the phase in which it is being reset coalescence.

The evolution of the belief cycle has three phases:

1. clarification of dogma,
2. institution of order,
3. cultural achievement.

While there is always order of some sort, the second phase of the belief cycle aims to find the perfect order according to the belief. Now, no task is ever finished, no dogma ever fully clarified, no order ever perfect, but at some point in time the consensus starts treating it as such. Hence by now our notion of progress doesn't extend over the belief cycle, whose final phase we have entered, but only over the so called functional cycle that describes the evolution of a specific order, e.c. the fibers that form a tree.

It is for the purpose of this post of no importance to understand the phases of the functional cycle through any particular lens, so I'll omit that. It suffices to understand that technological progress changes the concrete shape of the established order.

So, when I write progress in the following, I'm referring to the state of the art of occidental governance.

During the evolution of occidental governance (or any other, for that matter) the following sequence of conditions applies, starting with the most basic:

1. belief,
2. order,
3. progress,
4. Zeitgeist,
5. interpretation,

where interpretation names the act of publicly explaining the challenges and opportunities of the current situation, in other words the creation of the so called narrative, and Zeitgeist names the working of the belief through the believers, i.e. the tendency of the holy to manifest itself.

Interpretation is a measure of public control, because there are people of the sort of the swallow, that is their love depends on being cheered on (and thus they're ever chasing after peace). These then manifest the holy in a way that propaganda can steer, e.g. preferring one brand of computers over another.

That, and that alone, is the power of the narrative.

However, once the functional or the belief cycle in which it is embedded enters the phase of coalescence, the Zeitgeist will turn to analysis, in order to establish a platform around which the coalescence can occur.

And analysis is categorically different from interpretation, for it asks not what a specific situation entails, but what is valid in all situations. It asks not from a position of power, but from a position of helplessness. John Carpenter has accidentally captured the form that this analysis takes these days on the web, for this is the mother of all macros:

So, when people start asking themselves, what would serve them as a foundation for their future development, any contribution that highlights current duties and chances falls on deaf ears.

What is worth noting is that today's society hasn't enough evolutive spirit left to listen to the attempts of the helpless to renew the common basis with a sense of pity, the sort of pity a homeless man engenders, who holds up a sign reading: The end is near. The sort of pity that is willing to give his arguments some thought.

Of course, one shouldn't ignore the nature of the coalescing process: That is as well as depicted in They Live, a long hard brawl to win over the other side to one's point of view (Ain't love grand?)

Still, today's public discourse feels like being held in a vice: on the one hand narratives aimed at a cynical public and on the other established principles masquerading as the analysis of the needy.

History does of course teach us that all arrangements depend on sufficiently powerful groups reaching a consensus, and something like that lies ahead of us as well, but so far the public isn't in any condition to participate in it. I do expect however that that will change.