Markus Stocker bio photo

Markus Stocker

Between information technology and environmental science with a flair for economics, the clarinet, and the world of soups and salads.

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In Chaos theory, an attractor is a “set of states of a dynamic physical system toward which that system tends to evolve, regardless of the starting conditions of the system.” A Chaotic system is an example of a Complex system and I hope stating that life is a Complex meta-system of Complex systems is not completely nonsense.

Sometimes I feel like my opinions, beliefs, views tend toward a particular state, as if there is an attractor for them. Perhaps, being life a Complex meta-system this is not all that surprising.

I use to read a number of blogs on economics. I love to let my three neurons spin around libertarian views or the writings of free marketeers on energy. I’m always amazed on the virtuosity of explaining every complex phenomena with what looks like a quite brilliant view built on top of a rather small set of axioms. You know, there is an unregulated market and there are humans, self-interested agents who engage in trade to reach Pareto optimality where any change to make one better off would make the other worse off. There it is hidden, the attractor for opinion, like a colorful Easter egg amidst grass and flowers of a garden.

I think, economists are marvelous at this. Though, by far not alone. Computer scientists model human knowledge in data bases, or logic based knowledge bases. You know, there are concepts, roles and individuals and they dance together to capture knowledge; Your knowledge, my knowledge, the knowledge in cancer research, what we know about world cities, what your calendar knows about you that you always forget.

Recently, I read some books on (the history of) Feminism. I suppose, every -ism is a curious example for such attractors for opinion. For Feminism, the opinion seems that of an all-encompassing patriarchal reality, at worst a belief for misogyny hidden in every male activity, in the very existence of male gender; opinions of misandry on misogyny – the marvel of opinion-attracting-Easter-eggs hating each other’s colors, worse, existence.

Sometimes I ask myself what is wrong with this. I believe, there is something fundamentally flawed with those attractors for opinion, no matter how beautifully colored the Easter eggs. They seem to use a set of equations to explain, ideally, everything. This seems to be an awfully incomplete modeling.

I think, Gautama might have expressed a more clear view on not to take a view,

To hold onto any particular view is to freeze Reality, to try to encapsulate the world into thought. To take a view is like taking a snapshot – you’ve frozen the scene right there. (Steve Hagen)

What is a view on not to take a view?

I suppose, I’m trying to encapsulate «not to take a view» into thought.