Chaos As Social Order

or basin of attraction provides more scope for choice and each different piece brings more pieces with it.  Moreover, it seems clear that the only linear systems in social life are those like railroad tracks and contracts that require human will and energy in an attempt to establish and maintain order without variation, that is, without mixing and folding.  Boycotts, strikes, renegotiations of contracts and collusions between prisoners and guards show, however, that even in these high stakes’ social contexts there is no guarantee of linearity.

            When we leave the regimes of established and enforced lines, channels, and hallways and enter edges, transition zones, and liminal spaces, moreover, initial conditions of human trajectories cannot be determined with any certainty.  If they are, then there has been a deliberate and arbitrary reduction–collapse, renormalization–of degrees of freedom experienced socially as options.  Even with such a reduction, the infinities of preference open to humans throughout society reintroduce uncertainties which must again be reduced in order to satisfy the requirements of linearity.  This rhythmic layering of recursive oscillations, of mixing and folding operations, and of deliberate attempts at reductive linearization can be seen in four concrete social situations:  1.  Endangered Tongues; 2.  Moral Basins; 3.  Assassination; and, 4.  Cyberspace.

1.  Endangered Tongues.  Off and on since the late 70’s, I have done various kinds of projects with the Athabascan Indians in Interior Alaska.  One of these projects involved constructing a survey to gather the opinions of Tribal members on questions of indigenous language preservation. 

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