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Semantics derived from graph theory
Jorn Barger August 2005This is an experiment in grounding semantics in graph theory. The challenge is to introduce complications in the most effective sequence, but this discovery-process will require many false starts and much backtracking. (When it's done, though, it should serve as the root of a universal semantic indexing system. My best guess is that the deepest and richest startingpoints will be immunological identity and sexuality.)
We'll start by picturing each human on Earth as a node, six billion in all. (They incidentally have the ability to create child-nodes, and they're mortal, which we'll have to address later.)
Each person-node is connected by six billion unique relationship-lines to every other person-node. (In graph theory this is called a complete graph: Wiki)
The relationships have various qualities which are valued higher or lower by the end-node-agents, who strive to optimise them.
Optimisation can be cooperative or competitive. We'll consider competitive, zero-sum optimisations first.
If we picture the six billion nodes in a plane (flattening Earth's sphere, preferably using Fuller's trick) we can then assign the perpendicular dimension to one abstract measure of relationship quality, so that nodes that have achieved high-quality relationships by that measure are visualised as higher on this third dimension, while lower quality relationships are depicted as lower.
(If the quality we choose is material wealth, nodes in the USA will be higher than most of the rest of the world. If we choose qualities of health or happiness or authenticity, this imbalance may be reversed.)
The zero-sum competition in our simplified model means that the two nodes at the end of each relationship line are trying to elevate themselves and depress the other.
Wisdom here takes the form of increased skill at competition. Each node faces a Red Queen ultimatum: if your skills don't continually improve, you'll fall behind.
(Evolutionary biology considers this ultimatum (generalised to include every sort of natural agent, including viruses) the likeliest explanation of sex: predators will eventually get a fix on you that applies identically to your exact clones, so you should leave behind only approximate clones. You give your approximate clones the best advantage if you select a mate who's likely to contribute desirable genetic variants.)
Every action a node is capable of has its own potentials for advantage or disadvantage. These potentials depend in part on whether the actions are detected, and correctly interpreted, by other nodes.
Misdirecting others is a fundamental ploy for gaining advantage. (This is Robert Trivers' insight.) It may also be that misdirecting oneself, on some level, aids in misdirecting others.
If you can convince others that they're undeserving of advantage, but should instead work for your advantage, this is a big win. Vulnerabilities that can be exploited include all the usual targets of insults and compliments: sexuality, appearance, hygiene, intelligence, ancestry, etc. (These areas also show the fastest evolution of slang, as words lose potency and are replaced by new ones.) To resist this intimidation it may help to reject those dimensions of advantage altogether.
Many Westerners seem to suffer from deep longstanding unspeakable traumae to these vulnerabilities. These can usually be resolved thru meditation.
Many Western institutions seem designed to make ordinary people feel undeserving.
If one postulates that two nodes are equally deserving, a system of principles can be evolved to 'automate' the distribution of advantages.
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