SUMMARY OF “CHANGING IMAGES OF MAN” EDITED BY MARKLEY & HARMAN,
1982.
Prepared by The Center for the study of Social Policy / SRI
International.
SYSTEMS SCIENCE WORLD ORDER LIBRARY
Explorations of World Order.
Introduction - in 1968 the U.S. Office of Education launched 2
research centers in an ambitious undertaking to “investigate
alternative future possibilities for the society and their
implications for educational policy.” One of these Educational
Policy Research Centers (EPRC) as they were called, was
established at Syracuse University, the other at SRI
International (Stanford Research Institute). Of some 50 highly
plausible future histories, only a handful were by usual
standards desirable (Harman, 1969). Problems like population
growth, resource depletion, and pollution were addressed. “We
have met the enemy and he is us!” The researchers came from a
variety of backgrounds ranging from humanities and social
sciences to engineering and physics. The societal consequences
of changing images of humankind. Enormous significance that
emerging changes in psychosexual norms and premises have for
future society.
Chose to focus on the challenges and opportunities facing the
Western man, and particularly American man. Attempt to derive
guidelines for action by foundations, corporations, government
agencies, and voluntary associations.
- If we see ourselves as separate from nature -
exploitation ethic.
-If we see ourselves part of nature - ecological ethic.
- If we see ourselves as physical beings - non-physical
aspects will be ignored.
- If we see ourselves as complete and fixed -adapt
ourselves and our institutions.
Successes Problems
Mort rate down Aging pop. Overpop
Machines doing jobs Unemployment
Eff prod systems Dehumanization
Growth Depletion and pollution
Satisfaction of basic needs Rising expectations
Human choice Control of human choice
Expanded wealth “Have and have-nots”
5 functions are important for people.
- Mystical.
- Cosmological.
- Sociological.
- Pedagogical.
- Psychological.
- Editorial.
2 additional functions.
- Political.
- Magical.
Multifold Trend (Kahn & Bruce-Briggs, 1972).
1. Increasing sensate cultures (basically non-religious
cultures).
2. Bourgeois, bureaucratic, and meritocratic elites.
3. Centralization and concentration of economic and political
power.
4. Accumulation of scientific and technical knowledge.
5. Institutionalization of innovations.
6. Increasing military capability.
7. Westernization.
8. Increasing affluence.
9. Urbanization.
10.Decreased importance of primary and secondary occupations and
increasing importance of tertiary and quaternary occupations.
11.Increasing education.
12.Population growth.
13.Innovative and manipulative social engineering.
14.Increasingly universality.
15.Increasing tempo of change in all above.
Scource Date Dom Image Cultures
Mid paleol 250-40KBC Hunter. Male.
Upp paleol 30-15KBC Spiritual Am indian
Neolithic Aft 9KBC The planter. Woman. Hindu
Sumerian 3500 BC Civilized. Elites ruling Most cultures
Semite 2350 BC Serve God as a slave. Jew,chr,Islam
Zoroastrian 1200 BC Free will Western
Age of Polis 500 BC Karma, death, rebirth Hindu, Buddha
Confucius-superior man China
Slave Chr, Islam
Gre-hero,scie,mystery Many cultures
Early car&mus 100-622AD Slave, serve Abraham rel
Ind rev 1500 AD “Economic man” Ind nations
Mod Soc Sci 1900 AD Evolution Ind nations
Mod Beh Sci 1913 AD Hum as “mechanism” USA
Mod transdis 1945 AD Adaptive. Learning.
Various times Spirit Most cultures
An American Dilemma by Gunnar Myrdal (1945) was struck
particularly by near unanimous national endorsement of a
coherent body of beliefs and values, an image of humankind whose
characteristics he termed “the American Creed.”
Underlying issues and dimensions.
- Free will.
- Good versus evil.
- Man and Nature.
- Mind versus Matter.
- Mortal versus Immortal.
- Divinity of Human Beings.
- Individual versus Society.
- Morality, Ethics, and Regulation.
“The way I look at it, there’s a price tag on everything. You
want a high standard of living, you settle for a low quality of
life” (J.B. Handelsman).
Science - the spirit of science is that of open, unbiased
inquiry into whatever interests the investigator.There are no
taboo topics (Dubos 1972). “All great truths begin as
blasphemies.
Low-level radiation has been found to affect adversely important
parameters of human functioning such reaction time, mood, and
the rates of biological processes (Adey 1972, Kruger 1973,
Fischer 1966).
Psychedelic drugs like LSD, mescaline, psilocybin can improve.
- Psychotherapy.
- Creativity.
- Improve symptoms during terminal illness.
- Transcendency.
- Hyperawareness.
- Parapsychological abilities.
Paradigm change.
1. Inclusive.
2. Eclectic.
3. Systematization.
4. Open inquiry.
5. Moral inquiry.
6. Principle of complementarity.
7. Level of consciousness.
8. More unified view of human.
3 dimensions on a “Gradient of Awareness (hierarchy)” (Maslow,
Kohlberg).
Awareness Needs Moral
High level 5. Self-actualiz 6. Uni ethical princ
4. Esteem 5. Social understanding
4. Authoritarian
Normal level 3. Belongin & love 3. Conformist
2. Safety 2. Instrumental relativist
Subconscious 1. Physiological 1. Obedience & fear
New paradigms from Old.
- Intuitively rather than rationally based.
- Reformulate rather than replace ideas.
- Timing is very important.
Increasing number of technical symposia and ad hoc groups are
being formed on the theme of survival-motivated symposia.
- World Order Project.
- The Club of Rome.
- The Blueprint for Survival Project.
- The International Institute of Applied System Analysis.
- Projects of the National and World Council of Churches.
“Life does not need comfort, when it can be offered meaning, nor
pleasure, when it can be shown purpose.”
Human Image - historically
1. Hobbesian man - machines.
2. Economic Man - rationalistic and materialistic.
3. Freudian Man - driven by eros.
4. Ethological Man - territory, aggression, hunting.
5. Behavioristic Man - actions completely determined by
hereditary and environmental functions.
Gross describes 1970:
… a new form of garrison state, or totalitarianism, built by
older elites to resolve growing conflicts of post-industrialism.
Society is ruled by faceless complex of warfare-welfareindustrial-
communications-police bureaucracies caught up in
developing a new-style empire based on technocratic ideology, a
culture of alienation, multiple scapegoats, and competing
control networks…Pluralistic in nature, techno-urban fascism
would need no charismatic dictator, no one-party rule, no mass
fascist party, no glorification of the state, no dissolution of
legislature, no discontinuation of elections, no distrust of
reason…this style of management and planning would not be
limited to the economy; it would deal with the political,
social, cultural, and technological aspects of society as well…
The key theme therefore, would not be the managed economy, but
rather, the managed society.
There are already signs of emergence of key elements in Gross’s
“friendly fascist” scenario,
- Application of military surveillance technologies to
urban police problems.
- Utilization of behavior-changing drugs and operant
conditioning in schools.
- “Personality screening” and managements of files on “predelinquent”
children, through cooperation between elementary
school administrations and local, state, and federal
authorities.
- The cross-correlation of computer-based files containing
personal data (credit, employment, tax, insurance, criminal
record, education).
Of special interest to the Western world is that Freemasonry
tradition which played such a significant role in the birth of
the United States of America, attested to by the symbolism of
the Great Seal (on the back of the dollar bill). In this version
of the transcendental image, the central image, the central
emphasis is on the role of creative work in the life of the
individual. (In “true Freemasonry” there is one lodge, the
universe - and one brotherhood, everything that exists. Each
person has the “privilege of labor,” of joining with the “Great
Architect” in building more noble structures and thus serving in
the divine plane.)
B.P. March 2024
