Metasocionics: Ni

[Exodus]

ok, so now I'm done with socionics discussion and am moving on to metasocionics: the analysis of socionics in terms of socionic concepts. For example, as seen through Ni, each element has become more well-developed (more differentiated, more general in scope) in not just individuals, but in humanity as a whole over the course of history.

Examples:

Ti: Mathematics is Ti in its purest form. Because of Godel's incompleteness theorem, we now know that certain problems cannot be answered by logical analysis. The boundary between metamathematics and mathematics is less clear than it once was. Computer programming allows mathematical structures to be directly realized. As for the practical sphere, new forms of government have arisen: democracy creates order directly from chaos. The creation of the EU proves that international organization is possible, beneficial, and perhaps inevitable.

Te: Modern industrialism started in the Industrial Revolution, but since then means of production have become ridiculously efficient. Supermarkets, drug stores, and assembly lines. You can buy almost everything you need over the internet without ever leaving your house. The internet makes library research a thing of the past.

Se: We now have near-total control over the entire planet, and are preparing to expand to the rest of the solar system. We have little to nothing to fear from nature. Any threats that exist--such as asteroid collision--we are working on.

Si: Environmentalism (including the Gaia hypothesis) is a recent invention. More importantly, biology (and specifically bioengineering) will create dramatic changes to how we ensure our health. In connection with the developments in Se, even natural disasters, famine, and drought now have only local effects on the human race, and do not affect its overall balance. Modern medicine (and especially modern sanitation, which was unknown just a few centuries ago) has eradicated many major diseases.

Ne: The internet allows anybody to learn anything they want about anything, and to discuss it like we're doing here. The rise of the layman, but also ultraspecialization in academia (partly Te).

Ni: Books, and later video games and virtual reality let us create artificial worlds that were previously just the products of our imagination. People now realize that existentialism and nihilism capture an essential part of reality. Sci-fi and futurism.

Fe: Television increases the impact and audience of oratory a bazillionfold. Movies, music, TV, and other media provide new ways of getting through to people. Speech-writing, stand-up comedy become a profession.

Fi: We are rethinking the outdated institution of marriage, which is already taken much less seriously than the feelings and the bond it is supposed to represent. Pets are a way of creating a kind of small relationship that is impossible in a primitive society. Online dating lets us meet people we would otherwise never have the chance to meet. The media inundates us with stories about celebrity relationships. Homosexuality is no longer taboo (though this is more a culture-specific thing). People have much more choice in general about what relationships they want to have.

[tcaudilllg]

Timely.

[Expat]

Maybe I'm quibbling, since I like the general idea of your post, but I think some examples lack historical perspective.

As for the practical sphere, new forms of government have arisen: democracy creates order directly from chaos. The creation of the EU proves that international organization is possible, beneficial, and perhaps inevitable.

I think it proves nothing of the sort. The EU is the result of a specific historical development; even though many Europeans - and above all eurocrats - love to say things of the sort, especially "proving" that Europe is some sort of superior civilization, the fact remains that the European countries decided to cooperate only after the near mutual self-destruction in the period 1914 - 1945 (or perhaps even before that). And even after 1945, it was a result of forced economic cooperation (freer trade was one of the conditions for Marshall Plan grants) nd of French delusions of grandeur (who until 1995 or therabouts still thought that France would remain the "natural leader" of the EU. And of the wish to find a role between the US and USSR superpowers - such a thinking played a very big role.

So, possible, beneficial, yes -- inevitable, no. That remains to be seen.

[FDG]

I think Expat should take a part-time job as an history professor. Seriously, most of the one's I've had are incompetent in comparison to him.

[Blaze]

thehotelambush: cool post. i've been thinking about things like this myself.

on internet dating: i know many many people at this point who met via the internet and either moved in together or got married. some are having children. people are becoming more relationally sophisticated and dating has become much more efficient. the gene pool is being mixed differently via the internet in other words. many internet dating services are using personality typing to assist people in finding a compatible mate. connections are being made on the basis of compatibility rather than family interest. Living with a highly compatible person increases our efficiency...leaving more energy to produce more and better information.

on work: we are working more than ever. men and women both work while children go to daycare. we work more hours and take less vacation. it's full throttle. we are producing more and more and more information. futures similar to "The Matrix" are not hard to imagine.

on aging: not all organisms die as quickly as we do. some fishes and amphibians eat their young and so take a long time to pass on their genetic codes...we are genetically programmed to die so as to free up resources for our offspring. aging creates increased efficiency in the evolutionary use of time since there are more generations alive at the same time,j and the organism evolves more quickly. when old, human beings create a "swan song" with which they pass on their life's knowledge to the next generation.

our primary evolutionary goals are to create offspring and to create knowledge. we are only vehicles being used for something larger.

[Exodus]

Maybe I'm quibbling, since I like the general idea of your post, but I think some examples lack historical perspective.

As for the practical sphere, new forms of government have arisen: democracy creates order directly from chaos. The creation of the EU proves that international organization is possible, beneficial, and perhaps inevitable.

I think it proves nothing of the sort. The EU is the result of a specific historical development; even though many Europeans - and above all eurocrats - love to say things of the sort, especially "proving" that Europe is some sort of superior civilization, the fact remains that the European countries decided to cooperate only after the near mutual self-destruction in the period 1914 - 1945 (or perhaps even before that). And even after 1945, it was a result of forced economic cooperation (freer trade was one of the conditions for Marshall Plan grants) nd of French delusions of grandeur (who until 1995 or therabouts still thought that France would remain the "natural leader" of the EU. And of the wish to find a role between the US and USSR superpowers - such a thinking played a very big role.

So, possible, beneficial, yes -- inevitable, no. That remains to be seen.

Yes, that's why I qualified inevitable. But I think with increasing globalization some form of international organization (if not the EU itself) is going to be necessary.

I also think there are probably better examples for Fi, since the ones I gave don't really seem to be so radically progressive.

on aging: not all organisms die as quickly as we do. some fishes and amphibians eat their young and so take a long time to pass on their genetic codes...we are genetically programmed to die so as to free up resources for our offspring. aging creates increased efficiency in the evolutionary use of time since there are more generations alive at the same time,j and the organism evolves more quickly. when old, human beings create a "swan song" with which they pass on their life's knowledge to the next generation.

Yeah, that's a good one for Ni (which I assume you intended).