Quarreling Siblings

It is fairly common knowledge that there are two distinct, yet correlated forces that push and pull at our short time on earth, shaping who we become, what we believe, and every other possible outcome of our lives. Commonly labeled as the Nature vs. Nurture dispute, we are affected in every single aspect of our lives by cultural and natural influence. Like quarreling siblings, each fighting for their mother's attention, both forces constantly impact and influence our lives in endless and unimaginable ways. The book Ishmael covers the profound effect that each of these forces have on us, exponentially more eloquent than I could or care to explain it. It is this balance of forces that I find myself most fascinated with, and my philosophical quest of sorts is to find subtle ways in which the interplay of culture impacts our physical manifestations.

The more and more that Sebastian and I explore the vast, humbling universe we live in, the more we find patterns that emerge, and reoccurring concepts and symbology that has spread throughout human consciousness in ways we barely understand. The Golden Ratio (ϕ) for example. This post is not about the Golden Ratio, though. What I am trying to find is a way to map social interaction in the same way that the higher dimensional planes are represented. If I can figure out a way to map them similarly and find the underlying pattern between these two dialectically oppositional forces, it will be further proof that everything is connected in endless repeating patterns. Until I can achieve that connection, however, they remain separate and competing.

Social interaction is different from Reality in that no matter how deep you get with describing the infinite minutiae of space, it is nothing but that. Space. A stage. For whatever reason we made it this far, we are here now, the players on the stage. There is a school of thought in the field of quantum mechanics that suggests that reality depends on the existence of sentient observers, that if we or beings like us did not exist, then the universe would have no reality either. Unfortunately this, along with every other concept in quantum theory is to date unmeasurable, as there is no way to collect empirical data with our limited current technological abilities. Ignoring that fact, I can see how this "Tree Falling in the Forest" concept might explain existence. An empty chessboard is useless without the pieces to play with.

That being said, I am really interested in discovering ways in which human interaction, the very basic building block of our Cultural universe, can be compared to the quantum units of measurement used to describe the multi-dimensional reality of our physical universe. If you imagine a single conversation between two people as a line segment, a transfer of ideas would be the line connecting each person. This is how we interact at the most basic of levels, our social 3rd Dimension. This is the first established concept I have reached this far, and am extremely interested in how deeper relationships and interactions with society as a whole could be represented. This is my quest.

//Michael