Capra: Hidden Connections [book]

Concept/Connection 1

Recognize that there is an important link between matter and process. This is a departure from the Cartesians (starting with "I think therefore I am") who see the brain and the mind as separate areas of study. Capra argues that they truly are aspects of one and the same system.

Similarly, The Santiago Theory of Cognition connects this process of cognition with the essense of life itself. With this and other series of metaphor, I think Capra is drawing the conlucsion that just as humans (a collection of cells working together) are a life form, a social network or community (a collection of humans working together) is also a life form in its own right.

In this same argument for what constitutes life, he seems to stress that pure cognition is not really what defines it, any more than DNA or RNA (which he argues out of the picture earlier on). Therefore, as I see his arguments laid out, a social network itself would be more of a life form than a truly conscious AI, or computer program that could exactly mimic every neuron capability in a human's brain.

Concept/Connection 2:

Process

/ \

Form ---- Matter

These are the three aspects that define anything. The fourth, overarching aspect which connects to all of them is Meaning (I can't draw the pyramid of the four aspects here, however), though meaning wasn't considered a legitimate aspect of the study of social sciences until the positivists of the time eased up on the "measuring" (echoes of the Capra article of weeks ago with the unhelpful stress on the measuring of things, which generally focuses on the 'matter' or sometimes 'form' because they are easiest to quantify and describe).

Interesting quote and example about the work of Giddens, who was one of the first to transition to more integrative theories of studying social phenomena:

The interaction between social structures and human agency is cyclical, according to Giddens. Social structures are both the precondition and the unintended outcome of people's agency. People draw upon them in order to engage in their daily social practices, and in so doing they cannot help but reproduce the very same structures.

For example, when we speak we necessarily draw upon the rules of our language, and as we use language we continually reproduce and transform the very same semantic structures. Thus social structures both enable us to interact and are also reproduced by our interactions. Giddens calls this the "duality of structure," and he acknowledges the similarily to the circular nature of autopoietic* networks in biology.

p78-79

*(simply, things that can create, or in this case continually re-create, themselves; this is what Capra feels is the defining characteristic of life)

Other

A section on power notes that having authorities (those that have the knowledge to make a decision and act) are sometimes necessary in a group which may encounter conflicts of interest. It is not by nature an evil, but if power passes to someone who is not an authority, it ceases to be helpful and becomes potentially exploitative.

While I found the other chapters interesting, I mostly skimmed them because I think the most clear ideas he has here relating to community and social theory are above. If I had more time, I would write up on the chapter "The Networks of Global Capitalism," as I am finding myself drawn again and again to this idea of "global community" (and finding in what ways that is not an oxymoron). However, for the scope of this class, and what I am trying to focus my research topic on, I will hold off :)