More from the same source:
The other element of the necessary paradigm shift for humanity is that into systematic cognitive understanding of the role played by the physiology of emotion and the ways by which we can learn intelligent management of – and guidance by – our own emotion as the basis of all action whether constructive or damaging. As you point out in tribal times as there was limited knowledge whether cognitive or emotional those participatory systems operated on an intuitive basis which often went off the rails. So I have to agree that true and optimally intelligent participatory democracy is indeed an aspirational future.
Since those tribal days we have systematically developed our cognitive competence way beyond the level back then but our emotional competence has never been acknowledged as important so that no effort has been spent on developing it and we are no better at it now than we were back in the cave-man days.
On email exchanges: We need to know each other on a face-to-face basis as the underpinning of the most useful email exchanges. Nevertheless I have been fascinated and encouraged to receive a continuing dribble of responses to the chains of thinking going round from people with whom I have at most only ‘weak links’. [ The importance of such links for catalysing social tipping points was emphasised in Malcolm GLADWELL’s The TIPPING POINT: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference 2000 Abacus paperback Little Brown & Co UK . I have put together a 20pp summary of that book because I think the principles of social transitions described are valid and important. ] So I’m aware that there are people plugging in to our circular exchanges even though quite a few don’t know the correspondents personally or at best have only a weak link.