I have had cause, as of late, to reread portions of what are considered “classic texts”. Why have I done so? There are certain texts that can now quite easily be seen quite prescient and being so may offer explanations as to some of our recent observations in The Social Machine. One of those Classic Texts (IMHO) is Daniel Bell’s The End of Ideology (1960).
Of his book Bell says (in a later essay that can be found in The Post Modern Reader ed. by Charles Jencks, 1992, Academy Editions, London) that one of its themes was to examine the role of technical decision making in Society. He goes on to say that technical decision making can be viewed as the exact opposite of ideology. The former (technical decision making - TDM) is calculating and instrumental with the later (Ideology - ID) being emotional and expressive.
If Bell was correct could it be possible that at least some of what we are seeing behaviorally in The Social Machine is at least one of the results of TDM within politics removing from political behavior the possibility of emotion and expression? To my mind this would constitute the removal of one of The Social Machine’s pressure release valves. If so, it would appear to make sense that we observe quite a bit of behavior that are the behaviors of Pure Ideologues driven by, what they believe to be, Pure Ideology. This is to ask the question if, as a result of what Bell calls TDM in Politics, whether consciously or subconsciously, there has been a default to almost total “extra-political behavior”.
Combine this observation with Political Science becoming a Behavioral Science (statistically driven) at about the time Bell is writing The End of Ideology … this might result in maybe a dot or two being connected. Just an idea …
I am curious to know if others at GDS are having thoughts about explanations of current Social Machine behaviors based on similar Classic Texts.