Human Engineering. The structure of our forms of representation (languages, etc.) was found to be of pivotal importance in the history of human cultures. With an engineering practical outlook, Korzybski had questioned: “Why is it that structures built by engineers do not, as a rule collapse, or if they do, then the physico-mathematical or other evaluational errors are easily discovered; yet social, economic, political, etc., systems, also man-made, do sporadically collapse in the forms of wars, revolutions, financial depressions, unemployment, etc.?” This led to the question: “What is it that engineers do neurologically when they build bridges, etc.?” The answer was: “They use a special, narrow but perfect language called mathematics, which is similar in structure to the facts they deal with, and which therefore yields predictable empirical results.” He then investigated what the builders of social, economic, political, and other insecure human structures do neurologically, and found that they employ languages (i.e., forms of representation) which are not similar in structure to the facts of science and life as known today. Consequently their results are unpredictable and disasters follow. Though the main facts of history are known, solutions of human problems have been blocked by pre-scientific, mythological, metaphysical dogmas which have prevented and continue to prevent the possibility of tracing fundamental errors.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 18:39:06 +0000
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