yellow line on one side, concrete piling on the other
People will organize themselves, especially when it is to their own benefit. People are aware when they are part of a large system, like a large traffic jam- if they don't see the cars behind them, they're irresponsible. They know that if they swerve or stop it could cost lives, way further back. Our behavior thus is a kind of calculating of the price of possibilities- we can change lanes, but only at a price; we can stop, but only at a price, etc.But these are different from restrictions. Restrictions are the concrete-aluminum siding bars that say: can't go there-at all. We don't even consider places where it's physically impossible. Yet there are far more places we choose not to go, if only because we know it's bad for the system, on a level far above us. The system won't absorb it, it won't be good.
Furthermore, there are random changes that the system likes, and these are perpetuated because they make everyone's life easier. People know when simplification will save them room, and make life easier. The only true restriction in language is: we really don't want to use more than part of our brain-space worrying about it. We don't want to, and we aren't going to, and since it's entirely in our control, we don't have to.
Labels: language, self-organized systems
posted by tom @ 10:32 PM
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