Re: trendy left

["James R. Olson, jr." <jhavok@xxxxxxxx>]

At 05:43 PM 3/1/97 -0500, you wrote:
>At 11:31 AM -0800 3/1/97, GREG RANSOM wrote:
>
>>'sophisticated' Marxist con-
>>spiracy theorizing.
>
>Is any analysis that examines things at a higher level of social
>aggregation than atomized individuals a form of "conspiracy theorizing"?
>
>
Think about flocking algorithms.  Reactions of members of the flock to
those around them produce an order, despite the unawareness of the
individuals of that order.  Human flocking is complicated by 1) awareness
of the order and 2) denial of flocking mechanisms and 3) attempts to take
advantage of them.

Conspiracy-like patterns can be produced without conscious collusion, as in
for instance, news production. There are too many actors for a conspiracy
to be maintained, yet the self-interest of the actors produces a
conspiracy-like suppression of outside views.

Not to say that there aren't actual cartels, and conspiracies...