[From Rick Marken (980902.0800)]
Tim Carey (980902.0955) --
Incidentally, would this diagram cover both conflict and
cooperation by just changing the references? For example if
we both want the bucket half full this would seem to be
cooperation but if I want it half full and you want it full
then we would seem to have conflict.
I think _cooperation_ means a great deal more than having
two or more control systems with the same reference for the
same variable. I think cooperation means _intentionally_
getting to a state where this is the case. That is, I think
"cooperation" is a controlled perception; so it can only be
done by people who can _perceive_ cooperation and can act
in a way that keeps this perception under control. I don't
think it's cooperation when references align accidentally.
Cooperation is an intentionally produced result; not an
accident. If person A and B happen, by chance, to want a
couch lifted at exactly the same time and they both decide
to do this lifting from opposite sides of the couch so that
both, together, produce an intended result (lifted couch) that
neither could have produced alone, I would not call this
"cooperation"; I would call it a _remarkable_ coincidence.
If A and B had discussed lifting the couch beforehand and had
agreed to lift the couch (agreed to adopt the same references
for couch position) by lifting from opposite ends of the
couch (agreed to adopted different references for where they
would exert force on the couch) so that both, together, produce
the intended result (lifted couch), I would, indeed, call this
"cooperation".
The important part of cooperation, for me, is the _negotiation_
that goes on before the parties start to control for the
cooperatively produced results.
If "cooperation" just meant "alignment of the references of two
or more control systems" then we would have to say that the
alignment between references that we see in slavery (where the
slave aligns his references for picking cotton with the master's)
is as cooperative as the alignment we see in wage labor (where
the worker agrees to do certain work for certain pay). I think
there is a difference between the "cooperation" we see in slavery
and the "cooperation" we see in wage labor that most people
recognize and that is captured by the HPCT model of interacting
control systems.
Personal note: I've been reading "Making Sense of Behavior".
What a great book! I recommend it to everyone. The chapter on
perception is a particular mind blower. Bill has done an
extraordinary job of laying out the whole PCT enchilada -- data,
models, philosophy, practical applications -- in plain English.
Wonderful book, Bill. Thanks for doing it.
Best
Rick
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Richard S. Marken Phone or Fax: 310 474-0313
Life Learning Associates e-mail: rmarken@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken