Sociocultural Intelligence and PCT/SCT

CSGnet Archive CSG2011
1

While I am very new to this list server, I first wanted to thank each and every one of you for your commitment in understanding others and the study of PCT.

With that said, I am the author of the book, Sociocultural Intelligence: The New Discipline of Intelligence Studies through Continuum International Publishing Group. While I say this not in promoting my book; rather, because I see through you that I have missed a major milestone in my writings. This book is truly a tool for those in National Security but reaches numerous fields like medicine, law enforcement, business, etc. I believe even though the book was just released this past September, I need to write a second edition with a couple extra chapters. The first is understanding Perceptual Control Theory and the second would be Social Control Theory.

My question for the masses is this: Based off global current events, do you believe as a whole, the U.S. and its Western allies have failed in our own perception to the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia? If so, does this false perception constitute our failures in “Control?” Can you provide any scientific or theory based support on your thoughts of such which would emphasize the needs for learning not just PCT but also SCT?

Lastly, knowing the majority of the world faces a serious crisis with food, do you believe that the U.S. can implement some form of social control through deliveriables? I do not mean this through an elementary concept of social control rather through a nueroscientific concept based off nutritional factors that can manipulate the minds of societies through reduction or increase of high DHEA valued foods?

Crazy I am sure but there have been ongoing studies of U.S. Special Operators and their physiological, biological, and neurological profiles proving such are similar to violent criminals. Well, if all terrorists are criminals in nature than I assume the same cross comparison exists amongst SOF Forces and Terrorists. If we can identify and map geographical domains where the majority of our enemies come from today (referring to the tactical terrorist throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia), research their nutritional and exercise variables, cross compare, then implement passive non-kinetic activities such as specific food distribution, could we possibly reduce global threats from a PCT/Social Control Theory concept???

Ok, I am scattered in the winds here and I apologize so I applaud anyone who can provide any form of insight or understanding as to what I am getting at here…

Kerry Patton

2

[From Rick Marken (2011.02.01.1150)]

I believe even though
the book was just released this past September, I need to write a second
edition with a couple extra chapters. The first is understanding Perceptual
Control Theory and the second would be Social Control Theory.

What is Social Control Theory? Whatever it is, I don't see why such a
theory would be necessary once you have PCT, which is a model of all
the controlling done by living systems, individually and in groups
(social).

My question for the masses is this: Based off global current events, do you
believe as a whole, the U.S. and its Western�allies have failed in our own
perception to the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia?

What is a failed perception?

If so, does this false perception constitute our failures in "Control?"

Ah, so a "failed" perception is a "false" perception. I would say that
in PCT perceptions are always true, never false. Perception is the
only thing we can be sure of; it is our reality. In PCT (and in
Western scientific thought in general, I think) it's not the
perception that can be false but the explanation of the _basis_ of the
perception. In science, the explanations of what we perceive are
formal theories. In everyday life, the explanations of what we
perceive are informal "stories" we tell ourselves about why we are
experiencing what we are experiencing.

So I think what you must be asking is whether the US and it's allies
(actually, the people who consider themselves to be "the US and it's
allies") have had false explanations of what they perceive to be going
on in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. And to the
extent that these explanations are not informed by an understanding of
PCT (which I consider the best explanation of our perceptions of the
behavior of others) then, yes, many of the explanations of what is
going on in these regions are quite false.

As far as this having anything to do with control, I suppose that to
the extent that people want to control various aspects of what they
perceive going on in Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, then
to the extent that they do not have a correct PCT explanation of what
they perceive, they will not understand why their efforts to control
other people are likely to cause than to solve what they perceive as
problems.

Can you provide
any scientific or theory based support on your thoughts of such which would
emphasize the needs for learning not just PCT but also SCT

We have several informal (yet scientific) demonstrations of the
problems that result from trying to arbitrarily control other control
systems. So I would say it's worth learning PCT just to understand why
trying to control other people is a fools errand. As I said, I know
nothing about SCT so I can't say why one should or shouldn't learn it.

Lastly,�knowing�the majority of the world faces a serious crisis with food,
do you believe that the U.S. can implement�some form of social control
through deliveriables?

I have no idea what this means.

Well, if all terrorists are
criminals in nature than I assume the same cross comparison exists amongst
SOF Forces and Terrorists.

I think this is a good comparison. Both groups are doing terrible
things to achieve idealistic (selfless) goals. So they are really the
same kind of people. But I wouldn't call either of them criminals;
just misguided (from my perspective). A criminal (to me) is a person
who does terrible things just to enrich themselves (achieve selfish
goals). So I consider the people who ran Enron, AIG, etc-- who
enriched themselves by cheating their customers and employees -- to be
criminals.

Best

Rick

···

On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 8:49 AM, Kerry Patton <kerry.patton14@gmail.com> wrote:
--
Richard S. Marken PhD
rsmarken@gmail.com
www.mindreadings.com

3

( Gavin
Ritz 2011.02.07.14.33NZT)

Hi there Kerry

Welcome to the list.

Control means different things in different
contexts but control is PCT is very precise, and it’s often not related to
the word control in general parlance.

I’m no expert in PCT and it took me
some years to actually get my head around some of the concepts that’s
because the same words mean totally different things. For example behavior is
not behavior in normal talk; it’s the control of perception.

In PCT this is my understanding of control.

Control is the control of perception, that’s
it.

The human organism is controlling a
perception in the brain processing structure (and nervous system) at some level
called (HPCT). So:

HPCT is an assumption of Reality
and the PCVn
to ****θ is its selection of control. (Where n=1 and θ= infinity).

PCV is the Perceptual Controlled Variable in
the environment (and it’s anything, sound, light, heat, codes, language,
maths, catching a ball, drinking tea, driving a car, taking drugs, shouting for
freedom).

(I’ll add my 2 cents here because
PCT is a feedback model; the PCV is nested at many levels, because that’s
how feedback works mathematically).

All just controlling a perception.

What’s happening in Egypt and other
Arab nations is this, they are selecting a controlled variable (PCV) of demanding
freedom from restriction and marching up and down the streets (this is what they’re
saying and doing) (ie trying to control a perception, we may not ever be able
to fully know what this perception actually is).

SCT seems like more of the glue between people,
relationships, like contracts, agreements, role relationships, unwritten
contracts, commands, etc. So in terms of PCT SCT can be viewed as an abstraction
of a PCV and maybe not such a robust one. Control also looks like restraint, constraint
etc like in its normal context.

Regards

Gavin

While I am very new to
this list server, I first wanted to thank each and every one of you for your
commitment in understanding others and the study of PCT.

With that said, I am the
author of the book, Sociocultural
Intelligence: The New Discipline of Intelligence Studies
through Continuum International Publishing Group. While I say this not in
promoting my book; rather, because I see through you that I have missed a major
milestone in my writings. This book is truly a tool for those in National
Security but reaches numerous fields like medicine, law enforcement, business,
etc. I believe even though the book was just released this past September, I
need to write a second edition with a couple extra chapters. The first is
understanding Perceptual Control Theory and the second would be Social Control
Theory.

My question for the
masses is this: Based off global current events, do you believe as a whole, the
U.S. and its Western allies have failed in our own
perception to the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia? If so, does this
false perception constitute our failures in “Control?” Can you
provide any scientific or theory based support on your thoughts of such which
would emphasize the needs for learning not just PCT but also SCT?

Lastly, knowing the
majority of the world faces a serious crisis with food, do you believe that the
U.S. can implement some form of social control through
deliveriables? I do not mean this through an elementary concept of social
control rather through a nueroscientific concept based off nutritional factors
that can manipulate the minds of societies through reduction or increase of
high DHEA valued foods?

Crazy I am sure but there
have been ongoing studies of U.S. Special Operators and their physiological,
biological, and neurological profiles proving such are similar to violent
criminals. Well, if all terrorists are criminals in nature than I assume the
same cross comparison exists amongst SOF Forces and Terrorists. If we can
identify and map geographical domains where the majority of our enemies come
from today (referring to the tactical terrorist throughout the Middle East,
North Africa, and Central Asia), research their nutritional and exercise
variables, cross compare, then implement passive non-kinetic activities such as
specific food distribution, could we possibly reduce global threats from a
PCT/Social Control Theory concept???

Ok, I am scattered in the
winds here and I apologize so I applaud anyone who can provide any form of
insight or understanding as to what I am getting at here…

Kerry Patton