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Knol

provision of trusted software, followed by the provision of trust mechanisms including identity and then followed by provision of support for higher cognitive activities.

Consequences

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of social ecosystem interactions to model, whether computer based or purely human to human without computer intervention, are the consequences of an interaction. If interactions are well defined and well structured, and if the interaction stimuli of the various participants are well aligned, then the primary purpose of an interaction can be the arrival at an intended consequence as defined by all the participant parties; this much is fairly well understood. Indeed, most interactions arrive at a conclusion that is accepted by the parties involved. Problems with social ecosystem interactions arise when they need to involve subjective determination of interaction status and results. In other words, social ecosystem interactions are often based on a political decision process. This sometimes portends difficulty in actually bringing final closure to the interaction. This process is made all the more difficult if the interaction stimuli for the various parties originate from different levels of the needs hierarchy. In essence, a particular interaction may have a far different level of urgency for one party than for the other party, and, as a result, a far greater anticipation of the consequences of the interaction. This may make the assessment as to whether the interaction has been properly conducted and the result appropriately arrived at very different for one party versus the other.

Within a policy infrastructure, interactions proceed according to the rules established within that infrastructure. For interactions involving people, either directly or indirectly, the stimulus for interaction is recursive application of the needs hierarchy. Recursion in this case implies the net consideration of the full range of needs relative to a specific interaction. An overarching consideration in the conduct of the interaction is that of the intermediate and ultimate consequences. Across a spectrum of policy infrastructures, ranging from the physical ecosystem to a succession of applicable social ecosystems, we see that the interaction mechanism can itself range from the direct, objective application of physical laws to the recursive, subjective application of the rules of competing social systems. This subjective application of opportunistically defined rules is an example of what has come to be known as politics.

The formal definition of the concept and term politics is often couched in the structured interactions of secular governance, the process of creation and application of law, as opposed to the more informal interactions that we all engage in on a continuing basis. However, popular usage of the term recognizes it as an interaction process that influences the full range of our social ecosystems. “The Boss selected Mary rather than James to be the new Department Head because of office politics.” While used in this context, the term politics has a pejorative connotation, we suggest that it is merely an indicator of a recursive application of needs, and that the stimulus impact of the human needs hierarchy varies from person to person. Therefore, we might view the outcome of an interaction pejoratively because it constitutes an application of a different needs hierarchy from our own. Therein lays the difficulty.

If the outcome is subjective, then at least one of the participants to the interaction may disagree with that outcome and seek redress within the policy infrastructure. The highest level policy infrastructure in the United States, that established by the Constitution, provides a judicial approach that makes all forms of interaction, be it criminal, civil or administrative, subject to post-interaction judicial review. Basically, it can be determined after the fact whether you broke the law, what the law actually was or whether the law in any case was appropriately applied.

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