Social Evolution, Revolutionary Change, Negotiated Settlement:What is best and when?

This week's  topic comes from The Old Fossil, aka Conrad, and offers three outcomes. It offers no event or happening that requires an outcome but it is no stretch to suggest social/cultural change IMHO.

Social evolution is the area of evolutionary biology that studies how social interactions, arise, change, and are maintained. A particular focus is on how cooperative behavior can be beneficial despite the intuitive advantages of being selfish. In other words, how what is good for the group is good for you.

Think of some of the important discoveries over time that have benefited society. Things that were part of societal/cultural evolution. Automobiles, light bulbs, telephones, printing presses - perhaps the most important - all caused great leaps in our culture. The printing press brought news, current events, and books to  society at large. That kick started the spread of knowledge which opened up society to a virtual wealth of advancements that continues today.

That leaves us with a negotiated settlement, something that seems to be extinct, along with dinosaurs. It is tough to negotiate without civility and I have noted several times on this blog that civility seemingly left the room. It is somehow ironic that the Senate is negotiating a secondary aid package to support the economy - an economy that is in serious trouble thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. Fittingly enough, the difference of about 2 trillion dollars between the Democrats approach as seen in the bill from the House and the GOP led Senate has some major sticking points.

Each of the three methods is able to be used in almost any circumstance, although each has its own unique value. Revolutionary change is  typically used during the birth of a nation - ie. the American Revolution and the Civil War. One succeeded and the other failed. The world has seen many revolutions over the years and I suspect there are many yet to come.

Social evolutionary change is constant as technology advances and changes at a rapid pace. At times it outpaces the ability to govern - look at the impact of social media, and the inability to effectively regulate it. Look at the 2016 and 2018 elections and the effect of Social media on each of them.

Negotiation should be a constant in our social system - with luck it will again  take its rightful place as the most effective and relied upon vehicle of change. It forces us to look the other side in the eye and find common ground that is acceptable to all sides in an event. It forces all sides to consider the other sides. Social evolution, on its surface, seems like the best thing to combine with negotiation to effect change. But, social evolution, unchecked or not regulated can institutionalize problems. Look at what it did for white privilege. No, not all white people are racists but they have benefited from a system envisioned by slave owning white men for other white men.White privilege does not mean you did not work your butt off to build a successful life, you probably did. But along the way you probably got a few boosts you weren't even aware of. Fortunately men of vision saw the benefit of abolishing slavery and eventually allowing women to vote. Now we need to finish the job and ensure the playing field is fair and everyone has a real chance at success - as long as they are willing to work for it.

Capitalism has shown over the years to be the best way to build and grow a thriving economy. But it feeds greed in some and that leads to corruption. It falls to us to wear our big boy/girl pants and take the proper steps to keep the system fair. Look at what Jeff Bezos has done with Amazon as an example. He built an enormous company that employs thousands that is sticking its fingers into any economic pie it encounters. But wait - it drives small businesses away you scream indignantly. Not really - do you know that 50% or more of Amazon's sales come from third-party small businesses in partnership with Amazon?

Finally, IMO there is no simple answer to the topic posed by the old fossil this week. All three options are sufficiently flawed so as to require interaction with one or both of the others. We live in a hybrid world so you'd better learn to be flexible, think on your feet. and improve your long game strategies.

That's my quick take on this week's topic. Ill see you next week for another round of 6-1 bloggers where we all write on the same topic. Be sure to visit my cohorts at their blogs to see what they think about this week's topic  Sanjana, Padmum, Raju,  Conrad, & Ramana.