Thoughts in the Bus

I am usually taking a bus when going to the office. And most of my reflections, intellectual and weird ones, happen inside the bus. This evening, on my way to the office, my neural chemicals brewed several ideas and insights again on political science. Take note this happened inside the bus. 15-20 minutes and transit is already a productive time for me.

I was thinking of the structure and nature of our global political systems. I am not sure why but I realized that I have this fixation on translating political system into a mathematical state function. I already blogged about it, vaguely stating things in questions. However, I cannot do this until I have fully understood the definition of things connected to this. By now, I guess I know only a percent of everything I need to know before I can fully see the xyz of any political system.

Here are some of my thoughts while in transit:

I. Political system should not be entirely viewed as cultural system. It should be viewed totally as an economic system or within the paradigm of economic theory. This could not be true in accordance to our current understanding of political systems. But, if we keep basing all of our understanding on the conventional definition of political system, then we cannot translate it into something that we can model. I am thinking of using the concept of “utility” as acquisition of power, “decisions” and “pay-offs” in revising our understanding of political science.

Wikipedia says that Political System is a system of politics and government and it is different from any other social systems such as cultural system. It means it is a subset of social system and disjoint from cultural system, as well as from any other social systems. It is important for me to have this definition so that I can eliminate the influence of culture in restructuring my views on political science.

Internet Map as Complex System

II. The Problem of Dependency. I am thinking of the independent variables that determine the state of a political system. Physically, we can consider an individual or group of individuals as the main independent variable. People are the main reason why we have social systems. Thus, it is natural for us to view them as the kernel of the understanding of political system. However, I am not sure if it is the only determining variable or not. Cultural system can also be a determining or influential variable. This one too is a problem when considering political system as a mathematical object. Nevertheless, I think it is also important for me to determine the relational dynamics of different social systems to each other. It could be also that Political system is related to economic or cultural system but not entirely dependent on economic or cultural system.

III. The Problem of Cultural System. A month ago I had a discussion with several friends on this concept, the preservation of different cultural systems under one global political system. Many of them agreed that it is impossible for us to have one global political system without dissolving the different cultural systems into one cultural system. My thoughts lean towards the possibility of implementing the global political system without drastically changing the different cultural systems. The possibility is not really clear for now because the dominant quantitative property of political science hinders us to set parameters and measure its possibility value. Also, another reason is the incomplete mapping of relatedness of different social systems to each other. I believe the “The Problem of Dependency” or “The Problem of Relatedness” can give us a clear picture if the heterogeneity of cultural systems vanishes as we spread one political system globally. For now, I won’t explore this aspect in details but instead I will focus my attention to the nature of cultural system, in general. Is it really important for us to retain or preserve the cultural systems as we progress with any other social systems? I believe if we change a certain social system of a certain society, then I guess the rest of the social systems will change. If we are not going to initiate change then that society ceases to evolve. Social systems evolve. So, each kind of system under this will also most likely evolve. Cultural system also evolves just like the rest, especially now with the spread of globalization and information technology in every sector of society. It is inevitable for our cultural systems to change as we change in all social transactions. Thus, it is just natural for different cultural systems to dissolve into one common system as we map it over the progression of different social systems in time. Preservation of cultural systems is not necessary, because they transform on their own regardless we transform our political system or not.

IV. Political System as Mathematical Subject. My engrossment on this topic is mainly derived from my fixation on complex systems and transformation of social sciences into a concrete applied mathematics or social physics. I thought of using the concepts employed in the creation of economic theory based on Game Theory and Stochastic Mathematics. Maybe if we use the concepts of “utility”, “pay-offs”, “equilibrium points”, in every social and political decision, then I guess we can begin describing political systems in terms of this variable. I am also thinking that any political system can be considered as a monitoring or control system that facilitates the flow of utility within the system. For example, with this kind of political system doing this kind of economic system will maximize this about of pay-off to each constituent of the system. Hopefully, one of these days I can iron-out these vague concepts and create a more defined set of statements to properly describe the political theory in terms of economics baselines.

There is so much to do here. I need the help of KHV to further define my thoughts on this topic.

Meanwhile, here are the sites I used as quick references:

Political System

Social Structure

Cultural System

To see my previous blog on this click here.