<div dir="auto">Yes, you could say that government in general and especially lawmakers are our superego. The best common word synonym for superego is conscience. Since a lot of people have lacunae of their own superego we need laws and law enforcers.<br> <br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">---<br>Frank C. Wimberly<br>140 Calle Ojo Feliz, <br>Santa Fe, NM 87505<br><br>505 670-9918<br>Santa Fe, NM</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Sep 5, 2020, 7:48 PM Steve Smith <<a href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com">sasmyth@swcp.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p>Frank -</p>
<p>I see your case for the Constitution-as-superego. I guess I was
thinking more in the social-cultural sense than the political.
When we were a predominantly religious (e.g. Christian) culture,
perhaps it was the various "Good Books" and the church
leadership(s)... Priests/Pastors/Rabbis/Imams and such?</p>
<p>In spite of *many* giving lip service both to Constitution and
Good Books and 10point Tablets, and Golden Rules, it feels like
the true operating principles are at least similarly NeoDarwinism
(of which I think Stephen and Dave have both spoken against) and
NeoLIberalism (which many speak against, notably Glen here I
think) and . <br>
</p>
<p>But these are more like abstractions and institutions rather than
dynamic-coherence-maintaining processes which is how I apprehend
the id, ego, superego to be? While the Constitution is nominally
a "living document" (with amendments allowed)... the Good Book(s)
are generally not allowed to be revised (albeit continued
revelations seem to be common such as via Joseph Smith, David
Karesh, a multitude of Yogis, etc.) I suppose that in some sense
these artifacts encode/reflect the superego, I'm maybe looking for
something more "organic". Any current existing *governing body*
would seem to be a somewhat more mutable super-ego, and the
pop-culture "equivalent" might be what?</p>
<p>- Steve<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto">p.s. do a Google search of "superego", Steve.<br>
<br>
<div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">---<br>
Frank C. Wimberly<br>
140 Calle Ojo Feliz, <br>
Santa Fe, NM 87505<br>
<br>
505 670-9918<br>
Santa Fe, NM</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Sep 5, 2020, 7:12 PM
Frank Wimberly <<a href="mailto:wimberly3@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">wimberly3@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="auto">Well, you could say that the Constitution is
a kind of superego. It's interesting that Trump resents
the ways in which it constrains him. He tries to get
around it with surprising success thanks to sycophants
like Barr et al.<br>
<br>
<div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">---<br>
Frank C. Wimberly<br>
140 Calle Ojo Feliz, <br>
Santa Fe, NM 87505<br>
<br>
505 670-9918<br>
Santa Fe, NM</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Sep 5, 2020,
7:04 PM Steve Smith <<a href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com" rel="noreferrer
noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">sasmyth@swcp.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div> Frank -<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">
And that trait ingratiates with those amongst us
who have base impulses for which we fear we
might be shamed.</span><br>
<br>
<div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">And that
includes everyone. But then most of us have
superegos that constrain us. Trump less so.</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>Ah, but HIS is a SuperDuperEgo... just ask him,
he'll tell ya!</p>
<p>I don't know what your stake (or dog in the fight
or ... pick a metaphor) is regarding collective
consciousness/awareness/intelligence/wisdom/action
in the abstract but it seems your background would
support having an opinion or more to the point a
thought-through-thought or two on the topic.</p>
<p>If there are suitable parallels between individual
consciousness and collective versions of it, what
would be the superego of a culture, people,
nation-state, etc.?</p>
<p>- Steve<br>
</p>
<br>
</div>
- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .<br>
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br>
Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 <a href="http://bit.ly/virtualfriam" rel="noreferrer
noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">bit.ly/virtualfriam</a><br>
un/subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br>
archives: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><br>
FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<pre>- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 <a href="http://bit.ly/virtualfriamun/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">bit.ly/virtualfriam
un/subscribe</a> <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a>
archives: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a>
FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
</div>
- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .<br>
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br>
Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 <a href="http://bit.ly/virtualfriam" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">bit.ly/virtualfriam</a><br>
un/subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br>
archives: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><br>
FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a> <br>
</blockquote></div>