my-essays

DIVERSITY

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:16:49 +0100

Autopoiesis and the Internet

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:05:45 +0100

Simply put, autopoiesis means self-creation. It is a process during which a system produces its own organization and maintains and constitutes itself in any given space. That is, it is based on the way living systems address and engage the areas in which they operate.

However, today, it has gone well beyond the general realm of biology. It is now used in such diverse areas as sociology, psychotherapy, and management techniques and styles. The internet offers an excellent example.

According to the World Bank, 72.4% of Americans use the internet. The top 20 countries of internet usage include China in first place with the United States coming in second. Poland made the list as number twenty.

The estimated population of these 20 countries is nearly four and one half billion. Of this number, 1 ½ billion people use the internet. That's certainly autopoetical. The nearly two billion users worldwide represents a whopping 461.5% growth from 2000 to 2009.

Within this phenomenal growth a red flag was raised in a 2006 study which reported Americans had become more socially isolated. Further, this study claimed Americans had fewer close times to those in their own neighborhoods. It was suggested that the internet may have played a role in proliferating this trend.

Does the internet pull people away from their traditional settings? Recent findings contradict the 2006 study by suggesting the extent of social isolation is not as high as reported. America's core networks have changed. They have increased in size and diversity.

Autopoiesis works in social networking as well as in biology.

Sources:

Internet World Stats

Pew Internet-Socialization and New Technology

Diversity

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:12:34 +0100

Diversity is a left-over word from the last century. It encompasses the political and social policy of encouraging tolerance of people of different backgrounds. It is a tactic used by the business world to better serve a heterogeneous customer base.

Multiculturalism is another name for diversity and implies the acceptance of multiple ethnic cultures. Diversity is also defined as the condition of having a variety, especially the inclusion of different races or cultures.

In the mid to late 50's on through the 70's public schools grouped their students homogeneously. There was the slow, average, and above average groupings. Elementary students were given names of Cardinals, Blue jays, and Robins, as if that would keep the deep dark secret away from them that some were dumber or smarter than others. Ouch! Was the word dumber used? Bad choice of words. After all we must be politically correct. The phrase should have been educationally challenged. All of this was a form of sophisticated and blatant discrimination.

Diversity brought back a semblance of heterogeneous grouping. Main streaming became the operative word. It, too failed.

The very concept of diversity encompasses the notion of acceptance, but it also strongly implies the notion of respect. Not all are Einsteins nor does it mean a person who processes things differently is of less value. Some of us are tall, some are short, skinny or fat. Some of us are young and some of us are old. If we respected one another there would be no need for diversity training programs or programs encouraging diversity. We would just be.