Timothy,

I am certainly glad that we have cleared that misunderstanding.
Though I respectfully maintain my objection to the use of neologisms,
which I believe to be *counter productive*. It reminds me of a story
told by my late grandfather (and this teaching story is from the
works of Maw'lawna Jalal'adin, known in the West as Rumi):

One day, while travelling, a wandering scholar came upon 4 men
fighting. He inserted himself between them, and separated them,
saying 'Why this fighting? Tell me the cause and surely I will
resolve your disputes.' The 4 recognized his sincerity and one
related their story. He said: 'We are 4 friends, I am a Persian,
this here an Arab, this other a Turk, and that one a Romi. We have
worked and earned together, and now are fighting over what to spend
our earnings, as we are hungry and wish to eat; but I want to
eat 'Angoor', and he wants 'Enab', and he 'Uzum', and the last
wants 'Estafeel'. And this is why we are fighting.' Having heard
their tale, the wanderer mentions to them to follow him, whereby he
takes them to the Bazaar, and the nearest fruit merchant. And there
he holds up a bunch of Grapes and pointing to it says: "Angoor, Enab,
Uzum, Estafeel".

..

Regarding Mr. Koryzbksi, I am not familiar with Koryzbski's work -
thank you for the link. I should mention here that from your
overview of his conceptions it sounds quite similar to the teachings
of the neo platonic Muslim Mystics, particularly the great Andalusian
Sufi master, Ibn Arabi [1], in his book Fu'sus al'Hikam, although Ibn
Arabi begins the classifications at the level of Crystalline Order
(i.e. minerals), and to appreciate that root, one must look beyond
the 'apparent'.

..

Regarding the lack of nations which acknowledge diversity in unity, I
do agree that it is quite rare indeed, but perhaps you may wish to
read the New Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation [2].
Having recently lived and worked in that lovely land for a few
months, I can bear witness that the creed professed in those pages is
actually put into practice. But the path **chosen** by that nation
is, unfortunately, a singular exception among the peoples.

..

OK. Now that we have cleared up the miscommunication, and wishing to
return the dialogue to the topic at hand, I again pose to you this
question:

What has contributed to the demise of the family in the West?

Has telecommunication technology played a role in this demise?

If yes, was this an intended, or unintended, consequence of
deployment of certain communication technologies?

And is there a lesson here for us and the deployment of these
advanced communication systems?


Peace.

Joubin

--
Refs:

[1]: Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn al-Arabi at-Ta'i al-Andalusi (b. August 7,
1165 AD ;)

<http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/IbnArabi.html>


[2]: New Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation (adopted
through public referendum April 14, 1999). In context of these
discussions, Article 13 of this constitution is directly noteworthy,
though I believe the bottom-up, federated, social order articulated
is also worth consideration and relevant.

<http://www.swissemb.org/legal/html/constitution.html>