The New Superorganic

Abstract

Despite proposals by Kroeber and others that society and culture represent a distinct level of reality, the prevailing opinion has been that they are abstractions from the behavior of individuals. Recently that position, methodological individualism, has been challenged on several fronts. Especially with the incorporation of artificial intelligence into many aspects of social life, it is no longer feasible to consider the ultimate unit of social action to be the human individual. Bolstered with a case study of the consequences of automation for the legal profession, the argument here is that agency should be redefined in a more expansive and dynamic manner that includes but is not limited to the individual.

Alfred Kroeber and the concept of the superorganic

“…О раду и појму суперорганско написано је неколико коментара (види нпр. Sapir 1917;Goldenweiser 1917;Kaplan 1965;Werner 1966;Amsbury 1966;Price 1973;Duncan 1980Duncan , 1981Richardson 1981;Symanski 1981;Anderson 1984;Hanson 2004). Свакако најпознатије критике Креберовог становишта потичу од Сапира, Голденвајзера и Биднија (Bidney 1942(Bidney , 1944(Bidney , 1965.…”

“…Коначно, опасности од реификације нису ништа мање од опасности које прете од редукционизма (Richardson 1981;Symanski 1981;Duncan 1981). Ако бисмо морали да донесемо некакву паушалну оцену тренутног стања у антропологији и социологији, могли бисмо да закључимо да се пронаучно оријентисани теоретичари све више окрећу индивидуализму, односно становишту према којем стварност друштвеног живота сачињавају индивидуе и њихове активности (види Hanson 2004).…”

Cultural inheritance is driving a major transition in human evolution

“…Cultural evolutionists suggest instead that the concept of culture as 'superorganic' is a red herring because culture remains rooted in human biology (21), and that human society itself constitutes only a 'crude superorganism' in the traditional biological sense (22). Anthropologists increasingly agree that human cultural organization exhibits an important group functionality and even expresses agency above the level of the individual (23).…”

Agents, Intelligence, and Social Atoms

“…Despite this, awareness of recent work in 'social physics' is still low amongst social scientists themselves. There is a growing list of exceptions to this, such as an increase in the number of complexity science centres, some enthusiastic reviews (Hanson 2004;Valverde 2004;Borgotti et al 2009), journals such as Quality and Quantity and Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, and a few outstanding collaborations (Knappet et al 2008) Two major insights have arisen from this work, both from classic studies and the more recent, computer-aided revival. The first is the recognition that human societies are generally open systems, under constant flux, and not the kind of closed system that leads to equilibrium.…”