Feedback in Science art and religion
In a sense feedback is what we are! It’s basic to the chemical nature of our cells. It happens between the brain and body. It happens within the brain. It happens between our selves and our environment. We do something, we see what happens. What could be more basic to our existence? This is feedback. Now let’s think about objectivity, subjectivity and the different types of feedback loops created by science, art and religion.
The feedback loops of science are the most complicated, and the most recently evolved. They’re inter-subjective and experimental. They involve theoretical and practical discussions between scientists and mathematicians. And create experiments that ask questions about the natural world. Facts are the result of this mathematically contextualized feedback between groups of individuals and their external environment.
Art also involves feedback. But the feedback loop of the artist is different from that of the scientist. The artist may use the natural world as an option for inspiration. But the depth of penetration isn’t nearly as deep. More likely the natural world will be used as a vehicle for some other message. For instance the artist may use stone or sound, in some very technical manor, to create sculpture or music. But then these works are sensed and the feedback loop is finished only when the art is experienced and (hopefully) appreciated.
Finally, in religion, the feedback loop is even smaller. Here, with the slight exception of group prayer, chanting and psychoactive substances, the brain is simply affecting itself. In prayer or meditation, the person sits with touching fingers or folded legs, already examples of internal feedback, and may have nothing to do with the outside world. The feedback loop is direct and simple. The brain doesn’t need a musical instrument or a mathematical equation to get the result it’s after. It simply needs itself.
So as we move from religion to art, to science the feedback loops that make up our lives move farther and farther away from the body. And a continuum is expressed that goes between internal bliss, to the mars rover, with art somewhere in between.
Some of the many names for Feedback
The snowball effect, It snowballed, Self fulfilling prophecy, Self defeating, Weigh yourself every day, Watch what you eat, Vicious cycle, Virtuous cycle, Watch yourself, Oscillations, Ego gratification, Adaptation, Self sustaining, eye to eye, Hand in hand, Reinforcement, Can’t hear myself think, echo, Democracy, Do as I say, not as I do, Cybernetics, Circular reasoning, Prayer, Self awareness, Self reflection, Masturbation, response time, Checking it out, Let’s see what it’s like, Long range planning, Pulling my hair out, Responsibility, An eye for an eye, Focus groups, The man in the mirror, Movement and sensation, Tactile feedback, Negative feedback, Positive feedback, Servo mechanism, The mechanical governor, Auto-catalysis, Self-catalyzing, recycling and The vortex
