A couple decades ago it occurred to me that the dynamics of disagreement often tend toward polarization rather than toward unification at a higher level of understanding.

Further, it seemed (to me) that this might be analogous to the behavior of a feedback loop out of control and going to one or the other of its extreme rails.

And further, this seemed (to me) to be the behavior of a system finding its lowest energy/information state, associated with lack of requisite variety.

This behavior seemed (to me) generalizable in principle across systems based on electronics, mechanisms, …, human individuals, and groups.

At that time I was active in a forum of Very Smart People, and when I ventured this observation/opinion it received no interest or engagement.

I'm wondering whether now, twenty years later, with polarization in politics being grossly apparent, whether anyone reading this might be able to recommend some sources of more extensive thinking on the question of such a general principle…?

#agreement #disagreement #polarization #systemsTheory #controlTheory #systemsThinking #politics #leastEnergy #leastInformation #requisiteVariety