Epi-phenomena? RE: [governance] Internet as a commons/ public good; was, Conflicts in Internet Governance

[michael gurstein]

Yes, an epi-phenomenon is a secondary phenomenon which rests on and in some
manner is derivative from the (primary) phenomenon/phenomena...

My point is that if one starts off for example, from the observation that
the primary phenonema for any social construct are the social
phenomena--language, laws, social norms, family relationships--then
something such as TCP/IP which is of course a socially embedded construct is
epi-ephenomenal to that social sub-strate/social phenomena... (when seen
from a social construct perspective... Imagine trying to develop TCP/IP
without language, or without a background of socially/publically research
institutions, or a structure of laws governing how people work together, pay
their bills, manage contracts etc. From that perspective the social
framework is primary and what people do within that context is
"epi-phenomenal". (which dare I say, strikes me as "self-evident...

M

-----Original Message-----
From: McTim [mailto:dogwallah at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2013 2:57 PM
To: michael gurstein
Cc: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; Nnenna
Subject: Re: Epi-phenomena? RE: [governance] Internet as a commons/ public
good; was, Conflicts in Internet Governance

On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 1:42 PM, michael gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com>
wrote:
> This is an interesting way of presenting this McTIm but I'm not sure I 
> agree.. .Rather I see it as follows
>
> I think it may be misleading to talk/think of the 
> social/political/economic/cultural elements linked to the Internet as 
> an "epi-phenomenon". Rather I think it more useful to think of the 
> current Internet as a coalescence of an underlying technical network 
> (of networks?) with a pre-existing (even if somewhat dormant in parts) 
> set of social/human/political/cultural relationships/networks. To 
> accept these latter as an "epi-phenomenon" is to accept the Thatcher 
> argument that "there is no society/social contract".

I don't see that this could possibly be the case.  Not that I am defending
the Baroness (I lived in Thatcherite Britain, and it was no picnic IIRC).

An epiphenomenon (plural - epiphenomena) is a secondary phenomenon that
occurs alongside or in parallel to a primary phenomenon.

The TCP/IP Internetwork is the primary phenomenon, and what people do with
it is the secondary.  I would think that would be self evident.

--
Cheers,

McTim[MG>]  
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route
indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel


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