Differentiation Is Political

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Political Scientists world wide are trying to figure out what THIS will mean for the coming midterms.

Differentiation Is Political

The concept of differentiation is inherently a political one. The ability to say "this and that" is something completely wound up in politics despite its very mundane nature. To say that X is different from Y is a political statement and I will tell you why:

Differentiation isn't a necessary concept

Imagine a world with just one thing in it. A world that exists only of that thing, for that thing, and only contains that thing. That thing must be something that exists in isolation. No material objects are allowed. Even the little atom consists of atomic structures and thus cannot be used for this example. Let's take something that is one thing: The number 1. Not the Arabic numeral symbols we use to convey 1, but the concept of 1 as a whole. Oneness if you will.

If you fill an entire universe with the 1 concept, then you will reach a situation where operations, like differentiation, or in layman's terms "and", cannot exist. There is no second object or entity to compare. Differentiation without its comparitees is like addition without its terms. If you don't have two objects, entities, concepts, or "things" to be compared, the operation won't happen. If you don't have two things to be added, then addition cannot happen. In a universe with only one thing, there is nothing to compare and nothing to add. The terms or comparitees of such an equation don't exist. 1+2 can't equal 3 if 1 or 2 don't exist. A and B can't be compared if A and B don't exist.

However, there is a counter argument to this. What if we compared an object to itself? Without 1 and 2 we can't make three, but from 1 and 1 we can make 2. Similarly, if A and B can't be compared, we surely can compare A and A to prove the existence of comparison, differentiation, and 'and'. This, on the surface is a surefire defeat to the above argument, however, fails to recognize that all processing operations aren't actually operating on the object itself, but rather are operating on a representation of the object itself. If we were to be inside this hypothetical universe and were tasked with finding difference in a such a world (of course not counting comparisons between ourselves and the world), we would be utterly incapable to without creating a mental abstraction of the thing we are comparing. If we compared the object in the universe to itself (which in our case is the number 1), we wouldn't be actually comparing the object in the universe to itself. Instead, we would be comparing a mental abstraction we have of the object in the universe to another mental abstraction of the object in the universe. This creates three objects in this universe. One actual, the number 1, another copy, representation of the number 1 we hold in our minds, and the same copy again. This breaks the rule that the universe contains only 1, as now it contains 1, a copy of 1, and another copy of 1.

Because there is only 1 in this universe, comparison cannot exist. You can't compare without adding to the universe. Due to this, the operation of differentiation is entirely impossible in this world. This implies as well that differentiation, among other operations, aren't necessary concepts in all worlds.

Void Politics

Now to connect this to some contemporary politics. Let us replace our hypothetical universe with another hypothetical universe. This universe only has one object in it, thus being incapable of comparison, and it contains just a political system. It doesn't matter what type, but let's say it is a hyper-minimalist political structure where it only assumes itself. This political structure cannot be compared to anything from inside the world. We as observers of course can, but the second we tried to enter this world and tried to calculate a difference between two objects (not counting ourselves of course), we would fail to be able to. This political structure both exists and is without comparison. This this political system of oneness, we shall call it physic-Leninism, would be one of total equality as all is the political system and no comparison at all.

Where is Differentiation

As established, differentiation is not something required in world. This means that differentiation is something that lies elsewhere. Obviously, differentiation exists in some capacity. If we strip back everything, we can still say there is a difference between things that do exist and things that don't exist. This is true, but why is it true?

Let's put you into the void and have you make a comparison. This isn't like the other void where it is a void of 1 or a void of ideology. No, this void has your consciousness and also nothing. You can think about this fact, you can process this fact. You can compare yourself to the void, you can observe that you are and that it isn't. Because of that, you're able to distinguish. Now let's replace you with a rock. A rock cannot observe, it cannot compute, it cannot receive input. It is not observing the world and, to our knowledge, isn't processing anything at all. This means that the rock is incapable of differentiation. Let's replace this universe with nothing but a button. The button is randomly being pressed, it is either on or off. Does the button know when it is on or off? No. The button has no ability to process the input of on-or-offness, it is incapable of interpreting its pressed state or not. It is capable of observing, but not computing.

From this thought experiment, we can conclude that something must be able to process information to differentiate. A computer, rather it be a human or a machine, must be able to observe two things and be able to process those two things to differentiate. Similarly, if you have a computer that is just a keyboard and you type '1+1', that keyboard only computer will never process that to be 2. Similarly, a processor that is able of processing basic arithmetic, but has no way of being interfaced with also would never process '1+1' as nothing ever gives it the input necessary to do so. Only when there is both input and computation can operations like arithmetic and comparisons be done. Thus, we can conclude that logic interpreters are where the differentiation process can actually exist. This can be machines, people, dogs, cats, even plants that can react to stimuli. All of these logic interpreters take input and process it.

Differentiation and the political

Humans are beings forged out of their social structures, bonds, cultures, and tribes. If we are to define politics as the mediation of social interaction, then there is much about something as simple as differentiation that is political. Even in the absence of authority, a chaosist's politics where rape, murder, and theft are all permissible, we find that the lack of authority, control, and mediation in itself is a form of mediation policy. Even in the absence of political structure, politics arises in some form. Humans are born out of social relations, as beings that can only reproduce by sexual means, we are required to be social (rather positively or negatively) to create offspring. Extrapolating from this, the cell formations that are required to create the brain structure and input required to differentiate are touched by the political structures that allow breeding to happen. If man and woman don't come together to breed, then there is no logic interpreter to differentiate. Even if we forego the need for sexual reproduction and assume we are bacteria or the victims of the fourth industrial revolution, we find ourselves in a political situation yet again. The agreement between cells and organelles to play nice is required to keep the structure alive and cloning itself. Even if we deny this and go further simpler, by becoming grey goo, a form of atomic politics is needed to mediate the relationships between different particles as to keep the structure as a whole going. Of course, this stretches the definition of "social" to merely be interaction on any scale, but the allegory as a whole still doesn't fail. So long as some form of structure is upheld and reproduction happens, politics is necessary.

Significance

All aspects of our world are political. Everything from the bottom up that relies on some form of agreement and structure is built off of the assumption that politics and other forms of mediation will work to keep a structure working. Every computation that comes from intelligent structures is also touched by this political, structural force, some in more ascertainable ways (legality of certain methods of computing) and some in more abstract ways (grey goo differentiating against itself and others to reproduce). As politics is a necessary social force in everything, we must understand and accept that fact. Not all political movements are important, not all are equal, but certainly, all are political.