Shoehorning this analysis into the trust/transfer/triangulation framework for transaction costs is both easy for me to do, and feels like it makes my thoughts clearer. I know precisely what I mean by those words. By contrast, I don’t think that “social reality” or “physical” reality carve nature at the joints, and I don’t think I’ll ever have a definition of them that I trust will be interpreted correctly by my audience. That’s why I choose not to use them.
I like the trust/transfer/triangulation framework. If I can, I’d like to add 3 words that I think would make the trust/transfer/triangulation framework as expressive as the simulacra level models: trick/truth/tribe. By adding these 3 words, you can then begin to easily see which Simulacra level each player is playing on.
In your example above, You would be able to see that the CDC is trying to transfer tricks to triangulate trust, which puts them at simulacra level 2 at least.
Meanwhile, in the example above that, you’d be able to see that a good portion of the public avoiding masks was trying to transfer truth about their tribe through the use of masks, which puts them at least at level 3.
You could even use this framework to trace these organizations and individuals backwards, seeing when they learned to use tricks about truth and when they learned to use tricks about tribes.
But you’d still be stuck analyzing each individual agent and situation.
Meanwhile, the Simulacra levels are operating on a higher level of abstraction. Can we quickly see which agents will use tricks and truth to triangulate either trust or tribes? Is there a pattern to it? Is there a pattern to how agents learn to use these different tools? That’s what this framework is attempting to answer.
I like the trust/transfer/triangulation framework. If I can, I’d like to add 3 words that I think would make the trust/transfer/triangulation framework as expressive as the simulacra level models: trick/truth/tribe. By adding these 3 words, you can then begin to easily see which Simulacra level each player is playing on.
In your example above, You would be able to see that the CDC is trying to transfer tricks to triangulate trust, which puts them at simulacra level 2 at least.
Meanwhile, in the example above that, you’d be able to see that a good portion of the public avoiding masks was trying to transfer truth about their tribe through the use of masks, which puts them at least at level 3.
You could even use this framework to trace these organizations and individuals backwards, seeing when they learned to use tricks about truth and when they learned to use tricks about tribes.
But you’d still be stuck analyzing each individual agent and situation.
Meanwhile, the Simulacra levels are operating on a higher level of abstraction. Can we quickly see which agents will use tricks and truth to triangulate either trust or tribes? Is there a pattern to it? Is there a pattern to how agents learn to use these different tools? That’s what this framework is attempting to answer.