In the forum discussion "Re: Spending on Space, Worth it?" a somewhat off-topic exchange between Anonymous Hero and Roger Pink reminded me of a dream I had several years ago so I decided to post it here.
The Fishbowl
The other night I dreamed I saw a fishbowl. There were four kinds of fish in this bowl, one of which was very aggressive and hungry. The water in the bowl was, however, extremely dirty, so as to make it dark as night. This condition gave the other fish a relative measure of safety.
I found myself to be suddenly inside the bowl, acting one after another as a member of the other three groups. At this point the fish were people.
The first group acted as a band to increase their defense against the aggressors. To do this, however, they relinquished their independence and accepted leadership from one of their fellows.
The second group was composed of those that were more independent minded and it was pretty much every man for him self. Their security was much more in doubt, however, and their numbers were consequently diminished, though they tended to be more defensively aggressive than the others. They were, individually, just no match for the aggressor.
The last group was made of those that just tried to hide from the aggressor, having neither the courage of the independants nor the relative security of the band.
At the last I found myself back outside the fishbowl. I discovered three new groups there. These were trying to influence events inside the bowl.
The first I saw were those that put in a stick and stirred everything up. These had no empathy for the fish but thought they might gain some advantage or power by pitting one against another. Some of it, perhaps, was just for the sport of it.
The second were those that sympathized with the participants in the bowl but had no true vision of what was going on there. These went about trying to find the right recipe to give them that vision. They had no success, however, as they didn't know where to look.
The last group, alas, having found the vision, had gone off to another place to deal with another fishbowl.
I awoke with the feeling that it was a shame there was no one to take charge of this fishbowl.
Social Engineering
Re: Social Engineering
