The Goldman Sachs ogregore

A recent Goldman Sachs reorg demonstrates an exception to my claim that “leaders love to take credit for corporate success, bolstering the impression that CEO's determine corporate action.” There’s no mention in the coverage of the CEO.

Hidden complexity in brains and ogregores

Susan Tonkin gave me an intriguing reason why it’s hard to “see” ogregores for what they are, in response to my post Bad Outcomes make it easier to see group agency. She noted that while it’s simple to delimit an organization’s make-up (listing the employees, for example) and easy to see its outputs (like products, jobs, and stock price), we have great trouble thinking through the complexity in the middle. 

Another one ducks the blame

 I've observed that leaders love to take credit for corporate success, bolstering the impression that CEO's determine corporate action, but they disappear when things go wrong. American Airlines failed business travel overhaul offers the latest example.

Loki as Fixer

I’ve come to to doubt the universal description of the Norse god Loki as a trickster. Perhaps “fixer” would fit him just as well, or better.

Bad Outcomes make it easier to see group agency

Some say one can’t ascribe agency to organizations. They argue that group agency is just shorthand when we can’t be bothered to detail the motives and actions of all the individuals involved. Cases where a group acts in a way that most if not all its members would disavow make it easier to see collective agency.

Enframing beyond Standing-reserve

I view technology as know-how that changes our relationship to the world, rather than as merely tools or human-made artefacts. This perspective is influenced by Heidegger, who claimed that modern technology makes us see everything as resources to be optimized and exploited. I’ve been wondering whether other technologies also change our perspectives, but not in that specific way.

Technogonies

Hesiod’s Theogony (pronounced with a hard “g” as in polygon) describes the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods. [1] By analogy, I’ll use the term technogonies for stories that describe the origins of technology. In traditional myths, technologies come from the gods, who are usually benefactors. In modern stories, tech comes from inside society, although the stories are complicated and sometimes contested.

Tech ogregore LLM jokes

Jokes about organizations shed light on how we think of them as entities, so I asked some LLMs. Here are the best. (I occasionally crossed out some LLM verbiage and replaced it with my own.)

CEO-employee agency loops

I’m intrigued by the relationship between ogregores and individuals, such as between employee groups and leaders. The usual assumption is that the CEO directs employees, but I suspect employees can direct the CEO, too. That is, employees and CEOs can form a principal-agent loop.

The Paintskin Squeeze

A friend who owns a New York City apartment told me that he’s only responsible for maintenance “from the paint in.” I feel like the paint, squeezed between the physical and mental forces inside my body, and the social and physical forces outside.

Myth definitions

This post is a rolling inventory of definitions and descriptions of myth – mine, and those of others. The date on which an item is added to the list is given in italics, in parentheses. I’ll move it to the top of the blog every time I update it.

Myths: widely known framing stories

Here’s my latest stab at a definition of myth: Myths are widely known stories that frame how groups of people think about, and act in, the world. 

I want myths to include contemporary narratives and not just ancient tales, and this description does that. I’ll unpack the new definition and then give a list of stories that qualify as myths.

Wild West ogregores

John Anderson's WSJ review of ‘Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War’ on Netflix highlights the collective/corporate considerations behind the individualist mythologizing of the Old West.

Who’s in Charge?

In a profile of swing-state Wisconsin where affordable housing is a growing concern with voters, the Wall Street Journal quotes Kayla Lange, who’s struggling to make ends meet, saying, “It’s gotten out of control, and I blame the people in charge.” The story notes that voters ranked housing as their second biggest concern when it comes to high prices—behind only groceries—in a July WSJ poll. The trouble is that the people in charge don’t have much influence on the problem. Ogregores may be a better body to blame and try to affect.

Monsters Literal and Uncanny

Charles Fréger’s Yokainoshima: Island of Monsters and Phyllis Galembo’s Mexico Masks Rituals got me thinking about how people in different cultures represent the monstrous. Since Moderns don’t believe in ghosts and demons, so we demonize people. Non-humanoid monsters are relatively rare and examples, especially dire serpents, often live in the uncanny valley avoided by robot designers.