Degrees

The history of modern society is that of increasingly rapid degrees of change

The word degree — both singular and plural — is unusually versatile in the variety of ways it is used. It represents temperature measurements, of course, but also signifies variations of relativity and importance in comparisons, an assessment of relative scale, a measure of intent and even academic accomplishments. It symbolizes how we use variables to reach conclusions, make decisions and pass judgements. Not everyone, however, is pragmatic to the same degree in this regard.

The value of one’s judgement of degrees depends on the quantity and quality of information. For someone like me, who considers everything to be interrelated in terms of relativity to each other, being well informed is essential. Determining a course of action or making a choice or offering advice starts and ends with asking questions and learning details. I rarely, if ever, use terms such as always or never. Such generalizations are typically inaccurate and misleading.

I noted in my last post, which was about complexity, that the list of variables can determine where one ends up in dealing with a wide variety of challenges…problems, issues, situations. I also noted that those who offer advice, such as ethicists, take a broad view and consider many aspects. Jumping to conclusions and offering generalizations isn’t going to result in wisdom, which is really what those seeking advice are looking for.

Determining degree is a result of clarity, which is itself the result of pragmatically taking into consideration the relationships of all the information relevant to the problem, issue or situation at hand. And, as if this wasn’t enough, one has to delve into the emotions, values and expectations inherent in what was originally about facts and information. Indeed, these last considerations can significantly complicate trying to determine degrees of importance and which will receive priority. This is where trade-offs become significant.

Where and how does this all go wrong? Solving problems is a combination of recognizing that those involved have to believe and feel they have a stake in the process and that the results will be better than what was, although far from perfect. Those who are wise understand that perfect is not actually a reasonable goal but substantial improvement is. When there’s compromise and consensus, the path toward continuous improvement exists. Attitudes and acceptance take time to truly change, but as chaos theory demonstrates, the tipping point is waiting to be discovered.

This is where degrees come in. They provide a means of discerning change. An issue may have multiple degrees, and these make progress and uneven rates relative to each other. This isn’t a bad thing. Human nature says that while some want and embrace big, rapid changes, far more do not. They need to become accustomed to and comfortable with incremental degrees of change. These individuals will, at their own comfortable rate of acceptance, arrive at the place later and more hesitantly than those who are more adventurous, but in the end what matters is that it happens.

The history of modern society is that of increasingly rapid degrees of change. Some of this is a result of social norming, which I discussed back in May of 2013. It’s a phenomenon in which I noted that “Research indicates that getting people to change their behaviors can be more effectively accomplished by telling them how much others are doing the right thing, or not doing the wrong thing.” We are social creatures and also want to belong. I noted that “Social norming works because it appeals to our sense of community and responsibility, and it also helps us gauge where we are in behaviors and habits relative to others.”

We’re still talking about degrees, be it measuring where we are or what we perceive. It’s both an emotional response to community and also a pragmatic one in which we work together to make things better, more just, more fair. It’s not doomed-to-failure utopianism, but rather recognizing that we can discern the degrees of being more similar than different in many ways. Sometimes we do better than other times, but we don’t give up. Nor should we.