Gamma Friendly

The Encyclopedia Foundation, while obviously big fans of the late Dr. Isaac Asimov, are fans of a wide variety of other science fiction authors, too. One is “Brave New World”, by Aldous Huxley, where he describes a future dystopia where not only are people of varying degrees of intelligence, they are deliberately bred to be that way.

There is much to be said about that book, but for our purposes, we draw attention to his Caste System of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilons as, in order, Genius, Above Average, Average, Below Average and Mentally Handicapped. These are somewhat useful labels, as they are value neutral and simply designate a given level of intelligence with no undue judgments implied.

He wrote the book in the early 20th century and much research has been done since then. We usually represent the distribution of intellect as a bell curve, in which the vast majority of mankind falls into the categories of Beta, Gamma and Delta, with the very, very bright geniuses (Alphas) and the very, very challenged (Epsilons) being a minority on either side of the giant curve.

If you are wondering what this has to do with the Encyclopedia Foundation, it is this: To succeed in long term preservation of books, it is not enough to have books on metal plates to last ten thousand years. Or even a vault or building that may last 10,000 years. Sure, we can – and will – make all efforts to see to it that it would be decipherable even if we and our inheritors no longer existed. So that someone could come upon the books and with no aid from a person learn from them.
But that’s a long shot. It’s one that again, we’ll do, but it is only a “last resort”. The best case is for the Encyclopedia Foundation as an organization to continue to last for the entire 10,000 year period. And beyond.

And this is where we need to be “Gamma Friendly”. The problem is two fold.

One, the person who comes across the books, say, 6,495 years from now is – by the odds – going to be a Gamma. Were he unusually slow, he’d not be journeying about. Were he unusually bright, he’d probably have tribal, political or business responsibilities depending on the state of the collapse and rebuild. Given this, we cannot automatically assume that they can figure out all of our clever clues as to how to make use of the books. It would be handy then if there were still people of the Encyclopedia Foundation who at the least could explain the basics.

Do not misunderstand. Frankly, we believe that some of our means that we’ll employ are such that any Gamma can figure it out. That will be just another way we seek to be “Gamma Friendly”. But the friendliest of all would be to have some curator there to explain.

Two, such people as might inherit the Encyclopedia Foundation 100 years or 1,000 years from now are probably not going to be Alphas. Again, such as the Alphas usually already have their own concerns. We could hope for there to always be at least some Betas, as we have now, but we cannot even count on that. The Encyclopedia Foundation must always be geared to be run and maintained by Gammas.

Given this, everything must be kept as simple as possible. Or as the popular idiom has it, “KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid”. We cannot be too large. We cannot take on too many things. We must strive to be very much like an ordinary household, wherein no more knowledge of math, planning, regulation following and such is required for us, then would be required for a large household.

Instructions, clearly wrote, must exist for the maintenance of the Encyclopedia Foundation. A basic literacy must be transmitted to each successive group of inheritors. Some of this may seem obvious now, but basic literacy is not always a “to be taken for granted” thing.

And of staggering importance is that the Encyclopedia Foundation always give incentive to those who are in it to stay in it. If at any time in the next 10,000 years it becomes easier for those running the Encyclopedia Foundation to leave it for a better opportunity, then all we could hope for then is that they at least shut the door behind them.

All efforts must be bent towards avoiding that. Such that even if some leave for a better opportunity, that others will be interested in joining to replace them and carry on.

While an Alpha or even a Beta can be tempted with just the goal itself, just the grand ideal, Gammas need a bit more concrete incentive. Hence our program of having the Caretaker live on site, and the attempt to grow to a size just sufficient enough to have a self-supporting monastery like group of members.

The goal for being “Gamma Friendly”, and also Self-Sufficient, is as simple to express as it is complex to carry out. An almost literal monastery. Or better put, an actual monastery, but without adhering to a specific church. This method worked for those in the Middle Ages who were laboring to preserve knowledge. And it can continue to work now.

True, such monasteries – like any other enterprise – do benefit from a Beta administrator, but such are not required. And happily enough, from any pool of Gammas going out of their way to join an organization, there is usually always at least a Gamma Plus or Beta Minus amongst them. And worst case, there is nothing inherently impossible in a regular average Joe – a Gamma – running a Monastery which when all is said and done is little more than a communal home.

As to how to form a monastery style organization, that is another article.