Publisher's Synopsis
"Very scrupulously set out. It is extremely well written and beautifully literate." - Dr. Diané Collinson, author of Plain English, Fifty Major Philosophers, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, coauthor of the Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Philosophers
The unicycle provides a singular image of balance and impending peril, lifted by whimsy for the weighty subject of this book. All the evidence of experimental science reveals that nature is asymmetric. No pure symmetry has ever been found. What does it mean to live in an asymmetric environment?
Unicycle introduces the logic of asymmetric change to interpret the evidence, while showing how our symmetry-based math has failed to grasp a vital ethical connection between humanity and the environment.
The observation that nature is asymmetric confirms reasoning that is as organized as the current foundational symmetries of math by using symmetry as a foil in a proof by contradiction. One result is the discovery that nature, the universe, has a non-random sense of direction with vital ethical consequences, as matter and conscious behavior combine.
Humans are drawn repetitively, even addictively, to pure symmetry in the simplicity of absolutes, like moths to the flame, gamblers to roulette, or - clowns to the unicycle. The more extreme the instability, the greater the need for balance. There is a Tao-like polarity - but one where absolute poles of chaos and order cannot exist. Where physical and social pressures cannot go, they must turn away, in the absence of absolutes, not into relativism, but into the natural, open-ended polarity of the River of Asymmetry. Self-defeating actions attract asymmetric counter-pressures. A self-centered monoculture needs to reach out for balance and learn to navigate the currents.
A key finding is that symmetry and asymmetry are mutually exclusive. In the absence of absolutes, nature's asymmetry opens a creative continuum of opportunity that cannot be stopped with absolute finality. That which connects us is more profound than the differences that divide us. Nature's asymmetry is multifarious and fundamentally inclusive. This provides the ethical basis for a democratic society and a fresh, panpsychist understanding of economics and natural law.
Economic value is nature-based and environmental. Markets depend on agreement, with or without competition. In the asymmetric economy, we are worth more than money. Business cycles can be rebalanced with cultural change.
The reasoning is elucidated with an interdisciplinary narrative fiction, including mythological tales. The stories gain a realism of their own through the deductions. Nature comes to life, along with the characters, as they work on the book by a river in Maine - discovering Mother Nature's moral compass.
