This talk of tipping points and the Milgram experiment make me think of
supercooled solutions in chemistry. These are liquids that are cooled
well below their melting points. When a seed crystal is introduced, they
suddenly solidify. Bear with me and I'll try to explain the relation in
my mind between thermodynamics and social dynamics.
The interesting and frightening thing about the Milgram experiment is that
there WAS NO tipping point. I'm sure that all of these people honestly
believed that it is wrong to hurt others. The conditions just didn't
exist for them to make that decision to stop pressing the button. While
this is somewhat disappointing, I don't believe it's completely damning.
The seed for change may not have to be a single strong individual who is
able to face down authority. Perhaps it is a community of people who are
able to communicate with one another and make decisions together. How
would the Milgram experiment change, I wonder, if you had such a group of
people making the decision whether or not to press the button? I am not
saying that the numbers would be perfect, but I have a feeling that the
odds would increase that they would stop.
I think that for many people the tipping point between healing and
depression is the same thing . human connection. Part of why Obama's
campaign worked so well is that he brought so many people together. Our
little group is a microcosm of the greater community. In an earlier
message I mentioned chaos theory in connection to how every decision, no
matter how small, leads to a whole host of other unexpected (large scale)
results. But I also seem to remember something from chaos theory that
dealt with this issue of scale and how small things are reflected in
larger things. A tiny grain of sand is in some way related to the
mountain on which it sits. But I think my knowledge of these things is
seriously out of date and was only cursory to begin with, so I might be
way off. Nevertheless, the thought is true: Every attempt at human
connection and communication can lead to great social change. All
collaborative art projects are therefore inherently political.

I think a 15 minute show sounds good.

I'm also terrible at coming up with titles. Here are a few:
The Missing Seed
An Experiment in Questioning
A Primer in Social Dynamics and Supercooling