on the yahoo zodiac
and color green
all statements that agree
with that opinion
red those that disagree
yellow if they're mixed
when the opinions vary
along a dimension of liberal/conservative
make the liberal pole green
the conservative red
now consider an individual lifeline
on the Tree of Life
stereotypically green in youth
redder with age
different issues are first addressed
at different ages
(joyce illustrates this in 'portrait')
and in youth
(or youthful maturity)
various different opinions
may be experimentally adopted
extraordinary intelligence
may discover a deeper pattern
that switches conditionally
between green and red
now zoom out to the branch's immediate family
and its community
and track the patterns
of conformity vs rebellion
contrarianism for its own sake
alternation of generations
then zoom out spatially
to see the community's
unity or diversity
vs its neighbors
(wars normally fought across boundaries)
and whether opinions are evenly balanced
and whether the minority is
clustered or dispersed
out to the geographic antipodes
where the given issue may or may not
even be of any interest
and zoom back chronologically
to see how opinions evolved
from ignorance
or whether they've polarised artificially
only in this epoch of inauthenticity
note largescale cycles
between liberal and conservative
opinions that have gone extinct
wars of conquest that convert
opinions en masse
