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Friday, March 21, 2014

Affordances



The way I understand it, an "Affordance" is a function of the relationship between an Environment and the Abilities of the Inhabitants of the Environment.

Simply, an environment affords me the possibility of doing certain things as far as my abilities allow.
For example, a room with a stairway presents the possibility of my climbing up to the second storey, assuming that my legs are functioning.

Similarly with Guns.

If a child takes a gun and shoots another younger child, it is a tragedy.

It is not properly the "fault" of Society, but certainly the social environment of the child afforded the chance to do it and set the probabilities high for disaster.
An environment which had more stringent controls would have less chance to afford or present the possibility of this type of disaster. However, many people in this country believe that more controls would afford the chance of the government taking away what rights we have left.

You decide how you want it, then you must accept the mortality statistics.

We do not approve of kids killing kids. But we do accept the environment which affords this opportunity.

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