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Re: [ba-unrev-talk] Re: Just the facts.


> I don't think your solution scales well.  Otherwise, it would make sense to
> plaster images of scantily clad people into the many instructivist lectures
> going on everywhere as well.    (01)

Doesn't it? ;-)    (02)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack Park" <jackpark@thinkalong.com>
To: <ba-unrev-talk@bootstrap.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2002 7:07 PM
Subject: Re: [ba-unrev-talk] Re: Just the facts.    (03)


> Peter,
>
> I don't think your solution scales well.  Otherwise, it would make sense to
> plaster images of scantily clad people into the many instructivist lectures
> going on everywhere as well. (Snickers going on in the background, even
> though Peter's wasn't a serious suggestion).
>
> My own reaction to the profoundly instructivist, just-in-case lectures of
> high school was to allow that mysterious "inner voice" take reign.  At the
> time, I dreamt of building an airplane. Whilst in college, I did just that.
> Dropped out of college and flew my bird until I eventually crashed it.
>
> One of the things I got from the StoryCon convention I attended
> (http://www.storycon.org) was the notion that the inner voice is quite
> responsive to story telling, particularly as discussed by Stephen Denning
> (_The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era
> Organizations_).  This, I think, roams around in the space of musings about
> how good ideas pop out of one's subconscious.  Perhaps one of the most
> lucid discussions about this is found in David Gelernter's book _The Muse
> In The Machine_.
>
> My view of Dr. Engelbart's story is quite clear, my interpretation is a
> simple one. There is a profound opportunity to exploit the interplay
> between humans (plural) and tools (also plural) to create a space he calls
> a "capabilities improvement infrastructure."  The interplay of many people
> in that infrastructure, when taken to the Web, opens the door to what he
> calls a "networked improvement community." Nothing, I think, could be more
> obvious or much simpler.  The awsome reality (I think) behind that is that
> Engelbart was showing how to do just that  in the sixties, long before the
> Web existed.
>
> Jack
>
> At 12:00 PM 10/6/2002 +0100, Peter Jones wrote:
> >It's hard to know where the dividing line is though. For example, I know that
> >every good idea I've ever had has just leapt out of my subconscious - or
> >out of
> >nowhere, if you like, since the source is not really amenable to scientific
> >investigation at this time. So the kudos has to be in knowing/seeing which
> >ideas
> >are healthy, and working to promote them in the world through action.
> >However, the type of action chosen to promote those ideas is also crucial.
> >It is
> >easy to take a good idea, and subject folks to it mercilessly like a mad
> >tyrant.
> >Inevitably people will rebel against the actions _and_ the idea.
> >One of Jack Park's themes is that the orthodox school system tends to take
> >this
> >approach to learning - so many children just end up as big bags of resentment
> >with no conceptual centeredness.
> >So it's almost as though one has to publicise ideas without pushing - make
> >those
> >ideas tempting in themselves.
> >
> >Unfortunately there are all sorts of problems with ideas being tempting.
> >It is possible to make ideas tempting in a way that bears no relation to
their
> >intrinsic rational value by weighting their popularity in respect of some
> >basic
> >human desire and waiting for the herd instinct to kick in.
> >Or, as advertisers do these days, simply visually associate an idea with
> >something shiny/sexy/funny and wait.
> >
> >Welcome to the meme wars.
> >
> >In light of this it now seems clear to me that Dr. Engelbart needs to plaster
> >his papers with more pictures of scantily-clad models.
> ><sigh>
> >
> >--
> >Peter
>
>
>    (04)