Can you guess the source.
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I am curious to know if anybody in Friam-land will recognize the following passage. No Fair using google.
It is NOT from the Gettysburg Address. "Our work is guided by the sense that we may be the last generation in the experiment with living. But we are a minority--the vast majority of our people regard the temporary equilibriums of our society and world as eternally functional parts. In this is perhaps the outstanding paradox; we ourselves are imbued with urgency, yet the message of our society is that there is no viable alternative to the present. Beneath the reassuring tones of the politicians, beneath the common opinion that America will "muddle through," beneath the stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the future, is the pervading feeling that there simply are no alternatives, that our times have witnessed the exhaustion not only of Utopias, but of any new departures as well. Feeling the press of complexity upon the emptiness of life, people are fearful of the thought that at any moment things might be thrust out of control. They fear change itself, since change might smash whatever invisible framework seems to hold back chaos for them now. For most Americans, all crusades are suspect, threatening. The fact that each individual sees apathy in his fellows perpetuates the common reluctance to organize for change. The dominant institutions are complex enough to blunt the minds of their potential critics, and entrenched enough to swiftly dissipate or entirely repel the energies of protest and reform, thus limiting human expectancies. Then, too, we are a materially improved society, and by our own improvements we seem to have weakened the case for further change." Nicholas S. Thompson Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM (nick at redfish.com) Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University (nthompson at clarku.edu) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20070411/6aa8c6f3/attachment.html |
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I'll play.
Theodore Kaczynski? Now I have to go see if I am right. It's scary playing this game and quite possibly making a fool of oneself. On Apr 11, 2007, at 6:10 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > > I am curious to know if anybody in Friam-land will recognize the > following passage. No Fair using google. > > It is NOT from the Gettysburg Address. > > "Our work is guided by the sense that we may be the last generation > in the experiment with living. But we are a minority--the vast > majority of our people regard the temporary equilibriums of our > society and world as eternally functional parts. In this is perhaps > the outstanding paradox; we ourselves are imbued with urgency, yet > the message of our society is that there is no viable alternative > to the present. Beneath the reassuring tones of the politicians, > beneath the common opinion that America will "muddle through," > beneath the stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the > future, is the pervading feeling that there simply are no > alternatives, that our times have witnessed the exhaustion not only > of Utopias, but of any new departures as well. Feeling the press of > complexity upon the emptiness of life, people are fearful of the > thought that at any moment things might be thrust out of control. > They fear change itself, since change might smash whatever > invisible framework seems to hold back chaos for them now. For most > Americans, all crusades are suspect, threatening. The fact that > each individual sees apathy in his fellows perpetuates the common > reluctance to organize for change. The dominant institutions are > complex enough to blunt the minds of their potential critics, and > entrenched enough to swiftly dissipate or entirely repel the > energies of protest and reform, thus limiting human expectancies. > Then, too, we are a materially improved society, and by our own > improvements we seem to have weakened the case for further change." > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM (nick at redfish.com) > Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University > (nthompson at clarku.edu) > > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20070411/a4a20857/attachment.html |
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In reply to this post by Nick Thompson
Nicholas Thompson wrote:
> > I am curious to know if anybody in Friam-land will recognize the > following passage. No Fair using google. > > It is NOT from the Gettysburg Address. > > *"Our work is guided by the sense that we may be the last generation > in the experiment with living. But we are a minority--the vast > majority of our people regard the temporary equilibriums of our > society and world as eternally functional parts. In this is perhaps > the outstanding paradox; we ourselves are imbued with urgency, yet the > message of our society is that there is no viable alternative to the > present. Beneath the reassuring tones of the politicians, beneath the > common opinion that America will "muddle through," beneath the > stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the future, is the > pervading feeling that there simply are no alternatives, that our > times have witnessed the exhaustion not only of Utopias, but of any > new departures as well. Feeling the press of complexity upon the > emptiness of life, people are fearful of the thought that at any > moment things might be thrust out of control. They fear change itself, > since change might smash whatever invisible framework seems to hold > back chaos for them now. For most Americans, all crusades are suspect, > threatening. The fact that each individual sees apathy in his fellows > perpetuates the common reluctance to organize for change. The dominant > institutions are complex enough to blunt the minds of their potential > critics, and entrenched enough to swiftly dissipate or entirely repel > the energies of protest and reform, thus limiting human expectancies. > Then, too, we are a materially improved society, and by our own > improvements we seem to have weakened the case for further change.*" > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM (nick at redfish.com > <mailto:nick at redfish.com>) > Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University > (nthompson at clarku.edu <mailto:nthompson at clarku.edu>) > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org is definitely from that period, probably SDS or one of those groups. Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm reaching here, and I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you probably weren't even BORN yet! Merle Merle Lefkoff Change Factors Santa Fe, N.M. |
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> Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm reaching
> here, and I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you > probably weren't even BORN yet! I cheated with Google and still didn't know who it was. Yep, 6 years before I even saw light. Thankfully, things have turned out nothing like what was described there ;-) -Steve > -----Original Message----- > From: Merle Lefkoff [mailto:merle at arspublica.org] > Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:58 PM > To: nickthompson at earthlink.net; The Friday Morning Applied > Complexity Coffee Group > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > Nicholas Thompson wrote: > > > > I am curious to know if anybody in Friam-land will recognize the > > following passage. No Fair using google. > > > > It is NOT from the Gettysburg Address. > > > > *"Our work is guided by the sense that we may be the last > generation > > in the experiment with living. But we are a minority--the vast > > majority of our people regard the temporary equilibriums of our > > society and world as eternally functional parts. In this is perhaps > > the outstanding paradox; we ourselves are imbued with > urgency, yet the > > message of our society is that there is no viable > alternative to the > > present. Beneath the reassuring tones of the politicians, > beneath the > > common opinion that America will "muddle through," beneath the > > stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the > future, is the > > pervading feeling that there simply are no alternatives, that our > > times have witnessed the exhaustion not only of Utopias, but of any > > new departures as well. Feeling the press of complexity upon the > > emptiness of life, people are fearful of the thought that at any > > moment things might be thrust out of control. They fear > change itself, > > since change might smash whatever invisible framework seems to hold > > back chaos for them now. For most Americans, all crusades > are suspect, > > threatening. The fact that each individual sees apathy in > his fellows > > perpetuates the common reluctance to organize for change. > The dominant > > institutions are complex enough to blunt the minds of their > potential > > critics, and entrenched enough to swiftly dissipate or > entirely repel > > the energies of protest and reform, thus limiting human > expectancies. > > Then, too, we are a materially improved society, and by our own > > improvements we seem to have weakened the case for further change.*" > > > > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > > Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM (nick at redfish.com > > <mailto:nick at redfish.com>) > > Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University > > (nthompson at clarku.edu <mailto:nthompson at clarku.edu>) > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > > > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays > 9a-11:30 at cafe > > at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at > > http://www.friam.org > I was teaching in the sixties to put myself through grad > school. This is definitely from that period, probably SDS or > one of those groups. > Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm reaching > here, and I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you > probably weren't even BORN yet! > > Merle > > Merle Lefkoff > Change Factors > Santa Fe, N.M. > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > |
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In reply to this post by Nick Thompson
Yesterday was non-linear Clausewitz, today is this passage! Please allow me to add my favorite painter Pino - http://www.fineartandsoul.com/Artist-Pino.htm & http://www.chasengalleries.com/pino/index.html
Any art references? --Mikhail ----- Original Message ----- From: Nicholas Thompson To: friam at redfish.com Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:10 PM Subject: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. I am curious to know if anybody in Friam-land will recognize the following passage. No Fair using google. It is NOT from the Gettysburg Address. "Our work is guided by the sense that we may be the last generation in the experiment with living. But we are a minority--the vast majority of our people regard the temporary equilibriums of our society and world as eternally functional parts. In this is perhaps the outstanding paradox; we ourselves are imbued with urgency, yet the message of our society is that there is no viable alternative to the present. Beneath the reassuring tones of the politicians, beneath the common opinion that America will "muddle through," beneath the stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the future, is the pervading feeling that there simply are no alternatives, that our times have witnessed the exhaustion not only of Utopias, but of any new departures as well. Feeling the press of complexity upon the emptiness of life, people are fearful of the thought that at any moment things might be thrust out of control. They fear change itself, since change might smash whatever invisible framework seems to hold back chaos for them now. For most Americans, all crusades are suspect, threatening. The fact that each individual sees apathy in his fellows perpetuates the common reluctance to organize for change. The dominant institutions are complex enough to blunt the minds of their potential critics, and entrenched enough to swiftly dissipate or entirely repel the energies of protest and reform, thus limiting human expectancies. Then, too, we are a materially improved society, and by our own improvements we seem to have weakened the case for further change." Nicholas S. Thompson Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM (nick at redfish.com) Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University (nthompson at clarku.edu) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20070411/1320c3e3/attachment.html |
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In reply to this post by Merle Lefkoff
Port Huron Statement Gus Koehler, Ph.D. President and Principal Time Structures, Inc. 1545 University Ave. Sacramento, CA 95825 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 Cell: 916-716-1740 www.timestructures.com -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Merle Lefkoff Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 7:58 PM To: nickthompson at earthlink.net; The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. Nicholas Thompson wrote: > > I am curious to know if anybody in Friam-land will recognize the > following passage. No Fair using google. > > It is NOT from the Gettysburg Address. > > *"Our work is guided by the sense that we may be the last generation > in the experiment with living. But we are a minority--the vast > majority of our people regard the temporary equilibriums of our > society and world as eternally functional parts. In this is perhaps > the outstanding paradox; we ourselves are imbued with urgency, yet the > message of our society is that there is no viable alternative to the > present. Beneath the reassuring tones of the politicians, beneath the > common opinion that America will "muddle through," beneath the > stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the future, is the > pervading feeling that there simply are no alternatives, that our > times have witnessed the exhaustion not only of Utopias, but of any > new departures as well. Feeling the press of complexity upon the > emptiness of life, people are fearful of the thought that at any > moment things might be thrust out of control. They fear change itself, > since change might smash whatever invisible framework seems to hold > back chaos for them now. For most Americans, all crusades are suspect, > threatening. The fact that each individual sees apathy in his fellows > perpetuates the common reluctance to organize for change. The dominant > institutions are complex enough to blunt the minds of their potential > critics, and entrenched enough to swiftly dissipate or entirely repel > the energies of protest and reform, thus limiting human expectancies. > Then, too, we are a materially improved society, and by our own > improvements we seem to have weakened the case for further change.*" > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM (nick at redfish.com > <mailto:nick at redfish.com>) > Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University > (nthompson at clarku.edu <mailto:nthompson at clarku.edu>) > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe > at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at > http://www.friam.org definitely from that period, probably SDS or one of those groups. Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm reaching here, and I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you probably weren't even BORN yet! Merle Merle Lefkoff Change Factors Santa Fe, N.M. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
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In reply to this post by Stephen Guerin
Lets see, patriot act, citizen phone taps without knowledge, bank taps without knowledge, Bush manipulation of fear by terror buggy man, electronic voting subversion resulting from subversion of two presidential elections, "privacy get over it" as the creed of the internet and of all the new video, voice, body fluid MEMS sensors that feed into it, world domination by US navy that controls the seas, air and land preferably with autonomous killer robots (none of our men on the battle field), torture as an acceptable activity without shame for a greater good like the Spanish Inquisition but no saving in an American heaven and supported by our president, pictures of our soldiers in coffins forbidden to be taken, no count of the number of Iraqis or Afghanis killed, loss of most Americans of a retirement, of health care when they are old, and loading up with extreme debt, students graduating from college so in debt that all they can do is work for the man, VA that can't figure out after 4 years that head injuries will be a problem and that urban warfare screws with people's heads, movie marquis that trumpet the most horrible tortures and attacks on women, the disappearance of a black led movement for freedom and dignity replaced with woes and gangsta rap belittle the life and voice of their own people a future dominated by the destruction of our sea side cities, heat waves, death of 30 percent of the world's species, Africa and the poor sent to suffering the most, diseases out of the cut down rainforests that we never expected to emerge because people eat bush meat, a plague that is global and is cutting the foundations out of African societies..... These are all things that the Port Heuron Statement could not anticipate but saw the foundations emerging for. Santa Fe probably won't be much of a place to live in 30 years and neither will Sacramento. I remember the Port Heruon Statement well having been a member of the SDS. We, for a short while, saw the beast naked and what it could do. We even had a vision of wholeness of what men and women could become. Read the rest of the statement. There were even technohippies that believed that the new computers could really form a basis for communications and analysis--and this was pre-internet. I think the big difference is how subtle all of this has come about without the direct intervention of 1984 like social structures, even right in our faces. At least we could see our soldiers being wounded, sent home in boxes, and watch the people suffer on fire with napalm or being shot in ditches whom we were killing so effectively. In my view the vision came true and we are even more asleep than we know. Gus Koehler, Ph.D. President and Principal Time Structures, Inc. 1545 University Ave. Sacramento, CA 95825 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 Cell: 916-716-1740 www.timestructures.com -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:22 PM To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm reaching here, and > I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you probably weren't even > BORN yet! I cheated with Google and still didn't know who it was. Yep, 6 years before I even saw light. Thankfully, things have turned out nothing like what was described there ;-) -Steve |
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Gus,
As I was reading through the full Port Huron statement at http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hur.html I was thinking, hmm, maybe if we actually developed some of the distributed net tools we've been talking about it could help. But then I cam across this passage near the end: "Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the vast distance between man and man today. These dominant tendencies cannot be overcome by better personnel management, nor by improved gadgets, but only when a love of man overcomes the idolatrous worship of things by man." So I thought, ah, technology may not help...it's a bigger problem. Then you write: > There were even technohippies that believed that the new > computers could really form a basis for communications and > analysis--and this was pre-internet. This made me think that maybe there is a technological angle... In your opinion, where's the leverage for a group like ours? Is it what we can offer in technological / ideological realm, or is it local political action? -Steve > -----Original Message----- > From: Gus Koehler [mailto:rhythm3 at earthlink.net] > Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:59 PM > To: stephen.guerin at redfish.com; 'The Friday Morning Applied > Complexity Coffee Group' > Subject: RE: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > > Lets see, patriot act, > citizen phone taps without knowledge, bank taps without > knowledge, Bush manipulation of fear by terror buggy man, > electronic voting subversion resulting from subversion of two > presidential elections, "privacy get over it" as the creed of > the internet and of all the new video, voice, body fluid MEMS > sensors that feed into it, world domination by US navy that > controls the seas, air and land preferably with autonomous > killer robots (none of our men on the battle field), torture > as an acceptable activity without shame for a greater good > like the Spanish Inquisition but no saving in an American > heaven and supported by our president, pictures of our > soldiers in coffins forbidden to be taken, no count of the > number of Iraqis or Afghanis killed, loss of most Americans > of a retirement, of health care when they are old, and > loading up with extreme debt, students graduating from > college so in debt that all they can do is work for the man, > VA that can't figure out after 4 years that head injuries > will be a problem and that urban warfare screws with people's > heads, movie marquis that trumpet the most horrible tortures > and attacks on women, the disappearance of a black led > movement for freedom and dignity replaced with woes and > gangsta rap belittle the life and voice of their own people a > future dominated by the destruction of our sea side cities, > heat waves, death of 30 percent of the world's species, > Africa and the poor sent to suffering the most, diseases out > of the cut down rainforests that we never expected to emerge > because people eat bush meat, a plague that is global and is > cutting the foundations out of African societies..... > > These are all things that the Port Heuron Statement could not > anticipate but saw the foundations emerging for. > Santa Fe probably won't be much of a place to live in 30 > years and neither will Sacramento. > > I remember the Port Heruon Statement well having been a > member of the SDS. > We, for a short while, saw the beast naked and what it could > do. We even had a vision of wholeness of what men and women > could become. Read the rest of the statement. > > There were even technohippies that believed that the new > computers could really form a basis for communications and > analysis--and this was pre-internet. > > I think the big difference is how subtle all of this has come > about without the direct intervention of 1984 like social > structures, even right in our faces. > > At least we could see our soldiers being wounded, sent home > in boxes, and watch the people suffer on fire with napalm or > being shot in ditches whom we were killing so effectively. > > In my view the vision came true and we are even more asleep > than we know. > > > > Gus Koehler, Ph.D. > President and Principal > Time Structures, Inc. > 1545 University Ave. > Sacramento, CA 95825 > 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 > Cell: 916-716-1740 > www.timestructures.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: friam-bounces at redfish.com > [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin > Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:22 PM > To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > > Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm > reaching here, and > > I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you probably weren't even > > BORN yet! > > I cheated with Google and still didn't know who it was. Yep, > 6 years before I even saw light. > > Thankfully, things have turned out nothing like what was > described there ;-) > > -Steve > > > > |
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> "Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the vast distance between man and > man today. These dominant tendencies cannot be overcome by better personnel > management, nor by improved gadgets, but only when a love of man overcomes the > idolatrous worship of things by man." > Oddly enough, there's some overlap with the writings of this guy: http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=04475-046 |
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In reply to this post by Stephen Guerin
Steve:
Actually, your question is really hard. I have been involved in tracing the significant issues--economic, political, ethical, philosophical--associated with the emergence of various advanced technologies here in California. These include biotechnology, nanotechnology, IT, intelligent transportation systems, alternative fuels, and the global marketplace in general. In each case there are deep drivers that conflict with basic human and environmental values. One is the nexus between a value free science and the unlimited drive for profit. A second is the disconnect between IT based communications and the direct experience of the body, be it facial expressions, gestures, vibes, scent, movement-in-context, and the like. Third, is the isolation of decision-makers via IT, ideology, and the way policy choices are developed from the lived experience of these policies--a homeless person, killing on the battle field and the wounded soldier or citizen, the last butterfly. Fourth, the creation of cyborgs and Chimeras without a careful investigation of what this means in terms of self, animal nature, Gaia, etc. Fifth, the emergence of a new, very privileged, very rich elder-aristocracy that controls immense amounts of wealth and that will live a very long time using cyborg technologies above and various IT related health care monitoring extension that include the capacity to control from afar. On the other IT side, there are communities wired in such a way that multiple cultures and people participate together in urban planning. There is medicine at a distance. These efforts REQUIRE free technohippies to interpret the limitations of like how GIS can be biased in such a way as not to show indian grave yards under proposed sky scrappers. Technohippies can identify the ethical and moral limits, design webs that are grounded in the knowing of what is cut-off and what is brought forward. They can insist on face-to-face meetings and rolling in the grass. All of these issues have been investigated by science fiction, often very poorly but still interestingly. Okay, what about your group. First, you live in an environment that is suffused with artists, poets, environmentalists, indians and others as well as national laboratory scientists, your private sector guys, the Santa Fe Institute... Why not identify some of the most interesting intersects above--chimera, cyborgs--and pull together some hands on immediate, body oriented explorations of what it feels like via touch, emotions, vision, sound. Explore this new terrain very directly. Identify what is lost and what is gained. How about this virtual reality, what does it taste like and how does it extend into us with what shaping affects? Visualization is abstraction by definition. What is abstracted in and what out? The French philosopher Bodreard gave this a lot of thought as did other post moderns and their inheritors. Finally, there what Ginsberg called the search for the connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night. The real vision quest thing. Check out Alex Gray's work on the net. In my opinion, it was the serious effort to blow up the worn out, corrupted visionary roots of America by a direct investigation of what it means to be human that really scared the crap out of the powers that be--even now. And we turned to native Americans, Hindus, Buddhists, sex, and other means in an attempt to REALLY find out what's what. It was kinda crude and ended up in really bad places for many (I recall coming back from the Peace Corps and walking the Haight to see a guys and gals laying on the street out of their mind on speed....). This vision quest is not over. There are many guides who have found things as well as the ancients still here who can help out. Here are some interesting links. From the Urban Dictionary: technohippy 34 up, 2 down 1. a computer nerd with hippy ideals 2. there are cyberpunks and script kiddies, but technohippies are a breed of their own. they are not malicious, but only interested in the way things work. usually not the "l33test", (in terms of knowledge of a specific area), but they have a broad wisdom of many different technologies. the favored music of the technohippy consists of (but is not limited to): post-rock, electronica, ambience, eccentric cultural music, and any other obscure music. technohippies are often very philosophical, but are open to new ideas (as long as they are somewhat intelligent). ignorance and hatred is looked down upon by the technohippy, and some may even be a bit cynical. all in all, a technohippy is a philosophically-open eccentric geek. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=technohippy some links here too. Kung Fu Technohippies Kicking Some Ass http://betterdonkey.org/node/524 Also, http://billyjoemills.blogspot.com/2006/03/rebellion-of-nerds.html And then there's the technohippy band. Gus Gus Koehler, Ph.D. President and Principal Time Structures, Inc. 1545 University Ave. Sacramento, CA 95825 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 Cell: 916-716-1740 www.timestructures.com -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:23 PM To: friam at redfish.com Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. Gus, As I was reading through the full Port Huron statement at http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hur.html I was thinking, hmm, maybe if we actually developed some of the distributed net tools we've been talking about it could help. But then I cam across this passage near the end: "Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the vast distance between man and man today. These dominant tendencies cannot be overcome by better personnel management, nor by improved gadgets, but only when a love of man overcomes the idolatrous worship of things by man." So I thought, ah, technology may not help...it's a bigger problem. Then you write: > There were even technohippies that believed that the new computers > could really form a basis for communications and analysis--and this > was pre-internet. This made me think that maybe there is a technological angle... In your opinion, where's the leverage for a group like ours? Is it what we can offer in technological / ideological realm, or is it local political action? -Steve > -----Original Message----- > From: Gus Koehler [mailto:rhythm3 at earthlink.net] > Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:59 PM > To: stephen.guerin at redfish.com; 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity > Coffee Group' > Subject: RE: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > > Lets see, patriot act, > citizen phone taps without knowledge, bank taps without knowledge, > Bush manipulation of fear by terror buggy man, electronic voting > subversion resulting from subversion of two presidential elections, > "privacy get over it" as the creed of the internet and of all the new > video, voice, body fluid MEMS sensors that feed into it, world > domination by US navy that controls the seas, air and land preferably > with autonomous killer robots (none of our men on the battle field), > torture as an acceptable activity without shame for a greater good > like the Spanish Inquisition but no saving in an American heaven and > supported by our president, pictures of our soldiers in coffins > forbidden to be taken, no count of the number of Iraqis or Afghanis > killed, loss of most Americans of a retirement, of health care when > they are old, and loading up with extreme debt, students graduating > from college so in debt that all they can do is work for the man, VA > that can't figure out after 4 years that head injuries will be a > problem and that urban warfare screws with people's heads, movie > marquis that trumpet the most horrible tortures and attacks on women, > the disappearance of a black led movement for freedom and dignity > replaced with woes and gangsta rap belittle the life and voice of > their own people a future dominated by the destruction of our sea side > cities, heat waves, death of 30 percent of the world's species, Africa > and the poor sent to suffering the most, diseases out of the cut down > rainforests that we never expected to emerge because people eat bush > meat, a plague that is global and is cutting the foundations out of > African societies..... > > These are all things that the Port Heuron Statement could not > anticipate but saw the foundations emerging for. > Santa Fe probably won't be much of a place to live in 30 years and > neither will Sacramento. > > I remember the Port Heruon Statement well having been a member of the > SDS. > We, for a short while, saw the beast naked and what it could do. We > even had a vision of wholeness of what men and women could become. > Read the rest of the statement. > > There were even technohippies that believed that the new computers > could really form a basis for communications and analysis--and this > was pre-internet. > > I think the big difference is how subtle all of this has come about > without the direct intervention of 1984 like social structures, even > right in our faces. > > At least we could see our soldiers being wounded, sent home in boxes, > and watch the people suffer on fire with napalm or being shot in > ditches whom we were killing so effectively. > > In my view the vision came true and we are even more asleep than we > know. > > > > Gus Koehler, Ph.D. > President and Principal > Time Structures, Inc. > 1545 University Ave. > Sacramento, CA 95825 > 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 > Cell: 916-716-1740 > www.timestructures.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: friam-bounces at redfish.com > [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin > Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:22 PM > To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > > Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm > reaching here, and > > I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you probably weren't even > > BORN yet! > > I cheated with Google and still didn't know who it was. Yep, > 6 years before I even saw light. > > Thankfully, things have turned out nothing like what was described > there ;-) > > -Steve > > > > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
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>This vision quest is not over.
It's never over. Back to rolling in the grass and looking for my new cyborg body. -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Gus Koehler Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 10:22 AM To: stephen.guerin at redfish.com; 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. Steve: Actually, your question is really hard. I have been involved in tracing the significant issues--economic, political, ethical, philosophical--associated with the emergence of various advanced technologies here in California. These include biotechnology, nanotechnology, IT, intelligent transportation systems, alternative fuels, and the global marketplace in general. In each case there are deep drivers that conflict with basic human and environmental values. One is the nexus between a value free science and the unlimited drive for profit. A second is the disconnect between IT based communications and the direct experience of the body, be it facial expressions, gestures, vibes, scent, movement-in-context, and the like. Third, is the isolation of decision-makers via IT, ideology, and the way policy choices are developed from the lived experience of these policies--a homeless person, killing on the battle field and the wounded soldier or citizen, the last butterfly. Fourth, the creation of cyborgs and Chimeras without a careful investigation of what this means in terms of self, animal nature, Gaia, etc. Fifth, the emergence of a new, very privileged, very rich elder-aristocracy that controls immense amounts of wealth and that will live a very long time using cyborg technologies above and various IT related health care monitoring extension that include the capacity to control from afar. On the other IT side, there are communities wired in such a way that multiple cultures and people participate together in urban planning. There is medicine at a distance. These efforts REQUIRE free technohippies to interpret the limitations of like how GIS can be biased in such a way as not to show indian grave yards under proposed sky scrappers. Technohippies can identify the ethical and moral limits, design webs that are grounded in the knowing of what is cut-off and what is brought forward. They can insist on face-to-face meetings and rolling in the grass. All of these issues have been investigated by science fiction, often very poorly but still interestingly. Okay, what about your group. First, you live in an environment that is suffused with artists, poets, environmentalists, indians and others as well as national laboratory scientists, your private sector guys, the Santa Fe Institute... Why not identify some of the most interesting intersects above--chimera, cyborgs--and pull together some hands on immediate, body oriented explorations of what it feels like via touch, emotions, vision, sound. Explore this new terrain very directly. Identify what is lost and what is gained. How about this virtual reality, what does it taste like and how does it extend into us with what shaping affects? Visualization is abstraction by definition. What is abstracted in and what out? The French philosopher Bodreard gave this a lot of thought as did other post moderns and their inheritors. Finally, there what Ginsberg called the search for the connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night. The real vision quest thing. Check out Alex Gray's work on the net. In my opinion, it was the serious effort to blow up the worn out, corrupted visionary roots of America by a direct investigation of what it means to be human that really scared the crap out of the powers that be--even now. And we turned to native Americans, Hindus, Buddhists, sex, and other means in an attempt to REALLY find out what's what. It was kinda crude and ended up in really bad places for many (I recall coming back from the Peace Corps and walking the Haight to see a guys and gals laying on the street out of their mind on speed....). This vision quest is not over. There are many guides who have found things as well as the ancients still here who can help out. Here are some interesting links. From the Urban Dictionary: technohippy 34 up, 2 down 1. a computer nerd with hippy ideals 2. there are cyberpunks and script kiddies, but technohippies are a breed of their own. they are not malicious, but only interested in the way things work. usually not the "l33test", (in terms of knowledge of a specific area), but they have a broad wisdom of many different technologies. the favored music of the technohippy consists of (but is not limited to): post-rock, electronica, ambience, eccentric cultural music, and any other obscure music. technohippies are often very philosophical, but are open to new ideas (as long as they are somewhat intelligent). ignorance and hatred is looked down upon by the technohippy, and some may even be a bit cynical. all in all, a technohippy is a philosophically-open eccentric geek. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=technohippy some links here too. Kung Fu Technohippies Kicking Some Ass http://betterdonkey.org/node/524 Also, http://billyjoemills.blogspot.com/2006/03/rebellion-of-nerds.html And then there's the technohippy band. Gus Gus Koehler, Ph.D. President and Principal Time Structures, Inc. 1545 University Ave. Sacramento, CA 95825 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 Cell: 916-716-1740 www.timestructures.com -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:23 PM To: friam at redfish.com Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. Gus, As I was reading through the full Port Huron statement at http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hur.html I was thinking, hmm, maybe if we actually developed some of the distributed net tools we've been talking about it could help. But then I cam across this passage near the end: "Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the vast distance between man and man today. These dominant tendencies cannot be overcome by better personnel management, nor by improved gadgets, but only when a love of man overcomes the idolatrous worship of things by man." So I thought, ah, technology may not help...it's a bigger problem. Then you write: > There were even technohippies that believed that the new computers > could really form a basis for communications and analysis--and this > was pre-internet. This made me think that maybe there is a technological angle... In your opinion, where's the leverage for a group like ours? Is it what we can offer in technological / ideological realm, or is it local political action? -Steve > -----Original Message----- > From: Gus Koehler [mailto:rhythm3 at earthlink.net] > Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:59 PM > To: stephen.guerin at redfish.com; 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity > Coffee Group' > Subject: RE: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > > Lets see, patriot act, > citizen phone taps without knowledge, bank taps without knowledge, > Bush manipulation of fear by terror buggy man, electronic voting > subversion resulting from subversion of two presidential elections, > "privacy get over it" as the creed of the internet and of all the new > video, voice, body fluid MEMS sensors that feed into it, world > domination by US navy that controls the seas, air and land preferably > with autonomous killer robots (none of our men on the battle field), > torture as an acceptable activity without shame for a greater good > like the Spanish Inquisition but no saving in an American heaven and > supported by our president, pictures of our soldiers in coffins > forbidden to be taken, no count of the number of Iraqis or Afghanis > killed, loss of most Americans of a retirement, of health care when > they are old, and loading up with extreme debt, students graduating > from college so in debt that all they can do is work for the man, VA > that can't figure out after 4 years that head injuries will be a > problem and that urban warfare screws with people's heads, movie > marquis that trumpet the most horrible tortures and attacks on women, > the disappearance of a black led movement for freedom and dignity > replaced with woes and gangsta rap belittle the life and voice of > their own people a future dominated by the destruction of our sea side > cities, heat waves, death of 30 percent of the world's species, Africa > and the poor sent to suffering the most, diseases out of the cut down > rainforests that we never expected to emerge because people eat bush > meat, a plague that is global and is cutting the foundations out of > African societies..... > > These are all things that the Port Heuron Statement could not > anticipate but saw the foundations emerging for. > Santa Fe probably won't be much of a place to live in 30 years and > neither will Sacramento. > > I remember the Port Heruon Statement well having been a member of the > SDS. > We, for a short while, saw the beast naked and what it could do. We > even had a vision of wholeness of what men and women could become. > Read the rest of the statement. > > There were even technohippies that believed that the new computers > could really form a basis for communications and analysis--and this > was pre-internet. > > I think the big difference is how subtle all of this has come about > without the direct intervention of 1984 like social structures, even > right in our faces. > > At least we could see our soldiers being wounded, sent home in boxes, > and watch the people suffer on fire with napalm or being shot in > ditches whom we were killing so effectively. > > In my view the vision came true and we are even more asleep than we > know. > > > > Gus Koehler, Ph.D. > President and Principal > Time Structures, Inc. > 1545 University Ave. > Sacramento, CA 95825 > 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 > Cell: 916-716-1740 > www.timestructures.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: friam-bounces at redfish.com > [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin > Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:22 PM > To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > > Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm > reaching here, and > > I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you probably weren't even > > BORN yet! > > I cheated with Google and still didn't know who it was. Yep, > 6 years before I even saw light. > > Thankfully, things have turned out nothing like what was described > there ;-) > > -Steve > > > > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
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In reply to this post by Stephen Guerin
Steve, this is an interesting question, and since it falls in some ways
within my domain (i.e., organizational structure and planning) I'll offer a couple of suggestions: Since Friam doesn't have (to the best of my knowledge) an explicit social impact goal or mission, I think it would be difficult to enlist it in this type of action. On the other hand, a generic "political action" group seems to broad and diffuse. So we might consider a subset that wants to focus on this area (Monam, anyone?), and as Gus points out, utilize the notable assets and resources we have here in NM and Santa Fe. I'll join. And I know Merle is listening ;-) I'll also mention that I developed a concept paper for "The Center for Social Enterprise Technology" last year, which is designed to work in exactly this way. If anyone is interested in seeing the CSET paper, let me know at David at BreeckerAssociates.com Hope this is useful, David dba | David Breecker Associates, Inc. www.BreeckerAssociates.com Abiquiu: 505-685-4891 Santa Fe: 505-690-2335 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Guerin" <[hidden email]> To: <friam at redfish.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:23 PM Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > Gus, > > As I was reading through the full Port Huron statement at > http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hur.html I was thinking, > hmm, > maybe if we actually developed some of the distributed net tools we've > been > talking about it could help. But then I cam across this passage near the > end: > > "Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the vast distance between > man and > man today. These dominant tendencies cannot be overcome by better > personnel > management, nor by improved gadgets, but only when a love of man overcomes > the > idolatrous worship of things by man." > > So I thought, ah, technology may not help...it's a bigger problem. > > Then you write: >> There were even technohippies that believed that the new >> computers could really form a basis for communications and >> analysis--and this was pre-internet. > > This made me think that maybe there is a technological angle... > > In your opinion, where's the leverage for a group like ours? Is it what we > can > offer in technological / ideological realm, or is it local political > action? > > -Steve > > > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Gus Koehler [mailto:rhythm3 at earthlink.net] >> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:59 PM >> To: stephen.guerin at redfish.com; 'The Friday Morning Applied >> Complexity Coffee Group' >> Subject: RE: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. >> >> >> Lets see, patriot act, >> citizen phone taps without knowledge, bank taps without >> knowledge, Bush manipulation of fear by terror buggy man, >> electronic voting subversion resulting from subversion of two >> presidential elections, "privacy get over it" as the creed of >> the internet and of all the new video, voice, body fluid MEMS >> sensors that feed into it, world domination by US navy that >> controls the seas, air and land preferably with autonomous >> killer robots (none of our men on the battle field), torture >> as an acceptable activity without shame for a greater good >> like the Spanish Inquisition but no saving in an American >> heaven and supported by our president, pictures of our >> soldiers in coffins forbidden to be taken, no count of the >> number of Iraqis or Afghanis killed, loss of most Americans >> of a retirement, of health care when they are old, and >> loading up with extreme debt, students graduating from >> college so in debt that all they can do is work for the man, >> VA that can't figure out after 4 years that head injuries >> will be a problem and that urban warfare screws with people's >> heads, movie marquis that trumpet the most horrible tortures >> and attacks on women, the disappearance of a black led >> movement for freedom and dignity replaced with woes and >> gangsta rap belittle the life and voice of their own people a >> future dominated by the destruction of our sea side cities, >> heat waves, death of 30 percent of the world's species, >> Africa and the poor sent to suffering the most, diseases out >> of the cut down rainforests that we never expected to emerge >> because people eat bush meat, a plague that is global and is >> cutting the foundations out of African societies..... >> >> These are all things that the Port Heuron Statement could not >> anticipate but saw the foundations emerging for. >> Santa Fe probably won't be much of a place to live in 30 >> years and neither will Sacramento. >> >> I remember the Port Heruon Statement well having been a >> member of the SDS. >> We, for a short while, saw the beast naked and what it could >> do. We even had a vision of wholeness of what men and women >> could become. Read the rest of the statement. >> >> There were even technohippies that believed that the new >> computers could really form a basis for communications and >> analysis--and this was pre-internet. >> >> I think the big difference is how subtle all of this has come >> about without the direct intervention of 1984 like social >> structures, even right in our faces. >> >> At least we could see our soldiers being wounded, sent home >> in boxes, and watch the people suffer on fire with napalm or >> being shot in ditches whom we were killing so effectively. >> >> In my view the vision came true and we are even more asleep >> than we know. >> >> >> >> Gus Koehler, Ph.D. >> President and Principal >> Time Structures, Inc. >> 1545 University Ave. >> Sacramento, CA 95825 >> 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 >> Cell: 916-716-1740 >> www.timestructures.com >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: friam-bounces at redfish.com >> [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin >> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:22 PM >> To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' >> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. >> >> > Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm >> reaching here, and >> > I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you probably weren't even >> > BORN yet! >> >> I cheated with Google and still didn't know who it was. Yep, >> 6 years before I even saw light. >> >> Thankfully, things have turned out nothing like what was >> described there ;-) >> >> -Steve >> >> >> >> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > |
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In reply to this post by Marcus G. Daniels
I can't think of a better time to bring this up (thanks for the timely topic
Nick). It just so happens that the monthly meeting of our local (ie: Santa Fe) political discussion salon is tonight. Our chapter is one of about 200 across the U.S. (so most can participate if they want). Info on all the chapters is at: http://www.drinkingliberally.org/ (just click on "Santa Fe" to see directions/times to the local meeting tonight) Hmmmm. How would a FRIAM-er define political anarchy? cheers, Jim James Girard Complexity Engineer Thinking Metal LLC jpgirard at thinkingmetal.com 505 983 6333 505 670 1060 (cell) > -----Original Message----- > From: friam-bounces at redfish.com [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com]On > Behalf Of Marcus G. Daniels > Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 12:27 AM > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > > > > "Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the vast distance > between man and > > man today. These dominant tendencies cannot be overcome by > better personnel > > management, nor by improved gadgets, but only when a love of > man overcomes the > > idolatrous worship of things by man." > > > Oddly enough, there's some overlap with the writings of this guy: > > http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch& ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
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In reply to this post by Stephen Guerin
Steve,
Something that has my sustainable design friends pulling their hair out now is the evidence that it's a mistake to think you can win the war against resource consumption growth just using efficiency. DOE figures show world energy efficiency doubling (cutting energy/$ in half) nominally every 40 years, while the economies are doubling $ every 20 years. http://www.synapse9.com/Growth&Efficiency.jpg That kind of subject is a little outside the normal range of scientific questions. At the time of the founding of SFI, though I was just a curious neighbor at the time, there seemed a sense of mission in widening the range of scientific questions. I think that's still relevant. That's why I've been hanging around anyway. Phil Henshaw ????.?? ? `?.???? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 680 Ft. Washington Ave NY NY 10040 tel: 212-795-4844 e-mail: pfh at synapse9.com explorations: www.synapse9.com > -----Original Message----- > From: friam-bounces at redfish.com > [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin > Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 12:23 AM > To: friam at redfish.com > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > > Gus, > > As I was reading through the full Port Huron statement at > http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hur.html I was > thinking, hmm, maybe if we actually developed some of the > distributed net tools we've been talking about it could help. > But then I cam across this passage near the end: > > "Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the vast > distance between man and man today. These dominant tendencies > cannot be overcome by better personnel management, nor by > improved gadgets, but only when a love of man overcomes the > idolatrous worship of things by man." > > So I thought, ah, technology may not help...it's a bigger problem. > > Then you write: > > There were even technohippies that believed that the new > > computers could really form a basis for communications and > > analysis--and this was pre-internet. > > This made me think that maybe there is a technological angle... > > In your opinion, where's the leverage for a group like ours? > Is it what we can offer in technological / ideological realm, > or is it local political action? > > -Steve > > > |
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Phil Henshaw wrote:
> Something that has my sustainable design friends pulling their hair out > now is the evidence that it's a mistake to think you can win the war > against resource consumption growth just using efficiency. DOE figures > show world energy efficiency doubling (cutting energy/$ in half) > nominally every 40 years, while the economies are doubling $ every 20 > years. http://www.synapse9.com/Growth&Efficiency.jpg > Need more research! Some good slides here: http://t8web.lanl.gov/t8/people/rajan |
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In reply to this post by Gus Koehler
Hi Gus. Pretty good roll you got on there (: And I agree, Steve's
question is hard. Here's another take on it that I don't think anyone mentioned so far. The field of science and technology studies is interesting here. There's a wiki entry under that name, though they don't mention Bruno Latour, one of the pioneers that ethnos like because of his foundational ethnography of lab science. STS, as they call it, was part of the stream that fed Xerox PARC and John Seely Brown's book The Social Life of Information, which got some FRIAM air time a while back. I don't know the field really. Last exposure was to a few researchers at LANL years back, who were using it. One take on it is that the technology/human question is handled by viewing the technology as another actor in a situation and looking on the ground at how this new "character" affects the story. So some of the early Xerox PARC work showed that assuming that a new piece of office technology would replace the former socially organized work flow was wrong. Instead, it was integrated into it. So then one interesting question is, did the social organization of work really change? And what do you mean by "change?" Maybe, maybe not, maybe in a simple way, maybe in a fundamental way, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse, maybe both. That's why the question is hard. So for instance the early WTO protests in Seattle and the Zapatistas were said by media to be a new wave of political organization thanks to tech. I dunno, they used tech to their advantage, no question. Maybe it was more bottom-up? Or was the bottom-up just quicker and more visible? Lots of new tech crime out there, like identity theft. Is that a change, or is tech just a new criminal accomplice in an old story? Any fans of The Wire, the HBO show about cops and drugs in Baltimore, know that the rapid diffusion of the newly available throw away cell phones added a major new character to the story. According to the recent documentary whose title I can't remember right now, the Republicans stole the 2004 election using tech tricks. Is that adapting a new tech actor to an old story or is it a new story? I grew up in the original Mayor Daley's Chicago, where the joke was, "Vote early...and often." There's an argument that JFK won thanks to Cook County which put Illinois in his column. Then there's the argument about the kids now, that the shift to MySpace and IM and games and all that has changed the fundamental nature of human communication. Looking back there's no question that the invention of writing had a profound social impact. Maybe this new tech actor is clearly in the column where technology across a variety of generation-specific situations is in fact changing the story in fundamental ways, but the jury is still out I think. At any rate, STS suggests taking the question to the ground, a lot of grounds, expecting a lot of variation, and looking at tech/society dialectic over time in a variety of specific cases. Since the work includes tech as a protagonist in the story, and since the stories themselves will be in the tradition of complex adaptive systems, FRIAM is a good place for such conversations to take place. But the overall project itself is a monster. Maybe STS has gone a long way already. Mike On Apr 12, 2007, at 10:22 AM, Gus Koehler wrote: > Steve: > > Actually, your question is really hard. I have been involved in > tracing the > significant issues--economic, political, ethical, philosophical-- > associated > with the emergence of various advanced technologies here in > California. > These include biotechnology, nanotechnology, IT, intelligent > transportation > systems, alternative fuels, and the global marketplace in general. > In each > case there are deep drivers that conflict with basic human and > environmental > values. One is the nexus between a value free science and the > unlimited > drive for profit. A second is the disconnect between IT based > communications > and the direct experience of the body, be it facial expressions, > gestures, > vibes, scent, movement-in-context, and the like. Third, is the > isolation of > decision-makers via IT, ideology, and the way policy choices are > developed > from the lived experience of these policies--a homeless person, > killing on > the battle field and the wounded soldier or citizen, the last > butterfly. > Fourth, the creation of cyborgs and Chimeras without a careful > investigation > of what this means in terms of self, animal nature, Gaia, etc. > Fifth, the > emergence of a new, very privileged, very rich elder-aristocracy that > controls immense amounts of wealth and that will live a very long > time using > cyborg technologies above and various IT related health care > monitoring > extension that include the capacity to control from afar. On the > other IT > side, there are communities wired in such a way that multiple > cultures and > people participate together in urban planning. There is medicine at a > distance. These efforts REQUIRE free technohippies to interpret the > limitations of like how GIS can be biased in such a way as not to show > indian grave yards under proposed sky scrappers. Technohippies can > identify > the ethical and moral limits, design webs that are grounded in the > knowing > of what is cut-off and what is brought forward. They can insist on > face-to-face meetings and rolling in the grass. All of these > issues have > been investigated by science fiction, often very poorly but still > interestingly. > > Okay, what about your group. First, you live in an environment > that is > suffused with artists, poets, environmentalists, indians and others > as well > as national laboratory scientists, your private sector guys, the > Santa Fe > Institute... Why not identify some of the most interesting intersects > above--chimera, cyborgs--and pull together some hands on immediate, > body > oriented explorations of what it feels like via touch, emotions, > vision, > sound. Explore this new terrain very directly. Identify what is > lost and > what is gained. How about this virtual reality, what does it taste > like and > how does it extend into us with what shaping affects? > Visualization is > abstraction by definition. What is abstracted in and what out? The > French > philosopher Bodreard gave this a lot of thought as did other post > moderns > and their inheritors. > > Finally, there what Ginsberg called the search for the connection > to the > starry dynamo in the machinery of night. The real vision quest thing. > Check out Alex Gray's work on the net. In my opinion, it was the > serious > effort to blow up the worn out, corrupted visionary roots of > America by a > direct investigation of what it means to be human that really > scared the > crap out of the powers that be--even now. And we turned to native > Americans, Hindus, Buddhists, sex, and other means in an attempt to > REALLY > find out what's what. It was kinda crude and ended up in really > bad places > for many (I recall coming back from the Peace Corps and walking the > Haight > to see a guys and gals laying on the street out of their mind on > speed....). > This vision quest is not over. There are many guides who have > found things > as well as the ancients still here who can help out. > > Here are some interesting links. From the Urban Dictionary: > technohippy 34 > up, 2 down > > 1. a computer nerd with hippy ideals > > 2. there are cyberpunks and script kiddies, but technohippies are a > breed of > their own. they are not malicious, but only interested in the way > things > work. usually not the "l33test", (in terms of knowledge of a > specific area), > but they have a broad wisdom of many different technologies. the > favored > music of the technohippy consists of (but is not limited to): post- > rock, > electronica, ambience, eccentric cultural music, and any other obscure > music. technohippies are often very philosophical, but are open to > new ideas > (as long as they are somewhat intelligent). ignorance and hatred is > looked > down upon by the technohippy, and some may even be a bit cynical. > all in > all, a technohippy is a philosophically-open eccentric geek. > http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=technohippy some > links here > too. > > Kung Fu Technohippies Kicking Some Ass http://betterdonkey.org/node/ > 524 > > Also, http://billyjoemills.blogspot.com/2006/03/rebellion-of- > nerds.html > > And then there's the technohippy band. > > > > Gus > > > Gus Koehler, Ph.D. > President and Principal > Time Structures, Inc. > 1545 University Ave. > Sacramento, CA 95825 > 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 > Cell: 916-716-1740 > www.timestructures.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: friam-bounces at redfish.com [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] > On Behalf > Of Stephen Guerin > Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:23 PM > To: friam at redfish.com > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. > > Gus, > > As I was reading through the full Port Huron statement at > http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hur.html I was > thinking, hmm, > maybe if we actually developed some of the distributed net tools > we've been > talking about it could help. But then I cam across this passage > near the > end: > > "Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the vast distance > between man > and man today. These dominant tendencies cannot be overcome by better > personnel management, nor by improved gadgets, but only when a love > of man > overcomes the idolatrous worship of things by man." > > So I thought, ah, technology may not help...it's a bigger problem. > > Then you write: >> There were even technohippies that believed that the new computers >> could really form a basis for communications and analysis--and this >> was pre-internet. > > This made me think that maybe there is a technological angle... > > In your opinion, where's the leverage for a group like ours? Is it > what we > can offer in technological / ideological realm, or is it local > political > action? > > -Steve > > > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Gus Koehler [mailto:rhythm3 at earthlink.net] >> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 9:59 PM >> To: stephen.guerin at redfish.com; 'The Friday Morning Applied >> Complexity >> Coffee Group' >> Subject: RE: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. >> >> >> Lets see, patriot act, >> citizen phone taps without knowledge, bank taps without knowledge, >> Bush manipulation of fear by terror buggy man, electronic voting >> subversion resulting from subversion of two presidential elections, >> "privacy get over it" as the creed of the internet and of all the new >> video, voice, body fluid MEMS sensors that feed into it, world >> domination by US navy that controls the seas, air and land preferably >> with autonomous killer robots (none of our men on the battle field), >> torture as an acceptable activity without shame for a greater good >> like the Spanish Inquisition but no saving in an American heaven and >> supported by our president, pictures of our soldiers in coffins >> forbidden to be taken, no count of the number of Iraqis or Afghanis >> killed, loss of most Americans of a retirement, of health care when >> they are old, and loading up with extreme debt, students graduating >> from college so in debt that all they can do is work for the man, VA >> that can't figure out after 4 years that head injuries will be a >> problem and that urban warfare screws with people's heads, movie >> marquis that trumpet the most horrible tortures and attacks on women, >> the disappearance of a black led movement for freedom and dignity >> replaced with woes and gangsta rap belittle the life and voice of >> their own people a future dominated by the destruction of our sea >> side >> cities, heat waves, death of 30 percent of the world's species, >> Africa >> and the poor sent to suffering the most, diseases out of the cut down >> rainforests that we never expected to emerge because people eat bush >> meat, a plague that is global and is cutting the foundations out of >> African societies..... >> >> These are all things that the Port Heuron Statement could not >> anticipate but saw the foundations emerging for. >> Santa Fe probably won't be much of a place to live in 30 years and >> neither will Sacramento. >> >> I remember the Port Heruon Statement well having been a member of the >> SDS. >> We, for a short while, saw the beast naked and what it could do. We >> even had a vision of wholeness of what men and women could become. >> Read the rest of the statement. >> >> There were even technohippies that believed that the new computers >> could really form a basis for communications and analysis--and this >> was pre-internet. >> >> I think the big difference is how subtle all of this has come about >> without the direct intervention of 1984 like social structures, even >> right in our faces. >> >> At least we could see our soldiers being wounded, sent home in boxes, >> and watch the people suffer on fire with napalm or being shot in >> ditches whom we were killing so effectively. >> >> In my view the vision came true and we are even more asleep than we >> know. >> >> >> >> Gus Koehler, Ph.D. >> President and Principal >> Time Structures, Inc. >> 1545 University Ave. >> Sacramento, CA 95825 >> 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 >> Cell: 916-716-1740 >> www.timestructures.com >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: friam-bounces at redfish.com >> [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin >> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:22 PM >> To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' >> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can you guess the source. >> >>> Does anyone remember the Port Huron Statement? I'm >> reaching here, and >>> I don't remember the date. Hell, most of you probably weren't even >>> BORN yet! >> >> I cheated with Google and still didn't know who it was. Yep, >> 6 years before I even saw light. >> >> Thankfully, things have turned out nothing like what was described >> there ;-) >> >> -Steve >> >> >> >> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, > archives, > unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
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Mike, how goes it? Thanks for your note.
The field of science and technology studies is indeed interesting. Over the years I've tried to track cultural studies and philosophical works that have tried to reveal the form of what is emerging. The following authors turned up: Taylor and Sararingen, Standage, Wertheim, Slouka, Calloway, Stone, Heim, Brook and Boal, Ruskoff, Kroker and Weinstein, Turkle, Helmreich, Harbers, Holtzman, De Landa, Deleuize and Guatari, Beauregard, Foucault, and of course all the great novel by the cyberpunk writers and now the biopunk. The thread here for me is the continuous expansion of the sensorium via artificial means, including virtual networks and virtual space-time, the space-time "wrinkling up of the globe" with some parts pulled much closer together than other parts creating interesting cultural dislocations within cities (digital divides of various kinds) and the creation of a Borges library like approach to knowledge (that is the inability to separate journalism from blogging or to determine what is or is not a good reliable source). I wrote a piece based on a lecture of JT Frazer that tried to draw the implications of what he called the techno primitive relative to decision making. In any case, your review of how the introduction of technology changes work relationships, etc, is very useful and revealing. More of the same or different? Like the issue of design and productivity relative to the velocity of technology innovation and fashion as its speeds around the globe. Who will drive fashion when the China and India markets are bigger than US and Europe combined? Japan's effects on US is a good example with "hello Kitty" which was heavily influenced by Japan's experience with two atom bombs (see Japan Society's exhibit catalogue: "Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture", by Takashi Murakami.) These are the undercurrents that interest me the most. They also reveal my interest in the Santa Fe/cyberculture cross pollination. Peace, Gus Gus Koehler, Ph.D. President and Principal Time Structures, Inc. 1545 University Ave. Sacramento, CA 95825 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 Cell: 916-716-1740 www.timestructures.com - |
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Good day FRIAM,
I am happy to have found this group. Joining about a month ago and in the midst of defending my proposal for dissertation research I haven't yet had the energy to respond to any of the discussions here. But I feel compelled today. As an emerging expert in the field of science and technology studies (STS) I ought to have something interesting and useful to say about the role of scientific and technical expertise our world. I'll give it a try! Since my project, broadly conceived, is about how modeling and simulation, or, more specifically, the culture of modeling and simulation, grows and develops and what possibilities expert communities within this culture have in making political and social reforms or interventions I especially ought to have something to add to Steve's question, "where's the leverage for a group like ours? Is it what we can offer in technological / ideological realm, or is it local political action?" I do, but it comes more in the form of reflection and more questions because I really hesitate to say that I know anything about the community yet. This idea of 'reflection' or 'reflexivity' is an important concept in STS, perhaps the key concept. So my response to this email thread is to give some insight into the world of STS and one person's vision of what its purpose ought to be. (This means I'm still making sense of my own discipline out loud!) Recently a colleague pointed me back to Bourdieu's last work, The Science of Science and Reflexivity, where Bourdieu stated what he believed the purpose of the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), which is part of STS, ought to be: "provide cognitive tools that can be turned back on the subject of the cognition, not in order to discredit scientific knowledge, but rather to check and strengthen it" (4). In this email thread Michael Agar mentioned Bruno Latour, who is an important figure and someone who I really enjoy. Latour has, however, been associated with creating a movement--providing the cognitive tools for a particular narrative about social order--that has emboldened critics of science both on the political left and right. Personally I have lots of hope for the cultures of science in providing the tools people need to live in what I see as an ever-increasing complex and dynamic system of life people are experiencing. Oddly enough one of the pejorative labels in STS is "internalist," which is reserved for scholars who for some reason or another chronicle the successes of technology and science while ignoring the failures and negative effects of introducing new technologies or scientific paradigms (a good reference here is John Staudenmaier's book Technology's Storytellers). I don't think that this identity suits me but it is a word that has more than once associated with my work. I have, nevertheless, found it a useful one to embrace. Areas such as complexity science and computational social science and agent-based modeling are emerging fields and that means there is lots of room for creating spaces of hope however radical that hope has to be. These fields are not, in my opinion, as entrenched in systems that may be seen as reproducing the cognitive tools that legitimate and direct violence, social stratification and so on as is the interpretation made by many scholars in the field of cultural studies (see Stefan Helmreich's book 'Silicon Second Nature' or Katherine Hayles' foundational text 'How We Became Posthuman'). I think that these interpretations can be misguided and often tell us more about the culture of cultural studies than the culture of the culture they study (that's a tongue twister, whoa!). And that is not to say that these interpretations don't tell us something and aren't useful; I believe they are. What these criticisms often make me think is that they are more about fracturing and sorting social systems. If some body of knowledge and knowledge practices becomes coded as "feminist" or "post-colonial" or "quantitative" or "qualitative" or "technological" or "geeky" or "racist" or "patriarchal" and so on that code is a resource/affordance for engagement with the knowledge in a particular way. It seems to me that the mode of intervention us STS practitioners have is at creating out-groups (creating identities) by making powerful, qualitative assessments (i.e. book/discourse) about associated technologies, traditions, and communities. One move is to gain legitimacy by creating a sense of solidarity with historically disempowered social groups or exotic communities, a solidarity that can be quite dubious (a criticism that is often discussed in American Indian Studies and with scholars such as the late Vine Deloria Jr.). Such coding work has concrete developmental impacts on knowledge traditions and knowledge communities. In fact, Linton Freeman's work on the development of social network analysis (2004) makes an argument that in the sixties the field become so closely identified with J.L. Moreno's personal character (and he stepped on so many toes) that the social network of the social network analysis atrophied for a period of time. Freeman shows this atrophy using, since he's a structural sociologist, social network analysis. It is such developmental approaches that ought to be (and is) important focus for STS. So a key part of our work is to reflect on our own tools and be able to assess what sorts of impact image and identity making (or unmaking if you're into deconstruction (which, some say, we always already are)) has on ecologies of knowledge and how these ecologies develop. Another exemplary work in STS that focused on development and for some reason has been ignored in STS (probably over shadowed by several other exemplary works in laboratory studies, which are coded as 'ethnographic,' such as Latour's 1979 Laboratory Life, Sharon Traweek's 'Beamtimes and Lifetimes' probably) is David Hull's work 'Science as a Process' (1988). So what does this reflexivity have to do with applied complexity science? Sounds like a subject of a science and technology studies dissertation! The question that I am now curious about?truly a product of me thinking out loud here--is how are projects selected in the field? What social, cognitive, technological resources make the strategic selection of cases and projects possible and how are those resources managed? Matthew Francisco On 4/13/07, Gus Koehler <rhythm3 at earthlink.net> wrote: > Mike, how goes it? Thanks for your note. > > The field of science and technology studies is indeed interesting. Over the > years I've tried to track cultural studies and philosophical works that have > tried to reveal the form of what is emerging. The following authors turned > up: Taylor and Sararingen, Standage, Wertheim, Slouka, Calloway, Stone, > Heim, Brook and Boal, Ruskoff, Kroker and Weinstein, Turkle, Helmreich, > Harbers, Holtzman, De Landa, Deleuize and Guatari, Beauregard, Foucault, and > of course all the great novel by the cyberpunk writers and now the biopunk. > The thread here for me is the continuous expansion of the sensorium via > artificial means, including virtual networks and virtual space-time, the > space-time "wrinkling up of the globe" with some parts pulled much closer > together than other parts creating interesting cultural dislocations within > cities (digital divides of various kinds) and the creation of a Borges > library like approach to knowledge (that is the inability to separate > journalism from blogging or to determine what is or is not a good reliable > source). I wrote a piece based on a lecture of JT Frazer that tried to draw > the implications of what he called the techno primitive relative to decision > making. > > In any case, your review of how the introduction of technology changes work > relationships, etc, is very useful and revealing. More of the same or > different? Like the issue of design and productivity relative to the > velocity of technology innovation and fashion as its speeds around the > globe. Who will drive fashion when the China and India markets are bigger > than US and Europe combined? Japan's effects on US is a good example with > "hello Kitty" which was heavily influenced by Japan's experience with two > atom bombs (see Japan Society's exhibit catalogue: "Little Boy: The Arts of > Japan's Exploding Subculture", by Takashi Murakami.) These are the > undercurrents that interest me the most. They also reveal my interest in > the Santa Fe/cyberculture cross pollination. > > Peace, > > Gus > > > Gus Koehler, Ph.D. > President and Principal > Time Structures, Inc. > 1545 University Ave. > Sacramento, CA 95825 > 916-564-8683, Fax: 916-564-7895 > Cell: 916-716-1740 > www.timestructures.com > > > - > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > -- Matthew R. Francisco PhD Student, Science and Technology Studies Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
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Folks that are interested in the structure of scientific communities
might be interested in some of David Corfield's work. It's aimed primarily at the intersection of the math and philosophy communities, but seems to me to have some cross-application to some of the issues in this thread. The references seem to have different roots than those mentioned here so far (which is not an argument for better, just different). http://www.dcorfield.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/HowMathematicians.pdf His conclusions may take some getting used to. He's also one of the primary contributors to The n-Category Cafe at http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/ Carl |
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In reply to this post by Nick Thompson
No clue, but sounds like a normal view from the 50's 60's 70's 80's or
90's? Clearly not someone who knew about new classes of promising options that hadn't been tried yet though... On 4/11/07, Nicholas Thompson <nickthompson at earthlink.net> wrote: > > I am curious to know if anybody in Friam-land will recognize the > following passage. No Fair using google. > > It is NOT from the Gettysburg Address. > > *"Our work is guided by the sense that we may be the last generation in > the experiment with living. But we are a minority--the vast majority of our > people regard the temporary equilibriums of our society and world as > eternally functional parts. In this is perhaps the outstanding paradox; we > ourselves are imbued with urgency, yet the message of our society is that > there is no viable alternative to the present. Beneath the reassuring tones > of the politicians, beneath the common opinion that America will "muddle > through," beneath the stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the > future, is the pervading feeling that there simply are no alternatives, that > our times have witnessed the exhaustion not only of Utopias, but of any new > departures as well. Feeling the press of complexity upon the emptiness of > life, people are fearful of the thought that at any moment things might be > thrust out of control. They fear change itself, since change might smash > whatever invisible framework seems to hold back chaos for them now. For most > Americans, all crusades are suspect, threatening. The fact that each > individual sees apathy in his fellows perpetuates the common reluctance to > organize for change. The dominant institutions are complex enough to blunt > the minds of their potential critics, and entrenched enough to swiftly > dissipate or entirely repel the energies of protest and reform, thus > limiting human expectancies. Then, too, we are a materially improved > society, and by our own improvements we seem to have weakened the case for > further change.*" > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM (nick at redfish.com) > Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University ( > nthompson at clarku.edu) > > > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20070413/b2c7d55b/attachment.html |
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