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Stuart is on the Edge

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Stephen Guerin

Stuart is on the Edge

November 3, 2003

EDGE 127
at
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge127.html
(6,230 words)

----------------------------------------------------
THE THIRD CULTURE
----------------------------------------------------
"THE ADJACENT POSSIBLE: A TALK WITH STEWART KAUFFMAN

An autonomous agent is something that can both reproduce itself and do at
least one thermodynamic work cycle. It turns out that this is true of all
free-living cells, excepting weird special cases. They all do work cycles,
just like the bacterium spinning its flagellum as it swims up the glucose
gradient. The cells in your body are busy doing work cycles all the time.
[more below]

Stuart Kauffman EDGEVideo (QuickTime)
DSL+ http://www.edge.org/video/dsl/kauffman.html
Modem http://www.edge.org/video/56k/kauffman.html

----------------------------------------------------
EDGE IN THE NEWS
----------------------------------------------------
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG - FEUILLITON "God does throw dice: The Third Culture
defends itself in New York" by Andrian Kreye Munich - October 1, 2003

An evening promises to be something special when it begins with Marvin
Minsky, the pioneer of artificial intelligence, addressing the audience
with the sentence, "I don't believe that the universe exists." [more
below]

----------------------------------------------------
EDGE VIDEO - ANNOUNCEMENT
----------------------------------------------------
"But, who watches the videos anyway?"

The growing popularity of EDGE is evident not only in our steadily
increasing readership but also by the deep connection we have had with the
recently-found cyber-squatters who have seemingly appropriated the use of
EDGE's video server.

But no longer. We simply shut the server down and have replaced it with a
QuickTime server which we are launching with Stuart Kauffman EDGE Video in
the current edition. During November, we are converting all EDGE videos to
QuickTime and will put them back up on line as they are completed.

But, who watches the videos anyway?

In the 1960s I worked closely on several projects with the late Andy
Warhol, who always had a small tape recorder handy. Then, in 1971,inspired
by Andy, I convinced Hollywood friends Jack Nicholson and Bert Schneider
to back a limited partnership - "Cogitation Limited" - to allow me to
travel and talk to scientists, and to to videotape the proceedings. The
initial asset of Cogitation was the first SONY portable camcorder (in
those days, "portable" meant 26 pounds).

I now have 32 years of videos of those individuals I believe have been
asking the important questions of our times: videos in all kinds of
formats and sizes; videos piled into boxes; videos spilling out of
closets; congealed videos, melted videos.

And, in all this time, I've never watched anything I've taped: not a
single video.

Which brings me (and maybe you) to the Web. While the sticking a video
tape into a compatible playback device is something I've always found too
boring to contemplate, the idea of a single click on a computer keyboard
bringing me face to face with seminal thinkers espousing their big ideas
is attractive. In this regard, I've set out to create a digital archive on
EDGE, which, made of bits, will be around for a long time, not gather
dust, and hopefully provide an interesting moment or two for those of you
inclined to spend 10 minutes or so with individuals such as Rodney Brooks,
Helena Cronin, Paul Davies, Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, David
Deutsch, Jared Diamond, Peter Galison, David Gelernter, Murray Gell-Mann,
Neil Gershenfeld, Anthony Giddens, Gerd Gigerenzer, Brian Greene, Alan
Guth, David Haig, Marc D. hauser, Ken Kesey, Stephen Kosslyn, Ray
Kurzweil, Jaron Lanier, Seth lloyd, Ernst Mayr, Marvin Minsky, Dennis
Overbye, Elaine Pagels, Irene Pepperberg, Steven Pinker, Jordan Pollack,
Lisa Randall, Martin Rees, Matt Ridley, Robert Sapolsky, Lee Smolin, Paul
Steinhardt, Steven Strogatz, Richard Wrangham, E.O. Wilson.

The EDGE Video page is at: http://www.edge.org/edge_video.html

----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
EDGE
John Brockman, Editor and Publisher
Russell Weinberger, Associate Publisher
Copyright ? 2003 by EDGE Foundation, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Published by EDGE Foundation, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
---
You are currently subscribed to edge_editions as: [hidden email]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
[hidden email]

Stu Kauffman

Stuart is on the Edge

Thanks for noticing guys. Stu
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Guerin" <[hidden email]>
To: "Friam" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 9:59 AM
Subject: [FRIAM] Stuart is on the Edge

>
> November 3, 2003
>
> EDGE 127
> at
> http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge127.html
> (6,230 words)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> THE THIRD CULTURE
> ----------------------------------------------------
> "THE ADJACENT POSSIBLE: A TALK WITH STEWART KAUFFMAN
>
> An autonomous agent is something that can both reproduce itself and do at
> least one thermodynamic work cycle. It turns out that this is true of all
> free-living cells, excepting weird special cases. They all do work cycles,
> just like the bacterium spinning its flagellum as it swims up the glucose
> gradient. The cells in your body are busy doing work cycles all the time.
> [more below]
>
> Stuart Kauffman EDGEVideo (QuickTime)
> DSL+ http://www.edge.org/video/dsl/kauffman.html
> Modem http://www.edge.org/video/56k/kauffman.html
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> EDGE IN THE NEWS
> ----------------------------------------------------
> SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG - FEUILLITON "God does throw dice: The Third Culture
> defends itself in New York" by Andrian Kreye Munich - October 1, 2003
>
> An evening promises to be something special when it begins with Marvin
> Minsky, the pioneer of artificial intelligence, addressing the audience
> with the sentence, "I don't believe that the universe exists." [more
> below]
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> EDGE VIDEO - ANNOUNCEMENT
> ----------------------------------------------------
> "But, who watches the videos anyway?"
>
> The growing popularity of EDGE is evident not only in our steadily
> increasing readership but also by the deep connection we have had with the
> recently-found cyber-squatters who have seemingly appropriated the use of
> EDGE's video server.
>
> But no longer. We simply shut the server down and have replaced it with a
> QuickTime server which we are launching with Stuart Kauffman EDGE Video in
> the current edition. During November, we are converting all EDGE videos to
> QuickTime and will put them back up on line as they are completed.
>
> But, who watches the videos anyway?
>
> In the 1960s I worked closely on several projects with the late Andy
> Warhol, who always had a small tape recorder handy. Then, in 1971,inspired
> by Andy, I convinced Hollywood friends Jack Nicholson and Bert Schneider
> to back a limited partnership - "Cogitation Limited" - to allow me to
> travel and talk to scientists, and to to videotape the proceedings. The
> initial asset of Cogitation was the first SONY portable camcorder (in
> those days, "portable" meant 26 pounds).
>
> I now have 32 years of videos of those individuals I believe have been
> asking the important questions of our times: videos in all kinds of
> formats and sizes; videos piled into boxes; videos spilling out of
> closets; congealed videos, melted videos.
>
> And, in all this time, I've never watched anything I've taped: not a
> single video.
>
> Which brings me (and maybe you) to the Web. While the sticking a video
> tape into a compatible playback device is something I've always found too
> boring to contemplate, the idea of a single click on a computer keyboard
> bringing me face to face with seminal thinkers espousing their big ideas
> is attractive. In this regard, I've set out to create a digital archive on
> EDGE, which, made of bits, will be around for a long time, not gather
> dust, and hopefully provide an interesting moment or two for those of you
> inclined to spend 10 minutes or so with individuals such as Rodney Brooks,
> Helena Cronin, Paul Davies, Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, David
> Deutsch, Jared Diamond, Peter Galison, David Gelernter, Murray Gell-Mann,
> Neil Gershenfeld, Anthony Giddens, Gerd Gigerenzer, Brian Greene, Alan
> Guth, David Haig, Marc D. hauser, Ken Kesey, Stephen Kosslyn, Ray
> Kurzweil, Jaron Lanier, Seth lloyd, Ernst Mayr, Marvin Minsky, Dennis
> Overbye, Elaine Pagels, Irene Pepperberg, Steven Pinker, Jordan Pollack,
> Lisa Randall, Martin Rees, Matt Ridley, Robert Sapolsky, Lee Smolin, Paul
> Steinhardt, Steven Strogatz, Richard Wrangham, E.O. Wilson.
>
> The EDGE Video page is at: http://www.edge.org/edge_video.html
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> ----------------------------------------------------
> EDGE
> John Brockman, Editor and Publisher
> Russell Weinberger, Associate Publisher
> Copyright ? 2003 by EDGE Foundation, Inc.
> All Rights Reserved.
>
> Published by EDGE Foundation, Inc.
> ----------------------------------------------------
> ----------------------------------------------------
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to edge_editions as: [hidden email]
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> [hidden email]
>
>
>
> ============================================================
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