RE: [ba-unrev-talk] further research and thinking related to unrev-ii archive
On Thu, 18 Jul 2002, Dennis E. Hamilton wrote: (01)
> Thanks for this, and explaining the insight. I didn't catch it when
> skimming the paper. (02)
Thank you very much for the further comments. (03)
> So it looks like we will bull along until exhausted or some deeper
> understanding arrives. Whichever comes first. Maybe the 80-20 rule will
> prevail and we get enough for now without trying to solve it all. (04)
This is what we (people, everyone) do, in some way. We muddle along,
and at least some of the time we are inspired to try and do our best.
Understanding comes in trickles, dribbles and sometimes torrents. (05)
This is part of the reason why I think inquiry needs, at least in
part, to eschew overly constraining formal structures. Of course we
need the constraint and support of formal methods to confirm "science"
but we also need structures that support the loose noodling that
brings about mutation. (06)
> Has your work given you a view on a pro-active approach? I notice I am
> mostly resigned about it. (07)
>From a technology standpoint I'm completely resigned (at the moment).
I think we can build tools which help us to manage and use
information, but human factors (individual, social, economic) are the
main issues. Simply put, people have to want to be better and do more
in order to be better and do more. To believe in improvement and
training. (08)
The work that Kathryn and I have done has been most productive in the
discovery we experienced after sharing the first draft with other
people. It took us off on a road that we did not expect, on a long
trip, and back around to where we had been in the first place, newly
confident. What we learned on that long trip we could milk as our
research focus for the rest of our academic careers. (09)
Those sorts of long trips are not well supported by the "harsh
realities" of much of modern research and development. Focus is
supported by the "harsh realities", and I find that a little hard to
bear. (010)
--
Chris Dent <cdent@burningchrome.com> http://www.burningchrome.com/~cdent/
"If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are
opportunities to change things, that hope is possible, then hope may be
justified, and a better world may be built. That's your choice.'' N.Chomsky (011)