Re: [unrev-II] Fading

From: Gerald Pierce (g_pierce@pacbell.net)
Date: Wed Nov 07 2001 - 14:19:12 PST

  • Next message: albert.m.selvin@verizon.com: "Re: Can IBIS be useful for individual/asynchronous collaboration? (was Re: [unrev-II] Visual stimuli & IBIS methodology)"

    Henry, keep the faith. There are more who appreciate you out here than
    you may know. I am one, you can be sure.

    I know what it's like to labor for a challanging cause. Heck!, I still
    try to answer hate with love. I practice daily even on the freeway at
    rush hour, helping others where I can for the pragmatic sake of my own
    disposition and digestive system. It sometimes seems to me that
    anamosity and hatred are dropped as one gets older not out of aquired
    wisdom so much as that one does not have the surplus energy to maintain
    them.

    While I have not been active in this newsgroup, I have none the less
    continued to monitor it since completing Unrev II. As a result, I have
    come to feel that I know some of the "regulars" even though they most
    likely have scant clue who I am.

    Why I am speaking now through this self referencial sentence is not to
    belabour the obvious so much as to make a few observations (infinite
    wisdom?) concerning how I perceive the size of your task and my
    admiration of your persistant pursuit thereof.

    Ok, enough of this Victorian stuff. Let's cut to the chase!

    Size of the task.
    As best as I can tell (side with others who are smarter it this area)
    babies are born with very little cognative capacity on line and little
    or no information filters in place. Just one look at the eyes of a 3
    day old will point one in that direction without the agreement of
    experts. Babies learn, at least in part, by applying filters.

    How does all of this apply to UNREV?
    Unrev is all about accessing, organizing, and applying information. It
    seems to me that every time we develop a better way to gather and
    associate information, the amount of data, options implied and new data
    relationship possibilities multiply much faster than our ability to
    understand and use them.

    So it feels sometimes like we are trying to smother an information
    conflagration with petrol. We need to be able to distinguish which
    structures, if any, allow the assimilation of more data while at the
    same time maintaining or reduction system complexity. It's not that we
    just HAVE to reduce complexity, but it is important that we be able to
    manage system complexity of the fly to make the concepts attractive to
    others. Once this control is in place, "sales and marketing" 'teers can
    work on getting it adopted.

    I did not know that I had so much rambuling in me. I am temped to go
    back and edit, but I won't so you will get the plain "me" flavored me.
    Besides people like me better as a "Helmite" than as a serious person.
    So may what I have said here entertain and perhaps help a little too.

    Gerald Pierce Q. E. D. Services
    Castro Valley, CA

    Henry K van Eyken wrote:

    > I had hoped that my volunteering with the Bootstrap Institute and the
    > creation of an e-journal would be of some value in the public domain.
    > I
    > prefer to be a doer rather than a philosopher. However, I find that I
    > simply haven't the resources to be effective.
    >
    > I live in a small village, quite isolated from the intellectual world
    > other than by a magazine subscription, occasional visits to the
    > booksatore, and a noisy telephone line that calls for an hour to let
    > 10MB pass through. I am 74, getting tired more easily, have
    > responsibilities toward others, and get not much in the way of
    > spiritual
    > uplift so much needed to continue.
    >
    > I determined for myself more than a dozen years ago that electronic
    > augmentation of the neural mind is essential in a world moving at
    > accellerating pace. Especially if we want to be more than a
    > professional
    > in some field, to be a participating citizen of sound, informed
    > judgment
    > as well. I had hoped that the e-journal - "Engelbart in Context" or
    > "Fleabyte" or whatever the name - might do its tiny bit to help
    > transform the insights of professionals into useable, effective tools
    > for people at large and do so more quickly than in the usual time it
    > takes for leading-edge advances to become useful to everybody. But one
    >
    > unaided, unsupported, and increasingly dispirited person just cannot
    > do
    > that. Not unless he is of exceptional quality - and even then ...
    >
    > I had hoped that some people would take a hard look at
    > www.fleabyte.org
    > and attempt to perceive what is done for what reason, and with so
    > little. But instead, I find myself pretty much on the sideline, my
    > efforts irrelevant. Maybe tomorrow, after a night of refreshing sleep,
    >
    > my slight depression will be gone and will I find the will and energy
    > to
    > carry on just a little longer - but let's face it, what are the
    > prospects without actual, wholehearted support. I hate to give in to
    > negative feelings, but I guess the time has come to simply fade away
    > as
    > we all must do sometime.
    >
    > Henry
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
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