More on Pirsig Timelines – Interesting pages from the English (Anglistik und Americanistik) Dept at Vienna University, which hosts an “Easy Rider Anthology” (complete with obligatory soundtrack – betcha can’t guess which tune) with a good analysis of ZAMM, including some detective work on dates. [See earlier timeline post.] Recent (post ZAMM 1974 / post [...]
Entries from May 2003
More on Pirsig Timelines
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May 30, 2003 at 1:29pm
by Psybertron
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Environmental Engineering Science Newsletter
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May 30, 2003 at 1:12pm
by Psybertron
Vol 36 No.3 Presidents Letter September 2001[Quote]The historical bifurcation of technical and liberal education may result in technological “advances” that are not always well-informed or in the long-term, best interest of society. Pirsig in the neo-classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, points to a possible cause,“What’s wrong with technology is that it’s not [...]
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Quality – Truth and Beauty ?
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May 30, 2003 at 1:00pm
by Psybertron
Quality – Truth and Beauty ? Interesting exchange here started when Ray Kurzweil initiated a Mind eXchange thread in Jan 2002 on “Why is beauty making a comeback”. Someone points out that Pirsig‘s “quality” is what they are talking about, whilst another (ironically fortunately) suggests that neither is on-topic for a thread on AI. Many [...]
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Thinking out of the box
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May 30, 2003 at 12:50pm
by Psybertron
Struck by this quote from Salman Rushdie’s Ground Beneath Her Feet, 1999 [Quote] But Sir Darius Xerxes Cama wasn’t listening. He was standing at the great window of the library, staring out at the Arabian Sea. “The only people who see the whole picture,” he murmured, “are the ones who step out of the frame.” [...]
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Zen Driving Technique
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May 30, 2003 at 12:42am
by Psybertron
Blogged earlier about Gimbo driving over the second Severn river crossing “in a zen-like state”. Robbie just reminded me that DNA’s Holistic Detective Dirk Gently used the Zen driving technique – following the driver in front on the assumption that he knew where he was going and that it was probably a place worth going [...]
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That Baloney Generator
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May 30, 2003 at 12:08am
by Psybertron
That Baloney Generator – This was one of the items I also picked out in my review of Pinker. This link is to Searchlight an interesting Blog by cmac (?) at Chicago Uni. (Recently recommended list includes Lila !) David Gurteen also commented on the baloney generator. In Pinker’s words [Quote] The conscious mind — [...]
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Avoiding the Charybdis of Scientific Fundamentalism
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May 29, 2003 at 9:47am
by Psybertron
Avoiding the Charybdis of Scientific Fundamentalism – A paper from Dr James Willis given to an audience of medical practitioners last year. Those of you following my blog will notice I’m working my way through James’ work and find that he voices the need to avoid the extremes of scientific fundamentalism as he calls it [...]
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Two interesting posts to read later
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May 29, 2003 at 12:23am
by Psybertron
Just capturing these links for now – need to find time to read and digest.This from Dave Pollard on the future of KM as a subject. [Ref this earlier.]This from Paul Kelly on Philosophy’s Darwinian influence.
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Where Has Quantum Computing Got To ?
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May 28, 2003 at 7:30pm
by Psybertron
I last rounded up on this stuff back here. And just before this I linked to the abstracts from Quantum Mind 2003 held in Tuscon, Arizona in March this year. The original BCS Cybernetics Group stuff I linked to earlier is being taken forward in the CASYS’03 conference in Liege, Belgium in August under the [...]
BlogTalk
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May 28, 2003 at 4:13pm
by Psybertron
BlogTalk – Looks like a great time was had by all – so disappointed I couldn’t be there – maybe next time ? All these people (and more) conspicuous in photographic evidence and in copious postings from the event and in reflective post-event blogs. Matt MowerPaulo ValdemarinLilia EfimovaDan GillmorHaiko HebigHeiko HebigJorg KantelThomas BurgSeb FiedlerMartin RoellTon [...]
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Blogger Down
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May 27, 2003 at 9:24am
by Psybertron
Most of Monday 26th. Sorry – day job calls today.
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Fireworks for all
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May 25, 2003 at 10:22pm
by Psybertron
Fireworks for all
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A Soundtrack To Blog By
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May 25, 2003 at 10:00pm
by Psybertron
A Soundtrack To Blog By – Liked Ayda, for the backing track (plus references to Michael Moore and Nilsson ?)
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My Brief History of Zen
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May 25, 2003 at 8:55pm
by Psybertron
My Brief History of Zen. It’s barely a year since I first even thought of reading ZMM – seems like a lifetime. Here is my first ever blogged reference, with no link to anything !!! My thought process in the preceeding weeks was chaos / catastrophe / fuzzy / uncertainty / quanta / quantum-computing / [...]
Pirsig was a Blogger
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May 25, 2003 at 8:34pm
by Psybertron
In Lila, we get a great deal of description of the process Bob Pirsig used to manage his thoughts whilst creating ZAMM, and he gives us an insight into his trunkful of 3000 4″ x 6″ slips (index cards) in his letter of January 5th 1969 to his publisher James Landis. He mentions it again [...]
Run Rabbit, Run.
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May 23, 2003 at 9:42am
by Psybertron
To illustrate my recent points [eg here] about memes suffering from too much communication …. In my manifesto I mentioned the fact that “rabbits run”. An idea, a piece of information released into the world, is very difficult to control being spread and multiplied by onward communication. Normally recognised in relation to subjects where there [...]
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The Nonsense of Knowledge Management
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May 23, 2003 at 12:45am
by Psybertron
The Nonsense of Knowledge Management – Paper by Professor Tom Wilson [via Oryon] lamenting the fact that KM is just the latest fad in management bandwagons. Actually he’s more objective and less scathing than that, but I have offerred the same lament once or twice recently. KM is becoming de-valued jargon linked with every management [...]
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The Future’s Bright … ?
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May 21, 2003 at 6:14pm
by Psybertron
The Future’s Bright … ? From Future Meetup (4th Thursday every month) a subset of Blog Meetup (3rd Wednesday every month) via Ming The Mechanic (A blog I’d lost contact with until today.) “Future” blogs are blogs by futurists, and their meet up agenda includes these two points. ? Ray Kurzweil has suggested that by [...]
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Isolation is necessary for evolution.
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May 21, 2003 at 10:53am
by Psybertron
Blinding flash – One point I picked-up from Dawkins, is that whilst genetic mutation leading to potential evolution occurs spontaneously, anywhere in any organism, in order it to get into a cycle of re-inforcement by natural selection of species, it is necessary for that population to become isolated (genetically) from other populations. In talking about [...]
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Re-reading ZMM
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May 20, 2003 at 8:50am
by Psybertron
Re-reading ZMMÂ It had to happen, after reading Phaedrus, and Dr Willis, and strangely after a dinner conversation alluding to Ahab’s peg leg. (The analogies with Moby Dick are patent – The New Yorker). Pirsig says … [Quote] [Most] of the time I’m feigning 20th C lunacy …. so as not to draw attention to myself. [...]
The Paradox of Progress by Dr James Willis
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May 18, 2003 at 9:58pm
by Psybertron
The Paradox of Progress by Dr James Willis [Quote] Throughout this book, I have used my experience of general practice as an analogy for life in a technological world … I have quoted some of the things they say in order to show the wisdom, love, humanity of ordinary people.[Unquote] A thoroughly recommended read, even [...]
