Rorty Advice ?

The Rorty piece (“Wild Orchids and Trotsky“) which I blogged yesterday because of the Pirsig link, I read in its entirety last night. It’s an excellent insightful read so much so that I wonder why I’m struggling to read his “Mirror of Nature”. Any suggestions for a better lead into Rortian philosophy ? So much … Continue reading “Rorty Advice ?”

The Guide Book to ZMM

The Guide Book to ZMM – Paul has just loaned me his copy of the Guide to ZMM by DiSanto and Steele. (comes as a two book deal with ZMM from Amazon). In recent weeks I’ve independently compiled a detailed Pirsig Timeline, including both his life and the duration of the ZMM and LILA trips. … Continue reading “The Guide Book to ZMM”

Will The Real Chairman Please Stand Up

Will The Real Chairman Please Stand Up ? Another one for Pirsig research purposes, Richard McKeon, allegedly the “Chairman” in ZAMM. Interestingly the Chicago University pages show up many interesting Pirsig links. This one includes the [Quote] From your point of view, they’re insane, and from theirs your insane. Let’s just admit it, we’re all … Continue reading “Will The Real Chairman Please Stand Up”

Quality – Truth and Beauty ?

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 … Continue reading “Quality – Truth and Beauty ?”

Thinking out of the box

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.” … Continue reading “Thinking out of the box”

Where Has Quantum Computing Got To ?

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 … Continue reading “Where Has Quantum Computing Got To ?”

My Brief History of Zen

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 / … Continue reading “My Brief History of Zen”