Interactive Mirror

Every once in a while something comes up that just has seemingly endless possibilities within personal, educational, artistic and other realms. This “interactive mirror” is one of those ideas.

http://vimeo.com/1867956?pg=embed&sec=

“Innovation” is meaningless.

The word “innovation” is so broad that it has lost meaning. Today, It’s important to talk about specific types of innovation.

Will Social Innovation Reach National Attention?

(May 5th, 2009)

White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation to Coordinate Efforts

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, in his FY2010 budget, will ask Congress to provide $50 million in seed capital for the Social Innovation Fund to identify the most promising, results-oriented non-profit programs and expand their reach throughout the country.

Many solutions to our nation’s most challenging social problems are being generated outside of Washington; the Social Innovation Fund will identify what is working in communities across the country, provide growth capital for these programs, and improve the use of data and evaluation to raise the bar on what programs the government funds. Read the official press release

Wikipedia: “Social Innovation“.

- Daniel Montano

Adaptive Reasoning

I added “Adaptive Reasoning” to Wikipedia. Not really a new concept but it was missing from the resource. If you’re familiar with this term please add more material.

“Adaptive reasoning may refer to the adaption of thought processes, problem solving strategies, conceptual frameworks, in response and anticipation of the the changing nature of the problem being considered.”

I also added Adaptive reasoning to the List of Thought Processes.

Once again, I’d like to invite folks out there to contribute to the list of thought processes and to the Topic Outline of Thought pages. If you don’t know how to edit Wikipedia you can post the term here as a comment (please include your references) and I will add it to Wikipedia as time allows.

Metaphors and Our Understanding of the World

We use metaphors to help us communicate. Some metaphors help us communicate fairly basic ideas. Other metaphors* are more complex and they help us communicate groups of ideas. Here are a few examples of the second group:

The world as “machine“. An extension of physics and the concept of thermodynamics.

Society as “organism“. An extension of understandings in biology. This concept may have been strongly influential in the 17th century. Traces of this metaphor may be found in social theories, economic theories, and  may have been used as a model for the design of the American government and the American economic system.[1]

Other contemporary usage seems to be popular in systems theory, cybernetics, complexity theory, social network theory and many other areas of study.

The world as “a body“. This may be an extension of the “organism” model. Contemporary usage of this metaphor may be “ecological system as a body”. This is a popular metaphor in the current green movement.

The world as “energy“. This may once again be an extension of ideas from physics. More specifically, it may be a concept extended from the energy-matter relationship. In this case the world (understood as matter) is reduced to the understanding of energy. This metaphor may be found in branches of realist and materialist philosophies, science, cybernetics, and popular new age literature.

The world as physical relationships. The “theory of everything”[2] may be an example of this extension. Nobel Prize winning physicists, like Einstein spent years thinking how to explain the way that the world works through understandings in physics. (A good number of scientists are still at work on this.)

The world as a complex adaptive system. This is a macro-metaphor composed of metaphors in physics, and biology and other derivative theories.

All of these metaphors are interesting. They’re ideas full of engaging narratives that can keep a person engrossed for  life.  Today there is enough literature behind each one of these concepts to keep you reading for years – (maybe even for life).

While metaphors may be useful for understanding some aspects of the world we need to remember that they are only tools that help us understand the world – they are not how the world is in itself. Remaining skeptical of each one of these – even as we use them to understand the world may be an important habit as an exercise to keep an open mind.

Notes

[*] Macro-metaphors – “big metaphors” often composed of many other metaphors.

[1] Wikipedia: Social Organism,   See also: Superorganism. International Journal of Ethics “The Conception of Society as an Organism“.

[2 ] Wikipedia: Theory of Everything

[3] This is an orphan note. I am saving this one for a future blog posting. Goldsmith, Donald. E=Einstein

Recommended Reading

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Types of thinking and geometry problems

I am glad to see studies about the matching of types of thinking and types of problems. I saw this one yesterday:

“A new study in the journal Mind, Brain, and Education reveals that certain types of thinking are best suited to solving certain types of problems. Specifically, geometry problems are best solved by a combination of verbal and spatial strategies, but not shape-based imagery strategies.” [1]

To me, articles like these point towards a possible growing awareness that we have many thought processes available to us [2].This may remind us that we have a tremendous task in front of us – to learn how to best match each of these to the types of problems we face in life.

Of course geometry problems are a lot simpler than the interrelated, mixed-disciplinary problems we face in daily life – but we have to start somewhere.

Addendum: I initially wrote this last paragraph and edited out at the last minute. But now, I don’t think this posting is complete without it. I want to get in the habit of acknowledging risk factors along with ideas. One reason for that is to make sure that I have at least taken the time to consider the idea from another perspective. There are several risks that come along with studies like the one mentioned above. One of them is the risk of popularization of the idea that one problem solving method is always the best method. Another risk is the idea that as modalities and cognitive styles are mapped in a society, children (and individuals at large) may feel “strange” if they are not using the prevailing cognitive style to solve problems. An extreme case of this last situation may result in the emergence of yet another branch of “cognitive outcasts”.

Notes
[1] Karen L. Anderson et al. Performance on Middle School Geometry Problems With Geometry Clues Matched to Three Different Cognitive Styles. Mind, Brain, and Education, Volume 2 Issue 4, Pages 188 – 197 Published Online: 4 Nov 2008.

[2] We currently have listed around 200 thought processes in Wikipedia.

Related in this blog:

Types of thinking

88 Constellations for Wittgenstein

A friend sent me a link to 88 Contellations for Wittgestein an online interactive art project.

He thought I would like it. He was right.

A brief history of (ancient) systems thinking

Systems thinking is not new. I have been thinking about its ancient history and so far this is what I have gathered:

• 600 B.C. – philosophers used systems thinking to organize their thoughts (e.g. Lao Tze)
• 2,700 B.C. – Egyptians, like Imhotep, showed evidence that he was using systems thinking during his roles as architect, physician and engineer in Egypt.
• 4,000 B.C. – Cuneiform, a system of writing appears thanks to the need to keep track of multiple economic transactions.
• (date pending) – the beginnings of economic (value exchange systems). My assumption here is that value exchange systems were designed by systems thinkers.
• (90,000 B.C.) – the beginnings of organized belief systems. You can find traces of these belief systems going back as far as 90,000 B.C. [1].  Rather than being “designed” the earliest belief systems may have emerged at the individual level. People may have organized, and synthesized them into coherent systems.
• (date pending) – the emergence of spoken languages. We needed communication systems to organize ourselves and our societies. Spoken language is a designed system that has many semi-organized contributors. So, our spoken languages, the basic tools of all societies, may be an example of an ancient, leaving and breathing example of systems thinking.
• (date pending) – Meaning.  The emergence of symbolic meaning and symbolic communication. Meaning emerges within interactive systems of signs and symbols.[2]
• (date pending) – Culture. Culture is an interactive system between people. More specifically, it is a shared system for thought and behavior. It may be an emergent system that eventually gains organization between its member/participants. It may be the fertile ground in which meaning, languages, and communication systems grow.

Did systems thinking aid the emergence of civilization?
In some aspects we may be able to chart a parallel line between the emergence of human civilization and the emergence of systems thinking.

Why is systems thinking so rare in our society?
So, now the question is…if systems thinking is such an old way of thinking, and if systems thinking has played such a key role in the development of many tools of civilization for thousands of years, then why isn’t it more popular as a thinking method in our cultures? According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers only 3% of our population are systems thinkers. (see also [2.1])

I suspect one reason for this lack of adoption has something to do with a lack of value associated with it and a lack of recognition of the role it has played within our societies.

Acknowledging its historical presence and its contribution to civilization may help us recognize its value.

Addendum: 10-31-08

Most of us are systems thinkers?
Another way to think systems thinking is to focus on how system’s thinking has permeated most aspects of our civilized life to the point that we no longer realize that we’re using systems thinking. Instead, systems thinking has become like the air that we breathe, highly important but mostly invisible and undetectable by our socialized minds. [2.2]

So, in a way, most of us are participating in systems thinking. We participate in it by living our lives within systems designed by systems thinkers.

But there is a huge difference between doing something with awareness of our acts and doing something without awareness. One may lead us to the development of skills, the other may be like going through the motions (zombie, or robot-like behavior) [3].

Why learn about systems thinking? One reason may be to gain awareness of the systems we participate in. Yet another reason may be to gain the critical skills to understand how these systems function and how they affect us and others.

[1] Encyclopedia Britannica Online Edition

[2] Wikipedia: “Semiotics”; “Symbolism”;

[2.1] Wyospace blog “Systems Thinking“

[2.2] Wikipedia: “Socialization”. Also recommended, David Foster Wallace’s Kenyon’s commencement address, May 21,2005.

[3] Another old concept. A related concept the allegory of the cave.

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- Daniel Montano

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The politics of sustainable design

Let’s face it, green design, sustainable design, ecological conscious innovations all of these concepts are highly politicized ideas. It’s inevitable. Every time you have innovative ideas they must enter into the arena to compete with the ideas of folks who’d like to see more of the same.

The main reasons? The usual suspects: money and power. Every time a product saves you electricity that means less money for electric companies. Every time a car saves you gas that means less money for the gas companies.

I remember not too long ago “experts” (being funded by gas companies) denied the risk of global climate change. Right around the same time, our very own president, (an oil businessman), denied the risks also.

So, as you read about sustainable design, I ask you to remain skeptical of the agenda behind “reports”, “news” the words of “experts” and the words of your “leaders”. Remember that in the end, money and politics play a big role on how “truth” is shaped in our societies.

Manufactured truth, in the space of politics, and economics could not be more relative and insignificant as it stands next to the lager realities of global climate change. Our planet, adjusting its climate for its own survival, will continue on its path, regardless of our political and economic games.

The need
There is a need for green businesses, not for profit organizations, and government agencies to publish and speak up about the ecological, financial potential and multi-layered benefits of green and sustainable design.

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- Daniel Montano

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Search engines worth looking into

Here are some interesting search engines you may or may not know about.

SearchMe: http://www.searchme.com

Mahalo: http://www.mahalo.com

Grokker: http://www.grokker.com/

- Personally I think one of the biggest needs today on the Web is for a not-for-profit organization to construct a search engine that is as good as the best search engines.

Go back to the blog’s homepage

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- Daniel Montano

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