N-keywords

Keywords

Paradigm

We use this keyword in two ways:

• To point to a general societal-and-cultural order of things where everything depends on everything else; and importantly to its basic fractal-like structure—where even the smallest detail reflects the overall shape of the whole big thing
• As Thomas Kuhn did; to point to
  • new way to conceive a domain of interest
  • which resolves the reported anomalies
  • and opens a creative frontier to research and development.

The domain of interest here is not a traditional academic field, where paradigm shifts have been (as Kuhn demonstrated) relatively common—but information and knowledge in general.

The point here is this lovely paradox:

Comprehensive change can be easy—even when small and obviously necessary changes have been impossible.

And that an impending new paradigm information—concretely transdisciplinarity—naturally begets the comprehensive societal and cultural paradigm; and that this new paradigm in information is now demanded by three categories of anomalies—each of them alone sufficient to mandate the change:

• Fundamental insights reached in science and philosophy
• Contemporary global condition
• New information technology

“[T]he nineteenth century developed an extremely rigid frame for natural science which formed not only science but also the general outlook of great masses of people.”

(Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, 1964?)

Our culture is founded on an error.

Discovered and reported but not corrected.

Werner Heisenberg

“It is absolutely necessary to find a way to change course.”

(Aurelio Peccei, One Hundred Pages for the Future, 1981)

Our situation necessitates change.

Club of Rome story.

Aurelio Peccei

“We’ve entered an age of information glut. And this is something no culture has really faced before. The typical situation is information scarcity. […] Lack of information can be very dangerous. […] But at the same time too much information can be dangerous, because it can lead to a situation of meaninglessness. […] Where [you] live in a culture that is simply committed, through all of its media, to generate tons of information every hour, without categorizing it in any way for you.”

(Neil Postman, Interview to XY, 1990)

Information technology made things worse.

When in with old paradigm—more, faster, cheaper.

Neil Postman

“Some years ago I was struck by the large number of falsehoods that I had accepted as true in my childhood, and by the highly doubtful nature of the whole edifice that I had subsequently based on them. I realized that it was necessary, once in the course of my life, to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations if I wanted to establish anything at all in the sciences that was stable and likely to last.”

(René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy , 1641)

Logos

THE key meme...

René Descartes

“Give me a firm place to stand, and with a lever I shall move the Earth.”

(Attributed to Archimedes)

Epistemology

Archimedean point — federate an epistemology. Use it to revive culture.

Apply logos (KF) to the way we use the mind; and to foundation.

Design epistemology as prototype

Archimedes

“Many years ago, I dreamed that digital technology could greatly augment our collective human capabilities for dealing with complex, urgent problems."

(Doug Engelbart, "Title*, Byte, 1995)

Knowledge federation

Doug Engelbart

“The task is nothing less than to build a new society and new institutions for it. With technology having become the most powerful change agent in our society, decisive battles will be won or lost by the measure of how seriously we take the challenge of restructuring the ‘joint systems’ of society and technology.”

(Erich Jantsch, Loooong title, MIT Report,1995)

Systemic innovation

Etc...

Erich Jantsch

“As long as a paradox is treated as a problem, it can never be dissolved.”

(Erich Jantsch, Loooong title, MIT Report,1995)

Dialog

It was all ignored.

The function of the dialog is to dissolve the paradox.

David Bohm