Nice to have the optimism on the list. And for me realism too .. I
agree: my personal experience is in line with yours. Most pessimism
comes from abstractions, not close personal experience.
-- Owen
On Feb 16, 2010, at 2:34 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Americans: Neither Ugly nor Dumb
I have enjoyed the plethora of Wisdom apropos contemporary mores and
innovation from Friam correspondents: finally a reply is
irresistible. But I can respond only with banal facts I have
personally experienced and know to be true.
On dumth: I have earned a living in Africa, New Zealand, England and
USA. During my years in the US I have found people to be generous,
open-minded, honorable and mainly smarter than me. And folks here
are significantly more civilized and humane than those in any other
continent that I have worked in. So I am surprised at Friam
correspondents’ apparent contempt for our fellow citizens - mebbe
they know whereof they prattle, mebbe not.
On innovation: the sage advice is all correct - and all
irrelevant. I have spent decades working professionally with
DARPA, NASA, DOD, US Renewable Energy Institute, many aerospace
corps, and as a consultant for patent applications . I continually
witness a brilliant, humbling, kaleidoscope of new ideas. I reckon,
before pontificating, pundits should establish qualifications of
their own creativity: patents issued, original papers and articles,
senior managerial accomplishments. Perhaps they are too modest to
list these.
I love reading the Friam stuff as fiction. I think Joyceans call it
Stream of Consciousness. It would be very nice if people provided
specific support for their assertions.
Peter Lissaman, Da Vinci Ventures
Expertise is not knowing everything, but knowing what to look for.
1454 Miracerros Loop South, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505,USA
tel:(505)983-7728
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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
