Steve, I didn't see you as unduly critical. Stu's work raises many questions, small and large. By me, that's fine. Great work does that. He's trying to overthrow a paradigm. I hope Stu's work is great. It might not be. He's good--at least in intimate conversation--at saying, of course I may be full of shit.
You mention Chris Langton. He was also part of that small SFI group twenty years ago that would drop everything to answer your questions. To my utter delight, he showed up at a San Francisco party for one of my books a few years ago. I have great, great respect for him, and since nobody asked, I think the Institute in that part of its incarnation did not treat him well. Fascinating that you're married to a hybrid of Kali and Loki. Wow. P. On Mar 25, 2013, at 6:42 PM, Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: > Gary/Pamela/(Stephen, Carl, Eric, ...) - > > I know several (many?) on this list know Stu better than I... so I apologize > if I sounded overly critical. I prefer Pamela's description of him being > *careless* with references as opposed to my own use of the *honest*. I also > admit that I do not know if he sees himself as a rock-star... that is perhaps > the default category I put people in who are simultaneously *good*, > *self-possessed* and *charismatic*. I actually *like* most rock stars > (within reason) even if I might not care for their music. > > As an aside... does anyone remember Chris Langton appearing in Rolling Stone > (CA 1990?)... I searched their archives and did not find any references (nor > on the internet at large?). I remember the article including a sexed-up > spread of him in front of a Connection Machine? I suppose I could be > hallucinating or have come from an alternate history? > > I also smiled at your term "demigod" as I often use "Titans" to describe the > pantheon of my wife's sibling group... she is oldest of 8 *mostly* high > functioning, *very* charismatic, *definitely* self-possessed siblings. They > all revered their father who was a humble but charismatic physics professor. > None of them took up science per se, though one has a PhD in psychology. I > would not use *rock star* to describe any of their self-image, though there > is one who insists he *is* Elvis... and sometimes we are tempted to believe > him. There are definitely characters right out of Greek, Roman, Norse, even > Hindu mythology in her family... My wife is Kali *and* Loki rolled into one I > think. > > I have always been inspired by Kauffman's ideas as best I could understand > them, which has been highly variable, depending on the circumstance. This > says more about me than about Stu. I read his lecture notes in the > late-nineties... the ones which ultimately became the core of > _Investigations_ (or so it seemed to me). I had read _OofO_ and _At Home in > the Universe_ previously. It may have been coincidence or something stronger > like kismet that I read Investigations interleaved with my reading of > Christopher Alexander's (Pattern Language fame) _Notes on the Synthesis of > Form_ with D'Arcy Thompson's _On Growth and Form_ as backup reference. I was > traveling lightly in New Zealand at the time with none of my usual > distractions nagging me. It was a month of deep thought informed by > Alexander and Kauffman equally. > > My nature is to be guarded around people with significant charisma (and me > married into aforementioned pantheon!). I appreciate the need for and the > value of the persuasive and the self-confident, even in the realm of science > where ideas *by definition* must stand on their own. There is value for > those who can bring us to *want* to believe enough to put in the hard work to > believe things on their own merits. Unfortunately that might be the dividing > line between science and Science(tm). I suppose I mistrust those who appear > to be trying to corner the franchise on Science(tm) in their neighborhood. > > Nevertheless, I am *more* interested in Kauffman's ideas here and hope that > we will discuss them a bit? > > - Steve > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
