Hi Ray, At 10:08 01/10/01 -0400, Ray Harrell wrote: >Keith the last two posts I've sent to Futurework have gotten through only to >the people on the list that I CCed. So this may be only between the two >of us.
No -- this came via FW too. (REH) >Questions: >1. Who's going to sing all of that choral music if you don't have cities? Well, I wasn't advocating the death of cities! (REH) >2. Cities serve as hot beds of ideas. Absolutely. I wrote about this on FW some years ago -- putting the case that the rate of innovation throughout the whole course of mankind has been directly linked to the size of populations (raised to the power of 2/3/4 to allow for exponentially increasing chances of personal communications)(sorry for the mathematics!) of the various economic habitats -- family groups, groups, tribes, villages, towns, cities, metropolitan cities . . . . . . and the larger the city, the greater the rate of innovation within it. And this, I suppose, is the reason why there are such dense clusterings of specialisations within cities -- such as financial services in Manhatten. Such also have the benefits of easier recruitment of specialist staff. But the costs are very great, too (pollution, travel costs, hours of commuting time at both ends of the day, etc, etc) and other potential constraints will loom larger as clustering grows -- quite besides the possibility of further terrorist attacks on skyscrapers. (REH) >The Internet is an adjunct but it >will never substitute for sex with us real folks, anymore than movies or CDs >can replace real audience/performer exchange. Absolutely. (REH) >Note how afraid people on >this list are to examining seriously the claims of the fanatics that blew up >a segment of the city. As far as I'm concerned, it's not a matter of being afraid of discussing these sorts of issues. I'm fascinated by them but I wouldn't dream of raising or discussing them here because it would produce too much emotion and take us away from the basic purpose of this List -- the nature/future of jobs. I regard this as the probably the most important problem of them all -- and always has been throughout history -- upon which all other important human issues rest. Yes, -- even things like music, art and culture! (REH) >3. Communication by writing makes people "kinesics" dumb. Already the >video phones and the talk news networks are teaching us to ignore facial >micro-movements which carry as much information for the non-white world as >does the words themselves. I disagree here. I don't know why the white world should have any less discernment in "facial micro movements" than the non-white world. I think it's precisely because of the TV screen that we are more able to detect insincerity in our leaders than ever before. (REH) >The "white" world is married to the >ultra-simplicities of Math and Physics. Note the term used by the "white >world" is not simplicity but "elegant", either way it can be entered into a >computer but no such thing can be done with the complexities of Chromatic >harmony. That is why I have to have this new computer with all of that >memory. OK I'll grant you that the basic tenets of maths and physics are simple, but the "white" world is also deeply interested in much more complex matters such as brain science, biogenetics, lunguistics and so forth. (REH) >There is an extensive discussion of such things in Edward T. Hall and the >writings of Clifford Geertz. Hall uses the terms European Americans instead >of "White World.". Also note that the scientists in the Princeton >Institute for Advanced Study where Geertz is the head of the anthropology >section refused to allow him to test them on the "culture" of science. I don;t know about this case. but I've long thought that the most eminent scientists know a great deal more about the arts world than eminent artists know about science. In fact, the very best scientists like to switch around while artists and musicians have narrow fields of interest. (REH) >So in short I think the pencil pushers and number crunchers are once more >getting confusing short term trends with long term needs. Frank Lloyd >Wright already explored this in his Usonia writings years ago and came up >with the same issue. Human contact is needed and the less of that you have >the dumber the population becomes in the disciplines that have to do with >complex communication. Academics are fine but those are learned in a few >short years. Life comes afterwards. I also believe that is the reason for >all of the major triads in Minimalist modern music with only an occasional >change. The audience needs that much time to HEAR the chord. If it moves >to fast or changes come to quickly today's audiences don't "get it." >Cities change all of that unless they are mono-cultural or mono religious >cities like the two in Saudie Arabia that would like for us all to become >like the life and death simplicities of the desert. Well I think that minimaist music is pretty awful -- and pretty boring -- rather like a child's elementary reading book. I like music with rhythm and melody that one's brain can learn to love and remember. (REH) >Yes I'm still angry about that. If it is the terrorist attack on NYTC you're referring to I thoroughly understand. I know from my American customers just how much it has affected your country. (REH) >This is my city and I think an air base >nearby and serious governmental standardization and contorl on air traffic >control would have stopped all of that instead of this Private Enterprise >idiocy. Instead we get PCs at home but chaos in the air. And then we >breed economists like locusts. I don't fully understand you here. I don't know why you're so anti-economist. Economics is, at bottom, about human nature and this, surely, is one of the most fascinating subjects of all. (REH) >But the city has survived and it will >continue past this plague. I agree. Best wishes, Keith > >REH >----- Original Message ----- >From: Keith Hudson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Monday, October 01, 2001 3:38 AM >Subject: Appendix: Distance-working/Low-rise buildings > > >> As soon as I sent my previous message to this List, I downloaded the >latest >> edition of yesterday's New York Times to find the following article which >> begins thus: >> >> <<<< >> Many Once-Thriving Cities Are Suddenly Hurting >> By Mary Williams Walsh >> >> The Economic Fallout >> Sept. 11, most people agree, changed everything - including, it now >> appears, the economic map of the United States. The suicide attacks of 19 >> terrorists are not only tipping the economy into a recession, they have >> also scrambled the business landscape in places thousands of miles from >the >> destruction. Many cities and regions that, in America's gathering economic >> gloom, had strong growth prospects just three weeks ago no longer do. >> >> "The parts of the country that were holding up well before the attack are >> going to be nailed by this," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at >> Economy.com, a forecasting concern in West Chester, Pa., that analyzed the >> attacks' implications for Money & Business. . . . . >> >>>> >> >> Keith Hudson >> >> ___________________________________________________________________ >> >> Keith Hudson, General Editor, Calus <http://www.calus.org> >> 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England >> Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; >> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> ________________________________________________________________________ > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Calus <http://www.calus.org> 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________
