What a great idea! Do you know about the new library in Alexandria, Egypt? It is also a quite extraordinary project, building, collection concepts, etc. There seem to be some common elements with your idea.
Cheers, Lawry > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Brad > McCormick, Ed.D. > Sent: Saturday, July 06, 2002 10:55 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: The Annals of Philantropy ~ A future that could but won't > happen > > > Donald Trump and Mr. Microsoft could follow in Carnegie's footsteps > by giving US$2 billion to establish a new > Alexandrian Library on the site of the former World > Temple To Mammon (the lower Manhatten World Trade Center site). > > This library would have as its mission to digitize the > great works of culture on perishable media, to collect > virtual tours of the immovable great works of culture, > to be a repository for substantial cultural achievements > in digital media and to foster substantive > cultural dialog "without borders", to provide access to all these > resources to anyone with a modem, and to set a new > standard for survivability by having multiply redundant > distributed mirroring sites, access links both fiber-optic > and via satellite, etc. Building on SGML [the standard for > computer information structuring which Microsoft helped > mutilate into XML...], this library would be immune to > just about anything except a very large rogue asteroid > or the concerted efforts of a paranoiac Deity [The Tower > of Babel, rebuilt with extremely strong yet > flexible semiotic reinforcing rods unavailable to the > master craftspersons who conceived of the first version]. > > Perhaps it could be called something like the Dialogium, and > it would be dedicated to trying to reverse humanity from regressing > into a New Dark Age, or even being scattered over the > face of the earth as a babel(sic) of ethni[-]cities > [see, e.g., HGWells' 1938(?) film "The Shape of Things > to Come"]. > > For what is a city? > > A city is a place where master craftspersons can > elaborate their skills beyond what the parochial village can > support for the mere reproduction of individual and species life. > It is the place where a person, even if he or she is no longer > a small child, in walking theough it -- looking > at the various master craftspersons > at their work --, may see something that inspires him or > her to *want* to do it for all their life -- desire, > not need --, and get funding to do it. [ref.: Louis I Kahn] > > Since Louis Kahn is no longer with us (I believe due > to America's failure to appropriately take care of such > a living national treasure), his student Mario Botta would > be a logical choice to at least begin coordinating > the design for this institution, which hopefully > would bring about a renewal of the spirit of the > Enlightenment in our chronologically post-modern age of > "the last man" (as Albrecht Wellmer has argued: Because > it is self-critical, modernity is in a deep sense > unsurpassible because it is the process of ever-self-renewing > self-overcoming and self-surpassing). > > It won't happen, but at least nobody can say > that the idea did not appear on the earth -- a point of > light flickering on and then fading away in the > darkness [ref.: Ivan Morris, _The World of the Shining > Prince_: http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/essays.html#genji ] > > Credo quia absurdum > (--Jan Szczepahski, after Tertullian) > > \brad mccormick > > > > Lawrence DeBivort wrote: > > > > Hear, hear! Not to mention Carnegie's libraries: he felt that a good > > library was the key to a community's ability to flourish, so > offered, if I > > remember this correctly, a library (building, books and all) to > every town > > of over 5,000 people in the USA. And you can still see them at work and > > paying social dividends to this day. A wonderful project, by > any standard > > > > Thanks for the distinction, Brad. > > > > Lawry > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Brad > > > McCormick, Ed.D. > > > Sent: Saturday, July 06, 2002 9:56 AM > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Subject: The Annals of Philantropy > > > > > > > > > I'm listening to a program about Andrew Carnegie on A&E. > > > > > > They just said that when Carnegie became aware that > > > WWI was about to break out, he went to the German Kaiser > > > and offered him a blank check if the Kaiser would not > > > go to war. The Kaiser replied that he admired Carnegie's > > > gesture, but he had to obey the will of his people. > > > > > > If we have to have Robber Barons, let them be > > > Andrew Carnegies and not Kenneth Lays. > > > > > > \brad mccormick > > > > > > -- > > > Let your light so shine before men, > > > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > > > > > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > > > > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ > > > > > -- > Let your light so shine before men, > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ >
