Hi All, Two major themes of the MOQ, the creative individual (Pirsig) and beauty (the aesthetic continuum) are nicely explicated in a new book, "The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments" by George Johnson, reviewed in the NYTimes.
(Unfortunately the web site is too long to paste here. Those interested in reading the full review can go the NY Times main page and in the search box at the top enter "Ten Most Beautiful Experiments.) The author sites such experiments as Galileo's incline plane, Newton's use of prisms, and Pavlov's dogs. Importantly, the reviewer points out that "Johnson, (a long time contributor to The New York Times) favors artisans of the laboratory, chronicling 'those rare moments when, using materials at hand, a curious soul figured out a way to pose a question to the universe and persisted until it replied." A fitting description of Mr. Pirsig and other ingenious individuals of great accomplishment who challenge the deadening conformity demanded by their cultures and move evolution forward. As for beauty in the experiments, Johnson "favors simplicity -- not just clean, artful experiments, but those that let us replace convoluted theories with simple explanations." Fits the MOQ to a tee -- "The world is primarily a moral order." The reviewer concludes: "If Johnson's aesthetic sense is conventional, however, his vision is broad. This tidy book finds beauty throughout science -- even among dead frogs and drooling dogs." Indeed. If what you do isn't beautiful, chances are you can do it better. Regards, Platt Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
