[Dan to Eddo] Motorcycles do not work on themselves. A rational being performs motorcycle maintenance. I am not comparing inorganic patterns to social patterns. I am comparing intellectual patterns to intellectual patterns.
[Arlo] Right. Its a rather odd reductionism to say that motorcycle maintenance is about 'inorganic quality patterns'. So here's my quick take on how these 'two' considerations of the MOQ could look at this (motorcycle repair) together. First, you have the moment of 'repair', the responding to Quality, the evaluation of the context, etc. (the 'stuck screw' talk in ZMM). Second, you have this machine and if you don't know how rubber responds to heat, or metal is impacted by a hammer, or what the carburetor or tappets are for, you're never going to fix it. But more than this, the 'motorcycle' is not just a piece of 'inorganic' patterns just sitting there, there are biological patterns to consider (ergonomics if you will, rider comfort, adjusting the handlebars to provide safer control, being able to brake with minor muscular movements) and social patterns (the bike is part of your social world, who do you ride with, why do you ride, where do you go, what adaptations needs to made to ensure your social goals are taken into consideration, are you riding up to the top of a mountain? better adjust your air/fuel mix. are you riding very long distances? maybe add saddlebags to bring some books and supplies.), and of course intellectual patterns (which are at the root of all this 'knowing', knowing why to use a brass hammer on the tappets, or why a beer can shim is an elegant, pragmatic solution, even knowing how to adjust your riding in the case of a sudden downpour). Thinking about the motorcycle as just 'inorganic' is to commit the very 'objectivist' problem of removing the motorcycle from the entirety of the experiential context. That motorcycle is like Pirsig's 'train', its not just sitting there, its going somewhere, and its got a biological rider, a social role, and an intellectual structure; all of which have histories, and all of which 'come to bear' on that immediate moment. Considering the machine as a non-primary pattern doesn't mean you avoid good maintenance. And doing good maintenance doesn't mean you 'reify' the machine. 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/md/archives.html
