Steve, Ok. Let it be that the notion of the "academy", the quiet place, where a specialized group of people, designated by society, get together to think, is "old skool". But, let it be the case, that those same people are being forced to waste their time doing other things ... like brewing coffee, doing body work for people, doing fiddly computing jobs for other people, etc., etc. Is that not a waste, of sorts? How can we organize things so that these people can do what they are best at and love? How can restore general society's respect for that sort of activity ... for "noodling." How are we going to head off the jobs crisis that is upon us that happens when automation finally decouples "having a job" from "being a useful person". Surely your Taotic position is not, "Whatever is is for the best" or even "Que sera sera?" Or is it?
Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ -----Original Message----- From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Steven A Smith Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2018 12:19 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] City University of Santa Fe Nick - My sympathies are with you in aching to see the potential of such a rich milieu as is implied by this city/region (more) fulfilled (elaborated?). At the same time, my inner Taoist believes it is "precisely as it should be". Your appeal reminded me of my reading on the origin of "Coffee Houses" in England in the 17th century and their role as "Penny Universities". Of course, that is roughly how THIS forum began and continues as "the Mother Church", holding services weekly. It was this very vision which caused/allowed me to "stay the course" with the SF Complex from beginning to (beyond the) end, in spite of innumerable tangents and setbacks. I fear that the image of a "University" in any sense other than the above "Penny University" might be ultimately too nostalgic and oldSkool for our "modern times". The likes of SFx or even MeowWolf may be closer to what is likely (or needed?) today. The sum of SFAI/CCA/SFI/SITE/Lannan/??? sponsored talks and exhibitions is a rich tapestry which perhaps makes up for the lack of something more focused, with it's own (adobe) bricks and (mud) mortar? I don't offer this as a wet blanket, but maybe more an urging to (continue to) think broadly and maybe even a bit inside-out. The following is a reasonable (contemporary) description of the "Coffee House" phenomenon of the 17th/18th century which itself had a limited lifespan... https://ineedcoffee.com/the-coffee-house-a-history/ - Steve On 1/6/18 12:03 AM, Nick Thompson wrote: > Hi Glen and other interested parties, > > I went by the Secretary of State's office on Thursday and we found The City > University of Santa Fe without difficulty and all I have to do is pay past > filing fees to get myself back in good standing with the State of New Mexico. > When you search it, be sure to start with leading "The" . I tried to find > my old web page on the way back machine and I think I found some reference to > it, but not the page itself. The url was something like www.cusf.org. If > anybody finds it, save it for me, would you. I quite liked it. I mean for > citizen work. > > Some of you seem to raise the question where do we go from here. I had > thought, since I am getting so friggin old, that I would just shut it down. > The only things it has going for it are the name and the fact that Santa Fe > is in many ways a university town without a university. It has all these > institutions doing quasi graduate work, and a gazillion retired PhD's doing > various proects, and even a couple of advanced degree granting places. But > no desire to coalesce and cooperate, that I could detect. I am not much of a > culture vulture, but on a whim, went out to hear a TGIF concert of Schubert > Leider in the Presbyterian church, this evening . There were something like > 500 people there. Not sure you could get a crowd like that on a cold > winter's night to hear a local singer in Berkeley. Santa Fe is an > extraordinary town. It deserves a University. > > At today's meeting of the mother church I was banging on about the battering > that the Liberal Arts ideal has received during my lifetime and my blief that > we need to restore the country's faith in LEARNING. I believe with all my > heart that good things happen when you get smart diverse people together and > make them think and argue about stuff. I also thing there are a tremendous > amount of young people in Santa Fe, working as baristas, and programmers, and > piano tuners who by their devotion to the life of the mind deserve to pursue > their interests. > > Speaking of battering, it's my understanding that the small liberal arts > colleges are in for a terrible few years under the new tax bill and the > Relatively Wealthy People of Santa Fe may need to be thinking about how to > defend St. Johns, not to mention what every might be left of the poor old > College of Santa Fe. > > Take care, > > Nick > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University > http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ > > -----Original Message----- > From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of ? u??? > Sent: Friday, January 05, 2018 8:53 AM > To: FriAM <friam@redfish.com> > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] City University of Santa Fe > > I don't know how long they keep their records. But there's no corporation > with that name in the online database: > > https://portal.sos.state.nm.us/BFS/online/CorporationBusinessSearch > > There are some non-profits with a Nick Thompson as an officer. But that Nick > seems to live in Albuquerque. > > On 01/05/2018 07:35 AM, Nick Thompson wrote: > >> On Jan 4, 2018 11:05 PM, "Nick Thompson" <nickthomp...@earthlink.net >> <mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net>> wrote: >> YEARS ago, when the College of Santa Fe was failing, I >> started a nonprofit called the City University of Santa Fe which was >> designed to pull all the educational resources of Santa Fe into one >> semi-formal organization, which, at the very minimum, would keep >> everybody informed about what everybody else was doing and maximally, >> might have provided temporary, volunteer, faculty to the College of Santa Fe >> during its time of stress. It turns out that you can set up a New >> Mexico non-profit for 25 dollars and ten bucks a year thereafter. >> Frank, and tom, and Mike Agar signed on as board members, I set up a >> website, and then, essentially, nothing happened. SFAUD took over >> from CofSF and other organizations I contacted about the possible >> communication function dismissed the idea out of hand. AND I lost my >> website and url, > -- > ∄ uǝʃƃ > > ============================================================ > 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-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove > > > ============================================================ > 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-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove > ============================================================ 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-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
