I'm reading John Markoff's biography of Stuart Brand, who was heavily influenced by Bateson.
======================= Tom Johnson Inst. for Analytic Journalism Santa Fe, New Mexico 505-577-6482 ======================= On Sat, Jun 11, 2022, 6:57 AM Frank Wimberly <wimber...@gmail.com> wrote: > In 1978 as I was about to leave Pittsburgh for a job at Bell Labs my wife > and I were staying with with Scott and Penny Fahlman since our furniture > was on a moving van. Scott was an AI hotshot who had recently arrived at > Carnegie Mellon. I was typing the final revision of my numerical analysis > dissertation on my Smith Corona when Scott said, "Frank, that will be the > last computer science dissertation ever written on a typewriter." > > > --- > Frank C. Wimberly > 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, > Santa Fe, NM 87505 > > 505 670-9918 > Santa Fe, NM > > On Sat, Jun 11, 2022, 5:20 AM Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: > >> Holy Moley! >> >> The references to Kissenger et. al.'s "The Age of AI: and our Human >> Future" here lead me to find his 1950 Senior Thesis at Harvard (scanned >> copy of the typewritten original >> <https://ia903000.us.archive.org/23/items/HenryAKissingerTheMeaningOfHistoryReflectionsOnSpenglerToynbeeAndKant/Henry%20A%20Kissinger%20-%20The%20Meaning%20of%20History_%20Reflections%20on%20Spengler%2C%20Toynbee%2C%20and%20Kant.pdf> >> ). >> >> >> https://ia903000.us.archive.org/23/items/HenryAKissingerTheMeaningOfHistoryReflectionsOnSpenglerToynbeeAndKant/Henry%20A%20Kissinger%20-%20The%20Meaning%20of%20History_%20Reflections%20on%20Spengler%2C%20Toynbee%2C%20and%20Kant.pdf >> >> I am only 20 something pages into this 400 page tome and definitely over >> my head in several ways. His language reads a little *overly* flowery and >> technically specific, and yet that may just be a result of the *era* and >> it's topic as an analysis of three writer's take on history itself >> (Spengler, Toynbee, Kant). I have tried resolving several obscure terms >> such as "genus Culture", references to which I can only find in archaic >> botanical texts? I have not read Spengler and only skimmed Toynbee and >> the Kant I read is now 40 years past, so of course I don't have much more >> than an effing clue of what he is effing on about here, yet it is >> fascinating nevertheless. >> >> Even reading the typewritten type carries a sort of spectre of the time >> and place this was generated. It adds significance that I gifted my last >> working typewriter (at times I have had as many as 5 or 6 which could be >> made to work with a little care in use) to one of our house-sitters while >> we travel. She may well be typing on it as I type this. The unevenness >> of a manual typewriter, the waviness of the line and the uneveness of the >> impression reflects in some way the mechanical device but also the >> operator. My instinct is that Kissinger did not type this final >> manuscript himself if in fact he even typed any of it. It has the >> evenness (relative, given the limits of the type of device) of an >> accomplished typist, typing in a workman-like way. The digital copy (pdf) >> appears to be a scan of a photocopy to boot, adding contrast enhancement >> and some subsequent elision of bits by thresholding. >> >> I was tempted to cut-n-paste a few choice lines (images, not txt) and >> comment on them, but realize that perhaps nobody else here cares and it >> would just be a manual exercise for myself to no point otherwise. OCR is >> good enough these days to make it possible to render it as txt, etc. but >> since I am bogged down in the text itself and distracted by trying to graze >> through Jenny's library here in Weesp, while quaffing the entireity of one >> of her favorite tomes (a biography of Gregory Bateson), I will leave it now >> and see if anyone else delves deep enough into the source material to spark >> a conversation here that I can join or simply enjoy. >> >> So many books, so little time! If I had more time I would learn to >> speedread so I can have more time to read more. >> >> >> >> -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> archives: 5/2017 thru present >> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >> > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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