Mary Catherine Bateson was a close friend of mine. She and Gregory (her father) worked closely together. She and I once shared a long train ride where she talked about her life in relationship to not one, but two (Margaret Mead) famous parents. Before Covid, in 2019, she invited me for a long weekend to her get-away house in the New Hampshire woods. I interviewed her about the early days of systems thinking, cybernetics and the Macy conferences. It was mid-March, and I drove her to a wee public house nearby to hear some St. Patrick's day music. We lifted a pint and exchanged stories about the Irish for whom we shared a special regard. Mary Catherine died last year. I miss her still.
On Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 8:00 AM Tom Johnson <jtjohnson...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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/ >> > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > 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/ > -- Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D. Center for Emergent Diplomacy emergentdiplomacy.org Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA mobile: (303) 859-5609
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