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Topic: thinking like a tree... (Read 431 times) |
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arielm
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thinking like a tree...
« on: Jun 19th, 2003, 11:27pm » |
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if you have time to kill or need inspiration, i suggest the following paper called "Thinking like a Tree" by Mitchel Resnick from M.I.T Media Lab:
http://llk.media.mit.edu/projects/eThinking/tree.html
definitely on topic for this community, for millions of reasons i think...
once a year or something, i re-read it and it never stop to blow my mind, again and again!
how about you my friend?
n.b: most of the entries in the reference exist online but somehow they're not linked...
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Ariel Malka | www.chronotext.org
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benelek
 
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Re: thinking like a tree...
« Reply #1 on: Jun 23rd, 2003, 6:35am » |
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excelent, a very useful theory.
it seems, in a fuzzy back-of-my-mind kind of way, to be an explanation for the use of metaphor in design...?
any thoughts?
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arielm
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Re: thinking like a tree...
« Reply #2 on: Jun 23rd, 2003, 12:11pm » |
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saint google gave us on "ecological constructivism metaphor design":
http://www.holocene.net/research/Philosophy_in_the_flesh_book_review.htm
headache? yes, me too..
but to rebounce on design and metaphors, say, if we want to design "systems for understanding" or "systems for creating", i think the challenge is to provide a base metaphor (i.e. structure, scafoldings...) that is invisible as possible and open enough to enable self-development...
it's a kind of challenge actually: the MOOSE example cited in Resnick's article is a great example!
i think that from the moment that a programming language that can "extend the system" is present in the system, things are really jumping to another dimension... and if you have in parallel a community of users that can share and participate, you are very high in the sky!
reminds you something?
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Ariel Malka | www.chronotext.org
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benelek
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Re: thinking like a tree...
« Reply #3 on: Jun 24th, 2003, 1:15am » |
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Quote:| Philosophy in the Flesh explores the development of an embodied realism, grounded in empirical evidence emerging from cognitive science and linguistics, and contrasted against a traditional ‘Western’ philosophical view, analytical philosophy, positivism and objectivism. It explores the ways in which metaphorical constructs shape our thinking, how these are related to the fit and functioning of evolving organisms in the environment, and the implications of such an understanding for philosophy, social understanding and science. |
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yes, a bit of a headache... but now that i think about it, aren't all concepts based, initially, and to some degree, on interpretations of world experiences into mataphor? i guess the difficulty is discovering what the essential parts of each "metaphor" are, for any one purpose.
Resnick's article seems to be all about organisational metaphors, but surely there are as many types of metaphor out there as there are the width and breadth of human experience. maybe that's why it's so much easier for a self-centered organism such as ourselves to come up with new interpretations. It takes so much effort just to think through interpretation that many successful thinkers structure their lives just to be able to do so.
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arielm
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Re: thinking like a tree...
« Reply #4 on: Jun 24th, 2003, 2:10am » |
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nice, you just choosed the most-possibly-headachable quote from the google article 
but based on the pile of po-mo stuff of this kind i've read, i think the main point is always about how we are stuck into metaphors, language games, etc. and how to try to escape them, while knowing in advance that there is still an endless ladder of paradigms to climb...
however, Resnick and the constructivist movement in general are more pragmatic, and they have this healing aspect that is making the difference (well, to me...)
and... a final thought about being stuck in metaphors / language games: it reminds me some "succesful thinkers" that think that everything is flash and flash is everything 
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Ariel Malka | www.chronotext.org
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