A stupid newbie question

Justin Walsh jwalsh at bigpond.net.au
Tue Oct 9 22:48:26 UTC 2001


I tend to want to agree with you: kill off Kens analogy but, there  must be
something significant in that an ordinary, commonse person like Ken  would
use (imply) such analogies: domination and Darwinian survival of the
fittest, assumptions like mammaliam superiority over dinosaurs, development
etc (when dinosaurs had attained intelligence and flight). Perhaps I've
missed the irony?
I don't like the idea of Squeak becoming merely a popular rabies infected
rodent.
Anyway if there has to be a battle at all, I prefer it be in the realm of
mere abstract ideas and computer simulation than in concrete.  Tragicaly it
doesn't end there.
Trillions are spent on useless computer software whilst cureable,
dehydration and gastrointestinal diseases  kills 40,000 children every day,
not to mention the loss of habitat and species.
Sorry the debate (as boring as it seems to the comfortable) must go on else
it creeps up behind us and bites us on the butt.

This extract was published in 1781. It influenced Dewey and Piaget who in
turn influenced Alan Kay.
Unfortunately very few have properly studied him or even Alan Kay for that
matter.

P 653
THE TRANSCENDENTAL DOCTRINE OF METHOD
CHAPTER III
THE ARCHITECTONIC OF PURE REASON
BY an architectonic I understand the art of constructing sys-
tems. As systematic unity is what first raises ordinary know-
ledge to the rank of science, that is, makes a system out of a
mere aggregate of knowledge, architectonic is the doctrine of
the scientific in our knowledge, and therefore necessarily
forms part of the doctrine of method.
In accordance with reason's legislative prescriptions, our
diverse modes of knowledge must not be permitted to be a
mere rhapsody, but must form a system. Only so can they
further the essential ends of reason. .....
I. Kant (Critque of Pure Reason)
For full text see att.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Szuhay" <jeff at szuhay.org>
To: "Squeak Public Maliing List" <squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 5:38 AM
Subject: RE: A stupid newbie question


> >> From: Ken Kahn [mailto:kenkahn at toontalk.com]
> >> My post wasn't about whether Squeak can survive or even thrive as a
> >> community of 1000+ members but whether it can take over the
> >> planet like mammals starting doing 65 million years ago.
> >
> >Beats me.  I think you'd first have to kill off a significant portion
> >of the dominant fauna and then see what happens.
>
> To really beat this analogy into the ground, I think that Microsoft's
> draconian licensing policies (falling water levels), the rise of Linux
> and OS X (competition for food), and the current economic climate
> (asteroid),
> may be enough to bring this about.
>
> Only time will tell (hopefully not sooner than aeons).
>
> Jeff (little rodent hiding in a hole) Sz.
>
>
>
> --
>    **************************************************
>    Jeff Szuhay              A randomly-directed
>    www.szuhay.org           chaotical wetware pattern
>    jeff at szuhay.org          recognizer/generator.
>
>
>    Omit needless words.
>    Vigorous writing is concise.
>    A sentence should contain no unnecessary words,
>    a paragraph no unnecessary sentences,
>    for the same reason that a drawing should have
>    no unnecessary lines and
>    a machine no unnecessary parts
>      -- William Strunk, Jr.,
>         professor and author (1869-1946)
>
>
>
>
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