From [Marc Abrams (2004.09.18.1726)]
Rick,
First, a derivative _is_ a rate but a _rate_ however, is _not_ always a
derivative. Do we agree on that? Do you understand the difference? Do you
understand my objections to the way you used the term?
Second, I know I'm pissing in the wind here, but maybe, just maybe, someone
has some ideas that might be of some use to our understanding of control and
human behavior that has a different flavor than what has been passed off as
knowledge on this list.
I may not be the worlds deepest thinker and my use of the English language
sometimes gets in the way of my message here, but I'm not a moron and I
refuse to be treated like one. It's really unfortunate that Powers has
decided that I am his 'enemy', because you just don't treat 'friends' that
way.
He thinks I'm in competition with him so I can develop my own brand of a
theory for fame and fortune, and that I would like nothing better than to
see him fall flat on his face.
Let me tell you folks, it takes a bigger imagination for that one to happen
then it did for him to develop his hierarchy.
Over the years Powers has been 'dissed' by the best of them, or so he
claims. What do the facts say? The 'facts' say that Powers is extremely
intolerant of any ideas that do not coincide with his. That he has spent a
lifetime trying to prove to the world that he is 'right' and others are
'wrong'.
He finds little solace in the fact that many other people have spent
lifetimes trying to understand the same things he does, yet he feels only
his work warrants a thorough testing and review. He really sees no
connections between his work and that done by dozens of others in countless
other fields because he doesn't want too, not because there are no actual
connections.
Bruce Abbott, have you spoken to Bryan Thalhammer about his Yahoo site to
see how his monitored PCT list is doing? What does the data tell us? Has his
list membership grown? And if so is it because of the nice way everyone
speaks? Has anything substantive been accomplished there?
Hey Martin Taylor, how is ECAC's doing? Has your monitoring of the list
enabled lots of people who were reluctant to come onto CSGnet because of the
language show up on ECAC's? I haven't seen any activity on the list in quite
awhile.
I'm not quite sure what the purpose of a list monitor is. Is the person
supposed to keep the discussion on target, focused and moving, or is the
monitor simply a gatekeeper, who arbitrarily decides which posts to censor
and which not too. Playing God can be a tough act, but some relish it.
Bruce Abbott, how about this novel idea. Why not expand the number of ways
we might think about how control takes place cognitively and since Powers
has not kept up with the literature maybe we can begin to discuss some of
things he is not aware of as of yet and might prove useful to PCT.
Of course the problem here is _who_ gets to decide what PCT is and when and
how it might be modified? What happens when Powers is no longer with us? Is
this theory simply the whims and wishes of one man? How about it Bruce?
Finally, Rick, is our 'discussion' of your statistical analysis over?
You too think my objective in life is to bust your chops, but you couldn't
be any further from the truth than Powers is in his fantasy world and that
is unfortunate for _ALL_ of us.
Marc