Lord of the Loops

From[Bill Williams 21 March 2004 2:30 AM CST]

[From Richard Kennaway (2004.03.21.0629 GMT)]

who says,

... I don't think moderation is a solution, whether
dressed up in PCT jargon or not. I can't think of
anything that would work better than the status quo,
objectionable as the SQ may have been recently (as it > appears to have

been for pretty much everyone >posting, on both sides of the flamewar).

Perhaps I should clarify my position. My vote for moderation was not based
upon an expectation that it would "work." Rather I voted for moderation
because I thought it might be an interesting experiment.

Richard expresses an assessment that the status quo may have been
objectionable "for pretty much everyone." From my standpoint, however,
the "flamewar" as Richard describes is not something that I regard as
neccesarily being objectionable. Rather the flamewars are an expression of
where the participants are in regard to their agendas, their understanding
of control theory, and their ability to apply control theory in a situation
which issomewhat mildly engaging in an emotional and intellectual sense.
The partisipants are interesting folks, with varying levels of intellectual
capacities, maturity, and what all. I have found it facinating, and
instructive as well. And, since at least in my opinion I have experience
some measure of growth in emotional maturity, and growth in understanding of
the process of dialog in a mildly hostile context, I would recomend
participation in such forums for persons who are interested expanding their
capacity to effectively conduct their behavior in contentious situations.

Bill Powers has observed that otherwise very intelligent people, in the
context of CSG and CSGnet, sometimes behave with, as he says, "shocking
stupidity." I would agree with Bill Powers at least to the extent that
people on the CSGnet do frequently generate arguments that in ordinary
circustances would be considered a bit strange. Of course, being an
economist I am accostomed to encountering arguments that are a bit strange,
or even entirely delusional. Economics as a field is uncomfortably close to
a cargo cult science. So, it is only to be expected that when the somewhat
loose grip on reality characteristic of CSG is combined with theoretical
economics the result is more than a little bit bizzare. I would never have
been able to come up with the "Running Naked in the Forest" fable without
the model provided by the CSGnet. So, far from finding the CSGnet status
quo unsatisfactory I find it to be a wonderworld that I had previously
encountered only in the anthropological texts devoted to crisis cults, or in
the news reports from Jones' Town or the subways of Toyko. See Kaplan,
David and Marshall, Andrew 1996 _The Cult at the End of the World: The
Terrifying Story of the Aum Doomsday Cult, from the Subways of Tokyo ot the
Nuclear Arsenals of Russia_ New York: Crown Publishers. Really an very
absorbing read. But, I'd never experienced anything like CSGnet, not at
least as they say, upclose and personal-- if you think of emails as "up
close and personal." Cutting edge science as it turns out is nothing like
the storybook sort of paint by the numbers fairy tales. And, I never would
have thought that as a result of the flamewars a publisher would invite me
to submit poetry samples. Sturgeon, however, has warned me that the salary
committee is unlikely to look favorably toward me if I submit published
poetry as evidence of scholarly contributions-- even if the poems are
about economics. Sturgeon has been equally discouraging concerning the
university's view of my fables. This is unfortunate-- I have been
discouraged anyway about extensions to the "Running naked..." fable. But, I
have a new idea. A cybernetic tale with the title, "Lord of the Loops."
The planned subtitle is "A Cybernetic Misadventure." Maybe however, as,
Rick Marken says, " It needs work." Somehow sex and death got left out.
Still I am optimistic. After all, the parody _Bored of the Rings_ enjoyed
at least modestly profitable sales. However, to pursue this with any
seriousness would required learning how to write dialog. Probably easier to
write poetry. Maybe I'd better stick to Reduction Input Functions.

On the academic front, after three years here I finally am getting things
closer to the cusp. After many efforts to see to it that the new library
will have space for books in it, my name got splattered all over the the
university paper, including the front page-- the title? "Tensions Hinder
Library Planning." Somehow this wasn't quite what I had in mind when I was
talking to the student wanta be reporters. I guess public relations takes
some practice and planning. But, I did learn something from the experience.
The adminstrative guy running the planning session was just hired away to be
chancelor of some university in the South East. It sure surprized me. As
far as I could tell he couldn't pick a decent taylor--none of his suit
jackets fit. How is he going to run a university if he can't pick a
half-way decent taylor?

Bill Williams

ยทยทยท

"Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I hit my head with a hammer!"
"Don't hit your head with a hammer."

-- Richard Kennaway