Dear Ken
Thanks for a very cogent and substantive overview on
the role of China in World affairs. It has caused me
to reflect on world wide shifts in the scale, location
and nature of economic power and the contributions to
world culture that result.
In a broad brush over-simplified outline covering only
the last 500 years or so: Portugal and Italy motivated
expansion; Spain - conquest; the Netherlands -
commerce; Great Britain - empire and institutions; and
the USA - markets and services - all representing
western migration and increases in scale; No country
has had world hegemony based on natural resources
alone - even with regard to oil. It is interesting to
consider what happens in countries which no longer
retain their position; the Netherlands builds through
overseas investment; Great Britain exports highly
educated people; etc. Many countries who have never
had world economic power have found niche roles based
on their cultural strengths (France-luxury goods and
urban conveniences (LVH,Deceaux), Japan (who briefly
became a major economic power) - small scale
technologies, (Camera's, games, automata, etc); South
Korea - large manufacturing conglomerates (Hyundai,
Samsung, etc); Scandinavia - home furnishings,(Ikea)
etc. The USA has so far focused on its
entrepreneurial, management, and marketing strengths.
China will quickly acquire these competencies through
its own cultural strengths . In this regard, it is
informative to recall that in Hawaii the Chinese
assimilated and became bankers and businessmen,(the
Japanese remained unassimilated and became labor
leaders and politicians.) Having inexpensive labor,
manufacturing and a huge market China is fast becoming
once again the world's major economic power(as Ken
notes). If the USA is now primarily a service economy
designers should closely fashion their services with
this in mind. This will require a broader vision of
design than most designers have and that most schools
teach. I agree with Jacque in this regard and am
distressed at the lack of initiative in the field.

(parenthetically) to Jacque,and Glenn
Having been one of jurors on the 2003 IDEA/
Businessweek awards, I can tell you that the benefits
to the manufacturer, user and environment were among
the criteria we considered in making the awards - even
if Businessweek chose not to highlight them. Generally
speaking, the submissions this year were much worse
than my previous time as juror, and cause for concern.
Except for one firm (IDEO, who has mastered
communication to the point that their submissions are
easily recognized without being identified,) most
designers aren't really that good at communicating
what they do,despite believing that they are.

Best
Chuck

Dr. Charles Burnette
234 South Third Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: +215 629 1387
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhDs
in Design
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ken
Friedman
Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 2:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Early Voices: The Leap to Language -- New
York Times article
available


Dear Colleagues,

Been traveling for the past week or so, following the
threads on PhD-Design from airports and hotels.

Very interesting.

While I may return with some substantive thoughts,
I want to thank Klaus for drawing my attention to
a New York Times science article by Nicholas Wade
titled Early Voices: The Leap to Language.

This article appeared on July 15 in the "Science
desk" section of the NYT. While the web site holds
articles free for 7 days, older articles must be
purchased from the archives. I've bought a copy
and I'll be happy to share it.

Copyright prohibits publishing it or posting it to
the list, but fair use for non-commercial and
academic purposes allows me to send a copy to
individual colleagues.

If you'd like a copy, please drop me a note at

<[log in to unmask]>

with the word

Language

in the Subject header.

Best regards,

Ken Friedman



Excerpt from first section:

--snip--

July 15, 2003, Tuesday

SCIENCE DESK

Early Voices: The Leap to Language

By NICHOLAS WADE (NYT) 3734 words

Bower birds are artists, leaf-cutting ants practice
agriculture,
crows use tools, chimpanzees form coalitions against
rivals. The only
major talent unique to humans is language, the ability
to transmit
encoded thoughts from the mind of one individual to
another.

Because of language's central role in human nature and
sociality, its
evolutionary origins have long been of interest to
almost everyone,
with the curious exception of linguists.

As far back as 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris
famously
declared that it wanted no more speculative articles
about the origin
of language.

More recently, many linguists have avoided the subject
because of the
influence of Noam Chomsky, a founder of modern
linguistics and still
its best-known practitioner, who has been largely
silent on the
question.

Dr. Chomsky's position has "only served to discourage
interest in the
topic among theoretical linguists," writes Dr.
Frederick J. Newmeyer,
last year's president of the Linguistic Society of
America, in
"Language Evolution," a book of essays being published
this month by
Oxford University Press in England.

In defense of the linguists' tepid interest, there
have until
recently been few firm facts to go on. Experts offered
conflicting
views on whether Neanderthals could speak. Sustained
attempts to
teach apes language generated more controversy than
illumination.

But new research is eroding the idea that the origins
of language are
hopelessly lost in the mists of time. New clues have
started to
emerge from archaeology, genetics and human behavioral
ecology, and
even linguists have grudgingly begun to join in the
discussion before
other specialists eat their lunch.

"It is important for linguists to participate in the
conversation, if
only to maintain a position in this intellectual niche
that is of
such commanding interest to the larger scientific
public," writes Dr.
Ray Jackendoff, Dr. Newmeyer's successor at the
linguistic society,
in his book "Foundations of Language."

Geneticists reported in March that the earliest known
split between
any two human populations occurred between the !Kung
of southern
Africa and the Hadza of Tanzania. Since both of these
very ancient
populations speak click languages, clicks may have
been used in the
language of the ancestral human population. The
clicks, made by
sucking the tongue down from the roof of the mouth
(and denoted by an
exclamation point), serve the same role as consonants.

That possible hint of the first human tongue may be
echoed in the
archaeological record. Humans whose skeletons look
just like those of
today were widespread in Africa by 100,000 years ago.
But they still
used the same set of crude stone tools as their
forebears and their
archaic human contemporaries, the Neanderthals of
Europe.

Then, some 50,000 years ago, some profound change took
place.
Settlements in Africa sprang to life with
sophisticated tools made
from stone and bone, art objects and signs of long
distance trade.

--snip--