I think Joe's comment is relevant, if oblique to the thread. On the one
had, as Ken says, it's foolish to imagine that "we" can somehow pick out
exceptional people and give them the freedom to plan our futures. On the
other hand, as Joe's post indicates, neither we nor these possible gurus
can really predict what will be significant in the future, what will
work well and enhance life and what will be the new asbestos (actually I
think radio frequency emissions might turn out to be the new asbestos
but you probably think I'm a crank - the point is we will not know until
it doesn't happen)
Rob's concept of contemporary design gurus does not do much for me.
James Dyson is an achiever and very talented (for those who have heard
of him) but he's also the last of the old-time inventors, pumping up the
last vestiges of the 1960s consumer boom and his products seem to wear
out as quickly as everybody else's. He is a survivor hanging on to the
tail end of a Kondratiev cycle. Past success is no indication of future
profits.
More pointedly, did anybody, including Tim Berners-Lee, have any idea of
the implications of the internet? T B-L might have had a clue, as you
can see from his original title for the project "Enquire Within Upon
Everything" (originally the title of a wonderful Victorian self-help
manual, I have a copy and it is an object lesson in not taking seriously
the ephemeral concerns of the day). However I don't suppose we would
have been able to pick out his idea from all the other ones going round
at the time. As the old adage goes, "I know that only 10% of my
advertising budget is effective, I just don't know which 10%."
So I'm with Joe, or what I read into his post. What we need is more
intelligent communities, more empowered to shape their futures, and able
to draw on a good supply of well-trained, well informed and skilful
people. Rob's approach sounds more like a prescription for a world run
by Pol Pot and Robert Mugabe.
Hence my concern with how our students can best learn to become
thoughtful and skilful (and perhaps communally-minded), and my interest
in whether there are ways to foster appropriate passion for
professionalism, craftsmanship and inquiry. If a few of those students
become exceptional achievers that's a bonus but it's not the point.
Best wishes from Sheffield, built on the last Kondratiev cycle but two*,
don't know if we'll survive into the next one
Chris
*1840-1895, Global Availability of Resources - Steam, Coal Railways; but
Sheffield's roots go much further back into pre-industrial metalworking.
...............................................................o^o
Professor Chris Rust FDRS
Head of Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, S1 2NU, UK
+44 114 225 6772
[log in to unmask]
www.chrisrust.net
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the
future of the human race. - H. G. Wells
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