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Dear All, Taking Chris's reading on board, I'd have to reverse myself and agree with Joe. Perhaps I read it the wrong way. So, I'll quote Chris's post, below, and add a cheerful me-too. Warm wishes, Ken On Tue, 3 Mar 2009 08:11:40 +0000, Chris Rust <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >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