Dear Nick and all,
Sounds very good!
You might consider a few tweaks to the language in view of issues that have
been raised in recent conversations.
e.g.
Might 'transformation' be preferable to 'revolution'?
Also, I personally have 'hang-ups' about the word 'rational' and its
'opposite' 'irrational'. I am interested in 'what makes sense' in terms of
our knowledge and experience of human and non-human nature. And for me,
rationalistic logic (impositional logic, as I have sometimes termed it)
does not make sense in these terms. Indeed I am inclined to regard it as
'supernatural' as it involves the deliberate superimposition of artificial
fixtures onto nature in order to simplify explanation and prediction of
dynamic processes and structures. In so doing I think it is more simplistic
than simplifying, and engenders profound paradoxes and inconsistencies that
are harmful psychologically, environmentally and socially. I see our
addiction to this form of logic as lying at the root of our problems within
and beyond Academia. This is where I think transformation is deeply needed.
And what a huge transformation this would be as it would require the
inversion of the 'cart before the horse' thinking that underlies so many of
our social, technological and governmental artifices and endeavours. For
that very reason, and the fact that it may require rather penetrating
insight, this transformation is likely to be resisted by the status quo.
Down the ages, it seems that 'wisdom' has had to do much of its work 'in
secret'. Wouldn't it be great if we could help bring it out into the open?
Attached is a little lyric about this I wrote the other day.
Best
Alan
--On 07 November 2005 12:11 +0000 Nicholas Maxwell
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Dear Friends of Wisdom,
>
> I have continued my investigations into setting up a website for Friends
> of Wisdom. The best bet that I have discovered so far would be to set it
> up with http://1and1.co.uk/ It would cost only £3.99 a month. We would
> need to get our own domain name. One possibility is
> www.friendsofwisdom.co.uk This is available, and costs only £1.99 a
> year, but has the severe disadvantage that it ties us down to "uk", when
> we are an international group. Better, I think, would be
> www.friendsofwisdom.org, a mere £8.89 a month. I don't mind paying these
> small sums to get our website up and running. Other options, instead of
> "org" are com, net, info, name, biz and us; org would seem to be the most
> appropriate.
> I gather it is really important to work out, initially, the structure of
> the website at the outset, the number of different pages, as this is
> difficult to change later on. (What appears on each page can easily be
> added to, and changed.) This is what I have come up with:-
> 1. Home Page: Two Columns: "Join Friends of Wisdom" and "We Need a
> Revolution". [See my email of 7/10/05 for my suggestions for these two
> columns.] 2. Basic Argument for the Need for an Intellectual Revolution.
> [See the attachment to my email of 10/10/05 for my suggestion here.] 3.
> How and Why has Academia Become Harmfully Irrational? [See the
> attachment to my second email of 10/10/05 for my suggestion here.] 4.
> What Needs to Change. Two Columns. In the left hand one, a
> specification of what needs to change, in the right hand one,
> organizations more or less engaged in trying to bring the specified
> change about. For example:-
> What Needs to Change
>
> Priorities of Scientific Research Scientists for Global
> Responsibility Greater Concern with Environmental Friends of
> the Earth Problems
> Greenpeace
> And so on.
> 5. About Us.
> 6. Contact.
> 7. Resources. [Books, articles, etc.]
> 8. Links.
> 9. Directory. List of individuals, the work they do, and perhaps how
> they can be contacted. 10. Visions of the Future.
> 11. Forum
> 12. Newsletter.
> 13. FAQs [Frequently asked questions]
> 14. Projects. Projects, initiatives, proposals for action, either being
> taken up, or proposed.
> I must confess that I am a complete novice when it comes to creating
> websites, although I have a neighbour and friend who is an expert and who
> would give me advice and some help. If our group includes any website
> experts, then do please speak up if you have some better suggestions than
> the ones I have come up with so far.
> I put all this before you, so that all those who wish to can comment and
> make suggestions. Assuming we can agree on a general structure of the
> website, and where we should get it hosted, I will then do my best to
> create it, set up Links, and get it into Yahoo and Google. Then we can
> announce our new pressure group to the world!
> Best wishes,
>
> Nick Maxwell
> www.nick-maxwell.demon.co.uk
--On 07 November 2005 12:11 +0000 Nicholas Maxwell
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Dear Friends of Wisdom,
>
> I have continued my investigations into setting up a website for Friends
> of Wisdom. The best bet that I have discovered so far would be to set it
> up with http://1and1.co.uk/ It would cost only £3.99 a month. We would
> need to get our own domain name. One possibility is
> www.friendsofwisdom.co.uk This is available, and costs only £1.99 a
> year, but has the severe disadvantage that it ties us down to "uk", when
> we are an international group. Better, I think, would be
> www.friendsofwisdom.org, a mere £8.89 a month. I don't mind paying these
> small sums to get our website up and running. Other options, instead of
> "org" are com, net, info, name, biz and us; org would seem to be the most
> appropriate.
> I gather it is really important to work out, initially, the structure of
> the website at the outset, the number of different pages, as this is
> difficult to change later on. (What appears on each page can easily be
> added to, and changed.) This is what I have come up with:-
> 1. Home Page: Two Columns: "Join Friends of Wisdom" and "We Need a
> Revolution". [See my email of 7/10/05 for my suggestions for these two
> columns.] 2. Basic Argument for the Need for an Intellectual Revolution.
> [See the attachment to my email of 10/10/05 for my suggestion here.] 3.
> How and Why has Academia Become Harmfully Irrational? [See the
> attachment to my second email of 10/10/05 for my suggestion here.] 4.
> What Needs to Change. Two Columns. In the left hand one, a
> specification of what needs to change, in the right hand one,
> organizations more or less engaged in trying to bring the specified
> change about. For example:-
> What Needs to Change
>
> Priorities of Scientific Research Scientists for Global
> Responsibility Greater Concern with Environmental Friends of
> the Earth Problems
> Greenpeace
> And so on.
> 5. About Us.
> 6. Contact.
> 7. Resources. [Books, articles, etc.]
> 8. Links.
> 9. Directory. List of individuals, the work they do, and perhaps how
> they can be contacted. 10. Visions of the Future.
> 11. Forum
> 12. Newsletter.
> 13. FAQs [Frequently asked questions]
> 14. Projects. Projects, initiatives, proposals for action, either being
> taken up, or proposed.
> I must confess that I am a complete novice when it comes to creating
> websites, although I have a neighbour and friend who is an expert and who
> would give me advice and some help. If our group includes any website
> experts, then do please speak up if you have some better suggestions than
> the ones I have come up with so far.
> I put all this before you, so that all those who wish to can comment and
> make suggestions. Assuming we can agree on a general structure of the
> website, and where we should get it hosted, I will then do my best to
> create it, set up Links, and get it into Yahoo and Google. Then we can
> announce our new pressure group to the world!
> Best wishes,
>
> Nick Maxwell
> www.nick-maxwell.demon.co.uk
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