Hi Derek and thank you Cameron,
I also was scrolling down and when I came down to the genetics bubble
outside the circle I thought "Here we go again to intelligent design or
other evangelic self evident truth". But when I arrived to the son I
felt the same throat spasm that you probably felt. However, the
simplification over complexity of the first slides narrows immensely the
possibilities of studying in a University's third cycle. The scientific
research paradigm narrows deeply the nature of wisdom humans could get
by going through the doctorate journey. For sure that the cure for that
boy's disease will come from that process. There is no way it might
happen by any other way. However, true changes in our human condition
for better hardly will come from there.
What I see in the graphics is that when you get in a representational
paradigm that acts as a "machine for producing knowledge" you should
stay there in order to get the lump out. True changes in knowledge
happen due to changes in the representational paradigms. What I see as
nightmarish in the graphics and not very inspiring at all is how this
sort of PhD approach destroys completely disciplines that, by tradition,
resist specialized thinking and stable representational paradigms when
it comes to understanding how can we change where we are standing. And
this has nothing to do with not being humble. On the contrary.
Best,
Eduardo Corte-Real
inEm 06-06-2012 14:14, Derek B. Miller escreveu:
> Cameron,
>
> I'm not sure why that image is a nightmare. In fact, I find inspiring. If you scroll down to the bottom, there is the image of a tiny circle outside the boundary of human knowledge, and it says:
>
> "If you zoom in on the boundary of human knowledge in the direction of genetics, there's something just outside humanity's reach:
>
> Image here
> My wife and I chose to start funding these graduate students after we learned that our son has a rare, fatal genetic disorder.
>
> It may be too late for my son, but it's not too late for other children."
>
>
> That's how it works. And that's why it's important to pick the right questions and know why you're working so hard to answer them. This requires humility, modestly, and a sense of duty to your subject. It's why we should ask questions worth answering. Whether that be on genetics or paper restoration, or sociology of knowledge, or the history of footwear.
>
> d.
>
> _________________
> Derek B. Miller
> Boston and Oslo
> Int'l phone: +1 617 440 4409
> email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
> On Jun 6, 2012, at 3:03 PM, cameron tonkinwise wrote:
>
>> To help Eduardo turn his post into a point of discussion,
>> consider this visualization of a PhD I recently came
>> across via Twitter. If anything draws attention to the
>> need for collaborations and travel as part of a PhD
>> it is the nightmare that is this imagery:
>> http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/
>>
>> Cameron
>>
>>
>> On Jun 6, 2012, at 7:39 AM, Eduardo Corte-Real wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Friends,
>>> As we are with others. As we have been doing since the early 2000's. The worse thing for a doctoral program is to became a cocoon.
>>> Eduardo Corte-Real
>>> IADE- Lisboa
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