[extropy-chat-test] Extropy Institute "Exponent" Newsletter
Extropy Institute
exi-info at extropy.org
Fri Oct 17 12:58:32 UTC 2003
Extropy Institute Newsletter
DESIGNER future (10.08.03)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT DESIGN LATELY?
It's about time we did! Designer business
strategy, designer stock options,
designer drugs, designer vitamins, designer babies,
designer relationships. This is the wave of the future.
When I first started taking Kronos's designer vitamins, I
knew it wouldn't be long before consumers
requested designer everything. From "Five Gay Guys"
helping men shape up their aesthetic sensibility, to top
rated TV programs like HGTV's "Designing for the Sexes"
and "Sensible Chic", around the corner to customized
telecommunications systems, we all want to be in the
design-know-how. This year, The Cumulus "Value in
Design" Conference, held in Tallin, Estonia, gathered
the European and Chinese leading design schools to
discuss the future of design. From customized
furniture and prosthetic designs, to the future of
cleaning, we experienced the handiness of having it
just the way we want it for our own specific needs.
Is this monopolistic? No. Not a chance. What it all
means is
that we want to simplify - to make life a little bit less
trying and a bit more accommodating. Designer comic
Jerry Seinfeld pinpoints the design of news "It's amazing
that the amount of news that happens in the world
everyday just exactly fits the newspaper."
It's amazing that the amount of everyday spam fits
exactly into our in-boxes - taking up avilalbe space.
Speaking of spam and news: ExI's email
list, "Extropy-Chat," is facing heavy net spam. "Dave
McFadzean has tracked
this back to the policy of the ExI ISP limiting the
volume of email traffic. The reason for this problem is
most likely
due to the individuals
or organizations that are sources of SPAM," advises
Robert Bradbury. A plan to resolve the problem is
scheduled for this weekend. It looks like we will
probably
be moving to a new ISP. When it's all-go, we will send
a message to everyone from the old "Extropians" list as
well as the "Extropy-Chat" list.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this Issue: Virginia Postrel's "The Substance of Style" - New Council of Advisor Member Dr. Fiorella Terenzi - EAT Team; and more!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* DESIGNER Markets
* DESIGNER Commerce
* DESIGNER Teams
* DESIGNER Culture
* DESIGNER Aesthetics - Talking to "VP" - Virginia Postrel
DESIGNER Markets
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Virginia Postrel's new book, "The Substance of Style"
(HarperCollins 2003) takes a long aesthetic look at the
marketplace of style. Since when did aesthetics creep
into Americana? Did the whole world become stylish,
thanks to corporate logo design? Was it a tipping
point, or a clearly planned strategy
designed to blend the hard edges and rugged lines of
perception?
"As soon as the
Taliban fell, Afghan men lined up at barberships to have
their beards shaved off. Women painted their nails with
once-forbidden polish. Men traded postcards of
beautiful Indian move stars, and thronged to buy
imported TVs, VCRs, and videotapes. Even burka
merchants diversified their wares, adding colors like
brown, peach, and green to the blue and off-white
dictated by the Taliban's ship-wielding virtue police.
Freed to travel to city markets, village women
demanded better fabric, finer embroidery, and more
variety in their traditional garments."
Postrel suggests that the sense of
things - the look and feel, tone and texture - of our
environments is substantially more important than we
give it credit. These sensorial elements in the form of
aesthetic structures, have great influence on where our
culture is heading. But is
the high barometer on aesthetics making us a vain
culture, a new high art elite, or followers of a cookie
cutter "marthastewartism?" Postrel argues that the
enhanced aesthetic appeal is healthy for culture and
claims that Abraham Maslow's seminal writings
on psychology which argue that humans have
a 'hierarchy of
needs' and will obtain essentials, such as food and
shelter, before moving on to less vital items, including
aesthetics" leads to "a false conclusion: that
aesthetics is a luxury that human beings care about
only when they're wealthy."
DESIGNER Commerce
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What about designer MONEY? The da Vinci Institute in
Denver, Colorado is focusing on the future of money.
John Naisbitt, ExI member and long time fellow futurist,
will be speaking (Currently working on his next book, "A
World Between Eras").
Design of ORGANIZATIONS: An summary from Max
More's
article on "How to Optimize Disorder in Your
Organizational Culture." ___"According to the lyrics
of a '70s song by The Sweet, 'Love is like oxygen: You
get too much, you get too high; not enough and you're
gonna die.' Imposed order has the same effect on
organizational cultures. In the turbulent environment of
the Innovation Economy, argues Max More, companies
need to find a dynamic balance between uncontrolled
change and stifling stability. The drumbeat of
innovation, agility, and adaptability can be heard
throughout the business literature, and for excellent
reason. At the same time, enduring companies just as
badly need integrity and continuity. How can they
achieve the right balance? More answers this question
in three parts. The first section of this paper
distinguishes imposed order from emergent order then
points out five methods for systematically managing
this mixture: Balanced Leadership; Keep It Simple
Strategically; Compasses, Principles, and Vision; Know
Your Network; and Systematic Surrender. In the
second section, More outlines 8 ways to fortify imposed
order. These include uncovering and employing
unofficial hierarchies, defining decision rights, leading
with clarity, grounding strategy on the few real
certainties, and pushing systematic innovation
processes.
The final section assembles 12 methods for
encouraging emergent order. Far from destroying order
and unleashing organizational anarchy, these methods
create conditions conducive to spontaneous
organization arising at every level of the company.
These include introducing Innovation Economy
budgeting processes that support innovation and
reflect information closer to real-time; using social
network analysis to strengthen and protect knowledge
flows; provoking constructive conflict; several ways to
fend off the cognitive "anchor" bias; using simulations
to break down inventive barriers and to heighten
flexible response; attending to failure; calling in the
CoPs (communities of practice); and experimenting
with 'pradoxical management.' Use this 8-page article
as a cheat sheet crammed with solutions to the
difficulties of simultaneous change and continuity. You
can explore many of the approaches through content in
the relevant topics on ManyWorlds.com."
Is design FUTURE wise? Designer future advocate Dr
Patrick Dixon seems to think so in his lectures on
global trends, designed for those interested in an early
warning system for their future business and personal
life. http://www.globalchange.com/futurewise.htm.
John Naisbitt speaking at Future of Money Conference >> http://www.futureofmoneysummit.com
DESIGNER Teams
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(L to R): Jill Tarter: Director of the Search, SETI; Neil
Armstrong:
astronaut, first human to walk on the Moon; Lewis
Branscomb: three time
head of the NSF and Chairman of the President's Space
and Science Committee
The Telluride Technology Festival is a Celebration of
the Past, Present and Future of Technology. The Tech
Fest is based on the historical fact that in 1891, Nikola
Tesla, George Westinghouse and Telluride's own L.L.
Nunn built the world's first commercial grade AC power
plant in Telluride. The intimate mountain environment of
Telluride, Colorado continues to be an ideal
environment
for discussion and reflection.
UNIVERSITY BUSINESS FOR STUDENTS: Ben Hyink,
philosophy major at Northwestern
University, stumbled across Extropy Institute while
surfing the net and since then has never looked at
human potential in the same way. "I
picked up a saying from the COD leadership program,
"lead from where you are"; before I move on to
meta-brain growth research, I want to establish
systems that will catalyze other students by raising
awareness of transhumanist ideas and issues on
campuses and providing tools to assist them in
networking with professionals and businesses in
various fields."
As center for catalyzation with a business
orientation, Ben thinks "Extropy Institute is ideal for
certain kinds of networking. ExI boasts leaders who are
prominent in a number of business and academic fields,
has been covered by numerous media sources, and has
access to extensive informal networks. That said,
student applicants to positions posted on ExI's
networking site will be judged on their own merits.
What ExI's network will offer businesses and
professionals is free advertising of positions to a
pool of people who tend to be passionate, dedicated,
forward-thinking, and knowledgeable in their fields of
interest. What the network will offer students and
people changing careers will be a free resource for
opportunities to work under established businesses and
professionals in their field of interest who value
what they have to offer." Ben should have a web
page finished in less than a
month. The "Student to Professional
Networking" web page will have an exciting description
of
ExI's networking service and its user benefits, an
organized list of offers, a section requesting new
offers from professionals, a section asking
professionals to join a network of their colleagues,
and a section requesting the fields that interest
students using the system and lists such fields.
"We need to attract and assist professionals and
businesses, attract and assist students, and develop
some simple, low-maintenance mechanisms to introduce
eager students and established professionals to each
other. The quality will improve with time as more
efficient mechanisms are developed, a larger pool of
professionals and businesses offer opportunities in
more fields and locations, and greater numbers of
students embrace extropic ideas and seek to
accelerate
careers that actualize, protect, or inspire new
direction for the radical expansion of human
potential."
Telluride Tech Fest >> http://www.telluridetechfestival.com
DESIGNER Culture
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MoTA, The Museum of Transhumanist Arts, is
curating an exhibition scheduled for 2004. Multi-
Media/Multi-
Disciplinary - Serious Fiction/Science Fiction is the
theme for the exhibition ("MMMDSFSF"). MoTA will be
featuring designers and writers. If
you are interested in working with the curators,
contact MoTA.
New Executive Advisory Team ("EAT") members are
Leigh Christian, Gina Miller, and Ben Hyink: Leigh's
background gives her an edge on what works in the
media, whereas Gina's nano-smarts bring to the fold
the
latest nano news. Ben is putting together a culture for
students who want to learn about the future landscape
for careers.
George Dvorsky, Deputy Editor and a columnist for
Betterhumans and President of the Toronto
Transhumanist Association, will be taking on the role of
Chair of the Conference Planning Committee for the
TransVision 2004 conference to be held in Toronto,
Ontario, Canada. George has a history degree from the
University of Western
Ontario and continues
to study 19th and 20th century political, scientific and
philosophical
thought as well as the history of science and the
Enlightenment. "I'm
primarily concerned with the ethical and sociological
impacts of
transhumanism and future technologies, and I actively
promote informative,
honest and open discussion for the purposes of
education." Regarding TransVision 2004, George's initial
tasks include facilitating agreement on the themes for
the
conference, selecting a venue and dates for the
conference and procuring at
least three high-profile speakers for the event. Once
these have been
finalized, a call for papers will be issued. If anyone
would like to volunteer to help with
organizing
TV04, please
contact Dvorsky at george at betterhumans.com
NEW RELEASE - BOOK! "RAPTURE - How Biotech
Became The New Religion"
by Brian Alexander. Brian has been Wired's exclusive
writer on advances in biotechnology and the evolution
of the human future. His most famous story on
biotechnology-a cover article which made the bold
statement that human cloning was less than a year
away-created a worldwide stir, launching congressional
investigations, spurring media outlets such as "60
Minutes," Time, and CNN to do spin-offs, and prompting
a strange race among would-be cloners. Interview with
Brian is scheduled for next month. You can pickup a
copy at Amazon.com. (ExI members mentioned
throughout the book.)
MoTA >> http://www.transhumanist.biz/mota.htm
DESIGNER Aesthetics - Talking to "VP" - Virginia Postrel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Questions for Virginia:
___Was there a single incident that spurred your
interest in aesthetics?
___VP: I wish I could say that there was, because
everyone
asks me this question, but it was a gradual process.
What I tend to do in my work is identify social and
economic patterns arising from many different
examples, and that's what happened here as well.
___Do
you think that there should be no differentiation
between "high aesthetics" and "mainstream
aesthetics"?
___VP: What I find more useful is to think about
aesthetics that is the equivalent of
basic science, exploring the envelope of possibilities,
and aesthetics that is the equivalent of applied
engineering, producing products ready for market. Both
are necessary and valuable, but they're different.
___What about building a comparable argument
for
science: Do you think the skills/know-how/aptitude of
science on a refined, educated level could be available
for everyone if scientists continue to be (as John
Brockman claims) the intelligentsia and leading creative
thinkers?
___VP: I'm not sure I agree with John Brockman on
this.
Some
scientists play some role as public intellectuals. But
they aren't alone.
___You seem to be saying that the aesthetic
principle is new and that because of product design,
advertising, marketing, etc., we are now becoming
accustomed to aesthetics. Indeed
aesthetics is fairly new to America, aesthetics is the
way of life for Italians and we learned style from Italy,
with a pinch of France and Japan tossed in. Comments?
___VP: The intensification of aesthetic applications,
and
certainly the spread of aesthetic pluralism, appears to
be a phenomenon throughout the developed world.
That said, the trend is much more noticeable in the
Anglo-American countries, whose pragmatic and Puritan
heritages have traditionally stigmatized aesthetic
concerns. Also, as I note in chapter two, the large
continental free trade zone that is the United States
encouraged reliable mass production, distribution, and
marketing ahead of niche specialties. In many parts of
Europe, for instance, hotels are just now getting up to
the "best surprise is no surprise" standards of American
blandness. That doesn't mean the hotels were better
before; some were charming, but many were just tiny
dumps.
___You argue that the enhanced aesthetic
appeal
is healthy for culture and claim that Abraham Maslow
whose "seminal writings on psychology argue that
humans have a 'hierarchy of needs' and will obtain
essentials, such as food and shelter, before moving on
to less vital items, including aesthetics" leads to "a
false conclusion: that aesthetics is a luxury that human
beings care about only when they're wealthy." Can you
elaborate on why that it is important to realize our
need for
aesthetics rather than thinking it is only for the chosen
elitists?
___VP: First, I want people to remind people to think
in
terms
of tradeoffs rather than simple hierarchies. Hierarchies
make good diagrams, but they don't usually represent
how life works, either for individuals or for societies.
Second, the trend I'm writing about isn't about luxury,
as some people have inferred, but about the extension
of aesthetic content to the broad middle class (and, in
some cases, poorer people as well). Elites have long
had access to aesthetics. The aesthetic objects we
see in museums, including those from the 20th century,
generally represent the life of a social and economic
elite, not the general public. By making it easier for
ordinary people to incorporate aesthetic pleasure and
meaning into their lives, today's trend represents
significant economic progress.
Finally, I think romanticism went badly awry when it set
up art as a category separate from and superior to the
rest of life. (The flip side, of course, is that "practical"
people came to see art as silly or deceptive.) Artists
and designers do have knowledge and skills that the
rest of us don't, but that doesn't mean their fields
should be completely inaccessible to people without
similar training.
___How do you respond to the anti-globalism
sentiment that slams logos and advertising? How do
you view
it?
___VP: The general, non-ideological public distrusts
advertising
for fear of being bamboozled. As a result, however, the
general public is extremely media savvy and has
developed quite a strong immunity to dubious forms of
persuasion. The anti-globalists who are recycling Vance
Packard and Thorstein Veblen are out of touch with
their own culture, which is why Naomi Klein's book
doesn't actually make an argument against advertising
and branding. All she does is demonstrate that there
are lots of brands and then go on to talk about poor
labor conditions in Third World factories. Brands, logos,
and advertising are neither necessary nor sufficient to
create bad working conditions.
To purchase Virginia Postrel's book >> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060186321/qid=1065386355/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-6350465-2596132?v=glance&s=books
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Join Now! >> http://www.extropy.org/membership.htm
Directors, Council of Advisors, and Executive Advisory Team >> http://www.extropy.org/directors.htm
Max More's "How to Optimize Disorder in Your Organizational Culture" >> http://www.manyworlds.com/exploreCO.asp?coid=CO95039301825
Best Business News Source on the Web! >> http://www.manyworlds.com://
Brian Alexander's New Book! Rapture - How Biotech Became The New Religion >> http://www.amazon.com
More About Us >> http://www.extropy.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: natasha at natasha.cc
voice: Natasha Vita-More, President (512.263.2749)
web: http://www.extropy.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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