Difference between revisions of "N-main"

(Margaret Mead, Continuities in Cultural Evolution, 1964)

I am about to advance a radical proposal.

Radical both by going to roots of a matter—and by being thoroughly game-changing.

I propose to institute and empower transdisciplinarity.

And use it as Archimedean point to respond incisively to "the huge problems now confonting us"

By igniting an evolutionary quantum leap; or more technically speaking—a paradigm shift. </p>

This proposal is operationalized and made concrete by offering knowledge federation as a complete prototype of a transdiscipline; ready to be examined, tested and taken into production.

Although the knowledge federation prototype is the result of work of many excellent people—after giving this matter some thought, I decided to make a case for it by speaking in the first person; a reason is that I don't want to hide behind academic formulations or other people; but make a statement as clearly as I can, and stand accountable in front of you with what I said.

I am by background a theoretical scientist, practically a mathematician. So from an academic point of view, my work is completely rigorous, as mathematical axioms and theorems are. I will, however, here speak informally—and only point to the rigorous side of this work; and let you discover it through the public dialog that will be the first step toward implementing this proposal. Two ethical axioms are all I expect from you: The human axiom is that we the people must do what we can to begin the process of recovery; NOT leave to our children the mess. The academic axiom is that we need to build on knowledge—not ignore it.

I am prepared to show that those two compel us to take the steps I am proposing.

Another reason why I want to speak in my natural human voice is that I want this to be an outcry; because the first step—before anything else can be done—is to break the spell of academic routine business as usual; and all unreflected business as usual; which is what the dialog will be about.

This website complements my Liberation book, which is about to come out in print. The book will tell stories called vignettes. And through stories present a wealth of information and ideas as material for the dialog. Here I'll let knowledge federation speak for itself, in its own language. In Federation through Keywords I'll define and use a handful of custom-defined terms, which are necessary for comprehending what goes on. In Federation through Ideograms I'll use three simple metaphorical images. In Federation through Prototypes you'll see how information is taken into concerted action, empowered to make a difference. In Federation through Action I'll point out what exactly I propose as the next two steps—to make the sort of difference that must be made.

Dino Karabeg</small>

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<center>Margaret Mead</center>

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