Having posted twice already, I can now only say that I am recent to the
list, in pretending that I do not know what is going on.
Might I suggest that for mental models, use things that are "out there"
not "in here." Use external things, not incoherent internal creations.
Use real things, not unreal wishful thinking, unless they are the same.
I have preferred to use machines as mental models. Machines are
extensions of us, and some are most cleverly done, and machines tend not
to get distracted, whereas I might. I offer as examples the intelligent
machine of my opening post (8 May). Also, nuclear reactors - we are energy
sources. And, I just love to use submarines as part of a mental model.
Submarines are sensor platforms, as am I. They make their way through the
murky depths, as do I. They get better at detection by reducing "own
ship's noise," and so do I.
Take the reactor model. Please. I am chairman of a community orchestra
in Arlington, MA - The Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra
(http://www.tiac.net/users/jackc/psa/psa.htm). We consider ourselves to
be a educational resource for the community, and that works for me. I
also consider it our mission to make beautiful music. And, we are a non
audition orchestra - whoever comes can play. So, the Philharmonic
Society, of which the orchestra is a part, has spent a good part of last
year wrangling about how good our music should be. Phooey. As far as I
am concerned, we make beautiful music. How long do you think it will be
until I start hearing beautiful music from our group. Overnight, almost.
And how long until we overtake the Boston Pops? Only a little longer.
Part 2 of the Orchestra opportunity is the succession plan for the
chairman's position. I was President of the entire Society, and came out
of retirement to chair the Orchestra. No one else would take the job.
The plan is we are going to notch up the energy of the group to the point
where the members will pay me, like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, to
enable them to do my job. And, as far as I am concerned, they are
enabled.
For a mental model, I refer to my friendly nuclear submarine. Whereas,
for a while I wondered if we were not still at the pier, with the reactor
plant at or below the level of "self-sustaining," I now acknowledge that
we are underway on "nuclear" power. The thing is, that we have been
making about 1.5 to 2 knots through the water, submerged as usual, and
ship control has been the dickens. It is very tough to make the ship do
what we want, when we are moving that slowly. 4 knots will work fine.
The answer is simple: I need more power (Scotty), more participation from
the Orchestra members. And that is the direction in which we are heading.
I just stared again at my statement, "Submarines are sensor platforms, as
am I", and wondered if I should differentiate between the submarine and
its crew - my body and my spirit, if you will. I go round and round on
that, joining a proud several thousand year tradition. I suggest we table
that matter for now, by parking the spirit in B-space. B-space is the
space in which I be, you see. (It's awful, I know.) B-space, by my
scientific wild assed guess, is a Hilbert space - a n-dimensional space
having something to do with information handling (run a search on Hilbert
Space on the web. My immediate take was, "Yikes!"). When I know how to
speak of/as an object in Hilbert space, I will be more ready to start
building drydocks for deflated spirits. And my spirit be joyful, and
tired, and I have a gig tomorrow in Central Square, Cambridge.
Jim Battell
--Jim Battell <jbattell@mediaone.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>