Sunday, January 3, 2010

2010: Bring The Acceleration

In 2002 an obscure book titled Thinking Geometrically was published. In the forward, Professor Jennifer Slack wrote (page xxvi-xxvii of the forward. That's right, the forward was almost 30 pages long, the rest of the book 185 pages!):

"I cannot imagine a more powerfully frightening despot than the one who can think geometrically. And where in the training to think geometrically do we train people to be ethical? In the "Philosophy of Technology" class I am currently teaching, one of the very best "thinkers" in the class, one of those who does indeed seem to grasp and hold in his mind's eye the work of multiple views, still plans to design war ships. I must admit to not understanding why. And I'm not sure that skill at geometrical thinking is enough to overcome the violence in war and in everyday life. I fear, in fact that it is quite capable of accelerating it, just as Waisanen suggests."

Yeah, I took Philosophy of Technology in 2001, and despite thoroughly perplexing the instructor, I loved it.

I'll do my best to steer clear of "despot", but no promises about, perhaps, "tyrant", or, some of my favorite words, "warmonger" and "ironmonger". Here's to another year of acceleration, in submarine firepower and every other aspect of life. Buckle up.

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