Re: Sharing the Vision LO3613

Michael McMaster (Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 2 Nov 1995 23:13:55 +0000

Replying to LO3566 --

John, thanks for the Gibbs quote. I haven't seen it up until now.
It's beauty lies in the simplicity of the "time bomb" that it
creates.

I met today with someone who was talking about "centeredness" as a
term he got from a recent Chirstopher Alexander book (on Turkish rugs
no less) which makes metaphysical statements - and statements of
design which is Alexander's way - from seeing the simplicity in the
patterns that continue. The way if was represented to me was "self
replicating" but I suspect they are emergent and, possibly,
"self similar".

When I attempted to explain to this person what attracted me to the
various thinkers that have attracted me - some of whom were mentioned
in my book list - I found this idea of "centeredness" was something
that they all had. That is, they all had a few simple principles
that organised the world into patterns (or pattern making) without
restricting it to mechanistic terms. The few principles were strong
and yet not controlling in detail.

This is a more explicit challenge to systems thinking.

--
Michael McMaster
Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk