[MD] Stacks

[Platt Holden]

On Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 4:44 AM, Magnus Berg <McMagnus at home.se> wrote:

>
> Don't get me all wrong here. I *do* appreciate the human perspective stack
> and what it can tell us regarding moral and human endeavour. But that
> perspective can be so much stronger if we recognize its similarities with
> other stacks. We can examine the levels in any stack, and then apply what we
> have learned in any other stack. It's so powerful it's almost frightening.
>
> Hi Magnus,

I think all the stacks would be a lot more powerful if they included art and
beauty. As David Gelerntner, no slouch when it comes to computer science,
put it on the opening page of his book, "Machine Beauty:"

"And when we return numb and weary from a round of shoveling the grim, gray
snow of life, beauty is the hearth, beauty's the fire, beauty's the cup of
coffee (the fragrance, the saucer's clink, the curl of cream) that makes the
whole business seem almost worthwhile. . . . Strangely enough, beauty is
also a truth-and-rightness meter, and science and technology could not exist
without it."

The MOQ template also falls short of acknowledging the power of art and
beauty. While it offers  some relief from the hard-nose, measurement-bound
interpretation of reality, it too needs more transparency to the level that
"passeth all understanding, i.e., Whitehead's ". . . apprehensions of things
to obscure for its existing language."

So I'm putting beauty at the top of each stack because for me it's power is
felt across the board.

Regards,
Platt







>