This is great reading, of forks and lasagna. Eva's rememberings and
lasagna explanations are wonderful. I am sorry I was away and could not
participate in the moment. Out exploring and missed dinner again! Same
ol' story.
So I suppose that I am now intra-acting with (using my) my computer (a
minimal system), which has downloaded a lot of email from you. As I do so,
I extend this moment of intra-action backwards and forwards in time. It
becomes, is transformed into, interaction with you. Computer memory is one
artifact that mediates the transformation. Memory is the transformation.
In our little XMCA system of systems, Eva is sometimes the agent of the
transformation.
>
>PS Bill, I get the feeling that you wanted to reserve "interaction" for
>between-people situations, is that so?
I think so. There is the need to capture the difference between people and
not-people, or perhaps in an broader sense, *cognizers/actors/volitizers*,
and not *...*. Not to apologize for, nor to defend dichotomies, here the
dichotomy is just a viable construct, with viability that is a function of
the moment. Lasagna may take part in a system with me, but it lacks
cognition, volition, intent, and memory in doing so. Lasagna does not
think, does not make choices, does not remember, does not need. (The
latter does not mean that a deficiency theory is necessary, but that the
lack of deficiency in some theories leaves something to be desired. Heh.)
We might, like E.O. Wilson, claim that we, as humans, are ultimately like
lasagna and that the differences can be made up with the proper
combinations and applications of fundamental principles, but then none of
us, in the private words of a lurker on this list would be "so stupid."
Or not so arrogant.
Lasagna may also mediate the transformation between intra-action and
inter-action, across time. As I eat it, I may taste the choices made by
the chef, and savor the cheese, sauces, and pasta that humans and machines
processed long ago. It seems that the intra-/inter- act distinction is
what happens when we redefine the boundaries of the system we focus on.
Does this make sense? Is this what is meant by boundary crossing?
Bill Barowy, Associate Professor
Technology in Education
Lesley College, 29 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-2790
Phone: 617-349-8168 / Fax: 617-349-8169
_______________________
"One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself
and watch yourself softly become the author of something beautiful."
[Norman Maclean in "A river runs through it."]