Phil,
I continually find myself being reminded of Leslie White's essays on great
men and geniuses. The link between specific historical periods and the
presence of many people making significant contributions that are taken up
and utilized by numerous people is quite strong as is the existence of
corresponding periods when no new breakthroughs are made. Perhaps we really
need a theory of social change to accompany a theory of learning where
expansion implies transformation of social relations.
Paul H. Dillon
----- Original Message -----
From: Phillip Capper <phillip.capper@webresearch.co.nz>
To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 6:09 PM
Subject: RE: Fw: Starting Ch4 (resent)
> Bill writes:
>
> "I wonder if it is the nature of reciprocal relationship, here seen
between
> collective and individual development, that makes explanation seem
> circular, as in the cause-and-effect feedback cycles that one encounters
in
> cybernetics.
>
> Nevertheless, the point about activity theory accounting for *surprises*,
> not necessarily how they are taken up, or ignored and buried as
> contradictions, but how the surprises and accidents emerge in the first
> place, is a good question. Where in a tension are the seeds for
innovation?
> What were the trajectories of people and things that lead to a
> particularly creative moment?"
>
> I think that the feedback loops themselves provide the basis for an answer
> to Bill's questions.
>
> In any activity there are always 'surprises' which are latent 'creative
> moments'. The 'seeds for innovation' are, for me, part of what defines a
> tension in an activity system. Their chances of germinating depend on the
> cultural/historical context which predisposes those who experience the
> tensions to act in ways which liberate their creative potential.
>
> If I - coming from an environment where surprises and contradictions are
> suppressed - enter your system where surprises are habitually seen as
> creative opportunities, then when I first encounter a surprise I will be
> inclined to react with anxiety (in the sense of the word as used by
> Cziksentmihalyi). In my old world anxiety was a signal to close down and
> eliminate the discomfort. In my new world it is a springboard for creative
> thinking - and expansive learning.
>
> Once I have internalised my new cultural context, my habitual response
> begins to change. Instead of treating situations which my experience has
> shown me are more likely to be surpriseful as being situations to be
> avoided, I begin to seek them out and even to deliberately create them. I
am
> mainly able to do that because it is what you do. Thus it seems to me that
a
> cultural predisposition to embrace tensions, also has the effect of
creating
> a greater number of latently creative moments. It also increases the
> proportion of such moments in which the creative potential is liberated.
>
> In respect of innovation and creativity I have greater difficulty in
> understanding the social processes by which a Galileo or a Vygotsky
becomes
> hugely innovative and creative by battling within cultural contexts which
> seek to eliminate expansive learning. The existence of a 'tension' is self
> evident. But what is it that causes the 'seeds of innovation' to germinate
> against all the odds?
>
>
> Phillip Capper
> WEB Research
> PO Box 2855
> (Level 9, 142 Featherston Street)
> Wellington
> New Zealand
>
> Ph: (64) 4 499 8140
> Fx: (64) 4 499 8395
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Barowy [mailto:wbarowy@mail.lesley.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, 9 May 2001 11:24
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu; xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: Fw: Starting Ch4 (resent)
>
>
>
> bb
>
>
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