Is it possible to get copies of the packet, or to
get citations of the packet articles?
It might work to have xact "here" for a brief period,
as Bill suggested. But on the other hand, it's nice
to peek in at my discretion and not feel guilty about
not keeping up!
Judy
At 05:26 PM 1/28/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Perhaps you might consider an automatic reposting of xact to xcma for a
>brief period. Leaving out technical details, it might be done with some
>caution. I have taken a quick look at xact and the xact discussion with a
>more 'preordained' flow is an interesting contrast to xmca more
>decentralized emergent behavior. The cross-polination in the flow of ideas
>might prove interesting.
>
>
>At 11:00 AM 1/28/98 -0800, you wrote:
>>Eva wrote the following note for Yrjo's AT seminar, but it has direct
>>implications for our earlier discussion of time and the backwardness
>>of knowing. It points to a very clear connection between, among others,
>>Dewey and Skinner.
>>fyi
>>mike
>>>From: Eva Ekeblad <eva.ekeblad who-is-at ped.gu.se>
>>
>>At 06.29 -0800 81-07-01, Burrhus Frederic Skinner wrote:
>>
>>>Contingencies of selection
>>>necessarily lie in the past; they are not acting when their effect is
>>>observed.
>>>To provide a current cause, it has therefore been assumed that they are
>>>stored
>>>(usually as "information") and later retrieved. Thus (1) genes and
>>>chromosomes
>>>are said to contain the information needed by the fertilized egg in order t=
>>o
>>>grow into a mature organism. But a cell does not consult a store of
>>>information
>>>in order to learn how to change; it changes because of features that are th=
>>e
>>>product of a history of variation and selection, a product that is not well
>>>represented by the metaphor of storage. (2) People are said to store
>>>information about contingencies of reinforcement and retrieve it for use on
>>>later occasions. But they do not consult copies of earlier contingencies to
>>>discover how to behave; they behave in given ways because they have been
>>>changed by those contingencies. The contingencies can perhaps be inferred
>>>from
>>>the changes they have worked, but they no longer exist. (3) A possibly
>>>legitimate use of storage in the evolution of cultures may be responsible f=
>>or
>>>these mistakes. Parts of the social environment maintained and transmitted
>>>by a
>>>group are quite literally stored in documents, artifacts, and other
>>>products of
>>>that behavior.
>>
>>and
>>
>>>The role of selection by consequences has been particularly resisted
>>>because there is no
>>>place for the initiating agent suggested by classical mechanics. We try to
>>>identify such
>>>an agent when we say (1) that a species adapts to an environment (rather
>>>than that the
>>>environment selects the adaptive traits); (2) that an individual adjusts
>>>to a situation
>>>(rather than that the situation shapes and maintains adjusted behavior);
>>>and (3) that a
>>>group of people solve a problem raised by certain circumstances (rather
>>>than that the
>>>circumstances select the cultural practice that yields a solution).
>>
>>and
>>
>>>The proper recognition of the selective action of the environment will
>>>require a change
>>>in our conception of the origin of behavior, a change perhaps as extensive
>>>as that of our
>>>former conceptions of the origin of the species. As long as we cling to
>>>the view that a
>>>person is an initiating doer, actor or causer of behavior, we shall
>>>probably continue to
>>>neglect the conditions that must be changed if we are to solve our problems=
>>=2E
>>
>>This is from *Upon Further Reflection*, 1987 -- Chapter 4: Selection by
>>Consequences.
>>It was first published in: *Science* 213 (July 1981): 501-504.
>>
>>I found it on my 2GB external memory when looking for American conceptions
>>of agency...
>>
>>Eva
>>
>>
>>
>>
>Bill Barowy, Ph. D.
>Associate Professor
>Technology in Education
>29 Everett Street, Lesley College
>Cambridge MA 02138
>(Ph) 617-349-8168
>
>
>
Judith Diamondstone (732) 932-7496 Ext. 352
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1183