Thursday, July 9, 2015

Welcome Home Sweetie

Back home again.

I'll try to post a few reflections. .. after the laundry and such.

Thank YOU for following this wonderful adventure!

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Farewell to IAMO

Bags are packed, tickets are printed. Looking forward to going home, but not looking forward to leaving.

Making dumplings with a little dumpling

It is a Chinese tradition when a friend is leaving to spend some time together making dumplings for dinner. Here,  Dr. Zhang's daughter  (a cute and clever dumpling, herself) is helping.

And, despite the limited structural integrity of the dumplings I constructed,  they were amazingly delicious!

I very much hope I may travel to China soon. The combination of friends, scholarship, and food is irresistible! !

Monday, July 6, 2015

The light at the start of the bridge

As my Fulbright specialist project draws to a close, I wander once more through the park. This time, I cross over the Salle River and catch this view at the end of the day.

Some look for the light at the end of the tunnel. And some (halfway) joke, or simply fear, that it may be an oncoming train.

Here, poised between day and night is where we are balanced with structure and light. Consider, if you will, that there is no tunnel we have not created for ourselves. And, when guided by light, supported by structure, and possessed of humility for learning and a sense of determination, there is no chasm we cannot cross.

The light at the start of the bridge.

Frontiers in diplomacy

Here, the red - wiged Julia and the blond-wiged Inga revise the standards of fashion for your humble Fulbright specialist. Good thing they have ticklish toes, or I would have no recourse at all... they are so cute!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Dinner or downpour?

The "continental" weather in Salle is very different from Petaluma.  I was just settling down to a picnic dinner by the river (to read some articles) when I heard some thunder.

Taking the better part of valor, I packed up and began walking back home to IAMO. Along the was, the wind knocked a large branch off a tree... only 60 feet (20 meters) from me! I was primed to panic!

Made it home alive, although a little wet, and witnessed an amazing display of thunder and lighting!

More weather in 20 minutes than my home town gets in 20 months!

Fryberg

Did I mention Fryberg? Lovely town with delicious wines!

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Doing swimmingly, thank you

Not sure where that expression comes from, but today it involves a very nice and cool dip in the river!

Happy Fourth, and a toast to freedom.

Celebrating the 4th  of July work a brat... oops, hot dog. ;)  and a bit of  champagne... oops sekt. .. and, my favorite, reading interesting papers.

Today, a paper by James Smith who is striving to develop an ontology integrating the sum of human experience.  A difficult,  yet nobel goal. Indeed,  developing this kind of integrated understanding is an important task for our age.

Science and art

Well, IAMO is an agricultural research center. And, another dimension of that is seen in the acrylic paintings of Franziska Apple - PhD student and research associate. Check out her art work here:

Www.franziska-appel.de

Science and music

These two create quite the 'stones concert'  some of the instruments are obsidian. Rubbing them (as you would the rim of a wine glass) makes some cool tones!

Musik-mit-steinen.de

I look hot!

And you would too if you had one of the thermal images taken of you!

But this was just for fun. Not sure what they do with the camera during their off hours... but during the day, they are developing cool new applications (not APPS). For example, scanning solar panels for defects to improve product quality.

The fly

Another stop on my Long Night of Science tour. Here, we are looking at an electron scanning microscope showing very very detailed pictures of parts of a fly that you never knew existed (and, probably don't want to know about, either).

What a cool tool. They can even identify thing like the type of metal being scanned. Helpful hint here, it's all in the backscatter. Remember that for the test!

One word: Freakin Lasers!

OK, that was two words. But one reason I am in the social sciences is because the math portion of my brain was removed at a young age.

Here I am wearing safety goggles so my eyes don't get fried (again). Remember kids, safety first, last, and always.

Anyway... the lasers used in this part of the amazing Max Plank institute are merely for vaporizing metal. Then they condense the vapor into a layer only two atoms thick. Sounds cool? The fun has only just begun!

Here, they are working to develop ways to use those molecules for data storage. Think your smartphone has a lot of memory now? Just wait!

Friday, July 3, 2015

Long night of science

YES this is one of the greatest things in the world. YES, I am taking a break, YES having a Pims cup in Germany. And YES of course, I am wearing my 'Spock socks' because it is the long night of science.  More pics after a she night of sleep!

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Workshop

Steve Wallis in action.  Photo by Dr. Jerry. Here, we are conducting a Gap Analysis and exploring the possibility of integrating two theories to create a better one.

Here's the picture of Dr. Jerry and his very systemic theory!

IPA workshop using ASK MATT

Dr. Shemei Zhang places concepts on her map of understanding farm output while Dr. Zhanli " Jerry " Sun draws causal connections on his map of agricultural challenges.

Participants had great conversations around improving their theories. I am honored to work with such talented scholars!

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Frans Hermans and I

Dr. Hermans has some great ideas for me... helping IPA through future stages of it's evolution.

Where today, IPA works very well for evaluating and integrating smaller theoretical models, Frans showed how very large models could be evaluated using methods and software from graph theory, network theory, social network analysis  (basically, we treat the concepts as people and the causality as communication).

This is a very important concern. We need these kinds of advanced tools if we hope to create policy models of sufficient breadth and depth to allow us to understand and resolve the problemsof the world.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Connecting at the edge of Chaos

For those of you who are following this blog for more intellectual insights, here is a new thought on a key idea that many of us have been  wrestling with.

At the center of this issue Is the notion of parsimony. Generally considered  synonymous with the idea that theories  should be as small and simple as possible.

As noted in my articles, there are many scholars who argue for theory that is not parsimonious. And, of course, my research indicates that there is no great reason to have theory that is parsimonious, except to make it convenient. To solve the problems of today's world, however, we don't need tools that are convenient, we need tools that work.

A better standard, then, is to create theories that are more complex and more systemic - to represent our world which is both complex and systemic.

Now, I would like to add one more idea to the mix.

Perhaps it is important that we create series of such high levels of complexity that we cannot possibly grasp the full meaning of the theories. Because, then we will have an indicator that our theories are one step closer to replicating our minds and our realities... Which are so complex that we cannot possibly understand them.

In this way, we are pushing ourselves to the "edge of chaos" where many new insight are said to occur.

The Wall

Not much left of the Berlin Wall today!

Mural of the world. .. in progress

Ok, one more picture on the kunst festival.   These guys are doing an awesome mural. A representation of the world. Not bad for a day's work!

48 hour student neukolln kunst festival

Monika Berstis is doing some cool stuff at the intersection of art, recycling and science.  Phenomenologically, she noted that different types of stores seemed to use plastic bags of similar color. Naturally, she explored to find a rainbow of colors! More pictures below of her studio space... and the art behind the curtain. 

Refugees Welcome

'nuff said

This was not even (officially) part of the 48 hour art project. Yet, I found it appealing. There was another photo, which appears to be simply waves on the shore. Until you looked closely to see bodies of refugees. The caption was something like, "blink at reality until you feel comfortable "

Checkpoint Charley and the Einstein Cafe

A perfect juxtaposition - an expression of freedom and intellectual imagination.

Many lanes. . . A good idea

Love having pedestrian lanes, bike lanes... yes, we can all get along!

Friday, June 26, 2015

Berlin pride

Pride demonstration after US supreme Court decided in favor of gay marriage.  They were playing "going to the chapel and we're going to get married. .."

Berlin side trip

The Tiergarten is really very nice. Here is only a small, quiet corner. Might post more on Berlin later... quite a town!

Alexander Prishchepov and I

Marvelous fun with causal mapping as Dr. Prishchepov explores deeper understandings of land system change for agriculture, reforestation, and the development of more effective theories and policies.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Ethics, multicultural, interdisciplinary

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3si65yhre2ojdtu/Ethics-muticultiural-interdisciplinary-Seminar.pdf?dl=0

Abstration, causality, orthogonality

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hs4yxwok0wtaqaq/Abstraction-Causality-Orthogonality-Seminar.pdf?dl=0

CAS, Complex Adaptive Systems, Logic Structures

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0nq14894h2skuku/CAS-%26-Logic-Structures-Seminar.pdf?dl=0

Presentation on the Philosophy of science and the limits of positivism, systems thinking

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y5usgk4chme9ywd/Philosophy-of-Science-ST%26CT-Seminar.pdf?dl=0

Undergraduate Presentation

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3d8vo9ussj5xkb8/Undergraduate-lecture.pdf?dl=0

PDF of Graduate Presentation

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ndrvd2eamqvlus/Graduate-lecture.pdf?dl=0

PDF of Introductory Presentation

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tucolmdbsv1fgax/INTRODUCTORY-LECTURE.pdf?dl=0

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Philosophy, complexity, systems, and...

Many views of the world coming together in this international gathering.  Nadir, Chris, Vlad, & Steve. Solving the problem of understanding the world.

One formula to solve it all

Vladislav Valentinov in action! Mo's Daniel's Bar, Cafe, and Lounge.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Low humor

May the lord of puns protect and preserve us. Here in Leipzig, as you see in the picture, every door to the opera house has a large. .. Handel.

No, I am not going to apologize; I am only calling it the way I see it.

Who could not love Leipzig?

Coffee and cake in a passageway.

I arrived on the last day of the Bach festival. Music everywhere!

So many antique shops, that it should be a sister city to Petaluma.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Reminder

A sad reminder of times gone by; that we must work that much harder today, to be sure such times are not faced in the future.

The yin-yang meta-level task for the 21st century

There appears to be a yin yang relationship between our data... and the logics we use to organize the data. The emergent result of that interaction is human understanding. Neither, by itself is sufficient for generating actionable knowledge. When there is a higher quality and quantity of each and when the two are in balance, then we are able to have a better understanding of the world and achieve more reliable success.

In ancient times, they had observational data, but only limited logics. That imbalance led to spurious speculation in attempting to reach understanding. Examples such as lodestones having breath, or a geocentric universe.

During the dark ages, numerous arguments arose around the nature of those speculations. Eventually we came to realize that there was an imbalance. We needed more data to resolve arguments. For example, without a way to measure pins and angels, one could not come to a reliable conclusion about how many might dance on the head of a pin.

The new logic was more structured than the old. Think, for example of Toulmin's rules for resolving diputes of science. This new and more useful logic led to a drive for data. And, the scientific revolution was the result. The ensuing balance between data and logic provided us the laws of physics, advances in medicine, and so on.

Today, that apprach has been so successful that we are inundated with data. Again, we are out of balance. And, as in ancient times, we are driven to spurious conclusions. We have only a pretense of knowledge. We do not even know what we are missing. We conduct careful research to gain amazing amounts of data, then use that data to generate theories that do not work and policies that are terrible failures.

The challenge of the 21st century, and for our generation, is to find a new balance. We may do this by developing new logics for understanding our data.

When we do this, we will have a new revolution comparable to the scientific revolution. And the world will be changed in astonishing ways that we cannot predict... nor yet understand.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Panel discussion

Heading to the end of a very interesting confernce. Food security is threatened by a combination of growing population, global warming, and weather uncertainty.  Corruption and waste also contribute to reduce security.  These will lead to increasing catastrophe including human hunger. This, in turn, leads to social instability, including discontent and revolution.

Great research by many participants
Also, wonderful insights  by (among many others ) Dr Leslie Lipper of FAO. She noted that "evidence based policy" is not enough. We need to understand the larger picture. There is no "silver bullet" we need to have coordination between policies.  Between,  for example, adaptation and mitigation of agricultural change.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Transdisciplinary brilliance

I had the great pleasure to talk with and hear a brilliant presentation by this fellow: Dr Tuck Fatt Siew.

He is using causal mapping to create and integrate perception graphs of key stakeholders to understand complex problems of water usage in China.

I hope to collaborate with him in future projects!

Transdisciplinary brilliance

I had the great pleasure to talk with and hear a brilliant presentation by this fellow: Dr Tuck Fatt Siew.

He is using causal mapping to create and integrate perception graphs of key stakeholders to understand complex problems of water usage in China.

I hope to collaborate with him in future projects!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Meanwhile. ..

Great conversation with deep and creative thinkers at the scientific foresight unit following my presentation of IPA and ASK MATT.  Here, I am honored to receive a tour of the EU parliament from Lieve Van Woensel. No wonder I feel happy!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Travelling and reflecting

Travelling to Brussels today. Looking forward to meeting Kees pieters & Mixel Kieman! Then, tomorrow, looking forward to intresting conversations with Lieve Van Woensel and the wonderful people at STOA & EPRS.

An amusing reflection along the way. .. we  have Google Translate for communicating between people of different nations. But where oh where is the APP to translate between academic disciplines? !

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Musings

I find it interesting to engage in conversation with people who know as little english as I know their language.

When we are forced to interpret we have the opportunity to realize that we will not get it right. Indeed, we are absolutely incapable of the creating perfectly transparent interpretation. And, in that moment we may realize that, in light of imperfect understanding, we must input our own belifs in the place of the missing understanding. And, in that moment we find we are not only talking to some other person, we are also communicating with ourselves.  So if we say that person is smart, beautiful, ignorant, intelligent, or whatever... we are really saying those things about ourselves. The same applies for all we say for all we communicate with our families friends and neighbors. In short, or perhaps in metaphor, communication becomes as much of a reflective mirror as it is a transparent window.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Mark the MOST helpful merchant

Here is possibly the best shop in Halle. A magnificent selection of cheese, bread, meats, and wines from around the world (including Coppola). This is Mark. He in NOT drinking on the job. He is the most helpful merchant in town... helping me find an excellent assortment of adult beverages!

Relaxing and Reading

a light rain falls on the tranquil courtyard of IAMO. Meanwhile, I enjoy a cup of tea while reading an excellent dissertation by Cappella doctoral candidate Janice Graham.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Fencing in Germany

There are places, mostly in my mind, where I am known as the fencing philosopher  ;)

Here are some of the fencers at the Fecht Centrum in Halle, Germany.  Lots of great open bouting (with many fencers who are younger, faster, and more talented than I ). Overseen by the supportive Matthias Hertel.

I am very grateful to the wonderful people here who make me feel so welcome... and try to stab me. What more could I ask?

Nozilakhon Mukhamedova

Nozila is a research associate at IAMO working on her PhD.  Her focus is on land and water reform in central Asia.  Like most doctoral candidates she suffers from having too much knowledge... and a slight difficulty finding how to put all the pieces together into a coherent picture. Here, we're talking about using IPA to map multiple theoretical perspectives - to create that picture and provide a map for moving forward on her dissertation.

Expect amazing things from this person!

Dr. Vladislav Valentinov

A contemplative thinker of great philosophical depth and dedication. Here, Vladislav is using IPA to develop a more effective theory of structural change. Of additional distinction are the works of art on his wall - provided by his talented daughters!

Martin Luther University of Halle - Wittenberg

This is just one of the most awesome universities in history. Here, they started teaching in German instead of Latin.. and teaching rational common sense instead of church dogma. And... just for fun... Hamlet was said to have rece6his education here.

With Dr. Zhanli "Jerry" Sun

Jerry is a big thinker - his mind moves with elegant dexterity between diverse topics from geography to agent based modelling, and Bayesian networks. Here, we are talking about theories of structural change from a complex adaptive systems perspective.

Comparative architecture

The new and the old... each beautiful in its own way.