4/12/08

SocioGenesis

I decided to research the relationship of Social Networks to the Dune Series by author Frank Herbert. I found an article called Dune Genesis, by Frank Herbert:
He reveals that the scarcity of water is an analogy for the oil shortage and CHOAM is OPEC. Considering he wrote Dune in the 1960's, that is pretty amazing. Although I have read Dune about 10 times, it is time for a re-read. Also, relating to my previous post, Dune illustrates that our instincts (hunter-gatherer, anyone?) shape behavior and society.

But I digress a bit. What is interesting is what he writes here:

Each limiting descriptive step you take drives your vision outward into a larger universe which is contained in still a larger universe ad infinitum, and in the smaller universes ad infinitum. No matter how finely you subdivide time and space, each tiny division contains infinity.

But this could imply that you can cut across linear time, open it like a ripe fruit, and see consequential connections. You could be prescient, predict accurately. Predestination and paradox once more.

The flaw must lie in our methods of description, in languages, in social networks of meaning, in moral structures, and in philosophies and religions-all of which convey implicit limits where no limits exist.

We aren't going to take it anymore!

Wow. Excellent post from the NotanMBA team blog! Not that we would expect anything less but this is a must-read. This is part II of a series called Nomads and Power and discusses how corporate nurturing has led us away from our ancestral origins as hunter-gatherers and in doing so, reminds us how we have been led down a sedentary path called the Social Cage which is leading to our downfall as a species.

I agree; we can no longer follow this path of relentless work. NotanMBA points us toward the work of Nigel Nicholson, a Professor of Organisational Behavior at the London Business School. I love this quote of his: “You can take the humans out of the Stone Age, but you can’t take the Stone Age out of humans.”(n.)

If you want more, follow NotanMBA on Twitter and join their Google Group. Thank you guys for another great post!

4/11/08

My Tagcloud from Tagcrowd.com



created at TagCrowd.com


4/9/08

My fathers work on JPL Nasa's Cassini web site!


A Huge Congratulations to Karl Kofoed who just has had his amazing illustrations officially accepted by NASA as accurate representations of Encedalus, one of Saturn's tiny moons. It is reported that select Cassini research scientists actually gasped when they saw these illustrations, realizing how accurate they were based on existing data.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=3035

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=3036

You can see more of Karl's work on http://www.galacticgeographic.com.

All images here as well as on the NASA JPL website along with the usage of 'Galactic Geographic' are copyright 2008 Karl Kofoed.

Progressions from Web 2.0

Image from Marc Cantor http://marc.blogs.it/

The usage of the internet has gone from Web 1.0 - The Single user to Single Website - to Web2.0 - the use of inter-connected social networking blogs, wikis, miniblogs, photoblogs, podcasts and RSS feeds. This illustrates the resurgence and realization that the human need for interaction and cooperative function has never gone away.

We are starting to realize that living life as a single entity wrapped up in the stresses of our miserable little lives with the weight of the world on our shoulders is having hugely negative affect on our mental and physical health.

A lot of you reading this are going to realize where the next stepping stone is. Yep, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen, coworking. We have reached a point where the stopping point of virtually surrounding ourselves with our online buddies has made us even more lonely.


Case in Point:

[geekieboy] yo dude, thx for helping me with this.. sorry it took so long solving that issue, you know how txt is.

[servergod] np dude, was gr8 working w/you

[geekieboy] yeah wow.. that took it out of me.. I need a beer. Catch U l8r!

* geekieboy has left chat

[servergod] wow, beer sounds great. Yeah.. umm l8r.

Ouch.

We have lonely stares and neck strain from cubicles caused by passing visitors to our lonely Cubetown.

We have Tech Entrepreneur Guy on his laptop drinking his 5th uberlatte in the Wedon’tgiveoutnofreewifi BurntCoffee R Us trying to talk on his cell phone to a potential client while shrill toddlers demand a cuppa choc’late milk in the background.

I think you get my point.

So the next step? Coworking. Your own social network within an arms reach. Productivity skyrockets. Your health improves. You have little stress. There are fireworks! Most of your peers now have faces, not Buddy Icons.

Ok, I think I exaggerated with the whole fireworks thing. But this progression is not limited to one town or one city or even one country. This is worldwide and there is a coworking center in most of the major cities. Exciting stuff, don’t you think?