> Um, how about with the advent of quantum mechanics and chaos
> theory? Chaos theory, anyway, arose in the sixties, didn't it? You
> could also argue (and I would) that supercomputers made it possible for
> people to understand that the scientific problems -- or maybe the
> problems science was supposed to help us understand and solve -- were not
> going to be solved by data and the manipulation of numbers. Calculation
> itself was no longer the limiting factor.
Marcy, chaos theory did wonders for physics research. I have not studied
it, so I don't know how it emerged within broader scientific circles. Is
it now so pervsive as to consider it the new episteme?
On your point about supercomputers, they also made possible
Vanuever Bush's theories of information managment. VB was responsible for
much of the military information managment theory from the beginning of
the cold war as well. He was a great deal more than the man who theorized
hypertext.
What about the aesthetics?
>
> > BTW Marcy, it is conversations like these that help us to call
> > into question our current practices.
>
> Yup, I agree. But inasmuch as we share assumptions, our
> assumptions will never (can never) be questioned.
In a discipline as varied as composition, there are very few assumptions
that we all share. Besides,our studetns can also confront us with our
practices if we know how to listen to them. And, we can make it our
practice to question what we do as soon as we begin to get comfortable
with how we do it. Comfort is a sure sign of complacency.
Thanks Marcy,
jrg
>
> Marcy
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> Marcy Bauman
> Writing Program
> University of Michigan-Dearborn
> 4901 Evergreen Rd.
> Dearborn, MI 48128
>
> Web page: http://www.umd.umich.edu/~marcyb
> email: marcyb@umd.umich.edu
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
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\ Jeffrey R. Galin
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