Integrating Missionally

“What you do for a living is not be creative, what you do is ship,” says bestselling author Seth Godin, arguing that we must quiet our fearful “lizard brains” to avoid sabotaging projects just before we finally finish them.

Those reading this in a feed reader may need to view this video on the site.

Popularity: 5% [?]

This is a great video. Watch and pay attention to the story that is developed and the way it is communicated. Also notice how drawn in to the story you are.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Introduction
The Medicis were a banking family in Florence, Italy in the fifteenth century. In addition to their banking endeavors, they funded creators across a variety of disciplines. Thanks to this family, and others like it, sculptors, scientists, poets, philosophers, financiers, painters, and architects converged upon the city of Florence. There they met, learned from each other, and broke down the barriers between cultures and disciplines. The integration of their disciplines forged a new world based on new ideas. This period of time became known as the renaissance. Florence because the eipicenter of a creative explosion and launched one of the most innovative eras in all of history.

By stepping into an intersection where people are able to associate concepts from one field with those of another, creative new insights are born. In addition, even whole new fields are developed. Two examples are found in the field of biology. First, the integration of biology and technology created a bio-tech industry that develops technology based on biology, agriculture, food science, and medicine. Modern use of the term usually refers to genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies. Yet, the concept encompasses a wider range and history of procedures for modifying living organisms according to human purposes, going back to domestication of animals, cultivation of plants and “improvements” to these through breeding programs that employ artificial selection and hybridization.

Coined a term by British scientist and broadcaster Heinz Wolff in 1954, bioengineering is the application of engineering principles to address challenges in the fields of biology and medicine. Biological engineering applies principles to the full spectrum of living systems, including molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, protein chemistry, cytology, immunology, neurobiology and neuroscience. It deals with disciplines of product design, sustainability and analysis to improve and focus utilization of biological systems.

Developing what has been coined the Medici Effect requires breaking down barriers between fields. This involves a process of creating an environment where low associative barriers exist.

What are associative barriers?

Take a moment to consider the following situation: Susan is twenty-eight years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in biology and minored in public policy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of sustainable development, global warming, and overfishing, and is politically active. Which statement is most likely to be true?

A. Susan is an office manager.
B. Susan is an office manager and is active in the environmental movement.

If you answered B, you are in good company; most people would give that answer. But the correct answer is A. If you are confused about this, consider another analogous question. Which statement is more probable?

A. An apple is green.
B. An apple is green and expensive.

This time the answer is apparent; clearly it is more likely that an apple is just green than that it is both green and expensive. The two questions are similar, but expressed in different ways. Yet we tend to make a mistake in the first case but not in the second. Why? The key difference between the two presentations is that in the first case our mind quickly makes a number of associations. Key words, such as sustainable development, global warming, and overfishing, are all associated with the environment. In most instances it would make sense to infer that Susan is active in the environmental movement. Therefore we are more likely to make assumptions about who Susan is as a person, rather than maintain a mind open to possibilities. These connections happen automatically and subconsciously. The effect is subtle, but very powerful. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 6% [?]

Today I am going to begin work on a series of articles on epistemology. Epistemology seeks to develop a general theory stating the conditions under which people have knowledge and rational beliefs. It is the study of knowledge. During this journey I will be relying on introductions to epistemology from two authors: Richard Feldman and his book Epistemology in the Foundations of Philosophy Series and Robert Audi’s second edition of Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy).

There are several sources of knowledge. What we know about our immediate environment comes from perception and sensation. This is our awareness of external things and comes through sight, hearing and the other senses. Yet it does not account for our knowledge of our own internal states. For instance, you know you feel sleepy. This is a result of introspection. Other times we know something through reasoning or inference. For instance, when we know some facts and see that those facts support some other fact, we can come to know that additional fact. Scientific knowledge seems to arise from inferences from observations. We know some things because we can “see” they are true. We have the ability to think about things and discern certain simple truths. Additionally, memory is crucial in the knowledge of our past and in certain facts. A person’s testimony can also be a source of knowledge. Testimony is not limited to statements made on a witness stand. It includes what other people tell you, including what they tell you about what they know from their environment. The complete list looks like this:

• Perception
• Memory
• Testimony
• Introspection
• Reasoning
• Rational insight

From these sources, epistemologists develop what is called The Standard View, which basically states that there are many sources of knowledge and they include those listed above. The subject matter of epistemology arises from The Standard View.
Obviously, for the christian, there is one primary source that are not included on this list. This is metaphysical knowledge or knowledge resulting from the interaction through religious practices and experiences.

The Standard View also holds that propositional knowledge is more fundamental than other types of knowledge. In epistemology in general, the kind of knowledge usually discussed is propositional knowledge, also known as “knowledge-that” as opposed to “knowledge-how.” For example: in mathematics, it is known that 2 + 2 = 4, but there is also knowing how to add two numbers. Many (but not all) philosophers therefore think there is an important distinction between “knowing that” and “knowing how”, with epistemology primarily interested in the former. A third type of knowing is “knowing of”, or knowledge by acquaintance also exists.

In Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy, Michael Polanyi articulates a case for the epistemological relevance of two forms of knowledge (knowledge-that and knowledge-how) using the example of the act of balance involved in riding a bicycle, he suggests that the theoretical knowledge of the physics involved in maintaining a state of balance cannot substitute for the practical knowledge of how to ride, and that it is important to understand how both are established and grounded.

Philosophers admit that propositional knowledge cannot explain everything. However, it does hold a special status.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Taryn Simon exhibits her startling take on photography — to reveal worlds and people we would never see otherwise. She shares two projects: one documents otherworldly locations typically kept secret from the public, the other involves haunting portraits of men convicted for crimes they did not commit.

Why is this talk important? Taryn shows the impact of images on the brain. She demonstrates that our seeing is often distorted through experience. She also demonstrates the power of semiotics. The texts will change the mean of a photograph. Place a photograph in a different context, or surrounded by text, and the image will take on a different meaning.

This is powerful discussion of framing meaning.

Popularity: 9% [?]