... The world of real differences ...

The world of real differences does not exist on the surface of the earth, among all the countries levelled by our perceptions; how much less, therefore, does it exist among the 'worldly'. Does it in fact exist anywhere? The Vinteuil septet had seemed to tell me that it did. But where?

quoted in:
Proust, Marcel
"The Prisoner" (In Search Of Lost Time, Volume 5)
p. 254, Penguin Classics, 2003

I went crazy last night

I went crazy last night, love ran into me and said:
'I am coming, do not shout, do not tear your clothes, speak no more.'
'O love!' I said: 'I am afraid of other things.'
'There is nothing else' it said: 'speak no more.
I shall whisper hidden words into your ear;
You just nod in approval! except in secret speak no more!'

(Divan 2219:1-5)

Rumi

... The only real journey, the only Fountain of Youth, would be to travel not towards new landscapes, but with new eyes ...

But is it not the case that these elements, this final residue which we are obliged to keep to ourselves, which speech cannot convey even from friend to friend, from master to pupil, from lover to mistress, that this inexpressible thing which reveals the qualitative difference between what each of us has felt and has had to leave on the threshold of the phrases which he uses to communicate with others, something which he can do only by dwelling on points of experience common to all and consequently of no interest to any, can be expressed through art, the art of a Vinteuil or an Elstir, which makes manifest in the colours of the spectrum the intimate make-up of those worlds we call individuals, and which without art we should never know? Wings, another respiratory system which allowed us to cross the immensity of space, would not help us. For if we went to Mars or Venus while keeping the same sense, everything we might see there would take on the same aspect as the things we know on Earth. The only real journey, the only Fountain of Youth, would be to travel not towards new landscapes, but with new eyes, to see the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to see the hundred universes that each of them can see, or can be; and we can do that with the help of an Elstir, a Vinteuil; with them and their like we can truly fly from star to star.

quoted in:
Proust, Marcel
"The Prisoner" (In Search Of Lost Time, Volume 5)
pps. 236-7, Penguin Classics, 2003

Information as Active Authoring on an Interpersonal Basis

"Several years ago I was talking with Tim O'Reilly about the discomfort we both felt about treating information as a commodity. It seemed to us that information was something more, and quite different, than the communicable form of knowledge. It was not a commodity, exactly, and was insulted by the generality we call "content".

Information, we observed, is derived from the verb *inform,* which is related to the verb *form*. To *inform* is not to "deliver information", but rather to *form* the other party. If you tell me something I didn't know before, I am changed by that. If I believe you, and value what you say, I have granted you authority. Meaning, I have given you the right to *author* what I know. Therefore, *we are all authors of each other*. This is a profoundly human condition in any case, but it is an especially important aspect of the open source value system. By forming each other, as we also form useful software, we are making the world. Not merely changing it."

Not sure that I have come across such a concept of "Active" information before, especially in relation to "information" "authoring" or "forming" something within a person - the very act of communicating information becomes an active involvement in creating something new in another.

Surely there must be some philosophical or psychological precursor to this notion? Who else wrote about such concepts?

Proust everywhere

Didn't quite know how many people reference Proust out there (on the 'net) - but then again, I shouldn't be surprised (of course - but sometimes, in one's little egocentric universe, the breadth of universality surprises and disturbs at the same time).
Clairity's Place has this blog on the Proust Project - path to leader to deeper inquiry.
But just as surprising (well, not really, is the number of people referencing Proust who have never read him). That's the damage for becoming a cultural icon (after one's death).

(PS - I am sure I will talk about something else when I have finished his masterwork!)

Blogging - self-referentially

Did you see this article on blogs?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931001_mz001.htm

No, I hadn't, but on reading it - couldn't agree more.

And the wonderful reference to the babies blog (quite a cute little joke).
http://thedowningboys.blogspot.com/2005/04/yucky-dee-doo-day.html

OK. Blogs are interesting and are multiplying at germ warfare rates.
And they can have some influence on companies.
Mostly "disruptive", as the writer mostly hinted at (strongly and literally in one place).

Grows quickly. Just like the web did (after a while - same for blogs).
And then mainstreams and falls in on its own mass - something else comes along which not really supersedes but rather enhances (in addition to) that "older" technology. Nothing is ever lost - just added to.
Ditto for blogging.
Not everyone will blog or want to or make it a part of their normal day.

Next...

Reverse Cyborgism

Somebody (http://velvetbreeze.blogspot.com/) wrote:
I am so super super tired. I am going to blue-screen soon.

Love the computer reference for a human medical condition. Reverse Cyborg thinking.
Are we being "reversed" into Cyborgism?

Universal Truth and Difference

The universe is true for all of us and different for each one.

quoted in:
Proust, Marcel
"The Prisoner" (In Search Of Lost Time, Volume 5)
p. 171, Penguin Classics, 2003

The managing editor, an honest, clumsy soul ...

The managing editor, an honest, clumsy soul, lies quite straightforwardly, like an architect who assures you your house will be ready on a date when it will not have been started.

quoted in:
Proust, Marcel
"The Prisoner" (In Search Of Lost Time, Volume 5)
p. 162, Penguin Classics, 2003

-------------------------------------------------

Isn't it nice to know that more than 100 years later, certain aspects of society remain obstinately similar.

What is it about building that means it is always late?

And since we are involved in the "building of technology" industry, and software systems are notoriously always late (one way or another, regardless of the "scoping" changes that various game-players use to "pretend" that they are "on time, on budget"), are we now talking about some "universal verisimilitude" that is ingrained in the nature of human activity ...
Building Something Aways Takes Longer Than One Expects (Or Wants)