Aldo. (01)
You wrote: "WE engineers love to build and play with toys. However,
taking Doug Engelbart's philosophy serious we have to focus on the
_Human_/Tool_System_. (02)
"Here's the challenge for us to see if we can put his ideas into
practice..." (03)
Thinking in terms of _systems_ may put off many on the other side of the
academic arts-science dichotomy, but Doug heart is with the human side
of things while he has used his academic training to work on the
technical side. Just about all the many rewards he has received over a
lifetime emphasize the technical accomplishments (i.e. people made money
from that), but his enduring regret is not to be recognized AND
SUPPORTED for achieving the human end of things. (04)
Doug usually smiles patiently when people say al kinds of clever and
complimentary things and contribute their ideas, but, believe me, it
burns his ass, that the very principal aim of his researches is
overlooked during all those eloquent discussions. Mind you, he blames
himself for not communicating his ideas properly and not altogether
without good reason. (05)
Glad you got back to brass tacks! Would it not be nice if our
discussions could just circle a little close to Doug's core thinking? (06)
Henry (07)
On Sun, 2005-08-14 at 17:19 +0200, Aldo de Moor wrote:
> Jack,
>
> Yes, I do think this is the - or at least one - answer we need. Fusion
> power, space colonization, and what have you is all escapism. These are
> not sustainable solutions, and definitely won't come in time given the
> urgency of the problems.
>
> Local communities becoming largely self-sufficient energy-wise, at least
> for their non-mobility needs, will have a huge impact on the world's
> carbon emissions, pressure on forests (firewood!), etc.
>
> WE engineers love to build and play with toys. However, taking Doug
> Engelbart's philosophy serious we have to focus on the
> _Human_/Tool_System_.
>
> Here's the challenge for us to see if we can put his ideas into
> practice...
>
> Aldo
>
> On Sun, 14 Aug 2005, Jack Park wrote:
>
> > Aldo,
> >
> > This is really cool. Not sure (yet -- haven't waded through all the
> > material yet) just how low-tech it can be. But, there really is
> > precident for point focus, as illustrated in this image
> > http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/PointFocus/PointFocus-Discovery.jpg
> >
> > Back in something like 1985, I worked for a day on a radio telescope
> > called "The Big Ear" near Columbus Ohio. It is the invention of John
> > Krause, and it remains, to this day, the only radio telescope in the
> > SETI world that got a signal that still baffles people. The signal
> > became known as the "WOW" signal because that's what the technician
> > wrote on the strip chart when he saw it the next morning. The Big Ear
> > really was, at the telescope level, a marvel of lowish tech: an
> > enormous structure of welded pipes and ordinary fencing material.
> > That's pretty lowtech. The radios, OTOH, were as high tech as
> > possible, however.
> >
> > But, is it the answer we need? Are we still looking for ways to prop
> > up unsustainable behaviors? Some people will sit in the wings and
> > remind us "there's always fusion power." To what end?
> >
> > Jack
> >
> > On 8/14/05, Aldo de Moor <ademoor@vub.ac.be> wrote:
> > >
> > > All,
> > >
> > > Instead of thinking about hi-tech SF solutions, I would like to introduce
> > > the life's work of Ambjorn Naeve, which is about appropriate technology
> > > and requires a "civic" human/community solution to make it work.
> > >
> > > I met Ambjorn, who is from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm,
> > > at ICCS in Germany. In the 1970s, he had this important insight about
> > > making solar energy much more efficient than possible with traditional
> > > solar collectors. He has spent many years further working out his ideas.
> > > Being a mathematician and not connected to the right NGOs, however, he has
> > > been unsuccessful in marketing and letting this idea take off.
> > >
> > > In the below message some relevant links. Especially have a look at:
> > >
> > > http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/
> > >
> > > to get a sense of what he is after.
> > >
> > > Ambjorn gave some very convincing demos at the conference. I promised him
> > > I would do my best getting him the right connections. In my opinion, the
> > > ideas are sound and much thinking has already gone into developing
> > > appropriate technology solutions to implement the theoretical principles
> > > in practice.
> > >
> > > Would any of you know of any NGOs, telecentres, etc. in North or South who
> > > might be interested in solar energy and ready to experiment with these
> > > ideas. Ambjorn would be most willing to assist anybody interested in
> > > taking up the project or getting to know more about it.
> > >
> > > In sum: REAL solutions will be low-tech, bottom-up, democratic, affordable
> > > etc. etc. Ambjorn's stuff has all the qualities to become one of the
> > > archetypes. Your help in getting him connected may actually make an
> > > (important) difference. Please spread the word! Ambjorn will appreciate
> > > any leads somebody in this audience may have.
> > >
> > > Aldo
> > >
> > > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > > Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 12:30:01 +0200
> > > From: "[ISO-8859-1] Ambjrn Naeve" <amb@nada.kth.se>
> > > To: Aldo de Moor <ademoor@vub.ac.be>
> > > Cc: Gary Richmond <garyrichmond@rcn.com>
> > > Subject: Some links to my solar energy point focus project
> > >
> > > Dear Aldo,
> > >
> > > I really enjoyed meeting you in Kassel, and I think that your
> > > presentation was extremely interesting and relevant for the future
> > > development of the web. Your "pragmatic web" and my "human-sematic web"
> > > are two complementary perspectives on this development.
> > >
> > > As I promised you, below are some links to my solar energy website that
> > > highlight the double cylindrical pointfocus and show some video shots of
> > > the mirrors "in action".
> > >
> > > Best ...
> > > /Ambjrn
> > >
> > > P.S. I hope your performance in Las Vegas went well. ;-)
> > >
> > > ===========*
> > >
> > > The double cylindrical point focus:*
> > > How to build a BIG & CHEAP burning glass and the story of 29 years of
> > > trying to spread this idea: http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus
> > >
> > > My first paper on the double cylindrical pointfocus (hand-written
> > > manuscript from 1977)
> > >
>http://kmr.nada.kth.se/papers/Manuscripts/PointFocus-report-1977/PointFocus.pdf
> > >
> > > *Streaming video of the DC PointFocus mirrors in action:*
> > >
>http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/Tomas_Elofsson/Video/soltrehjuling_1S.mov
> > >
>http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/Tomas_Elofsson/Video/soltrehjuling_2S.mov
> > >
>http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/Tomas_Elofsson/Video/solslaepkaerra_1S.mov
> > >
>http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/Tomas_Elofsson/Video/solslaepkaerra_2S.mov
> > >
>http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/Tomas_Elofsson/Video/solslaepkaerra_3S.mov
> > > *
> > > The village steel-works - concept for a small-scale steel production
> > > unit for local development
> > >
><http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/Sven%20Eketorp/Village%20steel%20works/Village-steel-works.pdf>*
> > >
>http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/Sven%20Eketorp/Village%20steel%20works/Village-steel-works.pdf
> > > a concept developed by Sven Eketorp (died in 2004), who was a professor
> > > of metallurgy at KTH.
> > > In the 80-ies we had plans to develop a solar powered steel plant
> > >
>http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/Sven%20Eketorp/Village%20steel%20works/Solar-steel-works-1.jpg
> > >
>http://kmr.nada.kth.se/math/pointfocus/Sven%20Eketorp/Village%20steel%20works/Solar-steel-works-2.jpg
> > > If I remember correctly, we calculated that with a 40 square-meter
> > > primary mirror, one could melt about 700-1000 metric tons of scrap metal
> > > per year at a location with about 200-250 clear sun-days per year.
> > >
> > > *Quicktime video of the interactive version of the DC PointFocus mirrors
> > > (all controls can be changed visually):*
> > >
>http://knowgate.nada.kth.se:8080/portfolio/main?cmd=open&manifest=amb&uri=scam%3A%2F%2Famb%2Fda3a1e%3Af8bc884d50%3A-6f77
> > > (NOTE: If copied, this URL should be pasted on ONE line!)
> > >
> > > *My portfolio material on the PointFocus project* (forming the basis for
> > > the e-lectures on globally relevant content:
> > >
>http://knowgate.nada.kth.se:8080/portfolio/main?cmd=open&manifest=amb&uri=scam%3A%2F%2Famb%2F11dba45%3Af8ef8cca4a%3A-6ad7
> > >
> > > ==========================================================================
> > > e-mail: ademoor@vub.ac.be
> > > \\ phone +32-2-629 3518, fax +32-2-629 3819
> > > STARLab home page: http://www.starlab.vub.ac.be/staff/ademoor/
> > > \\ blog: http://growingpains.blogs.com/home/
> > >
> > > Dr. Aldo de Moor, senior researcher
> > > STARLab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
> > > Pleinlaan 2, Gebouw G-10, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
> > > ==========================================================================
> > >
> > > --
> > > This message
>
> ==========================================================================
> e-mail: ademoor@vub.ac.be
> \\ phone +32-2-629 3518, fax +32-2-629 3819
> STARLab home page: http://www.starlab.vub.ac.be/staff/ademoor/
> \\ blog: http://growingpains.blogs.com/home/
>
> Dr. Aldo de Moor, senior researcher
> STARLab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
> Pleinlaan 2, Gebouw G-10, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
> ==========================================================================
>
--
Henry K van Eyken <vaneyken@sympatico.ca> (08)
--
This message is archived at: (09)
http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=yak&i=1124046434.3125.16.camel@localhost.localdomain (010)
|
