I sent this to the wrong list yesterday....sorry!
Don Mikulecky
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Message-ID: <35A37B61.688AB952@hsc.vcu.edu>
Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 10:00:01 -0400
From: Don Mikulecky <mikuleck@hsc.vcu.edu>
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To: complexity list <complexity-l@venus.vcu.edu>
Subject: On studying Rosen
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Don Mikulecky comments:
I think I was a bit hard on Alexi, but needed to be. One thing I have
encountered in my study/discussions of Rosen's work is common to most
who venture to do it. It wasn't until I read "Life Itself" at least
five times and then went back to earlier background work that I began to
understand it. It is a radical departure from what we usually do.
Normally you pick up a new work, read it, integrate into your existing
repertoire and go on. That is not possible here. It is necessary to go
back to square one and start all over again. The first two chapters
broadly lay out the result of work Rosen begaan in the 1950's. Since
then he has polished, refined and worked at the epistemological roots of
the problem... He states clearly that you MUST make epistemological
changes before you will understand him. If you are not willing to do
that or simply miss the need for it, you will miss the point. There is
no middle ground here.
I simply want to say this to explain that we are dealing with the
hardest problem I have encountered in my life. It does not get covered
at a coffee table. It takes hard work and a willingness to see things
in an entirely new way.
respectfully,
Don Mikulecky
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