Re-sending 26.5 after delivery error.
Dear Cliff,
Some details as requested...
Name: Reuben Wright
E-mail: wrightr@oup.co.uk
Postal address: 71 Cricket Road, Oxford, OX4 3DJ
Phone: +44 (0)1865 436857, mobile 0411 531444
Heard about PCP via standard web search, I think for memes and emergence - I
wanted to know how much had been considered regarding culture/mindset
development.
On to a little resumee of me and my work I suppose; not quite sure how to lay
this out but I hope this will suffice.
I'm a scientist, a mathematician and a philosopher, twenty-two years old, and
looking for intelligent thought, debate and progress. But enough of the
personal ad, down to business.
My qualifications include four A-levels at grade A and a distinction in S-level
Physics. Inspired by a book by Rudy Rucker (amongst other things) I then went
on to Oxford University to study Maths & Computation, getting a first in
Moderations (exams at the end of the first year). However, I decided I wanted
rather more varied thought in my life, so amicably switched my course over to
Maths & Philosophy, finishing with a 2:1 two years later.
I'm now two years further on down the line, having taken a year to expand my
horizons - catching up on physics, biology, and the other parts of science I'd
abstracted from, and also some more non-western philosophies, mysticisms,
literatures and theories. I basically took a year out to read and to write,
which was, I think, very good for me.
As a writer I worked mostly with fiction, but have written an article for a
magazine trying to explain firstly how counter-intuitive a lot of what we say
about probability is (eg. the half a 'head' that disappears when the coin comes
up 'tails') and then trying to work out a solution (involving the expansion of
real physical (Heisenberg-style) doubt from the microscopic to the macroscopic
with some chaotic mixing of the phase space), along with philosophical
implications.
I now work for Oxford University Press, in a job that leaves me quite a bit of
time and space to develop my thoughts and outside interests. So, moving on to
them and the relevant ones to PCP: I suppose I first looked at these ideas from
a Complexity point of view, drifting there from Chaos theory (via Catastrophes
as it happens) like so many mathematicians seem to have done. I also have a
healthy fascination with selective systems, and their prevalence, which has
developed from various theories of mind, memes and cultures, and living with a
genetics obsessed biologist for a while.
The current work I feel I can most useful extend with your group involves
looking at existent physical phenomena as persistent (emergent) patterns
(perhaps embedded in a higher dimensional space). I'm also keen to work out
properly the relations between cultural memes and thoughts in individual minds.
But these are just somethings ticking over in my mind, I suppose what I'm
really looking for are new ideas, and people to discuss them with. I haven't
even read everything on your website yet, let alone followed the references and
considered the resonances I see with other things I've thought about, so I'm
sure there are other perspectives out there I have no idea about. It would be
good to find them.
What I have to offer is a fresh, intelligent, broad-based viewpoint that I hope
can be sharpened to insight. In terms of skills - I have a very sharp mind, a
way with words, quite a bit of enthusiasm and a decent head for research.
Well, I'm not sure if that's the kind of thing you're looking for - feel free
to ask about anything you think pertinent. Speak to you soon, hopefully.
Reuben