|
Hi John M. and list,
I share in your frustration over the lack of accessibility to the
original work. I agree, wholeheartedly, that the original work is
always the best source for those interested in learning more about these
ideas. I promise that I am trying to do what I can from my end (with
limited resources, energy, and time-- all of which are in demand also for three
children (one in college, one in Jr. High School, and one going into
Kindergarten who is physically handicapped), husband, home, garden, and,
finally, my own professional interests and ambitions-- which come dead last).
Regarding "Life, Itself" and "Essays"... I wish I could withdraw
the publishing contracts from Columbia University Press, because in my opinion
and experience they are absolutely incompetent as a publishing company, and
yet they will not release my father's books from their roster (I have asked
them, more than once). I would love to sue them to retrieve the publishing
rights, but I cannot afford to hire an attorney to even look into whether it
would be feasible. Does anyone know an attorney who would be willing to do it,
pro bono? Failing that, I would be willing to make photocopies of the book for
those who cannot find a copy through various university library loan channels,
and will send it in exchange for reimbursement of copying and postage, only (no
other fee).
Thirdly, you folks still have time to write me papers for the next
edition of BioTheory. Consider this an official request for submissions. As you
all may have noticed, BioTheory is not a traditional "science journal" and I
don't run it in a traditional manner. That is a strength, not a weakness-- as
will become apparent, over time. I hereby suggest/request that John M. write up
his post as a paper, and I would be happy to print it in the journal. It may be
of enormous value to others, down the line.
In fact, it would be quite useful, I think, for people in general
(and all of those on the list, in particular!!!) to articulate (for
themselves and for me, if not for the list) which aspects of Robert Rosen's
ideas they feel they are weak in their understanding on. Where are the holes in
your various mental tapestries on Rosennean Complexity? What doesn't make sense
to you? This is the kind of thing I actually can help people with, but I rarely
have people come to me with something that concrete. It's usually a vague:
"I think he's on the right track but..." or "On page somethingorother, the math
seems to be incorrect...".
As I've mentioned before on this list... it isn't
necessary to "do" the math: That's not where the ideas are. It has always turned
out that the math is correct, but the math isn't what he was talking about.
The math didn't generate the ideas. My father used mathematics
as a second language to illustrate and further describe the ideas, to
bullet-proof the ideas, and to show that the ideas do, indeed, transfer
to other applications besides biology. You might be surprised
how many people think they need to learn category theory in order to read
Robert Rosen's books and it just ain't so.
Regarding the notion of a study companion/compendium of terms, etc:
I'm working on that, as time and energy allow. It's in progress, already. I will
put some of it into BioTheory's next issue, and hope to get some feedback from
people about what else needs to be included. This is also along the
same lines as my question; "What doesn't make sense to you, so far, in
reading Robert Rosen's work?" I confess that I would love to spend a lot
more time on this kind of project, but my working time is always under
assault by the myriad practicalities of life!
I have come to the conclusion that the only reason my father was
able to concentrate on his work and still have a family at all was due entirely
to the fact that he had a practical wife. (I think I need one, too... but it's
not going to happen!) I believe my father's health began to fail much more
quickly once he and my mother separated, and she was no longer attending to all
the details. He was no good at practical details. He ignored them whenever
possible and when one is a diabetic, one really can't do that
without terrible consequences. One also cannot ignore all practical details
when one is a wife and mother, which is my situation, and I'm only good at
managing the details in comparison to my father. But details really eat up
far too much of my time and I resent it. If anyone has any useful
suggestions for how to manage the practical details of life and still get good
work done, I'm all ears.
So, the bottom line is that there are many working projects
underway, but speed isn't really a main priority. Accuracy is. The only thing
that could speed up the process/es would be better funding. Again; if anyone
wants to contribute, I'm happy to discuss the situation in greater depth. I'd
dearly love to hire someone to take some of these practicalities/details of
daily life off my hands so I could spend more of my time working on these
projects. I could also use some serious help in sorting/cataloguing my father's
mountainous reference library.
Judith Rosen
BioTheory: An E-Journal of General Science in the Rosennean Complexity
Paradigm http://www.rosen-enterprises.com/RobertRosen/BioTheoryLaunch.htm
Website address: http://www.rosen-enterprises.com/
|