----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: about Robert Rosen's
work
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
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2005 3:38
PM
Subject: [ROSEN] about Robert Rosen's
work
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