Crunch Time

The mauraders of change

A ship ladened with gold, silver, and precious jewels was on its way back to port when it was suddenly confronted by a pirate ship, skull and crossbones flag waving in the wind. The first mate asked the captain what they should do. The captain simply replied, "Bring me my red shirt". They repelled the pirates with out sustaining any casualties.

A few days later the ship was confronted not by one but by three pirate ships. The first mate asked the captain what they should do. His reply again was, "Bring me my red shirt". The captain fought valiantly and was an inspiration to the rest of the crew. They again held off the pirates with very few casualites.

That night as they were celebrating, the first mate asked the captain what the secret of the red shirt was. "It's quite simple," replied the captain. "I wear the red shirt because then the men won't see the blood from my wounds and will be inspired to continue to fight."

Another couple days went by when yet again they were confronted by pirate ships. The strength of the mauraders this time was an armada of ten ships. The first mate, in a panic, asked the captain what they should do. The captain answered, "First mate, bring me my brown pants."

There are many reasons today to wear our brown pants. The mauraders of change that bear down upon us can cause great fear and a trepidation:

The Financial Marauder: We are currently living in the worst economic times since the Great Depression of the 1930's. No one has been immune to its residual effects. People either are, or know someone who is, laid off or underemployed and struggling to make ends meet.

So we wear our brown pants.

The Technological Marauder: We live in a day and age of rapid technological advancement. It's exciting, but is still wrought with fear. Are we able to keep up with the accelerated innovations? As more and more functions are being taken over by technological automation, where does that leave the workforce? With the blending of fact and fiction, real and digital (atoms and bits) what does it mean to be human?

And so, we wear our brown pants.

The Environmental Maurader: The degredation of our natural habitat is quickening. The warming of the planet is causing frequent and powerful weather events. Earthquakes remind us that we are beholden to the natural moans and groans of our planet.

And so, we wear our brown pants.

The Educational Maurader: Our public school system is the focus of much critique. No matter how much money we throw at our concerns, education in the United States is lagging in many ways the rest of the world. The answer to the question, 'What does it mean to be well educated today?" does not seem to align with the answer of our current educational systems.

And so, we wear our brown pants.

These are just a few of the mauraders  that are sailing the waters of incredible change. We could come up with many more. The challenges and opportunities are all there before us, confronting our abilities to engage in significant ways. Fear is there, yes, but so too is the adrenaline of where we can go with these changes. The onus is on us to engage them with confidence and in ways that will better the world - or at least our little corner of it.

The algorithms that rule our lives

This is a complicated blog and tough to understand exactly. But underneath all the big words and technical language lies some critical insights on how technology is shaping who we are and how we define what it means to be human.

It comes from a blog I follow by George Siemans, a professor in Canada who explores education and learning in the modern world.

Algorithms sound somewhat mysterious and complex. By definition, however, algorithms are basically a sequence of steps or activities, often directed toward solving a problem. The steps to solving a problem may be simple (how to bake a pizza or tie your shoes) or complicated (returning web search results based on an input term or recommending who you should follow on a social networking site). Jacques Ellul warned of the dangers of technique, and by extension technology, as a means to force humanity into states of conformity. No where is this more true than with algorithms. Google’s CEO recognizes the power of algorithms, offering a chilling and prophetic insight into the future role of search engines: “I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next”.

Globe and Mail’s article on Programming our Lives Away reviews the growing dominance of algorithms in our lives

Increasingly, algorithms are used to determine whether we can get access to credit, insurance and government services. They are posing a challenge to human decision-making in the arts. They are being used by prospective employers to decide if we should be hired. They can determine whether your online business will succeed or fail, and they have revolutionized the world of high finance…
Some companies now use algorithms to make decisions around hiring and firing. At Google, which boasts that “almost every [personnel] decision is based on quantitative analysis,” engineers have developed an algorithm to identify those employees most likely to leave to work for a competitor or strike out on their own. Employee surveys, peer reviews, evaluations, promotion and pay histories feed into the algorithm. It helps us “get inside people’s heads even before they know they might leave,” a Google manager told The Wall Street Journal last year.
At IBM, programmers put together mathematical models of 50,000 of the company’s tech consultants. They crunched massive amounts of data on them – how many e-mails they sent, who got them, who read the documents they wrote – and used this information to help assess the employees’ effectiveness and deploy their skills in the most cost-efficient way.

The lens of youth culture

For years I have subscribed to the Hedgehog Review: critical reflections on contemporary culture.  Published by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, each volume is always intriguing and worth reading cover to cover.  The following is taken from the introduction for the Spring 2009 issue focused on "Youth Culture". The quandaries it explores and the questions it raise need to be explored by all of us.

The radical and rapid transformation taking place in America and global culture are keenly seen when viewed through the lens of youth culture.

Take technological changes, for example. Young people are at the forefront of the use and adaptation of these developments, and their day-to-day experiences--their modes of being, if you will--have been markedly transformed. The way they interact with their peers, and present themselves to others is unlike that of any generation that came before them... How have these technological changes affected what it means to be human?

The cultural changes of late modernity have produced pressures to adapt to, and succeed in, an increasingly complex social sphere. This is felt acutely by the young, particularly in relation to their academic achievements...  In an effort to cope with the world around them, young people are taking more and more medications. The increase in the use of medications to negotiate these demands affects the way young people see themselves and the world around them. How does a young person understand what it means to be human or to be good when she views her struggles through a medical model?

Changes in the meaning of adulthood in contemporary life is in a state of confusion... Once a stage of life towards which to aspire, adulthood has come to be seen by many as neither inevitable nor necessarily desirable...What happens to a culture when people don't want to grow up?  What does this say about our ideals for what it means to be human and for what it means to be good?

Young people are often the first to adopt to new cultural forms, and we often express our anxieties about those new cultural forms as concerns about the young... They are the ones ultimately who will reap the benefits or the deficits of how we negotiate the cultural changes of contemporary life.

Rules for new tools

The problems we face as humans are as common and enduring as our race itself.  Take the problem of communication.  Though we have developed various tools over the millenia (cave drawings, smoke signals, pony express, telegraph, etc.) to aid us in our quest to communicate one with another, ultimately the problem persists. 

That is to say, though the problems remain the same, it's the TOOLs that have changed.  Today we live in a world of overwhelming technological tools. I'm intrigued by the criteria Wendall Berry has put forth for aquiring new tools (including technological). This is taken from his article, Why I Am Not Going To Buy A Computer, which is a great article in itself, and caused quite a stir when he published it.

Hope it provokes your thinking as you migrate across the quandaries of contemporary life.

1. The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.
2. It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces.
3. It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than the one it replaces.
4. It should use less energy than the one it replaces.
5. If possible, it should use some form of solar energy, such as that of the body.
6. It should be repairable by a person of ordinary intelligence, provided that he or she has the necessary tools.
7. It should be purchasable and repairable as near to home as possible.
8. It should come from a small, privately owned shop or store that will take it back for maintenance and repair.
9. It should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships.

Magic happens

Today I had the honor of witnessing the Teacher of the Year ceremony at Denver Academy. It was particularly poignant since the award is now named in honor of a long time Denver Academy teacher and one of my all-time best friends, Kevin Gregier. He passed away last November (2008) from cancer at the age of 64.  I miss him every day.

The afternoon summed up so well the wonder of Kevin Gregier as a teacher and the magic of Denver Academy as a place for learning.  Wonder and magic together provide enchanting elixirs to enliven our educational quandaries:

•Learning that is centered more on the varied needs of the student than in the confines of a curriculum.

•Teaching that is liberated so educators can bring their own whimsy to their subject matter.

•A commaraderie that goes beyond selfishness, looks to the betterment of everyone, and exhibits a genuine joy to be in the company of each other.

•An awareness of a spiritual transcendence that resides not only in the hearts and minds of students but is embedded in the very nature of education itself.

•Leadership that realizes life is messy and in a constant state of flux. They are not afraid to take a risk for the sake of the contemporary student or for the enhancement of a teacher's well-being.

•An extended community of parents who take an active role in sparking the perpetual potential of every child they come in contact with.

Thank you Denver Academy and all the places like you who provide an educational environment where wonder is taught and magic happens everyday.

What I'll say to graduates

I have the honor again this year of addressing the graduates of Front Range Community College in Colorado. When I spoke at their commencement last year I highlighted the resilient skills needed to navigate the tumultuous rapids of change.  Little did I know how prescient that was given the upheavals of the intervening year!

This year I am going to focus on the stimulus package of education.  Stress is everywhere.  Relationships are strained.  Systems are breaking down.  Nearly everyone is bewildered and deflated.  The time is ripe for graduates to enliven the world (and their lives) through the dynamics of a stimulating education. Here, briefly, is my outline of those dynamics:

Stars in our eyes: A stimulating education ignites a hopeful vision for the future

Mud on our hands: A stimulating education inspires a grateful service for community

Curiosity in our minds: A stimulating education exhibits an imaginative prowess for exploration

Love in our hearts: A stimulating education instills a willful sacrifice for others

Nothing Like the Real Thing

A previous post I wrote highlighted the late 90's toy senstation, the Furby.  I referred to an article that mentioned the rapid technological transformations of the past few decades which have impacted the world views of children.  They didn't have any problem describing the Furby as an object that is neither animate or inanimate.  They put it in a new in-between category (that older generations have a hard time conceiving of) that was created to accomodate their technological world view.

However we categorize it though, in the end, the Furby is only just a toy and not a companion.  It can never replace the interactions we get from real puppies, bunnies, and cats.  Same can be said for nature.  There just is no technological substitute or simulation (now, anyway) for the deep pleasures that only a hike outside can provide. 

Consider a recent study be the University of Washington psychologist Peter H. Kahn, Jr. and colleagues.  Paul Bloom in the New York Times Magazine reports that the scientists put 50-inch high-definition televisions in the windowless office of faculty and staff members to provide a live view of a natural scene.  Though people liked this, health measurements regarding heart-rate recovery from stress revealed that HDTV's were shown to be worthless. No better than staring at a blank wall.  What did help with stress was giving people an actual glass window looking out upon actual greenery. 

So, I'm going to go outside.  A half-hour walk in the park will trump the best half-hour of "The Office" on TV anyday.

Remember that "creepy Furby"?

I can remember the Furby craze about 10 years ago.  Since I'm now considered an elite member of an older generation, I didn't really see the point.  But this article highlighted what a significant worldview upheaval this furry robotic creature really ushered in.
It again raises the question I've devoted my life to exploring: What is the world coming to?

If you decide to teach us.

If you decide to teach us, please donʼt blame yourself for not being able to do it. Itʼs not your fault; things have changed quite a bit since your days. You see, over the last twenty years we have slowly invaded your classrooms from outer space. It started covertly at first, but landings have picked up at a fevered pitch lately. We sensed an unprecedented moment in your history and we pounced. It is our desire to pulverize the flesh off of you.

We know we look very much like your kind, but we are extremely alien I assure you. Donʼt let the sagging costumes of our baggy pants or the awkward gait lull you into complacency. We are smart and dangerous and our methods for taking over are far beyond your ability to comprehend them. Resistance is futile.

But since your world is as alien to us as we to you, we have chosen to cooperate. So if you decide to teach us, keep the following postulates (not the small, pus filled blisters) at the forefront of your modus operandi.

We canʼt read. At least we canʼt read for hours at a stretch, or keep our minds focused for that long, so books assigned wonʼt do us much good. Our attention span has evolved through current technology and media to piece together written snippets from a variety of sources and hobble them together into a coherent whole.

Our information is organized across multiple channels, some of which you are not even aware of (ever heard of twitter?) and is constantly updating or expanding. Our kind see you as just another channel from which we derive our information about your world. So there. Click.

Where weʼre from we are wildly connected. Information and messages flow easily from one place to another and we transport it with us on really cool, miniaturized hand held devices. Our knowledge isnʼt housed in physical libraries or relegated to the confines of a classroom. I know you wonʼt want to hear this, but you arenʼt the primary source of our knowledge on a subject. You are just one tool among many, adding a bit of value to the overall linkage of our intelligence. We participate in the creation of content and emphasize social affiliations and active engagement. We are a swarming, heaving hive of connectional nodes and interactions. You might often hear the buzzing of our world in the background of yours - some call it white noise, others call it cyberspace, some the computing cloud, but everyone knows it is there even if they canʼt quite place it, like a silent fart.

Maybe one day we will not be the aliens you make us out to be. Yes, we are bypassing every cherished means previously known to work for you in earlier earth years. But if you decide to teach us, we are confident that the unrelenting attack of information upon us, like some slimed excrement fired from a high powered pulsar rifle, will become useful knowledge. But, and it pains me to say this, we need you.

We are extremely curious (though many of us wonʼt admit it), by the dynamic you call wisdom.
We tried various means at our disposable to download it instantly into our operating systems but have been stymied repeatedly in our attempts. We would like to know what it is, and how it transforms knowledge into a constructive and positive life force. Our high council assures us that only then will the total annihilation of your species be avoided.

Hello world!

There are five generations alive today. This has never happened before in the history of our society.

To help us effectively navigate the broad spectrum of age diversity in our lives LivingYearz focuses it's presentations on three generational interactions:

•Sociological: "You are who you were when" presents the particular societal themes that shaped our unique generational personalities:
-Conflict
-Control
-Chaos
-Change
-Choice

•Situational: "Can't we all just get along?" explores some  key circumstantial quandaries we encounter across a swiftly changing age diverse landscape
-Educational
-Technological
-Attitudinal
-Communal

•Relational: "Better Together" imparts core connectional competencies that effectively engage one another and leave a significant legacy
-Robust Imagination
-Potent Communication
-Persistent Adaptation

In addition, resources are available or in development that are immersive in each of the subpoints mentioned above. So if you find yourself in an educational quandary with younger students or an older teacher, or a shifted emphasis away from the school classroom to the computing cloud than "Strange New World: the alien world of the classroom" is the elixir you need.

Stay tuned and up to date. I will make comments and highlight useful resources that interface with the interactions mentioned.