sedimentary layers

 Several years ago I found myself talking about how Pixar came to be with one of the original employees.  The path was bumpy, fascinating and far too convoluted to detail here, but the entry of Steve Jobs was critical.   It wasn't an aha moment that he wanted to get into movies - quite the contrary - the advice and presumably his thinking at the time was to sell the computer visualization hardware and software that had been developed into fields we would now call "big data".  Medical imaging was an obvious target and there were many more like the analysis of large data sets like telephone call detail records.  But an effort was underway to sway Steve to the arts.  He made them prove it and they managed to deliver, but folklore has it that one of the ideas that impacted Jobs was "100 years from now Microsoft, Apple, the Mac, NeXT, etc would be sedimentary layers encased in history, but 100 years from now everyone would still be aware of Mickey Mouse and Cinderella..."

 

Art is immortality

 

Imagine aliens visiting Earth brought here by technologies thousands of years more advanced than ours.  What would interest them?  Probably not our technology and science - after all, science is the study of nature and they would have a detailed understanding.  Technology is based largely on science - there is more freedom in its direction with many possible paths, but theirs would be much more advanced.  I think they would be interested in us as social animals and, assuming their senses were similar and their minds responded somewhat in the same fashion, our art and music.

 

I've done a few things in science and technology, but most of them are now footnotes.  They have become part of the sediment.  Nothing wrong with that as that is how progress is made and I'm more motivated by the act of asking questions than by discovery, invention or innovation.  I see the act of asking questions to be something of an ephemeral art form.

 

The death of Doug Englebart brought this into focus.¹  Here was someone who, like J.C.R Licklider, saw a very plausible future and worked towards it.  The innovation part didn't come for another fifteen years or so, but sometimes there are visionaries who are great at assembling bits and pieces to paint a plausible future with technology  

 

And this morning came another reminder of how the process works. Mark Twain is often credited with saying "history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.."  This is undoubtedly true in major changes brought by technology.   I was listening to a podcast of In Our Time from BBC 4 while rowing.   Specifically on the invention of radio.  About as messy as any other culture changing technology.  I knew it would be a winner as soon as David Hughes was mentioned:-)

 

My early education through college was extremely narrow and I'm still making up for that.  Back then I would have applauded the strong weighting of STEM education, but now I recognize it as serious folly.  Cross fertilization is seriously important - characters like David Hughes are important during the development of serious change as people move from discovery to invention and finally to innovation.²  I suspect this will be even more important this century.  There have been several linkages of art and science.  Most are initiated from the science side, but some are beginning to come from the other direction.  A useful education should give someone the tools to be a bit familiar with both worlds and to cause a flowering of questions in both.

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¹ If you haven't seen his "mother of all demos" lecture, have a look.  It is well worth the time if you have any technical background.  Remember this is 1968!

²  I know ... innovation is such a loaded word.  I separate it from discovery and invention.  For me it is the first realization of some real change.  It may not be related to commercial success, but it a necessary component of change.  And it is also possible to not talk about it at all.

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Recipe Corner

 

Homemade Mustard

 

Ingredients

 

° 55g mustard seeds (the light colored ones are mild, the darker ones aren't.  Try different varieties and mixtures)

° 80g white wine vinegar

° 80g water

° 1 tbl maple syrup (a rich B grade is best)

° 1 tsp turmeric

° 1/2 tsp salt

° pinch of cayenne (adjust the amount if you like)

° a bit of extra water just in case

° if you like a spicier mustard a tsp or two of horseradish or, yikes, wasabi

 

Technique

 

° combine all ingredients, except for the horseradish or wasabi in a bowl, cover and let it stand for a few days in the fridge

° run it through a blender 'til its as smooth as you like.  Adjust thickness with extra water.  Add the hot ingredients at the end and blend.