More about nurture versus nature

Thank you everyone for your comments on my previous post on this subject. I’m working through them and learning from them. In the meantime, I’d like to extend the conversation on just one theme within the comments: Motivation. I think it’s at the heart of the nature-versus-nurture debate. Imagine going into Google and trying to … Continue reading “More about nurture versus nature”

More on Control and Complexity and Big

Dennis Howlett commented on a recent post of mine, On Control, where I was musing over Big’s relationship to Control Failure, and arguing that we needed a Better But Not That Big approach. One of the things Dennis said was “Big often means complex. So how do you propose to solve the complexity issues?” That … Continue reading “More on Control and Complexity and Big”

The openness aversion

Cory Doctorow pointed me (thanks, Cory) at this recent article from the FT: A closed mind about an open world. In it, James Boyle makes some very interesting points, I can only recommend you read it. Here’s a sample quote from the article: Studying intellectual property and the internet has convinced me that we have … Continue reading “The openness aversion”

The kernel for Confused of Calcutta

It looks like I’ve been found out. I’d been interested in blogging ever since I discovered the emergent blogosphere many years ago, egged on by RageBoy, Halley, Doc, Dan, Kevin et al. And sometime in 2003 I started toying with the process, after a dinner organised by Doc and Halley in New York that May. … Continue reading “The kernel for Confused of Calcutta”

Thinking more about innovation and path pollution: A long post

I’ve never driven a car in my life. I need to learn how to. I will, soon. In India, when I was growing up, if you were rich enough to have a car, you were rich enough to have a driver. So I didn’t drive. My father never drove, neither did my grandfather. But my … Continue reading “Thinking more about innovation and path pollution: A long post”