Science-Artificer Guild, Int'l

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SAGI Guild ~ Science-Artificers Guild, Int'l

SAGI Homepage - http://science-artificer.iwarp.com

Scientists * Artists * Philosophers * Futurists * Benchworkers * Outsiders * Healers * Networkers * Inventors * Imagineers * Economists * Activists * Entrepreneurs

 

"Compassion is the deepest form of memory." --Eve Ensler

 

JOIN US: SAGI -- a Nonlocal Action Thinktank -- invites you to network, collaborate and collectively dream, design and build exemplars of Cultural Rebirth with us as we envision and embody the future in the present. Let's create practical exemplars as the foundation memes for the next few decades. What visions of ourselves do we need to actively embody as we move forward?

SAGI offers exemplar projects for the hot futures of a New Renaissance as an alternative to Apocalypse. It is a vision rooted in the negentropic forces of life itself. Let's transcend boundaries in diverse fields, including political theory, health science, intelligence, macrohistory, women's studies, art history, economics, ethics, medical best practice, communications theory, and more. Today's research challenges are so complex it takes many minds to find viable solutions. We urgently need new options for collective participatory wisdom. SAGI is one such option -- may we commend it to you.

VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY: The transdiciplinary Science-Artificers Guild, Int'l (SAGI) is a glocalized association for artists, scientists, engineers, artificers, mentors, healers and others interested in work that crosses the artificial boundaries separating contemporary arts and sciences as well as the divide that separates thinking and doing. Together, we form a Virtual University or Subversity of Scholar-Practitioners.

SCI-ART FUSION: We feature illustrated articles written by artists and scientists about their own work as well as articles by historians, theoreticians, philosophers and other researchers that are particularly concerned with issues related to the interaction of the arts, sciences and technology in contemporary society and their contribution to a positive creative and sustainable future society for our grandchildren.

Negentropic Futures: In today’s complex and turbulent world it is vital to have artful futurists who can collaborate on collective projects, focus on action codified in exemplar projects and validate actions towards a better world. Unfortunately current ‘education’ systems focus almost exclusively on the individual learner and have separated the learner from the praxis of the lived life. Furthermore classrooms separate the learner from design, production and integration of learning into community life.

Future Perfect Tense: SAGI argues that overcoming this separation of thinking and doing is one of the key challenges for modernity and in futures in particular. We applaud wider application of "Intern" programs, learning while doing. We encourage mentoring at every scale in every niche opportunity. Ideas at the leading edge of culture cannot, by their very nature, be adequately reviewed by conventional peer review processes. There is simply no one there capable of graspng the concepts adequately. But those who can, DO...

Subversity: The periphery is a source of power in terms of new research directions. Smaller universities are vital in this regard. On the outer periphery are independent scholars and further in are 'pracademics' and in the inner sanctum the 'career' academics with little or no 'outside experience.' Incredible skills and enthusiasm are possessed by those effectively excluded from the conventional University system by the systems of exclusiveness and preciousness so dear to the academic profession. Universities are no longer relevant in that the public sector, banking, armed forces, large corporations etc are all downsizing. Part-time work and associated 'multiployment' is in the increase. The informal sector is booming. We encourage 'Polyphonic Multiversities.'

DEFINITIONS: We may be able to meet this challenge as ‘Artificers’ - innovative individuals who look forward wisely and solve collective problems today through applying their ingenuity with what is available. Integrating thinking, doing and being in ancient times was called Poiesis and in Medieval times ‘artificing’ and today can be seen in Action Learning and the Artificer.

Artists in Action: Many artists in this technical age are faced with perpetually learning new protocols for artistic production. Several media require elaborate production knowledge and technical skill. Much of this leading edge tech has to be self-taught, then unique applications in art may be discovered. One needs technical craft to produce digital fine art, for example. Today's artist also has to find and meet commercial and competetive goals in promotion, marketing and design.

Practicum: Blending personal and business acumen in the enterprise of your life. The four principles, as well as examples, of the Science-Artificer approach are discussed including their exemplar projects. Finally, the importance of the Artificer approach to ‘futuring’ and creating living breathing examples today of a future our children can live with is emphasised and collaboration sought. Having a product in demand now means you're dead in five years. The University system cannot solely answer 'how can we then live?' (note live not think). A system of learning needs to be practical and respond to the huge transdisciplinary and intergenerational challenges upon us such as:

  • environmental and economical
  • social, ie crime, violence and unemployment
  • ethical, ie from genetic and biophysical engineering
  • from 'classroom teaching' to 'elsewhere learning'
  • artificial intelligence and the web

Research Training: To be real you have to get out in front of the competition and indeed even the customer. Not so far that the customer is lost sight of but rather far enough to be able to explore alternative futures in which the customer may find herself in 20 yrs or so. Further the conventional academic qualification ie the PhD is in many ways inappropriate for professional students ie the 'business' of business is lateral thinking, decision making in turbulent environments, compromise, constant innovation, rapid and decreasing product development cycles, multi management etc. None of these readily fit into a conventional PhD.

A Science-Artificer or artificer learner now may be defined as:

someone who while being deeply and broadly technically skilled is reflexively orientated and who ethically and participatively explores the big picture and prioritises, chooses, designs and enacts forward wisely by creatively developing prototypes towards a world transformed. [Paul Wildman 15-12-03]

SAGI MISSION: The immediate goal of SAGI and glocalization's scale-relativity is practical development of pilot projects and best practice exemplars and policies that can be applied in many if not all areas. It includes proposals and concrete initiatives that promote balance of local and global dimensions via information sharing on a global or transregional basis. We foster truly innovative research initatives linking with the best researchers in social, physical and life sciences, in and out of universities to establish new forms of science-art.

SAGI VISION: Glocalization is a potential movement, an artful and heartful peace-building activity combining realism and idealism. It is a bottom-up view of the complex process of harmonizing local and global needs for sustainable futures. It brings globalization issues down to the human scale.

Social Synergy: Glocalization links committed local and global actors, including virtual personalities, individuals, local, national and international business, governmental and nonprofit entities, coupling and decoupling for positive sum solutions. We can harness the benefits of multinational globalization, ethical economics and repurposing open-source information for local realities by extensive local and long-distance interactions.

SAGI THINKTANK

“The concept of learning is changing from an emphasis on cognitive learning only to one of linking learning styles, seeing connections in dissimilar ideas, and applying new knowledge in new ways. This group will dialogue about how learning can meet the needs of the present through hands-on action, and, at the same time in parallel, focus on creating new knowledge for the future.” ~Wildman

Founding Members:

Paul Wildman, Ph.D., Australia

paul@kalgrove.com

Iona Miller, CHT, United States

iona_m@yahoo.com

 

FUTURING: The New Social Cradle

We can create an evolutionary politics to build a more creative future. We can empower ourselves to resist status quo politics and shape ourselves a better destiny - a 21st century Manifest Destiny that fulfills our positive spiritual potential. If we don't want a dark future for humanity, we must reinvent ourselves and our culture from the foundation upwards. Even if that is fantastically radical, it can still happen, one inspired person at a time and cascade toward a visionay approach to large-scale societal transformation that heals personal and global socioeconomical scars.

Competent citizenry can learn to impliment constructive visions for our collective planetary future. Deep and broad visions can stimulate reflection and lively discussion of contemporary solutions that can become the scaffolding for action plans from the community level upwards. A courageous and truly integrated vision would include a detailed strategy for a vibrant and life-sustaining future. Individually and collectively we have to redefine what it means to thrive with more compassion for others, not just survive. The paradigm needs to switch from "dog eat dog" to "we're all in it together."

Futuring includes six synergetic aspects: 1) mapping acceleration, 2) anticipating, 3) timing and 4) deepening the future, 5) creating alternatives to the present and 6) transformation. Aspirational futuring includes environmental scanning, forecasts, scenarios, visions, audacious goals and understanding change and strategic issues (analysis). Trends identify key forces shaping the future. Environmental scanning includes global, local, political, economic, technological, environmental and social trends. Roadmaps help us visualize strategies and collaborative foresight. Paradigms are the assumed truths of our logic. Acceleration is built into the physics of the universe.

We propose a negentropic paradigm for the valuecosm and governing principle of ecological development. ‘Edge’ artists as strange attractors are a source of negentropy in society, catalysts of contemporary life. We can draw from the organic metaphors of quantum physics, field theory, and chaos theory to illuminate the state of the arts.

THE EVOLUTIONARY SPIRAL
HELP ME (Basic Survival)
  • TRIBAL We (Collective Survival
  • GRATIFY Me (Immediate Wants)
  • RIGHTEOUS We (Stable Authority)
  • COMPETETIVE Me (Material Success)
  • HOLISTIC Us (Global Harmony)
  • INTERDEPENDENT Me (Sustainable World)
  • SPIRITUAL We (Collective Renewal)

 

What's New with My Subject?

FROM ACTION LEARNING TO ARTIFICER LEARNING

Artificers then may be seen as a type of action learning that:

· Focuses on the learner, not only the thinking (academic education) but also action (although much action is seen as ‘behaviourist’ vocational education), such that it…

· Draws from experience, yet is proactive and intentional, towards a better world and…

· Embraces the overall Design process covering Idea | Design | Implementation
(I | D | I): including intelligent understanding of the basic concept; prototype design; establishment and critical reflection on subsequent outcomes by…

· Embodying the agency of the learner; not only in seeking to address structural issues/projects but is also…

· Directed to the good of the person and the good of society (integrity and ethics) i.e. virtuous action towards the good (of) society by…

· Linking action directly to the priorities from the ‘global problematique’ and is concretised in an exemplar project or master piece, that…

· Moves from praxis to poiesis i.e. from doing to making and shaping, i.e. action as prototype development, for the general good through a focus on critically informed instrumental action.

Artificer Learning is a form of action learning focused on the learner - who learns by making or shaping an action decided on collectively and intended for some particular application towards a better world. Such learning is always threefold – internal to the learner (integrity, values etc), external to the learner (ethics and how the world works), and bridging between the two (dexterity delivered content).