Barry Mallis asks, regarding the problem he describes of a large hospital
inability to maintain informal contacts between staff:
> OK, Organs of Learning, where's the paradox in this problem? What's a
good analog? What unique feature of the analog might give us a clue on
how to solve this problem?
<end quote>
Now, being a contrarian person, my immediate thought was, what is the
opposite analogue? So, having recently been ill, and thus watched all
sorts of stuff on TV, I thought of termite colonies. Well, they have
millions of inhabitants, very tightly packed. Among them there are only
three specialized and quite different forms of termites. yet, they seem
to communicate extremely well, work out when is the time to get out and
search for food, with the solders leading the way and protecting the
workers. While this goes on, the queen produces young continuously, and
somehow is aware what numbers of each are necessary. The workers tend to
all her needs, store food, etc. Lots of them get killed on their nightly
outings,as do the solders.
These colonies are truly immense by the standards of our institutions.
They all live in the same place, extremely crowded. Does the fact that
there are only three different specializations present of any relevance
here?
Just a short note on looking for the case that disproves the observation.
Karl Poper, the first of the modern philosophers of science has shown that
theories can never be proved. They stand until someone finds the way to
disprove them. One a more mundane level, we used to find that in
brainstorming sessions people were often much more creative when asked to
think of all the occassions or possibilities where a particular statement
or set of facts does not apply.
-- lilly evans 100451.3477@compuserve.com
" One may feel isolated in one's own town, but one has forebearers all over the world. However, the history taught at schools does not emphasise such links, nor is it designed to reveal what memories matter most at present." THEODORE ZELDIN "An Intimate History of Humanity"