Murray Gell-Mann

Wikipedia

Murray_Gell-Mann: Home

Amazon

Amazon

I want to quote one review from Amazon:

4.0 out of 5 stars The True Meaning of this Book, November 11, 2000
By Leonardo Motta
I decided to write this review because I thought none of the reviews really mentioned the main focus of this book. This is not a book about Quantum Mechanics, nor molecular biology, nor neurobiology. In this book, the great Gell-Mann exposes his ideas of why all subjects of science (from physics, to chemistry, to biology, to psychology) must be studied together, why they are related and also he shows models of how to do this unified study. He defends that reductionism is not the only way of doing science, in opposition of the philosophical ideas of Steven Weinberg and Richard Feynman. This book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, because there aren’t many books that are against pure reductionism written by reductionism defenders. Gell-Mann is not against reductionism, but against PURE reductionism; he think its nice to explain a complex phenomenon based on the theory of its contents but its also important to study the phenomenon in his actual level, studying the way that the complex works. Not only the simple. Thats the origin of the name: Quark, the simple, and the Jaguar, the complex.

Beauty is Truth

Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Ode on a Grecian Urn – John Keats

I just listened to a

TED talk by Murray Gell-Mann

He is eloquent about how beauty works in the investigation of truth in science. Beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder, there is pattern in nature, there is symmetry and self symmetry.

Why this is such a great talk for me is that it ties in with an essay I wrote a few years ago (and it is still under construction) about practice based evidence in psychotherapy. I write about a profound knowing that happens in psychotherapy that is scientific, and not at all like the physical sciences. Nor is it part of the social research that looks scientific but is just pseudo science.

Psychotherapy & Science

especially the section on Alice that concludes:

Finding repeating patterns in what might at first glance appear to be unrelated material is very like the scientific endeavour in the physical world. Once a pattern is clearly seen then we have established a law of nature. To think of the work with Alice – which is typical of our psychotherapeutic work – as a form of research requires a shift of perspective, but it is clearly in a similar realm.

The dynamics that repeat independently of the content are understood through a visceral experience, tears and laughter. When yet another instance of the pattern is spotted it corroborates and often extends the understanding. When the dynamic is evident, though in a minor way in the psychotherapy itself it is a full experiential knowing that is shared in the psychotherapy space. Both the psychotherapist and the client can easily use such words as knowing, understanding which are the very things that scientific research aims for.

Socialist Aotearoa

Socialist Aotearoa

If you’ve changed your lightbulbs recently or decided to get yourself one of those reusable green bags from Foodtown then good on you, but you may want to consider that although New Zealand has one of the highest carbon footprints per person in the entire world, the vast majority of our greenhouse gases are created by massive companies like Fonterra, Comalco / Rio Tinto, Solid Energy and Genesis Energy who have more influence over the New Zealand climate protection policy than you can shake a lightbulb at. So should we be concerned that these mega-polluting giants are the ones who get to tell Helen Clarke, Kevin Rudd and the rest of us whats good for the climate? We certainly think so and would like to invite everyone else who agrees to join us this Wednesday for the final day of the conference.

Formal and colloquial NVC

I am excited ant the distinction between Formal and colloquial NVC (Dan mentioned it tody over lunch) & I have followed up on it.

I get into the bind about the formal stuff I teach in the Intentional Dialogue. Of course it can be used colloquially, ionfomally.

I think though that the formal dialogue is needed, perhaps as a guide to a mopre integrated clean communication.

The dialogue is a discipline and I think the psyche needs that structure to go deep. To go fast.