[FRIAM] career choices as combinatoric search

[Prof David West]

Nick

Attached is a paper about a "very special computer science program." There is a story behind the multiplicity of authors: I wrote the paper and during a two-day workshop we collectively edited it to a final form and I thought their contributions merited co-authorship.

This is what I was doing at Highlands until dear Manny Aragon interfered.

davew

On Mon, Jan 20, 2020, at 6:21 PM, thompnickson2 at gmail.com wrote:
> Hi, Dave,

> 

> AT LAST! SOMETHING WE AGREE ABOUT!

> 

> I think you will read with pleasure the attached Letter to the American Psychologist written in 1969 but not published until a few years later. The back story was that the temporary job I had at Swarthmore had run out, and the job market had tightened and I was in danger of being SOOL, with a wife and two young kids. So I wrote a letter describing my proposed teaching program and sent it to 52 colleges and universities around the country. I got two nibbles and one bite. Whew. After I got the job at Clark, I sent the proposal to the AP as a “letter to the editor”. 

> 

> I think it also explains why we both believe so fervently in FRIAM. I wonder if the same kind of argument could be made for a very special sort of computer science program. 

> 

> Nick

> 

> 

> 

> Nicholas Thompson

> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology

> Clark University

> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com

> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

> 

> 

> 


> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *Prof David West
> *Sent:* Monday, January 20, 2020 3:00 AM
> *To:* friam at redfish.com
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] career choices as combinatoric search

> 

> I have been trying to tell my students for decades that multi-disciplinary teams are essential and that the lack of them is what significantly harms software development. Multi-specialization teams, e.g. analysts, programmers, testers, etc. are not multi-disciplinary.

> 

> In the world of software, you can find this notion in the writings of Constantine and Lockwood, 70s and 80s, Naur, 80s, Kay 90s, Beck 2000, and more.

> 

> Moreover, to be an effective part of such teams each individual on the team needs to be a "polymath." The business press and the design community have been writing about this for decades. The design community actually does it, but business is more lip service than actuality.

> 

> Buzzwords used: "T-shaped" individuals (breadth and depth), followed by "pi-shaped" (two depth, one breadth), followed by "broken comb" (multiple depths to various degrees with thick integrated breadth), followed by "modern polymath." The whole "learning organization" fad of the 1990s is also grounded in similar ideas.

> 

> Acquiring this breadth and depth of knowledge via the current educational system - semesters/quarters, N-credit courses, etc. is effectively impossible. Not to mention the disdain that every discipline has for every other discipline, such that if you really do get a degree that is inter- or multi-disciplinary, you are pretty much guaranteed you will never get a professor's job in any of the component disciplines, despite most universities erecting a liberal arts facade.

> 

> davew

> 

> 

> On Sat, Jan 18, 2020, at 5:52 PM, Roger Critchlow wrote:

>> So, as if it weren't already hard enough to figure out what to learn to do, where to do the learning, and where to go to practice it, here comes the need to maximize your value according to the abilities of your potential co-workers.

>> 

>> https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/12/eaax3370

>> 

>> via hackernews

>> 

>> -- rec --

>> ============================================================

>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

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>> archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

>> 

> 

> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
> archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
> 
> 
> *Attachments:*
>  * Pyschobiology as a form of general education.pdf
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