| September 9, 1999 | 04 00069 61 99090901 |
Mr. David S. Vannier
Director
IA-64 Product Planning
Intel Corporation
2200 Mission College Blvd; Mail Stop SC12-507
Santa Clara, CA 95052 8119
| Subject: | NSF Proposal #9961176 |
|
Communication Metrics |
Dear Dave,
Thanks for responding to my letter of Sep 6. It is heartening that you have grasped the power of these ideas, perhaps because of your interview published in Byte magazine. When you gave the interview in 1991, it probably did not seem all that astounding to suggest that it might help get things done on time and within budget, if we
integrate time and information; but, it turns out that accomplishing that step is a huge advance for civilization. Few people ask with a straight face, using your DSL analogy...
People know "intelligence" is useful. What they don't know is that technology can give intelligence a boost, when properly applied.
Moreover, Morris points out that people are disappointed by the prospect of improving innate capacity. I think this is because people don't spend a lot of time thinking about "thinking." It just happens on automatic pilot, like a mystery beyond the reach of technology. There is, also, a religious aspect that makes the issue culturally alarming to some, discussed in the New World Order... paper.
As a result, explaining the details to others, as you note, is difficult, because human cognition is complex. Morris suggests explaining Com Metrics as helping memory, rather than intelligence. I put SDS on the web to help people experience these benefits. Even though they only get half of the equation, the diary, a number of people have volunteered that this system is beneficial. So, I think we are on the right track to help people "get it." I tried to use Asilomar to help people "get it," based on your Byte interview. That did not work very well. It met a storm of resistance, except for General Hatch, and he was ultimately dis-invited due to politics. Now we have the NSF initiative. Perhaps research is the proper venue for moving civilization forward by integrating time and information.
Look forward to discussing support for the NSF proposal when you call in a few weeks.
Thanks for continued interest.
Sincerely,
THE WELCH COMPANY
Rod Welch
rowelch@ibm.net
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