From a Peak in Darien

The paper Holistic Equations is now quite old.

It was originally written in September 2008, in the latter stages of a long trek, in which I was attempting to see a way forward towards a viable alternative to Pluralistic Science. Much has been achieved in relevant areas since that time, but none have been directly added to that contribution. Though this may seem surprising, I have good reasons for not changing that significant paper, for even its mistakes are revealing. It really should not be touched!
Now, my reasons for these remarkable conclusions are, of course, to do with pedagogy.
I have arrived at some crucial conclusions regarding how you must deliver Theory to those who have no idea of the necessary trajectory of development that must be followed to reveal the New.

Indeed, I now believe that the publication of a final, all-bells-and-whistles paper is almost always a Bad Thing! It does not encourage people to make their own contributions. Indeed, it invariably inhibits them from such undertakings. For such are usually, and sometimes purposely, intimidating, implying the arrogant sub-text that “If you don’t understand this, you are thick!”
So, on the contrary, the best educational papers are certainly not the final ones, but those which marked a realisation of where to go without yet having any experience of actually doing such a thing. As Hegel insisted, “Once you realise that a boundary exists, you have already passed it!”
Such turning points are packed full of real Science – mostly in the inevitable and necessary dead-ends, but also, and crucially, the occasional View as from a Peak in Darien, wherein a wholly new Ocean of Reality is glimpsed for the very first time.

For when the thinker finally stumbles upon such a View, a thousand possibilities are immediately evident within his head. He may currently have found himself up a sizeable Gum Tree, but he is still Full of Delight! He has certainly glimpsed the Promised Land can immediately guess at many of its features.

So, here is that paper from 2 years ago, which elicited a positive Adaptive Radiation of new lines of Thought, for it is when I, after 25 years of asking the same question and never getting any answers, I finally stumbled upon the answer for myself. The seemingly simple question was, “What are Iterative Equations really about?”, and its inevitable riders, “Why do we get different, and more real, behaviours from such equations, than are ever available from the usual pluralist forms, which currently dominate Science?” It took me a long time to realise that the users of such forms just didn’t know the answer, and perhaps even more surprisingly, didn’t want to know it! They worked! That was enough!

But they were profoundly mistaken!
In a trajectory that is only now coming to fruition this scientist and philosopher is only now finally treading the route he observed two years ago.
To deprive people of that experience is unthinkable, not only to communicate what I have gone through, but to experience real Science and not the drivel that is currently peddled everywhere, which certainly does resonate with, “If you don’t understand this, then you are thick!” What utter rubbish! Show me a serious worker, who has had innumerable failures along with his few successes, and I will show you a real scientist.

Holistic Equations was a signpost to NOW!
Its very errors, mistakes and wrong paths were its best qualities. Without them you will never understand!

Read Holisitc Equations

Issue 16 of Shape

Read it here