…admitting our ignorance, our concerns, our fears
This will be my last attempt at blogging before the conference. I realize I missed the boat by not responding regularly to what others had to say like Cayce does with Parkaboy in William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition. But, I do look forward to meeting all the characters in our drama face-to-face.
I also finished The Age of Spiritual Machines, Good to Great and I’m working on Tomorrow Now along with many other documents and those in OCLC’s 2003 Environmental Scan. I bounced his writing about genetics off on an expert in the industry and had an enlightening conversation. It is hard to believe we will actually meet this author. It is an incredible opportunity.
Levy offers answers to the means off facing our futures’ dilemma. “Through careful examination and reflection, through pointed questioning, through public discussion. By admitting our ignorance, our concerns, our fears. By looking at the present instabilities to see what they have to show us. We may not be able to predict the future, but at looking at documents we can perhaps see something at least as important: ourselves.” I think libraries (if they survive) will contribute to the “mechanism buy which we continually create meaning and order. Levy, Scrolling Forward, 202”
Levy’s writing is beautiful and his intellect is off-the-charts amazing. His book and The Future of Music by Kusek and Leohard rocked my world and are the new foundations of my personal collection right there with the ipod, TiVo and my personal assistant named Shuttle, who is my computer.
I was struck with the message where these authors collectively chose to leave-off the reader. “Plain information must make a connection to the subliminal-to the heart or the spirit-if it is to emerge as a meaningful contribution. That is the Internet has to offer us more than just information, we also need experience…perception… Music sells because it touches people. The Future of Music, Kusek and Leonhard, 172”
Signing off (until Monday, Monday), Sue Bello
