The Authority To Teach (Department Of Dilettante Research)

[koganbot]

Returning to the subject of the Department Of Dilettante Research - summarizing it in one sentence:

Everybody takes each other's course.
(1) I don't mean this literally, since I'm hoping for scores of participants, while "everybody takes each other's course" is only feasible for a dept. of five or six max. But "everybody takes each other's course" conveys the SPIRIT of the enterprise.

(2) For this to work, people will have to create the authority within themselves to teach and must simply not let up on their urge to understand. A reason that departments of dilettante research didn't spontaneously emerge within Why Music Sucks, ilX, Poptimists, etc. was people's ultimate refusal to teach.

(3) So we'll make demands on each other. Would it help to institutionalize such demands? They may be up to the teacher. Pressure, force, rewards, structure, deadlines? Partially applied onerous requirements (PAOR): "State ideas rather than alluding to them." "You don't get to leave the room until I'm convinced I understand you and that you understand me."

(4) One goal here is to reach across space - social space, cultural space. So not just interdisciplinary but "intergalactic." This means we often start from misunderstandings.

(5) So I want this to take place in an open space. Is the department merely in an open space or is the department an open space? But the space would include outsiders and kibitzers and naysayers and those who don't "get" the requirements. I'm looking for people who are willing to fly with me, but my instinct here is that I also need to be in sight of those who won't fly and those who fly elsewhere.

(6) I don't know if this is relevant, but the think tank my brother is in (cbpp) was one of the "high-impact nonprofits" discussed in the book Forces For Good: the book's summary includes this sentence: "high-impact nonprofits work with and through organizations and individuals outside themselves to create more impact than they ever could have achieved alone." I'm seeking colleagues, not necessarily world changers, but an eye and a hand to fellow spirits may be wise. Are there any fellow spirits?

Links:

The original post for Department Of Dilettante Research

Other koganbot threads on the Department Of Dilettante Research, in reverse order

Poptimists threads on the Department Of Dilettante Research, in reverse order

Several hours after I made the first Department Of Dilettante Research post I got my column at the Las Vegas Weekly, which is one reason I didn't keep posting regularly about the department. Now I no longer have the job, so perhaps I'll make time for more of these posts.

Comments

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I am not the kind of thinker to run a course, or even to contribute much, but I am very good at exams, so let me know when you have formal qualifications to offer...

[koganbot]

Well, I've always wished you had more confidence in yourself...

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I think I have a realistic idea of my mind. It's absolutely exceptional in some ways, which is why (in order of importance) I am a second outside the world record at Minesweeper and have scored a world-record matching 210 on an IQ test and could get A+ on every exam at uni without having to try much and why I can produce quality software at ten times the speed of anyone else in my workplace. That's about a good memory and very efficient processing, especially anything at all mathematical. I'm a reasonable critic, but uninspired. I occasionally have a fresh idea that is not worthless, but always small-time stuff. I lack brilliance and creativity, or the kind of insight that better critics (whether in the arts or other ways) bring. I'm smart enough to just about follow conversations between (say) you and Mark, but nowhere near smart enough to contribute usefully very often, if at all.