What if Stephen W. Hawking lived in the 14th Century?

12 Comments

Comment by Scott Semester on July 2, 2008 at 4:13pm

Amy, I gotta tell ya that the image of Stephen Hawking naked in the fetal position is NOT the picture I got. At all. :)

But your premise is interesting, and kind of fits with some thoughts I had when Nicholas Negroponte's TED Talk about One Laptop Per Child was on the SI Main page. I wonder if any of the young people who've received the OLPC laptops is keeping a blog. (I admit my own laziness -- I have not done any research to figure out the answer to that question.)

BUT! What this makes me think about, specifically with regard to SI and your post, is this: I wonder if there are other Smaller [international geographic unit]s out there waiting to happen. Smaller West Africa, for instance. Smaller Egypt. Smaller UK. Smaller [BLANK]. Because whether Stephen Hawking had been born in 14th-Century Italy (for example) or 21st Century Sierra Leone, the world's access to his particular genius might be about the same.

Do we know of any Sister Smallers out there that we might develop or link up with in some creative way? Three billion minds at the speed of light -- awesome!

Comment by Amy Stark on July 2, 2008 at 6:02pm

Thanks for the comment, Scott. I wonder what 14th century Stephen W. Hawking image popped into your head? Do you think mine is valid?

I have one of Nicholas Negroponte's laptops. I only wish the XO foundation was here in Indy, because I'm a passionate fan of his initiative.

We have a Congo Contingent on SI... Woody Collins. Perhaps we should ask him if there are any "Smaller Congo" websites. Maybe SI should put an initiative together to start a Smaller Congo type site, Woody has mentioned that he receives cell phone calls from grass huts frequently. How cool is that?

I truly appreciate your perspective on this. The juxtaposition of 14th Century Italy and 21st Century Sierra Leone was brilliant, Scott, I hadn't thought of that.

You should look at some of Woody's posts, he's an interesting guy!

Comment by Scott Semester on July 3, 2008 at 4:38pm

I do, indeed, think your point was valid re: Stephen Hawking in the asylum. My mental picture was just not so, shall we say, vivid! :)

Didn't know about the Congo contingent. Wierd coincidence because (a) I didn't realize you were one of the Smoosiers with the One Laptop Per Child connection, and (b) when I originally typed my response, "21st Century Sierra Leone" read "21st Century Congo" and I changed it because, though Congo sounded more remote to me, I have personal experience with mission work in Sierra Leone. Wild!

Thanks for the thought provokers!

Comment by Amy Stark on July 3, 2008 at 5:23pm

I do tend toward the dramatic, it's part of my charm =)

I don't think this exchange is wild in the least. As I become more involved with the SI community that 'wild" serendipitous feeling seems to be happening with greater frequency. I just had lunch with Pam Frazier and we shared about five.

Comment by Scott Semester on July 4, 2008 at 11:13am

And here's another connection/serendipity/whatever: I was just spending some time on TED.com (as encouraged by Smoosier Matt Theobald), and one of the winners of the TED Prize last year wished (the winner of the TED Prize gets $100,000 and gets to make a wish to enlist the support of the world to do something) for help in providing African students with math and science education, under the concept that "The next Einstein may be African." (Check out NextEinstein.org for more info.)

Comment by Amy Stark on July 4, 2008 at 11:39am

Try this bit of serendipity on for size. Because of Matt's Blog, I posted this response:

I like the way you think! I am already a TED Member, and I see that Scott Semester is, too. To no one's surprise, so is Pat Coyle. I haven’t been able to master the TED Member Search engine to look by geography, so I only know of those three.

As you typed in your TED profile, I imagine attending a TED Conference. As a matter of fact, my grandiose notions induced me to apply for the TED Fellowship to attend the next conference. I learned of the Fellowship after my exchange with Nwodeki a couple of weeks ago.

Fellowship Applications were due June 30th, and I decided to apply after the Thursday night Smaller Indiana Soiree. My sentiment after the Open House on 6/26/08--a phrase that keeps turning over and over in my mind--is “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” That Aristotle, what a wacky guy, eh?

I was so impressed with the individuals who attended the soiree. The whole of Smaller Indiana must be off the chart! Just imagine a TED Soiree!

I am nervous about this post because I don’t want to put the kibosh on my chances. And now if I don’t get the Fellowship, I will have to expose my humiliation to all Smoosiers. Or maybe I should let it go quietly into that sweet night. >end.

Comment by Amy Stark on July 5, 2008 at 9:28am

You know what's weird, Scott? I posted the above comment on the TED blog and Matt did not accept it so it never appeared. I am too nervous to ask him why he did not display the comment. I wonder if he applied for the TED Fellowship, too, because there wasn't anything bad in the comment. What do you think?

Comment by Scott Semester on July 5, 2008 at 9:36am

Well, I have two thoughts: (1) It took a while for Matt to approve my comment, and (2) It's the holiday weekend, so he may be traveling and not have immediate internet access. :)

Actually, a third thought -- I wish Matt would have made his post about TED a few days earlier so *I* could have applied for the TED fellowship, too! Ah, well, there's always next year, right? :)

Also -- sorry for not responding to your other comment sooner, so I'll do so now -- I don't think there's any humiliation in applying for the TED fellowship and not getting it. I bet they get a boatload of applications for a limited number of fellowships. It's the ones who never try who have to deal with ... well, if not humiliation, certainly a life different than I'd care to lead. So, good for you for applying! Keep us posted, and if you do get the fellowship, you damn well better blog about TED on SI!

Comment by Amy Stark on July 5, 2008 at 9:49am

That is my intent... I would love for Pat Coyle and Smaller Indiana to get some TED attention. I didn't know about the Fellowship until a couple of weeks ago, and really thought it was just too big a dream, until the soiree.

I submitted my comment over an hour before you submitted yours. He would have seen it when he commented back to you, that's what bothered me.

Comment by Matt Theobald on July 5, 2008 at 9:51am

OK. Serendipity overload alert.

Don't know about the TED blog thing. I just signed up for TED a couple days ago. Didn't think I would have any capacity to approve content on their site. I'll check it out. Haven't applied for the fellowship. and, really, please don't be nervous. :)

I don't know for sure, but insane asylums, sanatoriums, etc.. are a more recent institution (late 18th or 19th Century I'd guess) than the 14th century. In the 1300's things were just slowly coming out of the Dark Ages. Just speculating, but with his condition he probably would not have survived that long. It would have really been a special situation if he did. Who knows though, really. Speculative history would be the subject this exercise falls under. If you ever get a chance to read Francis Foucault he has kind of quantum view of historical change. Clearly, no one is the 14th century could fathom Hawking's experience. Let alone our ability to fathom the experience of an African Einstein of the 22nd century.

Cheers!

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