What better way to celebrate US Independence Day, or a slightly belated Canada Day, than with a new edition of “The Origins of Boyd’s Discourse”? Click for a larger view, and a full-sized PDF is now on the Articles page.
Lots of changes, but the basic idea remains the same: To illustrate Boyd’s “many-sided, implicit cross referencing process” at work. As he wrote in his “Abstract”:
As a result, the process not only creates the Discourse but it also represents the key to evolve the tactics, strategies, goals, unifying themes, etc., that permit us to actively shape and adapt to the unfolding world we are a part of, live in, and feed upon.
Some of the changes are:
- Explicit incorporation of “Destruction and Creation”and Conceptual Spiral
- Highlighting the theory of evolution by natural selection, which Boyd cites on Patterns 11 as one of the two fundamental sources of his theory of conflict
- More thematic treatment of the ideas in Patterns of Conflict, rather than just stating their names
- Edits, rearrangements, formatting, and other kaizen
[If you’re really into the theory of conflict, or just appreciate incredible scenery and intense competition by some of the world’s greatest athletes, the Tour de France is being covered live on the NBCSports cable channel and on various web sites.]
Slightly East of New 