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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Here is a perspective on this issue that you may
find adds to the other lively contributions on this
core topic.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Several years ago I was given a gift which has
had a profound influence on my thinking, professional practice and
life.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This is that 'Intelligence is a property of
conversation.' </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For diverse reasons I prefer to use the notion of
conversing. In other words, when people converse, intelligence
emerges</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>automatically. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>'truism'
IMO came via Kathleen Forsythe, </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>Canadian poet and
current vice president of the American Society for Cybernetics. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Kathleen is a former student and friend of
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>the late British cybernetician, Gordon Pask. It
was Gordon who made this seminal observation, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>which is integral to his 'Conversation
Theory.'</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Intelligence, I suggest to you, refers to
_process_ ie participants behave differently from how they do in everyday
life (some</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>offspring excepted <FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>:-) </FONT>). Their demeanor can be observed to be more questioning,
playful, curious, courageous, risk taking; in effect</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>open to possibilities in </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>the moment from listening to and sharing voices of lived
experiencing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>By intelligence, then, I do not refer to outcomes,
even though the likelihood of something novel and creative emerging is
very</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>high. My take is that, for example, questioning is
the wellspring of new knowledge which in turn can give rise to
unanticipated</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>solutions. I have a brief letter about this in
the forthcoming Feb 2001 issue of FAST COMPANY <A
href="http://www.fastcompany.com/">www.fastcompany.com/</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Conditions in which people converse? In my
experiencing, those cocreated through invoking the principles of OST and L2F
together with it</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>being explicit </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>among
participants that we are here to treat each other well, we're in
this together and this gathering will only happen once.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For amplification of this you may wish to see my
piece: 'Conversation as the Energiser of New Ways of Being and New Ways of
Doing.' </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In: </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>Reworking
Tomorrow. The Slim Book. 1998. <A
href="http://www.reworkingtomorrow.org/conversations/slim_book.html#energiser">www.reworkingtomorrow.org/conversations/slim_book.html#energiser</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Does it make sense to you that it is the
demeanor of participants which opens the possibility of creative outcomes when
people gather to converse </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>on </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>complex
matters? And does it resonate with you </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>that </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>the intelligence
manifest in Open Space Technology gatherings is the only thing that
could have? </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Alan
Stewart<BR>Adelaide<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>