I remember it well: 2 times 1 is 2, 2 times 2 is 4, 2 times 3 is 6, and so on.  Up to 12 times 12 is 144.

What a great way to learn.  I still know that 9 times 7 is 63, and lots of other tricky multiplications too.  Has this gone out of fashion with smart-phones?

Everywhere you look in the blogosphere people seem to be bothered by their inability to teach and their students' failure to learn, especially in higher education. 

Alison Gopnik, Professor of Psychology, writes: “children learn by exploring—by experimenting, playing, drawing inferences.”  True—undoubtedly and it sounds so liberating.  But they also learn by repeating things 10,000 times: for example that’s how they learn to stand up or play the violin. More...

This map that I call the Taxonomy of Human Elements in Endeavour, THEE, is still incomplete and poses many puzzles. 

The taxonomy was a surprise discovery. I knew I wanted to find a way to help people and improve their relationships, work life and communities. And I soon found that I had to get to grips with psychosocial reality. This was because it became rapidly apparent that what people happen to think and feel has an amazing influence over what they do. Fitting in with reality, objectively or at least independently perceived, was a relatively low priority. Often, it only happens if a psychosocial process is crafted with this end in mind.

In trying to assist, I found More...

Warning: This blog is a human story but it has a lot of references to taxonomic architecture.

I know that I can never complete the Taxonomy myself, but it seems important that I get the basics sufficiently clarified so that others can continue and complete the work.  In that regard, I recently had an interesting and gratifying experience that I would like to share with you.

When I talk about «basics», there are two sorts of «basic»: basic principles (not the focus of this blog), and basic content.  In terms of content, the underpinning forms to be discovered and formulated are the single Root Hierarchy, the 7 Primary Hierarchies and their 7 Principal Typologies.  From these 15 patterns, a couple of hundred frameworks await reflective investigators.  (I promise myself that I will use the TOP Studio to provide members with an exact count.)

The Principal Typologies are of enormous importance because More...

The food industry is poisoning the population—globally. The USA being the most advanced country is the most poisoned. The giant corporations—Kraft, Nabisco, General Mills, MacDonalds, Coca Cola, Frito-Lay, Nestle's and others—they all do it with neuroscience. They know the brain is in charge, as the neuroscientists constantly tell us, and so they address themselves to instinctive reactions. They certainly don't encourage thoughtful deliberation about whether or not to buy what is nutritious.

The food giants deliberately activate brain-based reactions for salt, sugar, fat, crunch, mouth feel, tastes, colors and other factors. The goal is to get you to More...

The elements in being human are still mysterious for many.  

I guess that if you ask most people to identify human elements, they will wonder what you are talking about.  You will say: "just name those things that enable you to be human, that mean that you are human and not a machine or a plant or just another animal".  They will want examples.  You refuse.  They squirm, struggle and hazard some guesses: "Is it language then?" or "making tools?" or "laughing?" or "civilization?" 

Why is being human so strange?

If you want to show them some long lists of human elements, send them More...