Of the few folk who know about "T-Shaped Skills" > http://bit.ly/hU0dC3 < few of them really understand the implications.

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I first encountered the notion while studying abdhidharma. "Vast" isn't good enough; understanding has to be "broad and profound". T-shaped, right?

My project is t-shaped: at the base is a very technical (and novel) approach to discourse-based knowledge management. Along the horizontal is an entire continuum of domains in which the method can be applied. The problem is that folk who don't grok t-shaped focus tightly on whatever aspect of my project catches their attention. They don't see the whole, so they don't get it.

Let me approach it this way: the Renaissance ideal, one that was achieved, was to have an educated elite. That was new. Revolutionary, in fact. The elite should have a respect for scholarship and an appreciation for the "humanities" i.e. history, rhetoric, literature, and "moral philosophy". We have achieved that goal: our elite is educated. (I don't know about "moral", or even "ethical", but it is educated!) I suggest that an educated elite doesn't go far enough. We need to push for more, and our highest ideals and aims require as the next step a comprehensive application of the rule of law.

It's easy enough to see where the force of arms by police and military succeed. And painfully frustrating where force fails. But what about more civil forces? soft power? Have we exhausted discourse? Let me ask you this: does "forums suck" strike you as odd, or novel, or strange? I'd say it's a commonplace sentiment, and not groundless. My point is simply that we have not yet deployed a set of tools that serve public discourse the way we've tooled up for war.

just this as a start :-)

--ben
@bentrem | @ITGeek

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