} else { //counterclockwise moveLayer(c.prefix + 0, getLayerX(c.prefix + 0) - c.speedmove, getViewYOffset() + c.spacer); if (getLayerX(c.prefix + 0) - c.speedmove <= getViewXOffset() + c.spacer) { c.side = 1; moveLayer(c.prefix + 1, getViewXOffset() + c.spacer, getViewYOffset() + c.spacer); setVisible(c.prefix + 1, 1); setVisible(c.prefix + 0, 0); } } } else if (c.side == 1) { // left side if (c.direction) { moveLayer(c.prefix + 1, getViewXOffset() + c.spacer, getLayerY(c.prefix + 1) - c.speedmove); if (getLayerY(c.prefix + 1) - c.speedmove <= getViewYOffset() + c.spacer) { c.side = 0; moveLayer(c.prefix + 0, getViewXOffset() + c.spacer, getViewYOffset() + c.spacer); setVisible(c.prefix + 0, 1); setVisible(c.prefix + 1, 0); } } else { //counterclockwise moveLayer(c.prefix + 1, getViewXOffset() + c.spacer, getLayerY(c.prefix + 1) + c.speedmove); if (getLayerY(c.prefix + 1) + c.images[5] + c.speedmove >= getViewYOffset() + getViewHeight() - c.spacer) { c.side = 3; moveLayer(c.prefix + 3, getViewXOffset() + c.spacer, getViewYOffset() + getViewHeight() - c.images[11] - c.spacer); setVisible(c.prefix + 3, 1); setVisible(c.prefix + 1, 0); } } } else if (c.side == 2) { // right side if (c.direction) { moveLayer(c.prefix + 2, getViewXOffset() + getViewWidth() - c.images[7] - c.spacer - c.scrollbars, getLayerY(c.prefix + 2) + c.speedmove); if (getLayerY(c.prefix + 2) + c.images[8] + c.speedmove >= getViewYOffset() + getViewHeight() - c.spacer) { c.side = 3; moveLayer(c.prefix + 3, getViewXOffset() + getViewWidth() - c.images[10] - c.spacer - c.scrollbars, getViewYOffset() + getViewHeight() - c.images[11] - c.spacer); setVisible(c.prefix + 3, 1); setVisible(c.prefix + 2, 0); } } else { //counterclockwise moveLayer(c.prefix + 2, getViewXOffset() + getViewWidth() - c.images[7] - c.spacer - c.scrollbars, getLayerY(c.prefix + 2) - c.speedmove); if (getLayerY(c.prefix + 2) - c.speedmove <= getViewYOffset() + c.spacer) { c.side = 0; moveLayer(c.prefix + 0, getViewXOffset() + getViewWidth() - c.images[1] - c.spacer - c.scrollbars, getViewYOffset() + c.spacer); setVisible(c.prefix + 0, 1); setVisible(c.prefix + 2, 0); } } } else if (c.side == 3) { // bottom side if (c.direction) { moveLayer(c.prefix + 3, getLayerX(c.prefix + 3) - c.speedmove, getViewYOffset() + getViewHeight() - c.images[11] - c.spacer); if (getLayerX(c.prefix + 3) - c.speedmove <= getViewXOffset() + c.spacer) { c.side = 1; moveLayer(c.prefix + 1, getViewXOffset() + c.spacer, getViewYOffset() + getViewHeight() - c.images[5] - c.spacer); setVisible(c.prefix + 1, 1); setVisible(c.prefix + 3, 0); } } else { //counterclockwise moveLayer(c.prefix + 3, getLayerX(c.prefix + 3) + c.speedmove, getViewYOffset() + getViewHeight() - c.images[11] - c.spacer); if (getLayerX(c.prefix + 3) + c.images[10] + c.speedmove >= getViewXOffset() + getViewWidth() - c.spacer - c.scrollbars) { c.side = 2; moveLayer(c.prefix + 2, getViewXOffset() + getViewWidth() - c.images[7] - c.spacer - c.scrollbars, getViewYOffset() + getViewHeight() - c.images[8] - c.spacer); setVisible(c.prefix + 2, 1); setVisible(c.prefix + 3, 0); } } } setTimeout("updateBorderPatrol(c" + c.uid + ")", c.updateDelay); }
"THE DR. WILL SEE YOU NOW."
links: click here to go to allan schmid's excellent site at michigan state university.

check this short piece for an independent restatement of ayres' position on the process of resource-creation by an interesting guy (jesse ausubel) at what must be a fun place to work (program for human ecology).
click on the photo to visit jim sturgeon at umkc; he has a link to a full-text version of the motherlode of institutional economics, the theory of economic progress, by clarence ayres.
IVAN WEINEL
[email protected]
concept of
culture

rejection of dualism

instrumental theory of value

definition of "technology"

reciprocal def. of "tools" & "skills"

combinatorial theory of invention
(tool combination principle)

cultural diffusion

ceremonial / instrumental dichotomy
***********************************
PRINCIPLE OF TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS: PROGRESS IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE EXISTING TECHNOLOGICAL STATE OF THE ART, AND INVERSELY RELATED TO THE DEGREE OF CEREMONIAL RESISTANCE.
AYRES PUT FORTH A COGENT AND COMPREHENSIVE EXPLANATORY FRAMEWORK FOR THE CENTRAL QUESTIONS  OF MODERN ECONOMIC HISTORY. WHAT ARE THE MECHANISMS DRIVING THE LONG-RUN EXPANSION OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD? WHY IS THE EXPANSION SO GEOGRAPHICALLY SKEWED? WHY DID THE SPECTACULAR CHANGES THAT TOOK PLACE IN MODERN WESTERN EUROPE (~2ND MILLENIUM C.E.) NOT BEGIN IN THE MORE ADVANCED (AT THE TIME) CULTURES TO THE EAST?

HOWEVER, I WOULD ARGUE THAT THE ESSENTIAL LEGACY OF CLARENCE AYRES GOES DEEPER THAN ANY SPECIFIC ISSUES OF HISTORIOGRAPHY; IT IS THE MANNER IN WHICH HE COMBINED THE VALUE THEORY OF DEWEY WITH VEBLEN'S CRITIQUE OF THE BUSINESS SYSTEM BASED ON HIS DICHOTOMOUS DISTINCTION BETWEEN GENUINE KNOWLEDGE AND THE POWER TO PRODUCE DESIRED CONSEQUENCES AND THE "CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY" WHOSE CHIEF CONCERN IS TO INHIBIT THE EXERCISE OF INDUSTRIAL COMPETENCY. THE "CEREMONIAL / INSTRUMENTAL DICHOTOMY" CAN BE THOUGHT OF AS REPRESENTING TWO OPPOSING MODES OF VALUATION , THE FORMER BEING ORIENTED TOWARD THE MAINTENANCE OF EXISTING STRUCTURES AND HABITS FOR THEIR OWN SAKE, THE LATTER GIVING CRITERIA FOR JUDGMENT THAT DEPEND ON FUTURE CONSEQUENCES.  THE UBIQUITOUS NATURE OF BOTH ASPECTS OF OUR FACULTIES OF JUDGMENT AND THEIR IMMANENT CONFLICT THUS PROVIDES AT ONCE  A SUB-SYSTEM FOR THE GENERATION OF NOVELTY (INVENTION) AND A SUB-SYSTEM THAT SERVES TO BAFFLE AND RETARD THE PASSAGE OF THESE NOVEL ARTIFACTS AND PROCEDURES INTO THE MAINSTREAM OF CULTURAL PRACTICES. FURTHERMORE,  WHENEVER THERE IS SOME POPULATION OF OBJECTS THAT HAVE HERITABLE CHARACTERISTICS, WHEN THOSE CHARACTERISTICS POSSESS DIFFERENTIAL SURVIVAL VALUE, AND WHEN THEY HAVE VARYING DEGREES OF PROBABILITY OF BEING RETAINED, THEN WE CAN SAY THAT THIS POPULATION IS TRULY EVOLVING.  


CLICK HERE TO VIEW A BRIEF OUTLINE ABOUT THE WORK OF ANTHROPOLOGIST LESLIE A. WHITE, ONE OF THE 20TH CENTURY'S MOST INFLUENTIAL SOCIAL SCIENTISTS. HE DID MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN HIS FIELD TO BRING BOTH THEORY AND PRACTICE INTO CONFORMITY WITH THE RIGOROUS DEMANDS OF MODERN SCIENTIFIC PROCEDURES. HIS "SOCIAL EVOLUTIONIST" VIEWPOINT,  ALONG WITH HIS REMARKABLY PRESCIENT VIEWS CONCERNING THE ROLE OF ENERGY IN THE CULTURAL PROCESS, MAKE HIS APPROACH THE ONE MOST CONGENIAL TO THE INSTITUTIONALIST PROGRAM. INDEED IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SLIP A POSTCARD BETWEEN THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY AYRES IN THE THEORY OF ECONOMIC PROGRESS CONCERNING THE ANALYSIS OF CULTURE AND THE  POSITIONS TAKEN BY WHITE IN HIS MOST IMPORTANT WORK, THE SCIENCE OF CULTURE .


"TOOL-SKILL CONFIGURATIONS": ALTERNATIVE REPRESENTATIONS
1. MAPPING OF OPERATORS TO DIFFERENCES: SEQUENCES
2. SEARCH PROCESSES
3. GROWTH OF NETWORK
COMING SOON:

NOTES ON DISSIPATIVE SYSTEMS

TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION: VARIATION - SELECTIVE RETENTION
(W.R. ASHBY; DONALD CAMPBELL; HERBERT SIMON)

THERMODYNAMICS OF COMBINATORIAL INVENTION (H.J. HAMILTON; CROSSLAND / WEINEL): ENERGETIC MIXING / FOLDING PROCESSES; PRINCIPLE OF THERMODYNAMIC SELECTION; ASYMMETRIC RECOMBINATION

POWER AND PERCEPTION: INSTITUTIONAL  POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE ROLE OF BOUNDED RATIONALITY

SEARCH AND ADAPTIVE ASPIRATIONS WITH A MULTIPLICATIVE SEARCH SPACE: APPLICATIONS TO TECHNOLOGICAL FORECASTING (NEEDED: THEORETICAL BASIS FOR UNREASONABLY GOOD FIT OF THE LOGISTIC FUNCTION TO THE TIME PATTERN OF CHANGE IN TECHNOLOGICAL PARAMETERS / FIGURES OF MERIT)

TECHNOLOGICAL FIGURES OF MERIT: GENERIC FEATURES; PRECISION - VARIETY (MINIMAL DIMENSIONALITY)
STABLE INTER-MEDIATE FORMS


STRATIFIED
STABILITY

"INSTITU-
TIONS" V.
"ORGANIZA-
TIONS"

SOCIO-
ECONOMIC
"TEMPERA-
TURE"

"ENERGY
QUALITY"

"TOOLS" -
COLLEC-
TION, RE-
DISTRIBU-TION, TRANS-
FORMATION
OF AMBIENT
ENERGY

HERE IS A LINK TO ANOTHER PAGE OF MINE.
click here for a contrary view from a "new
institutionalist"
(richard langlois - "what was wrong with the 'old' institutional economics?")
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

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