newton and einstein

assumptions, exactitudes, perfection and creativity

(when) do we need perfection?

4

I am Mike Ellis

I have spent about ten years “doing” the web

I am a generalist, fiddler and dabbler

I usually do presentations that try to suggest answers..

..this one is questions, all the way down

newton, 1666 (86)

stuff continues // f=ma // action and reaction

design of stuff around exact, elegant laws

a simple description of the physical laws of the universe

einstein, 1905

E=mc2

in some circumstances, Newton is

only “approximately correct”

and “approximately” makes people tense

so is life complicated

after all?

hopefully not

14

after all..

cars drive...planes fly...scooters scoot...clocks run...banks fail...servers start...electricity flows...things fall to the ground...trains run (sometimes)...we get up in the morning...

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however much you look at something which is measured, "exact", you'll find assumptions: project plans, visitor numbers, motivations, ad-rates, budgets, economic ups and downs, user testing, focus groups, polls...

"...we didn't need Einstein to put Armstrong on the moon"

"the perfect truth is perhaps not to be had, and certainly isn't necessary for startling and brilliant success"

i.e - is an (easy) approximation adequate, or actively better than a (difficult) exactitude?

Voltaire (or Flaubert?): “perfection is the enemy of the good”

time

qualit

y

perfection

can big teams be creative? can corporate bodies “innovate” ? can a government ever really “do” web 2.0?

these are uncertainty

22

“enterprise” vs “lightweight”,up-time, SLA’s, processors, top-down-ness vs bottom-upnessRDF and the semantic web...?

obviously, this isn’t an either/or argument

but how much “thinking” vs “doing”?

making things happen requires assumptions. Assumptions are inaccuracies. Inaccuracies are creative. Creativity is innovation.

uncertainty is good if it encourages creativity

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I am at twitter.com/dmje, if you like that kind of thing

thanks for listening.

Seesaw http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaxl4/16950197Wrong way http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsevilla/97727582Questionhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/drachmann/327122302Duck http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmje/2883634706 Newton’s Lawshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/sunnyuk/2357899880 Simple http://www.flickr.com/photos/louganmanzke/2722701187Hairhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/ocularsmith/239674652Chaos http://www.flickr.com/photos/penny2036/2498097929FogAlone in London http://www.gapingvoid.com/0711alone.jpg SkyMoonhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/2482050441 Babel http://www.flickr.com/photos/pulpolux/384199243 Escapehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/practicalowl/329076696Truth http://www.flickr.com/photos/kxlly/349894433 Web..?Corporate http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhinson/1439657540 Peace and randomness http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaneginer/2110759472