Lester Kurtz's Comments

I live nearby in Baltimore. Hope you will get in touch. 410-499-5403 dslesinger@alum.mit.edu

India Redefined www.indiaredefined-a4c.org the movement which I started last year& got award for ,'The Best Humanitarian Initiative of the Year
has started three different projects- "I Care", " Educate India", "Develop Your Village".Join & be with me in Redefining India.

India Redefined draws its inspiration from Gandhian Movement which was a revolution focused on independence. It was also about specific actions like non- cooperation by citizens. We are just trying to apply many Gandhiji's principles’ in this era, in this society and during these times. Maybe in a different flavor! Maybe the context is different! Maybe it’s a different world! But the goal is same! He also wanted India a better place to live in.


Thousands of people have joined this movement across the globe but we have only 37 Chapter co-ordinators till now to take on the responsibility, by rotation in different cities of India.It is voluntary work. If you want to suggest anyone's names for Chapter coordinator, then please send me a mail regarding this at ranjanakanti@indiaredefined-a4c.org

I strongly commend your joint efforts with James Otis to force the Indian government to do something significant to promote Gandhian thinking and living.

However, I believe that, in the conventional way, progress will be miniscule (relative to what is needed to change things around in our world in a time-frame that will have any adequate effect on this world). This is largely because of the 'language' we conventionally use to communicate about and debate on complex issues such as the need for non-violent resolution of disputes, ecological sanity, and economics that preserves our environment instead of destroying it, energy and resource depletion and so on. The major problem with our conventional means of discourse ('prose' which we are currently using at this forum) is that it is extremely difficult - perhaps even impossible - to convey the 'inter-relatedness of things' using prose alone. This leads to fruitless argumentation and "running 'round and 'round the mulberry bush" at practically all stages - leading to enormous frustrations and anger and even violence war sometimes, instead of civil and rational discourse on issues arising, based on the commonsense that we should be using in society. (I am NOT claiming that *all* disputes can be resolved in a civil manner through the understanding of the 'relatedness of things' - but a great many of them can indeed be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved. We simply cannot do this through the use in our civil discourse of our conventional prose).

I am NOT suggesting by any means that we should let things be - allow our world to go "go down the tube"! I do suggest that we do need some 'enhancement' to the language we use to discuss and debate complex issues, systems issues, and so on. I strongly recommend what I call 'prose + structural graphics' (p+sg) - where the structural graphics enables us to articulate, express, discuss and argue about the relationships between the factors in the complex systems we need to deal with. I do claim that the widespread use of p+sg in our discourse could significantly help rational and commonsense thinking based on environmental reality to become the norm (rather than being the exception that it is today).

It is worth observing that the fundamental scientific developments that led to the development of p+sg as a practical tool for you and me and everyone else to use were discovered/invented by someone who retired from George Mason University just a few years ago! I refer to the seminal contributions of Professor John N. Warfield to (a practically usable) systems science. Check out "The John N. Warfield Collection" that is held the GMU library - also see http://www.jnwarfield.com for all the references you may need to the origins of what I describe as a 'usable systems science'.

If you'd like to see p+sg in its most easily usable form - through which it can be directly used to help people create effective Action Planning based on their own current good ideas to accomplish any complex Mission*, I shall be happy happy to send you information about the 'One Page Management System' (OPMS) - a powerful generic aid to problem solving and decision making based on Warfield's contributions to systems science. I can send this material to you as attachments to an email message - a Powerpoint presentation and some Word documents about 1.5 to 2 MB in size. If you feel interested in/intrigued by my claims for the OPMS, I shall be most happy to make freely available to you/your students/others interested the prototype OPMS software, which will enable people to construct the structural graphics models that would help visually show relationships between factors in complex systems - I shall also be happy to provide needed guidance to use the OPMS on real Missions of current interest - e.g. "To ensure the Indian government takes practical steps to promote Gandhian thinking and living worldwide". (No fees or charges for any such worthy Mission).

Please do feel free to seek any clarifications or further information required.

I shall look forward most keenly to hearing from you,

Warm regards
GSC