I. Statement of Problem
The Three Flashes--from the introduction
1. Rate of increase of problems
2. Rate of increase of problem-solving capability (the "capability infrastructure")
3. Graphic vision of a CRT console

backstory to this moment

II. The Integrated Domain
and thereby hangs a tale

not a technology, but a conceptual framework-- a means of "working within the structure of the contained information" (101 col. 1)--metasymbolic processes?

III. Filing systems, symbol-structuring, language
are these equivalent? the ongoing debate between hierarchical ordering and "intertwingling" (Nelson)
visualizing complex concept structures--cf. Brooks, Wesch, Twittervision (100 col. 2)


IV. Specification, Organization, Content
fractal iterations

V. The problems
1. Understanding doesn't just resolve complexity; it increases it as well
2. Are all complex symbol structures fractal in their construction?
3. Do higher levels always contain lower levels in a readily communicable form? letters words sentences and up the chain....

Notes:

The Story of Douglas Engelbart

Once upon a time there was a young man named Douglas Engelbart. Doug went to school - got his degree. Doug proposed to his sweetheart, she said yes. Doug got a job, he was financially secure. In his mid-20s, he drove home one night and said to himself "I've achieved all my goals." (He grew up during the depression) He realized, "I have a steady job, the love of my life, and a college diploma. I'll probably live another 50-60 years. I should probably use whatever skills I have for the benefit of humankind. What could I do?" He ran through the many possibilities, and he thought, "what are the big problems that people have? Disease, war, the economy, overpopulation, starvation, pollution, bad government, illiteracy, etc." Then he thought "what if I could come up with a way to solve not just any particular problem, but worked on a way to improve our abiliy to solve problems?" Our problems are increasing faster than our solutions. In fact sometimes our attempts to solve a problem create more problems.
Examples: This class is '3 hours.' This only measures the time we're sitting in class. Credit hours are an invention to solve a problem - before, a class counted as 1 singular unit. This made it possible to transfer classes from one school to another comparably. In effect, credit hours affect the way classes are structured - they are used to calculate GPA, scholarships, etc. Some say the system now prevents learning. Sort of like cars. They transport people, and they kill people. And they create pollution.

How can we get to a point where solving problems doesn't make new ones? Can we imagine better ways of solving problems so we can get to a place where we can invent solutions faster than we can create problems? Otherwise we'll be strangled by the waste products of our own creativity. (End of 20th century = the most inventive period of human history because inventions began to beget new inventions.)

Once the conceptual framework is right, the rest of the process will become easier - the framework is a strategy for improving the process of improvement. aka "Bootstrapping." Like language, which makes communication easier and more precise.