In 1968 Beer was working at IPC as was, and via cronyism (he had a team of bright young men including the brother of a girlfriend) I was paid to translate an abstruse French paper which introduced me to phenomenology. I think I knew what it was then, sure as hell don't now.
There were other British cybernetics bods around at the time, including my old Prof Peter Fellgett, but he didn't leave such an impression on British industry.
he really rinsed the IPC job; he also put George Spencer-Brown on the payroll while "Laws Of Form" was being finalised, and then had a hell of a job getting rid of him when the work was completed
The "insinuate a girl" may refer also to Allende's well-known womanizing tendencies. Which resulted in a bizarre situation where and he (as a senator) and Raul Rettig (another senator, who would subsequently write the famous 1991 "Rettig report" on the crimes of the Pinochet regime) got into an honest-to-God pistol duel sometimes in the 1950's due to their mistaken belief that they were both pursuing an affair with the same woman. The newspapers across the political spectrum mostly though dueling in the modern age was pretty silly, and both senators had to hide from the police in order to carry out the duel. It later turned out they were actually interested in two different women and the whole duel had been a misunderstanding.
Fair! Mostly wanted an excuse to share the bizarre dueling anecdote...
Is Brain of the Firm the main place he discusses his work in Chile, or is there anywhere else? I spent a fair bit of high school reading up on 1970's Chile and am curious.
Rettig and Allende reconciled (the duel was in 1952) and Allende appointed him Ambassador to Brazil, which meant he was out of the country during the coup in 1973.
In 1968 Beer was working at IPC as was, and via cronyism (he had a team of bright young men including the brother of a girlfriend) I was paid to translate an abstruse French paper which introduced me to phenomenology. I think I knew what it was then, sure as hell don't now.
There were other British cybernetics bods around at the time, including my old Prof Peter Fellgett, but he didn't leave such an impression on British industry.
he really rinsed the IPC job; he also put George Spencer-Brown on the payroll while "Laws Of Form" was being finalised, and then had a hell of a job getting rid of him when the work was completed
The "insinuate a girl" may refer also to Allende's well-known womanizing tendencies. Which resulted in a bizarre situation where and he (as a senator) and Raul Rettig (another senator, who would subsequently write the famous 1991 "Rettig report" on the crimes of the Pinochet regime) got into an honest-to-God pistol duel sometimes in the 1950's due to their mistaken belief that they were both pursuing an affair with the same woman. The newspapers across the political spectrum mostly though dueling in the modern age was pretty silly, and both senators had to hide from the police in order to carry out the duel. It later turned out they were actually interested in two different women and the whole duel had been a misunderstanding.
it's a lovely theory, but this is pure Beer; he's referring to secretaries
Fair! Mostly wanted an excuse to share the bizarre dueling anecdote...
Is Brain of the Firm the main place he discusses his work in Chile, or is there anywhere else? I spent a fair bit of high school reading up on 1970's Chile and am curious.
Rettig and Allende reconciled (the duel was in 1952) and Allende appointed him Ambassador to Brazil, which meant he was out of the country during the coup in 1973.