Hedgehogs and Foxes

At Ekkullen where I live, a hedgehog has nested under my neighbor's terrace. We rarely see him/her but sometimes during the late summer evenings we can catch a glimpse. Foxes are scares here, but I've seen some in the countryside striding across the fields.

Both hedgehogs and foxes are mythical creatures, although associated with different features. In 1953 the essay "The Hedgehog and the Fox" was published by philosopher Isaiah Berlin. It draws on the work of the ancient Greek poet Archilochus who states that "a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog one important thing". Apparently, Berlin wrote it as an intellectual game but it was taken quite seriously.

In the essay Berlin divides writers and thinkers into two categories: hedgehogs, who view the world through the lens of a single defining idea and foxes who draw on a wide variety of experiences and for whom the world cannot be boiled down to a single idea. He claims that Plato, Dante, Hegel, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche and Ibsen are hedgehogs and that Aristotle, Shakespeare, Molière, Goethe, Pushkin, and Joyce are foxes. Although clearly lacking in gender awareness, Berlin doesn't favour any of the animals and they both seem to be very successful.

Management researcher Jim Collins is much more fond of hedgehogs. In his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't, he introduces the "Hedgehog Concept" as the intersection of the following three circles: (a) What you can be the best in the world at, (b) What drives your economic engine, and (c) What you are deeply passionate about. According to Collins it's not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best. It is an understanding of what you can be the best at.

Blogger Abraham Kamarck is in contrast in favour of foxes. Similar to Berlin, he claims that you can be a fox by nature but a hedgehog of conviction, and use this in communication. However, sticking to one single thing in business when the environment is changing is not a good strategy. According to Kamarck, hedgehogs make great experts and often “win” TV debates, because they have a simple, easily communicated message. He has also looked into what happened to the great companies in Collins study and found out that they were "not not successful because they stuck to a single idea. In fact, quite the opposite, many of them radically departed from a proven strategy that had worked in the past…something a Hedgehog would never do!"

"The main lesson from the stories in Good to Great is that the companies created cultures that allowed them to adapt and switch directions (at that point in time). Collins’ Hedgehog Concept seems to miss this point." http://thefoxandthehedgehog.com/jim-collins-hedgehog-concept-is-wrong/

Recently the Economist used the hedgehog-fox distinction when discussing the merits of Clayton Christensen, famous for his theories on disruptive technologies. In the article, Christensen is described a being a hedgehog, clinging to a very narrow definition of disruptive innovation.

"In Mr Christensen’s theory, disruptive innovators are generally newcomers. But perhaps the most successful disrupter of recent years is an established firm—Apple—that has applied its mastery of technology and design to ever more areas. Mr Christensen greeted the arrival of the iPhone with a shrug: this was a “sustaining” rather than a disruptive innovation, with “limited” chances of success. He failed to see that Apple was reinventing an entire category of product, by turning the mobile phone into an all-purpose computer, entertainment system and shopping centre."

"Indeed, there are good reasons for thinking that this second kind of disruptive innovation may be more important than Mr Christensen’s: think of the threat that Google poses to carmakers, Facebook to newspapers and Apple to television stations. Back in 1995 Mr Christensen struck fear into executives by warning them that they could be put out of their jobs by companies they had never heard of. Today the biggest threats may come from people they talk about every day."

From Winter Collection 2015

I like both hedgehogs and foxes, the real ones, and I can see merits in both metaphors as well. I've also written a short story featuring a fox called "Raskar över isen". I found it difficult to translate because it is very Swedish in character, but I can give it a try should anyone insist.

Wine Route

After his ark stranded at the Mount Ararat, the Bible says that Noah planted a vineyard, harvested grapes, fermented them and got drunk.

From Caucasus Highlights 2015

The story may well be true, at least the part about the wine, since archeologist have found remnants of wine-making equipment close by in a cave Armenia. They put the date of the technology to around 6.000 years ago. My mother wasn't too impressed with the Armenian wine, although she liked the Ararat brandy. It belongs to Pernod Ricard Group, which also includes the Swedish Absolut Vodka.

Georgia also has a long history of wine-making and UNESCO added its ancient traditional method using the Kvevri clay jars to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. The wine industry grew with the Christianisation,  apparently disregarding the situation with Noah. Since Georgia consider themselves to be the third country in the world to introduce Christianity as the state religion, they've been at it for a really long time (since around 300 AD). To what extent you could really call something a country at that time and where the border of Georgia was and is, is a totally different story.

From Caucasus Highlights 2015

In 2006, the wine industry in Georgia was hit hard when Russia placed an embargo. Georgia is now trying to sell the wine to Europe and the US. In Sweden, your can't get Georgian wine in the Systembolag shops, but they are listed. On a totally different note, the Swedish saying "lägga rabarber på" apparently comes from misunderstanding the word "embargo".

There are more than 30.000 lobbyists in Brussels, on a par with the number of employees at the European Commission. Most of them represents various industries. The wine industry is well represented by organisations such as the Association of European Wine Regions and the European Federation of Origin Wines but also more general organisations such as FoodDrinkEurope and the European Spirits Organisation. 

From Brussels 2012

The number of lobbyists trying the influence the EU to restrict access to alcohol is much less and they have considerable fewer resources. I have visited IOGT-NTO's office in Brussels, and it was neat but not flashy.

Ever wondered why all these articles keep popping up in the news about the benefits of wine? And why the connection between alcohol and cancer is not mentioned that often, even though a rather small amount every day can considerably increase the likelihood of breast cancer. Thank you Julia Mjörnstedt who started Ung Cancer for bringing it up!

Analog Nostalgia

I must admit: I produce heaps of poet's snow. Although I have a background in ICT and use lots of social media, I still prefer the old version of things. I enjoy my paper newspaper although I have to visit the recycling station often.  I read magazines at the library and some find their way to my mailbox such as National Geographic, Trädgårdsliv and Lantliv.  I use my Filofax every day (it's a way of life) although it is heavy and worn, putting PostIt-notes on the pages with important messages to myself.

From Caucasus Highlights 2015

When faced with a longer text I have to read and really think about, I print it on paper (both sides) and go through it with a pen in hand. I still buy CD:s (I used Spotify when it was for free, and never got around starting to pay). I only watch the TV channels that come with the standard package, although I must say that the HBO and Netflix ads are very tempting.

When I travel by plane, I prefer to have my QR code on paper instead on the smartphone, but strangely enough I find it ok when I go by train. I prefer a paper map and real guidebook, although we almost lost the one on Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the customs.

I buy paperback books (in stores and from and Amazon and Bokus) and I put them on shelves (latest one: "How to be a heroine"). I prefer using real cookbooks (current favourite is "Sött, sweet, dulce") although sometimes I search for recipes on the web, such as this wonderful Christmas bread from Ernst.

From Skåne July 2015

However, I have stopped making scrapbook photo albums and focus totally on making them available through Picasa although sometimes I do a print version. I only send postcards to my aunt in the UK, everybody else gets Facebook and LinkedIn updates, emails or sms. I've never been good at keeping a diary, but I do have my blogg.

I agree with Sherry Turkle, that we have to think deeply about the new kinds of connection we want to have. The devices we use, have a big impact on how we interact with others and if we're not careful, we might end up connected but still alone.

From Caucasus Highlights 2015

Wall of Sound

During a very brief period in the beginning of the 1980s, I toyed around with the idea of becoming a mixing engineer. I was studying technology at high school and many of my friends played in rock bands. Although I realised I didn't have enough talent as a musician, I wanted to be part of that world.

From Caucasus Highlights 2015

At that time, you had to be into either hard rock or synth music. Always an eclectic, I felt a bit in between liking corporate rock like Boston as well as synthpop like Spandau Ballet. I also liked Toto and so did some of my friends in the band Tate. They played "Hold the Line" oh so well (although I've never completely understood the lyrics but apparently I'm not alone having this problem) and sounded a bit like the band The Toto Tribute based in Stockholm (who do a great version of I'll be Over You, and that I completely grasp).

Although I don't think that Toto used the Wall of Sound approach, to me they still sound great. Also around that time, the highly metaphorical Pink Floyd movie "The Wall" was released.

It's interesting and quite disturbing that the phrase "another brick in the wall" is used in academic circles for the accumulation of scientific knowledge with individual studies being the bricks from which a wall is being built. Doug Altman has gathered quotes about this, for example "Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of bricks; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of bricks is a house.”

From Caucasus Highlights 2015

As a concept, a wall affords many things that can be used metaphorically. It separates things and people, it can be high or low, it can be solid or full of cracks, it can become higher or brought down, you can sit or stand on it, it can be thick or thin, you might hear things through it or throw things over it, have four of them and you can put a roof on to create a house, it can be made of various materials, and so on.

I'll end with something related to both walls and sound: The writing's on the wall, theme song from Spectre. And a soundless quote from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy:

From New England 2012

Dry Spell

On the last evening of our trip to Caucasus, we had dinner in a cosy caravanserai in Baku. The evening was warm and we were entertained by a belly dancer, a torch juggler, and a crooner. When I heard Sting's "Desert Rose" playing in the background, I came to think of the deserts I've been to.

When I went from Hurghada to Luxor, I had no notion of the vastness of the desert surrounding the Nile. It was a strange and creepy feeling standing in front of the Deir el Bahari temple, knowing that it was just a couple of years ago since terrorists killed 62 people at exactly the same spot.

In Tunis, we went to the salt plains at Chott El Jerid to ride camels and look at the Star Wars film locations. After all the dust and heat in the Sahara it was wonderful to swim under the stars in the Tozeur oasis.

From Tunisia Colour 2008

On our way to Petra, we passed on the fringes of the Wadi Rum desert. In the other direction was the continuation of the Rift Valley, creating a wonderful soft landscape in the sunset. I'd like to go back to Petra some time, and go to an evening concert.

From Jordan 2010

The deserts around Baku are filled with mysteries such as clay volcanoes, gas on fire, oil wells, temples and rock carvings. Thor Heyerdahl spent some time here, developing a theory that the Vikings originated from Azerbaijan, since the carvings in Scandinavia and Azerbaijan look alike. Well, I'm not sure he would stick to his theory if he'd been around now.

From Caucasus Highlights 2015

During my trip to the Caucasus I saw no traces of Food Deserts. The roads were littered with small food stands and the markets were numerous and plentiful. However, I'm sure we travelled though lots of Wage deserts. It's important to look at cause and effect.

From Caucasus Highlights 2015

Beyond Spectre

It feels strange to do research on the Bond film "Spectre" when waking up to the news of the dreadful terrorist attack in Paris. In the Thunderbolt book, Ian Fleming placed the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) headquarters in Paris. The organisation is not aligned to any nation or political ideology and its main strategy is to instigate conflict between two powerful enemies, hoping that they will exhaust themselves and then be more vulnerable for an attack. Is that what we see now?

From Malta May 2014

When I looked up "spectre" in the Oxford Dictionaries, one of the examples provided made me curious:

"In curing speech of specters and ghosts, analytical philosophy claims to cleanse the mind of a dreamy fondness for every sort of idealism, vitalism, Platonism, and transcendentalism."

The quote took me to a review of the book "The Making of a Philosopher" by Colin McGinn, written by then PhD student Matthew F. Rose who is now the director of the Berkeley Institute. The title of his review is "The Disconsolate Philosopher" and I believe the following sections are especially important:

"On the face of it, perhaps few concepts are as curiously matched for one another as intellectual autobiography and analytical philosophy. Intellectual autobiography is best told as a story of small detonations going off in one’s head, shocks that send its author reeling for cover and learning to return fire. It is stubbornly premised on the belief that ideas matter, and because they can make us saints or psychopaths, because they are worth living and dying for, they matter more than anything else. Analytical philosophy, on the other hand, is best explained by its belief that because we are restricted to the field of language, ideas do not really matter because they do not really exist, at least as nine out of ten of us think they do. It is, then, a cynic might say, the sheer improbability of such an undertaking that makes McGinn’s work remarkable, as if only a form of intellectual alchemy could turn the stuff of logic and linguistics into an intellectual life well lived."

"With his typical knack for having things every which way, G. K. Chesterton understood the necessity of playful seriousness in truth-seeking. For him, the only sane philosophy somehow managed to wear the color of fairy tales, the aura of gallantry, and the smell of incense. The Great Tradition, he wrote in The Everlasting Man,

looks at the world through a hundred windows whereas the ancient stoic or the modern agnostic only looks through one. It sees life with thousands of eyes belonging to thousands of different sorts of people, where the other is only the individual standpoint of a stoic or agnostic. It has something for all moods of man, it finds work for all kinds of men . . . it is able to distinguish between real and unreal marvels and miraculous exceptions, it trains itself in tact about hard cases, all with a multiplicity and subtlety and imagination about the varieties of life which is beyond the bald or breezy platitudes of most ancient or modern moral philosophy. In a word, there is more in it; it finds more in existence to think about; it gets more out of life . . . . It gets every type of man to fight for it, it gets every kind of weapon to fight with, it widens its curiosity or sympathy; but it never forgets that it is fighting. It proclaims peace on earth and never forgets why there was war in heaven."

From Malta May 2014

"There are no mysteries, only confusions."

The Men

When I walked the streets of Yerevan, two things struck me. You could find statues in many places and almost all of them were depicting men. There was the explorer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen, the composer Alexander Spendiaryan, the author Alexander Shirvanzade, the main architect behind modern day Yerevan Alexander Tamanian and so on.

I even found a group of statues called "The Men", from a film in 1973 by the Armenian director Edmond Keosayan.

I could only find two statues of women: Mother Armenia looking down on the city with a really big sword in her hands, and an unnamed woman looking very sad.

When I came home I started to look around me in Gothenburg on my way to work. Male statues everywhere. The inventor John Ericsson looking puzzled by all the traffic in the Allé or perhaps from looking straight at the statue of Charles Felix Lindbergh with his walking stick, the men fighting with knives in Bältesspännarparken, King Karl IX on his "mare" at Kungsportsplatsen, King Gustaf II Adolf pointing his finger at his square and so on.

I wasn't alone in my observations. In a column in the newspaper Göteborgs-Posten, Ingrid Norrman stated that it's time recognise more women through presence in the public space. Apparently Gothenburg got its first statue of a named woman in 1987: the author Karin Boye outside the city library. Since then we've had another one: the midwife/surgeon Johanna Hedén outside a hospital.

I suggest Chalmers put up a statue of Vera Sandberg, who in 1917 became the first Swedish engineer. With two campuses, there should be enough space.