Re: Self-actualization (was: Re: DW)
On 13/08/2005, at 10:53 PM, Herman Robak wrote:
On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 08:15:42 +0200, Clytie Siddall
<clytie@riverland.net.au> wrote:
As to self-actualization, it's very high up on thehierarchy of
human needs.
And I value it accordingly. I just love people who can act on
some simple directions, and become self-sufficient more or less
by themselves.
It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? It's always my aim, in teaching, to
get people to the stage where they realize they _can_ do those
things, and have the skills, or are able to get the skills, to do
them. It's often a matter of what you *believe* you can do, though,
not so much what you actually _can_ do. Belief can squint your view
of life in an extremely disabling way. :(
I am not convinced that self-actualised people are in short
supply in general. However, they will be scarce for certain
skill sets, especially in the outposts of Debian distribution.
The need for more outreach is quite obvious in the fringes.
And what is more peripheral than new translation teams?
Certainly a good place to start. :) I think the desire for an
effective degree of independence is natural to human beings, but we
should also value the skills of interdependence, or synergy. Cultures
in which individuals don't appear to have a lot of individual
independence, often have great strength in their group structures.
It's a matter of finding a bridge between that way of looking at
life, and whatever extra, different or new set of skills are needed.
You can only really progress from what you know to what you don't
know, and if the step is too large, you may not have the confidence
or independent learning skills to build a bridge. It's not simply a
matter of pressing Go. You need the software.
It's all very well to expect self-actualization from people who
have the necessary confidence and skills, and the cultural
backgroundto support it. Many cultures actively suppress self-
actualization.
Open source development is pretty meritocratic.
This is usually considered a feature, cultural
biases notwithstanding.
It's also a matter of where you assign merit. Cultures have different
views on that. Achievement as a group can be much more important than
individual achievement. Family happiness can be much more important
than career progress. Etc. Within any artificial structure (culture,
project, industry) people assign value and dynamically adjust it to
meet the need. I think here we have a greater need for acceptance and
encouragement of new people from all backgrounds. Then again, it's my
vocation, so I tend to feel strongly about it. ;)
Still, more outreach activity on the fronteers
couldn't hurt.
Yes, indeed. I've always found it very rewarding for everyone involved.
from Clytie (vi-VN, Vietnamese free-software translation team / nhóm
Việt hóa phần mềm tự do)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/vi-VN
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