There is a strong emphasis on conceptual foreplay and titillation, with success being associated with a form of conceptual orgasm, hopefully to be repeated on subsequent occasions. The tendency for conferences to be designed in a sanitized, "safe-sex" mode to avoid conception and the collective creation of viable new conceptual configurations. The conference environment is not designed for conceptual variety, unless variants are screened off in their own sub-conferences. Within a network this tends to result in theeffective exclusion of those who disagree - leading to a form of conceptual incest or inbreeding. The tendency of a conference to avoid disagreement and seek consensus, when more realistic conceptual articulations might be based on appropriate configurations of complementary, but opposing perspectives. Conceptual consensus-mania (or disagreement-phobia) The concepts needed at this time may only be representable in dynamic terms (as with resonance hybrids in chemistry).ĩ. The tendency to define concepts in static terms, when a dynamic definition might be more appropriate in response to an evolving, turbulent social environment. Unusual, counter-intuitive or paradoxical structures are thus not adequately protected in the normal conference environment. The complexity of a soap bubble would thus be reduced to that of a blob of water on a two-dimensional surface. The reductionist tendency to blur subtle distinctions, collapsing them into a simpler concept. This is associated with conceptual big-game hunting, namely the tendency to focus on the most obvious and dominant concepts and to ignore other aspects of the conceptual ecology represented within the conference - and possibly vital to the healthy growth of the conceptual ecosystem. Given the conceptual confusion which tends to prevail, any ordering which emerges tends to be seized upon and used to impose order before alternative perspectives acquire sufficient weight to call for their integration in a more complex conceptual structure. The tendency of a conference to premature conceptual closure. The amount of information inhibits creativity. The well-documented phenomenon of information overload. People enter and leave the conference environment confused. Everything is relevant to everything, but little can be effectively distinguished. The tendency for a multiplicity of concepts to be simultaneously present in a diffuse haze through which participants wander (or blunder) with little more than a confused sense of orientation. The conditions ensure a high concept mortality rate. Many environments are designed to bury concepts almost as quickly as they are generated. Little effort is made to distinguish concepts from contextual material which may not be essential to their subsequent use in articulating a complex conceptual network. The tendency for concepts to be buried in a mass of text, whether explanatory, anecdotal or otherwise. Just as there is a need for screen refreshment, so there is a need for systematic concept refreshment. The tendency for a complex conceptual structure to fade at the edges, so that the scope of any emerging conceptual structure is constantly being eroded by limitations of conceptual span, whether for an individual or for the network of participants collectively. Such amnesia is in effect a process of conceptual resource destruction. The ability to build a complex conceptual structure over time is therefore constantly undermined. Participants become addicted to novelty and devalue concepts articulated earlier. The tendency for a network of participants to forget, or repress, points made in earlier time frames. It is useful to consider the following conceptual weaknesses in both electronic networking and in conventional face-to-face conferences:
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