As you might imagine, this project has been a little overwhelming
for one person to tackle. But I'm not too proud to accept help, and
there are several ways other people could help enormously. One is
simply to contact me and offer opinions, suggestions, or
constructive criticism. If you have specialized knowledge - in fields
from cosmology, to biology, to development economics and
environmental science - I would especially like to get your input. As
I mentioned in the overview on the home page, I'm considering
trying to start a collaborative, online encyclopedia that explains
basic features of various disciplines in the course of a history of
nature and humanity. If you are a specialist who might be interested
in contributing to such a project, please let me know.
One thing I do ask is that you basically support the spirit of the
project. This is about connecting disciplines, not reducing everything to one theory. Each
discipline needs to be understood on its own terms, not reduced to
the concepts of another one. Conversely, one of the most significant
obstacles to the conceptual integration and public understanding of
academic knowledge is academic jargon. Obviously, some specialized
terms are necessary. But most jargon is unnecessary, and has little
place in a project like this, which is meant to be accessible to the
widest possible audience. My guiding principle in this project has
been that most points of view, especially in disciplines that have
some mechanism for throwing out outdated theories, are at least
partially valid, because they are different views of a single, vast
and complex, but ultimately unified reality.
Others who could contribute a great deal include web designers
(I'm obviously an amateur) and people with experience in starting
non-profits or writing grants. Needless to say, I would love to hear
from interested publishers and editors, because I would like to
publish some version of this book traditionally (I haven't contacted
any publishers yet). If you have a website yourself, I would
appreciate links to this site, to spread word about it and make it
more visible to search engines.
Finally, if I do set up a non-profit
organization to build an online
encyclopedia, I will be applying for grants, and would certainly
welcome individual financial contributions, which would then be tax
deductible (if I understand the relevant laws). But that is
hypothetical, so don't reach for your checkbook just yet. Actually,
I feel a little funny about asking for donations, but I have put a
great deal of my own time and money into this project, and I don't
have the means to do so indefinitely. Because this project falls
between the cracks of traditional academic programs, I can't follow
the traditional path, which is to support my intellectual endeavors
by working at a university. Maybe one day there will be departments
of Conceptual Integration of Disciplines at all the major
universities, but that hasn't happened yet.
In short, if you are interested in contributing to this project
in any way, please contact me.
