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Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Speakers on Sunday the 21 October.
09.30 am: TIME MAPS OF THE NARRATISING MIND
Vanessa Dodd
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Abstract
Man is a storytelling animal Don Cupitt tells us. Our ability to sense the past, reflect on the present and spin
scenarios of the future reflected in the semantics of what neuroscientist Gerald Edelman refers to as higher order
consciousness, is what distinguishes human consciousness from that of animals. The narratives of fruits of storytelling
manˈs labours in whatever form they take are capable of transcending the constraints of time and place through their
portability across space and time, transported orally or compressed into spatial objects of books or manuscripts across
the generations and carried away from the original time-space of their conception. But what can the original product tell
us of the conceptualising nature of the human consciousness that authored them? This paper explores how our narratising
minds uses time/space maps to shape its creations and in doing so reflects the complexities of its own time space conceptions
simultaneously signalling its innate playfulness in the temporal freedom exhibited by non linear storytelling and plotting of
events.
Vanessa Dodd is Senior lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Wales, Newport and programme leader
of the Applied Drama course there. She trained as an actor and as a theatre director. She is currently researching the
philosophy of story and its intimate relationship with human consciousness for a PhD.
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10.00 am: MAPPING TIME: A REFLECTION ON THE DISAPPEARING CAT, THE DIMENSION-HOPPING GOLDFISH, THE WHITE RABBIT
AND THE GROUNDNUTS WHO FOUND THEY HAD LEGS.
Linda Hoy
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Abstract
This paper suggests that we should map Time, not as a straight line but a spiral.
It suggests that we have lived our lives before - not just once but many times, in a series of groundhog days,
with each life a little bit different, seeing further and knowing more.
We draw on the theories of JW Dunne, the aeronautical engineer whose personal precognition led him to develop a theory
of serial time, later built on by the novelist and playwright, J.B. Priestley.
Dunne's theory throws light on, variously, déjà vu, precognition and clairvoyance, near-death experience and its associated
phenomenon of a life-review, and the dichotomy between predestination and free will. This dichotomy is the crux of Time's great
paradox: how can our lives have meaning and significance
if the future has already taken place? How can we call ourselves human without the capacity to make a moral choice?
Linda Hoy has worked as writer-in-residence at St John's University in York and from 2007-2010 in the Department of
Animal and Plant Science at Sheffield University. Her latest book is emtitled The Effect.
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11.00 am: HOW TRIZ MAPS TIME, MIND AND SPACE
Paul Filmore
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Abstract
TRIZ is a Russian acronym for 'Theory of Inventive Problem Solving'. The creator of TRIZ was Genrich Altshuller,
a patent investigator for the Russian Navy during the 1940ˈs. Altshuller identified patterns which frequently emerged
in innovative patents. From this he developed what he called a ˈscience of creativityˈ - a set of tools and approaches
to aid people in developing creative solutions to their problems. These tools and approaches are now in use outside the
technical domain and through further adaption by Altschullerˈs followers, have found a home even in business and commerce.
TRIZ is not widely known, as its usage has been kept quiet by many organisations for competitive advantage.
This paper will look at a few tools associated with each of the conference themes, time, mind and space. It is hoped that
some of the easier tools may be immediately useful for attendees in their everyday lives. Many TRIZ tools are renowned for
their ability to help the user attain fresh perspectives by seeing ˈoutside the boxˈ.
Paul teaches undergraduates, postgraduates and through the executive education arm, NHS managers, at Plymouth University.
He also runs his own company, the Insight Centre Ltd.
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