----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Michael R." <marz62@yahoo.com>
To: "Andrei & Lisa Dandescu" 
Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2005 10:14 PM

Subject: Of Learning too late of Prigogine's Death


> Hi Andrei....sorry again to get back to you late...my
> life is pretty crazy right now...too many projects,
> deadlines.....I don't have too many really appropos quotes
> from Professor Prigogine...we spoke for about one half
> hour-40 minutes (god, almost 9 years ago!)...
>
> ..I had a list of questions (which I had forwarded to
> him through his secretary in Austin (he wanted to vet
> them before agreeing to give out his home phone
> number)...
>
> ...he had a really thick Russian accent; I was able
> to understand him mostly because of a shared
> scientific language....he was also curious about
> me/what I did/how I came up with such questions....
>
> ..we talked about recent zero gravity experiments
> with cell membrane formation/growth (cells could not
> form viable membranes/microtubules in zero G)...I asked him then,
> if dissipative structuring/higher order restructuring
> was "gravity dependent"...He seemed amused/surprised
> by this and said "Yes, I think so...what did you say
> your background was in?"
>
>  Most memorable, though was when I asked him (after
> listing numerous writers/thinkers) how he felt about
> so many other people, in divergent fields,
> appropriating his theory (Dissipative Structures) to advance their 
  own...he said "I take no responsibility for ANY of it!"...
>
> ..I laughed at this, then he did as well....
>
> ..asked about Sheldrake's 'morphogenetic fields', he
> responded "Where is the proof? Where is the
> evidence?"....
>
>  He spoke about his newest book ('The End of
> Certainty')...he was developing a new model/theory of
> molecular/biological development (if I recall correctly)...but
> he said that he was "not happy with the
> mathematics"...there was a pause and I had a sense of
> what Einstein might have felt with his inability to
> reconcile quantum mechanics with his own relativity...
>
> ..we spoke about the video project...an idea to which
> he warmed after our previous dialogue....I said that I
> wanted to do a sort of "Mind Walk"...with him just
> talking, walking, and responding to several broad
> comments or questions....he liked the idea...and
> generously offer to show me his current research--when
> I came down to Austin ...he was offering me a rare
> chance to view current research, and I knew that a
> decent documentary would take much more time than a
> 'couple of days in August'....
>
>   That was a big regret for me...I investigated a NSF
> grant to fund the video, but the paperwork and
> bureaucratic hoops were too daunting for me at the
> time (1998/99)...I even had a friend (James Newman),
> who was a also a fan of Prigogine, help with a few of the
> questions (and even offered to fly down with me to be
> my PA!)...
>
> ..but reluctantly, I gradually gave up
> on having the funds to pursue this further
> (although I did try a second time to reestablish
> contact with his secretary Annie Harding)...but then,
> things got going for me here in Seattle with the
> poetry thing....
>
> ...I guess I figured he would live longer....A poet once noted
> that a teacher's death is always a suprise....and it has
> been with Ilya Prigogine....his book (Order Out of
> Chaos) and his theory were significant teachers to me
> at a crucial, learning phase in my life...but then,
> maybe deep down I feared that he had died, and thus
> put the project out of my mind (though it was a stubborn
> thing!)...
>
> ..well, thanks for forcing me to collect my memories
> (though brief) of my conversation with the Professor
> ...perhaps you can just use this email for a RICERCAR
> 'memoratum'....
  
  ...I hope he has found a higher order than
> this one,
>
>  regards, Michael Ricciardi

  ___________________________________________________________

  NOTE TO READER: 

		    Ilya Prigogine - Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 
             (1978) died in the Spring of 2003. Andrei 
             Dandescu (the founder of RICERCAR, also a fan 
		  of Prigogine) had recently offered to fund a 
		  trip down to Texas to resume the documentary 
		  project--only to discover, through a websearch,
		  that the Professor had passed away (in Brussels)
		  two years prior. those who have no regrets in 
		  life are usually those who do not dream big, or
		  pursue ambitious goals. My failure to procur
		  funding for this project, and my subsequent
		  distraction with other (worthy, to be sure)
		  projects, will remain one of my life's biggest
                  regrets.