Dear Colleagues,
Over 150 philanthropists - from students to world famous
scholars - have joined the CHARTER list in order to help create
The GlobalPsych Institute - The International Confederation of
Organizations for Health, Behaviour, Cognition and Education, which
incorporates InterPsych: The Internet Mental Health Organization, and
EuroPsych, the new European division of GlobalPsych.
The GlobalPsych Institute cordially invites existing Internet
discussion groups in these areas:
Psychology Psychiatry
Neuroscience Neurology
Biology Medicine
Computer Science Teaching
Linguistics Nursing
Philosophy Social Work
Anthropology Clinical Psychology
Sociology Alternative Medicine
to join with us tp create a diverse, representative,
multidisciplinary, global virtual community of those interested
in all aspects of human nature. All GlobalPsych resources, Listserv,
ftp, WWW, newsgroups, administrative, technical and some limited
financial support are available to all participating groups.
CHARTER has been created with the generous help of Professor Bob
Zenhausern at St. Johns University, but why?
The GlobalPsych Institute was formed to employ the high-speed,
multimedia, global communications network known as the Internet to
address the perennial questions of supreme importance to all human
beings and societies, and to address those new questions that are
posed by the advent of the information age and of the Internet itself.
Questions (in no particular order) such as:
* What is Human Nature?
* What is the nature of psychophysical health?
* What is the nature of psychosocial health?
* What is the nature of the interaction between the psychophysical
and psychosocial?
* Why should a multidisciplinary approach enhance our understanding?
* What is culture?
* What can linguistics tell us about the nature of the human mind?
* What is the language of thought?
* Is philosophy the handmaiden of the sciences, or a redundant
talking shop?
* Can creativity be taught?
* Do we need to understand the nature of self-organizing systems?
* Does quantum mechanics have anything to say about the nature of
consciousness?
* What can psychopathology tell us about human nature?
* Is psychoanalysis a crypto-religious orthodoxy or a discipline with
valid insights?
* How can an understanding of the scientific method help in the
organization of education?
* What is the human condition in the Information Age?
* Can science really answer the perennial questions about human
nature and human society?
* Is it possible to combine high technology and a life in harmony
with the natural world?
* Is the Internet a sophisticated contribution to shared culture and
transindividual intelligence, or a over-hyped system for gathering
irrelevant information?
* Is the postmodern disenchantment with metanarratives a realistic
evaluation of our fin-de-siecle scientific hubris or is it simple
cynicism?
These are just those questions that have arisen in my mind whilst
composing this message; there are many, many more suggested by the
nature of the GlobalPsych project, and by the status of
the qualitative and quantitative investigation of human nature in the
postmodern information age.
Practical Matters
=================
Some of you have volunteered for positions advertised on the
GlobalPsych Web pages; others have asked for me to allocate tasks.
As GlobalPsych is a collaborative endeavour the success of which
relies on your enthusiasm I would rather you all take a second look
at the WWW site and consider where you might best fit in.
Those of you wanting to construct your own Web sections directly
should contact me for the necessary passwords.
New Journals
============
Those of you wishing to establish electronic journals to serve your
specific interests should contact me directly. We can set up
collaborative journals on our existing web site, and on the mirror
site now established at St Johns. Commercially viable journals can
also be established with our publishing contacts who may have some
interest: Process Press [http://rdz.stjohns.edu/process.html], Oxford
University Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, and MIT Press.
We are also interested in publishing books and articles of interest in
hard copy and a variety of electronic formats through our new
imprint: Human Nature Publishing. For details please contact our
Director of Publishing, Professor Robert Young
(robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk).
New Mailing Lists
=================
Could those of you wishing to run electronic mailing lists on areas
of interest within the GlobalPsych structure please also contact me
for details. There are many important areas not yet addressed by
existing Internet groups.
New Projects
============
Ideas for new projects within the GI structure are warmly welcomed.
Sponsorship
===========
GlobalPsych is sponsored by, and in turn sponsors the activities of
the Human Nature Trust [http://rdz.stjohns.edu/hnt.html], a
charity registered in England and Wales. If you would like to become
a sponsor of any project or division of GlobalPsych please let me
know.
Facilities
==========
The organizations that have offered computing facilities to GP/IP are:
The University of Sheffield
St. Johns University
The University of North Dakota
The American Psychological Association
Ultramind (UK)
All of these organizations have guaranteed our autonomy. In addition
to this I have also applied for a free SunSParc 4 Workstation from
the UK National Information Services and Systems. I will let you know
if this machine is to be made available to us within the next few
weeks.
Cordially,
Ian Pitchford
Coordinator
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Ian Pitchford, +
+ Founder,InterPsych: The Internet Mental Health Organization +
+ [http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/gpp/ip.html] +
+ Founder GlobalPsych: The Internet Confederation of +
+ Organizations for Cognition, Behaviour, Health and Education +
+ Europe: [http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/gpp/index.html] +
+ United States: [http://rdz.stjohns.edu/gp/index.html] +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Flat 6, 116 Whitham Road, SHEFFIELD, S10 2SQ, United Kingdom +
+ Tel: +44 114 2685931 +
+ Fax: +44 114 2739826 c/o Department of Biomedical Science +
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