Can one develop a theoretical underpinnings, contribute to the advancement of the social sciences by reading books and watching television? In Grounded Theory everything is data. We, sitting in our armchairs here at the headquarters of My-Lynx Associates Books (and a few CDs) like to think so. We can set up a theoretical framework for accumulating knowledge - our books are a vast resource, we go through thousands at random every week. We select those that have value, or of great interest. No Doctor Phil, No Oprah Winfrey, No Limbaugh, "No Rich Dad, Poor Dad". This is not because of any political or philosophical agenda, but because of the overwhelming popularity of their books, there are hundreds of copies for sale of any of their books, and the resale market is dismal. But we find obscure, but still tantalizing titles for sale. Could a theory be developed that encompasses peoples fears of being mechanized - the technical / psychological drain that one feels as a software program malfunctions - could that be incorporated into a social science based theory?





Could we develop a comprehensive theory of human behavior? Probably it would be difficult. Could we build a model of the human nervous system using vacuum tubes and mechanical relays, using a theoretical construct built from observation of human behavior? It might be done, given sufficient funding, a large enough power supply, and being green, probably our own set of windmills to create the energy to light the filaments. We would be using a principle of grounded theory: "Transcend traditional boundaries of analysis, theory and categories. Marginal until arrive." The last three words "Marginal until arrive" are a little elusive, it may mean that until the physical project was completed the results might seem to be marginal, especially when compared to more doctrinal and traditional approaches to cybernetic psychomimicry of observed behavior and the underlying thoughts that give rise to that behavior.

In the Second World War, the U. S. Navy built huge computing devices using vacuum tubes in order to calculate ballistics tables, which, up until then had been calculated by hand and mechanical adding machines. And the ballistics tables follow the behavior of inanimate objects as they move on a trajectory through changing intervals of velocity, time, and distance. So this field of endeavor has been attempted before, albeit on a smaller scale.

What would be the advantage of such a laborious undertaking? It might be resistant, given the proper shielding, to any outside magnetic or electronic interference, and could function under conditions that might develop in the nearby environment of Earth, say the explosion of a device that emitted high levels of ionizing radiation in the Van Allen Belts surrounding the Earth, or the sudden, and theoretically possible, development of a gamma-ray burster in a nearby solar system or other, more remote cosmic sources of high-energy particles that could damage traditional semiconductor based devices. We have been using our "Theoretical Sensitivity" book to generate a series of scenarios to do additional research. Click on the picture below to find out more: Update: Unfortunately the book has already been sold as of December 28th, you may click on the picture of the previously available book below to be whisked to our store category list.