About Panta Rhei – Panta Rhei Enterprise

Navigating change — the Panta Rhei enterprise

This post is a replica of the original home page. (The current home page of the site is simply set to the list of recent posts in reverse chronological order.) Just thought you might be interested what is behind this blog. If you are a regular reader, … it cannot always be about AI 😉

Welcome

Thank you for coming by. Is it the blog that got you interested? Were you googling Panta Rhei? Are you thinking a lot about complexity and change? Have a look ’round and feel free to get in touch.

Chris and Mat started this site and blog in late 2019. We both like writing, and talking, about the complexities and simplicities of life, about working in groups and leadership, and about learning and teaching both in the chaotic and the virtual worlds. We both have years of experience in language and communication, education and training, management and leadership. We wanted to share our ideas, our expertise, and our insight with a wider audience. Worth a try, we thought. A lot has happened since then … Both of us are working full time. And Chris started dedicating his time to narrating audio books. Mat had put more emphasis on my writing per se. Learning new things, joining writing groups and courses, …

So, what is happening here?

Years of learning, reading, listening, experiencing, doing, reflecting, leading, following, smiling, crying, talking, writing, … Then it was time to share, time for this site, time for this blog:

On what they call … Artificial Intelligence

For his PhD, Mat wrote – what he likes to call – a research prototype of a grammar checker for learners of German. He then went on to write several articles and a book about the nexus of language learning and AI. Still, when GenAI fell on all of us, he was surprised by the rapid change and the immense power for a while. Then he began to learn and … write. Most recent blog posts are on the topic in one way or another.

On the complexity of change

Most of nature is complex. Most of society is complex. Human behavior is complex. And, as the cliché has it, the only constant is change. And this change is not linear. Sometimes it seems we soar ahead, sometimes it feels like we walk ’round in circles, and sometimes we are taken for a ride. On a rollercoaster. It is this complexity of change that Mat has been exploring, on which he has been reflecting. One blog post at the time. Thinking about it, reading about it, writing about it, … Learning about Chaos Theory, Complexity Science, and Dynamic Systems Theory, he has been doing for more than 15 years. And if you count dialectic — we are going on forty …

RoLL: Research on language and learning

Mat is paying for his daily bread, his shelter, and for what he considers to be luxuries with language and learning and teaching. So, when he writes about language and learning, it often is also about complexity and change, about technologies and artificial intelligence.

The posts Chris wrote on the BASE model are also still available.

Get in Touch

Look around a bit more. Or why not join the growing group of people who follow the Panta Rhei Blog? [In case you are wondering, the relevant button is in the top-right corner of each page or underneath the text and comment box, if you are reading this on your phone.] If you are unsure about the idea of following, really all it means is that, when something gets posted, you will get an alert, if you are on WordPress, or an email with a link and summary, if you are not.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, comment right on the page or post or send a quick email to mschulze7980@gmail.com. I live and work in Southern California. If you happen to be in the area and would like to meet, again an email is good.

Find the contact details and social media handles on a separate page.

Panta Rhei – everything flows and changes, and so does this site. Come back again to see what changed.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

Connected forest lake in Algonquin Park — Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada

Fractal. One morning. And another.

Was he crazy?

I am not sure who asked this question. It’s legitimate to ask. I have been working on this blog (and another one, for that matter) for over four years now. Is there much to show for it? Am I crazy? In a time of everyone being able to blast out text … in a time of radio shows having a blog or a podcast … celebrity therapists writing to thousands each week … And I am just writing. Who is reading this? I don’t know. I only see the stats of views and visitors and likes and comments and countries and continents and referrers and search engines. From all continents and countries, do the viewing and visiting – and maybe reading – and the liking and commenting. Leave a trace. For me – and maybe for all of you – it is good to think about writing once in a while. To reflect. We learn best when we take time to reflect. Reflect on writing.

Writing used to be a lonely affair. Thomas Mann had certain hours of the day during which he would retreat to his study and write. Nobody allowed near. Children tip-toeing. I am writing once a week. Wherever I can sit with my laptop. Every week. I don’t make it every week. To the writing group in the early morning. The writing feels fractured. I write slowly and have to find the time. More time, because I write slowly. Only a fraction of what I think about ends up being written. Not all I write, you can read. Fractured. As I said. Or is it? Fractured? For some time now, I write for this blog. This is not fiction. It is my reality. Texts I want to build up and out. Texts I want to collect. Thoughts I want to structure. On complexity. On change. And then ending up writing about AI. Often. AI and again AI. But that was just recently. Before that I used the other blog for practice. Writing practice. Was he crazy? Yes, I am asking about myself. Am I crazy? Just practicing and putting it out there? Soon after having written it. And most of it. The personal. The fictional. The poetic. The raw and unpolished. Practice in public. Reflect. Who reads it anyway? You tell me. Are you reading this? Writing is a lonely affair. These days. On the computer. On the interweb. Funny word. And an even stranger place, when I write. And strangely familiar. A place where you can read anything. Are you reading this?

Maybe it is not fractured. It is small. And small again. Similar. Sometimes self-similar. Fractal. Aren’t fractals beautiful? Will many small make one large? Not fractured? But fractal. Similar. Self-similar. And connected. Like a tree. Naturally grown. The structure of the veins of a small leaf are similar to the structure of the twigs and branches of that same tree. Fractal. Complexity.

If I am not crazy, the little texts will fit together and form an intricate blog. Over time.

Was he crazy?

Spring cleaning. Late?

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

And done. 
Not gone. 
Everything in its place. 
And the plans laid out.

Hey, Friend,

This blog is about complexity and change, the complexity of change, at times on language, on learning, and on language learning. You knew that, right? That remains so, and I am bringing back two ideas that I tried out on Texterium:

Just words: Whenever I have a word that is used when we talk about complexity, change, language, learning, it might be good to play with it, to get to know it better.
Backsight: Looking at print, audio, video – again on complexity, change, language, learning – to remember, reflect, and review.

I hope you will enjoy the reading and browsing at least half as much as I enjoy the writing.