Black Boxes and other things

Since Rock Shox started their Black Box pro only mods on forks and rear shocks, I've wondered about the term - where does it come from and what does it mean? The only black boxes I'd heard of were the ones on airplanes. I've seem many more references to black boxes this year in different reading, and here is a definition I came upon yesterday:

“The term black box in both technical and social parlance is a device or system that, for convenience, is described solely in terms of its inputs and outputs. One need not understand anything about what goes on inside such black boxes. One simply brackets them as instruments that perform certain valuable functions” (Winner, “Opening the Black Box and Finding it Empty” p. 365).

On another note, I like how Mark Elam articulates his point of view on the manner in which we ought to carry out intellectual disagreements:

"What is wrong with some good old-fashioned straight talk anyway? Speaking our minds to others may be a way of encouraging them to experiment with a different point of view rather than necessarily a means of converting them to the truth. It all depends on who we think we are when we open our mouths and whether or not we are prepared to do our share of the listening when the time comes" (Elam, "Anti Anticonstructivism" 105).

I think this sort of practice requires a degree of risk-taking. In order to really learn from others, we must be willing to risk sounding like idiots, of being wrong, of having to change our minds. Unfortunately, many situations make risk-taking less than appealing, and perhaps even dangerous. In my seminars it is easy to feel intimidated by the intellectual powers of others. Most of the students in our program intend on being professors. They are thus rather concerned about how others perceive them in intellectual terms. They feel they must measure up if they are to get good reference letters, jobs. Since I am not on this career track, I feel no pressure to convince others that I am particularly bright. Pulling out of the academic mileu offers a broader perspective on intellectual abilities. I think it wrong to think less of others because they are less bright than I think I am, so why must I feel bad for being less bright than others? Intelligence takes different forms anyway right? Who cares? Contrary the belief of many, intelligence does not define one's worth as a person. There are many brilliant people in the world who are bastards, assholes, and worse. What matters is not how smart we are, but the ways in which we honestly try to be good people.

Tangentially related to the above is this line I just read, which is totally hilarious, to me anyway. It comes from Langton Winner, responding to the article from Mark Elam above, where Elam slams Winner for his anticonstructivism:

"Oh my. It looks as though Baudelaire is wearing his Godzilla costume today."

Hilarious.

Addition: I came across this fellow, Zack Furness, while reading yet another article on social constructivism. He is a former student of the writer, Jonathan Sterne (the latter presently teaches in our department). He wrote his dissertation on bike subculture, so I looked him up and found this http://bad.eserver.org/issues/2002/59/furness.html which is amusing. Anyone know how I can make it a hyperlink?