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Living Systems » Polymoss. Polymoss is a networked sculptural object by Joshua Clayton that senses and publishes air quality data. This iteration is a prototype for deployment in public space. The project is accompanied by a series of collaborative drawings that critically imagine the future of New York’s urban landscape. Polymoss grew out of my interest in public art and the politics of invisible environmental conditions.
Source: itp.nyu.edu
Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies
There are close to two hundred examples in all, and a person reading this may opt to make their own makeshift version of the Oblique Strategies deck by purchasing some index cards and writing the following down by hand. Adding to or removing them as one so desires.
“These cards evolved from separate observations of the principles underlying what we were doing. Sometimes they were recognized in retrospect (intellect catching up with intuition), sometimes they were identified as they were happening, sometimes they were formulated. They can be used as a pack, or by drawing a single card from the shuffled pack when a dilemma occurs in a working situation. In this case the card is trusted even if its appropriateness is quite unclear…”
- What is the reality of the situation?
- Pay attention to distractions
- Imagine the music as a set of disconnected events
- Destroy nothing; Destroy the most important thing
- Find a safe part and use it as an anchor
- Would anybody want it?
- Spectrum analysis
- Bridges -build -burn
- It is simply a matter or work
- Emphasise differences
- Only one element of each kind
- Disciplined self-indulgence
- Cascades
- Do the washing up
- Emphasize the flaws
- It is quite possible (after all)
- Always the first steps
- Call your mother and ask her what to do.
- How would someone else do it?
- Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities
- Your mistake was a hidden intention
- Do nothing for as long as possible
- What do you do? Now, what do you do best?
- Picture of a man spotlighted
- What wouldn’t you do?
- Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics.
- Remove the middle, extend the edges
- Shut the door and listen from outside
- Use ‘unqualified’ people
- When is it for?
- Honour thy error as a hidden intention.
- Do something sudden, destructive and unpredictable
- Adding on
- Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture)
- State the problem in words as simply as possible
- Water
- Reverse
- How would you explain this to your parents?
- What were the branch points in the evolution of this entity
- Magnify the most difficult details
- Move towards the unimportant
- Short circuit (example; a man eating peas with the idea that they will improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap)
- Take away as much mystery as possible. What is left?
- Balance the consistency principle with the inconsistency principle
- Humanize something that is free of error.
- Take away the important parts
- Is the intonation correct?
- Do something boring
- First work alone, then work in unusual pairs. (8 September)
- Slow preparation, fast execution
- Display your talent
- What were the branch points in the evolution of this entity
- List the qualities it has. List those you’d like. (9 August)
- Destroy -nothing -the most important thing
- Abandon normal instruments
- Work at a different speed
- Who would make this really successful?
- The most easily forgotten thing is the most important
- Instead of changing the thing, change the world around it.
- Use filters
- Do the last thing first
- Tape your mouth.
- What would make this really successful?
- Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame
- Imagine the piece as a set of disconnected events
- A very small object -Its centre
- Be dirty
- What are you really thinking about just now? Incorporate
- Simple Subtraction
- Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do and do the last thing on the list
- Faced with a choice, do both
- Think of the radio
- Put in earplugs
- Accretion
- Only a part, not the whole
- Make what’s perfect more human
- Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify.
- The tape is now the music
- Abandon normal instructions
- Try faking it
- Just carry on
- Try faking it.
- Give the game away
- Use an old idea
- Remove a restriction
- First work alone, then work in unusual pairs.
- From nothing to more than nothing
- Use fewer notes
- Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them
- Revaluation (a warm feeling)
- Is something missing?
- Tidy up
- Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics
- Fill every beat with something
- Children -speaking -singing
- Ask your body
- Ask people to work against their better judgment.
- Mechanize something idiosyncratic
- Describe the landscape in which this belongs.
- Use cliches
- Feed the recording back out of the medium
- Are there sections? Consider transitions.
- What mistakes did you make last time?
- Convert a melodic element into a rhythmic element
- Is it finished?
- Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance
- Remember those quiet evenings
- Use an unacceptable color.
- Fill every beat with something.
- Consider different fading systems
- Is the tuning intonation correct?
- Emphasize repetitions
- Don’t break the silence
- Don’t be afraid of things because they’re easy to do
- Look at a very small object, look at its centre
- Infinitesimal gradations
- Don’t avoid what is easy
- What most recently impressed you? How is it similar? What can you learn from it? What could you take from it?
- Change specifics to ambiguities
- What to increase? What to reduce? What to maintain?
- Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency
- Be less critical more often
- Go outside. Shut the door.
- Disconnect from desire
- From the introduction to the 2001 edition:
- Don’t be frightened of cliches
- What most recently impressed you? How is it similar? What can you learn from it? What could you take from it?
- What are the sections sections of? Imagine a caterpillar moving
- (Picture of man spotlighted)
- Not building a wall; making a brick
- Left channel, right channel, centre channel
- Discover your formulas and abandon them
- Steal a solution.
- Listen to the quiet voice
- Use an unacceptable color
- Think - inside the work -outside the work
- Which parts can be grouped?
- Give way to your worst impulse
- Is the tuning appropriate?
- Always give yourself credit for having more than personality.
- How would you have done it?
- Remember quiet evenings
- Work at a different speed
- Accept advice
- You are an engineer
- Imagine the music as a moving chain or caterpillar
- Change ambiguities to specifics
- Assemble some of the elements in a group and treat the group
- Look at the order in which you do things
- Always give yourself credit for having more than personality
- Openly resist change
- Is the style right?
- Don’t stress one thing more than another.
- When is it for? Who is it for?
- Use “unqualified” people.
- Change instrument roles
- Turn it upside down
- Define an area as `safe’ and use it as an anchor
- Describe the landscape in which this belongs. (9 August)
- Feedback recordings into an acoustic situation
- In total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly
- (Organic) machinery
- Assemble some of the instruments in a group and treat the group
- Take a break
- Towards the insignificant
- Ghost echoes
- Cut a vital connection
- What do you do? Now, what do you do best?
- Overtly resist change
- Always first steps
- What is the simplest solution?
- Use something nearby as a model
- Lowest common denominator check -single beat -single note -single riff
- Question the heroic approach
- Lost in useless territory
- Once the search has begun, something will be found
- Voice your suspicions
- Be extravagant
- What context would look right?
- What to increase? What to reduce?
- Try faking it (from Stewart Brand)
- Describe the landscape in which this belongs.
- Try faking it. - from Stewart Brand
- Consult other sources -promising -unpromising
- Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action; incorporate
- Faced with a choice, do both.
- Question the heroic
- Retrace your steps
- Honor thy error as a hidden intention
- Distorting time
- Emphasize repetitions
- What else is this like?
- You don’t have to be ashamed of using your own ideas
- Go to an extreme, move back to a more comfortable place
- Back up a few steps. What else could you have done? (20 August)
- Twist the spine
- Is there something missing?
- Cluster analysis
- Simple subtraction
- Consider transitions
- Decorate, decorate
- Emphasize differences
- State the problem as clearly as possible
- Take away as much mystery as possible. What is left?
- You can only make one dot at a time
- Listen in total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly
- Don’t stress one thing more than another
- Not building a wall but making a brick
- Idiot glee (?)
- Discard an axiom
- A line has two sides
- Go slowly all the way round the outside
- Into the impossible
- Do the words need changing?
- Simply a matter of work
- The inconsistency principle
- Intentions -nobility of -humility of -credibility of
- What were you really thinking about just now?
- Courage!
- Breathe more deeply
- What would your closest friend do?
- Define an area as ‘safe’ and use it as an anchor
- Make it more sensual
- The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten
- Trust in the you of now
- List the qualities it has. List those you’d like.
- Get your neck massaged
- Use your own ideas
- Would anyone want it?
- What else is this like?
- Don’t be frightened to display your talents
- Don’t stress *on* thing more than another (sic)
- Distort time
- Lowest common denominator
- Faced with a choice, do both (from Dieter Rot)
- Be less critical
- Ask people to work against their better judgement
- Remember .those quiet evenings
- Children’s voices -speaking -singing
- State the problem in words as clearly as possible.
- Imagine the music as a series of disconnected events
- Abandon desire
- Mute and continue
- Tape your mouth
- Emphasise the flaws
- Remove specifics; convert to ambiguities
- Go to an extreme, come part way back
- Only one element of each kind.
- Where is the edge?
- Intentions -credibility of -nobility of -humility of
- Who would make this really successful?
- Do we need holes?
- Are there sections? Consider transitions
- Instead of changing the thing, change the world around it.
- What were you really thinking about just now? Incorporate
- Back up a few steps. What else could you have done?
- Change nothing and continue consistently
- Repetition is a form of change
Top-10 Indicators of Good Urban Design
There are so many things to consider when designing a city- but when considering urban design specifically, here are what I believe to be the top 10 indicators of a well-designed place (in no particular order):
- A Space Becomes a Place
- Built on the Past
- Connected to the Landscape
- Expect the Unexpected
- Mix and Match
- Cohesion, Not Uniformity
- Economically Viable
- Equitable and Inclusive
- Environmentally Conscious
- Focus on the People, Not the Car
The connection between this kind of environment and one’s health cannot be overlooked. Good urban design is by nature about empowering the health of every individual. Because the definition of health is optimizing the following components of your life:
- Body
- Mind
- Relationships
- Money
- Work
- Environment
- Curiosity
—It works
—It makes people happier
—It is environmentally responsible
—It looks good
—Cost effective
Source: adashofdesign.wordpress.com
The Most Valuable People in Your Network, by Rob Cross, Harvard Business Review.
Network for Quality, Not Quantity …”If you were to take the advice of some self-help books on networking, you would amass as many Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections as possible. But research shows that bigger networks are not necessarily better. In fact, large networks can hurt your performance by putting too many collaborative demands on you. The people who network successfully tend to have more ties to people who are not very connected themselves. People with connections to the less-connected are more likely to hear about ideas that haven’t gotten exposure elsewhere, and are able to piece together unique opportunities. Don’t treat networking like a popularity contest. Find ways to connect with more than the usual suspects by reaching out to those who aren’t surrounded by others.”
Source: blogs.hbr.org
Chutes and ladders: navigating the low-wage labor market, by Katherine Newman.
Now that the welfare system has been largely dismantled, the fate of America’s poor depends on what happens to them in the low-wage labor market. In this timely volume, Katherine S. Newman explores whether the poorest workers and families benefited from the tight labor markets and good economic times of the late 1990s. Following black and Latino workers in Harlem, who began their work lives flipping burgers, she finds more good news than we might have expected coming out of a high-poverty neighborhood. Many adult workers returned to school and obtained trade certificates, high school diplomas, and college degrees. Their persistence paid off in the form of better jobs, higher pay, and greater self-respect. Others found union jobs and, as a result, brought home bigger paychecks, health insurance, and a pension. More than 20 percent of those profiled in ‘Chutes and Ladders’ are no longer poor.
A very different story emerges among those who floundered even in a good economy. Weighed down by family obligations or troubled partners and hindered by poor training and prejudice, these “low riders” moved in and out of the labor market, on and off public assistance, and continued to depend upon the kindness of family and friends.
Supplementing finely drawn ethnographic portraits, Newman examines the national picture to show that patterns around the country paralleled the findings from some of New York’s most depressed neighborhoods. More than a story of the shifting fortunes of the labor market, ‘Chutes and Ladders’ asks probing questions about the motivations of low-wage workers, the dreams they have for the future, and their understanding of the rules of the game.
McKinsey Quarterly: The Internet of Things »
The Internet of Things: Objects are becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate. The resulting information networks promise to create new business models, improve business processes, and reduce costs/risks.
Predictable pathways of information are changing: the physical world itself is becoming a type of information system. In what’s called the Internet of Things, sensors and actuators embedded in physical objects—from roadways to pacemakers—are linked through wired and wireless networks, often using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that connects the Internet. These networks churn out huge volumes of data that flow to computers for analysis. When objects can both sense the environment and communicate, they become tools for understanding complexity and responding to it swiftly. What’s revolutionary in all this is that these physical information systems are now beginning to be deployed, and some function largely without human intervention. full article→
♫ Moscow is in the Telephone —Rachel’s
On the Banality of Evil,
The theoretician talks about “normalization.” This is illusionary. All these in one way or another lead to deniability. The point of further research will be how conscious is this denial? Is it delusional? Opinions exist on the subject. Levinas for example doesn’t consider it unconscious. In a symposium on forgiveness in Paris he said: “It’s difficult to forgive some Germans , it’s difficult to forgive Heidegger.” Hannah Arendt—herself the victim of Holocaust—has defended Heidegger. She also had a relationship with him. Was Heidegger conscious of what he was doing? Was it routine? or Was he indifferent to all of it, or was it denial?
…”noted that the head of MlT’s main military research lab in the 1960s argued that ‘their concern was development, not use, of technology.’ Just as in the death camps, in weapons labs and production facilities, resources are allocated on the basis of effective participation in the larger system, workers derive support from interactions with others in the mutual effort, and complicity is obscured by the routineness of the work, interdependence, and distance from the results.
Peattie also pointed out how, given the unparalleled disaster that would follow nuclear war, ‘resort is made to rendering the system playfully, via models and games.’ There is also a vocabulary developed to help render the unthinkable palatable: ‘incidents,’m ‘vulnerability indexes,’ ‘weapons impacts,’ and ‘resource availability.’ She doesn’t mention it, but our old friend ‘collateral damage,’ used in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, came out of the nukespeak tradition.” (via Sherryx)
Cantor dust: a multi-dimensional version of the Cantor set. It can be formed by taking a finite Cartesian product of the Cantor set with itself, making it a Cantor space. Like the Cantor set, Cantor dust has zero measure.
Strange attractors
While most of the motion types mentioned above give rise to very simple attractors, such as points and circle-like curves called limit cycles, chaotic motion gives rise to what are known as strange attractors, attractors that can have great detail and complexity. For instance, a simple three-dimensional model of the Lorenz weather system gives rise to the famous Lorenz attractor. The Lorenz attractor is perhaps one of the best-known chaotic system diagrams, probably because not only was it one of the first, but it is one of the most complex and as such gives rise to a very interesting pattern which looks like the wings of a butterfly. Another such attractor is the Rössler map, which experiences period-two doubling route to chaos, like the logistic map.
Strange attractors occur in both continuous dynamical systems (such as the Lorenz system) and in some discrete systems (such as the Hénon map). Other discrete dynamical systems have a repelling structure called a Julia set which forms at the boundary between basins of attraction of fixed points - Julia sets can be thought of as strange repellers. Both strange attractors and Julia sets typically have a fractal structure.
The Poincaré-Bendixson theorem shows that a strange attractor can only arise in a continuous dynamical system if it has three or more dimensions. However, no such restriction applies to discrete systems, which can exhibit strange attractors in two or even one dimensional systems.
The initial conditions of three or more bodies interacting through gravitational attraction (see the n-body problem) can be arranged to produce chaotic motion. (infinity 8 /limit /design dynamic systems /models)
define: Simultaneity »
Simultaneity is the property of two events happening at the same time in at least one reference frame.
- In mathematics, a system of equations or a set of simultaneous equations share variables; a solution is a set of variable values for which all these equations are satisfied together.
- In music, see: simultaneity (music).
- In modern physics, see: Simultaneous hyperplane or Relativity of simultaneity.
Classifying mathematical models
Many mathematical models can be classified in some of the following ways:
- Linear vs. nonlinear: Mathematical models are usually composed by variables, which are abstractions of quantities of interest in the described systems, and operators that act on these variables, which can be algebraic operators, functions, differential operators, etc. If all the operators in a mathematical model present linearity, the resulting mathematical model is defined as linear. A model is considered to be nonlinear otherwise.
The question of linearity and nonlinearity is dependent on context, and linear models may have nonlinear expressions in them. For example, in a statistical linear model, it is assumed that a relationship is linear in the parameters, but it may be nonlinear in the predictor variables. Similarly, a differential equation is said to be linear if it can be written with linear differential operators, but it can still have nonlinear expressions in it. In a mathematical programming model, if the objective functions and constraints are represented entirely by linear equations, then the model is regarded as a linear model. If one or more of the objective functions or constraints are represented with a nonlinear equation, then the model is known as a nonlinear model.
Nonlinearity, even in fairly simple systems, is often associated with phenomena such as chaos and irreversibility. Although there are exceptions, nonlinear systems and models tend to be more difficult to study than linear ones. A common approach to nonlinear problems is linearization, but this can be problematic if one is trying to study aspects such as irreversibility, which are strongly tied to nonlinearity. - Deterministic vs. probabilistic (stochastic): A deterministic model is one in which every set of variable states is uniquely determined by parameters in the model and by sets of previous states of these variables. Therefore, deterministic models perform the same way for a given set of initial conditions. Conversely, in a stochastic model, randomness is present, and variable states are not described by unique values, but rather by probability distributions.
- Static vs. dynamic: A static model does not account for the element of time, while a dynamic model does. Dynamic models typically are represented with difference equations or differential equations.
- Lumped vs. distributed parameters: If the model is homogeneous (consistent state throughout the entire system) the parameters are distributed. If the model is heterogeneous (varying state within the system), then the parameters are lumped. Distributed parameters are typically represented with partial differential equations. (/design dynamic systems models)
Bhevendk1. Even parity recurrence spectrum (Fourier transform of the density of states) of diamagentic hydrogen showing peaks corresponding to periodic orbits of the classical system. Spectrum is at a scaled energy of -0.6. Peaks labeled R and V are repetitions of the closed orbit perpendicular and parallel to the field, respectively. Peaks labeled O correspond to the near circular periodic orbit that goes around the nucleus.
