#Autopoiesis

[ship-of-adramyttium]

Impressions of Artificial Intelligence - Part 2 - 

AI Is Amazing and Not As Impressive As We Think You can read Part 1 here. What AI Does Generative AIs, or Large Language Models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, PerplexityAI, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Meta’s Llama, and others are, first and foremost, incredibly powerful prediction machines. Think of them as an “autocomplete” on steroids. The systems I mentioned are vast linguistic devices designed to complete and generate thoughts and ideas with words. They do this by several ingenious programming techniques. In any given sentence, words are given a token, a weighted and numbered designation. In its response, the AI model uses these weighted tokens to determine the most likely response based on the weight of any given word relative to the context of any given word that has been used in the prompt.  Image made with MS CoPilot This weighted word is measured against the dataset the AI model has been trained on. The AI, in its simplest sense, strings together the most likely weighted words. From that, you get your response. The better the prompt you give, the more capable the AI is able to weight the response and give you a more clarified answer. The art and method of getting the best possible response from an AI model is called “prompt engineering”.  Recently, the word-to-word weighting has been expanded to phrase-to-phrase weighting. This means we can now feed whole books into an AI and receive full, impressive summaries and responses. Phrase-to-phrase may be too … human a phrase. It is more that the AI model can read chunks of text at once, but it is not understanding the text the way we would understand a chunk or phrase of text. The more correct way to say it is that the AI can analyze multiple tokens at the same time and weight the chunk as well as the individual words.  This is remarkable and incredible and mysterious how this all works. The uses are profoundly powerful when used for “the greater good”. For instance, at the end of 2023, with the help of AI, researchers discovered a whole new class of antibiotics that will be able to kill previously resistant bacteria like MRSA. Right around the same time, the DeepMind AI discovered 2.2 million new materials that can be used for all kinds of new technologies. These AI models are specifically designed for scientific exploration, and also use other AI methods aside from the LLMs we are discussing here. It is important that when we think about the value of AI systems, we recognize its ability to advance discoveries and science by decades.  Machine Learning and LLMs There is a big caveat here as well. There is a logic formula that is important to remember: All LLMs are machine learning systems, but not all machine learning systems are LLMs. Machine learning systems and LLMs have some big differences, but a large overlap. LLMs are linguistic devices, primarily, and a subset of machine learning. Machine learning can incorporate advanced math and programming, including LLM processes, that lead to these scientific innovations. 

Image made with MS CoPilot (I asked it to copy the words from the formula above. This is what came out. Clearly, there are issues with translating words to image.) Both machine learning systems and LLMs use parallel networking, as opposed to serial networks, with nodes to sort and channel information. Both are designed off of neural networks. A neural network is a computer system that is designed to work in parallel channels, meaning processes run at the same time and overlap one another, while routing through nodes or hubs. A neural network is designed to mimic human brains and behavior. Not all machine learning systems are neural networks, however. So, all LLMs are machine learning tools, but not all machine learning tools are AIs. And many machine learning systems run as neural networks, but not all machine learning systems are neural networks.  What AI Doesn’t Do AI models cannot feel. AI models do not have a goal or purpose. The heuristics that they use are at once mysterious and determined by the dataset and training they have received. Any ‘thinking’ that happens with an AI model is not remotely like how humans think. None of the models, whether machine learning models or AI models, are remotely conscious or self-aware. I would add here that when we speak of consciousness, we are speaking of a state of being which has multiple, varied, and contradictory definitions in many disciplines. We do not really know what consciousness is, but we know it when we see it.  To that end, since generative AIs reflect and refract human knowledge, they are like a kaleidoscopic funhouse mirror that will occasionally reflect what, for all practical purposes, looks very much like consciousness and even occasional self-awareness.  Artificial General Intelligence - AGI That glimmer suggests to some experts that we are very close to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), an AI that can do intelligent things across multiple disciplines. AGI is sort of the halfway point between the AI models we are using now and the expression of something indistinguishable from human interaction and ability. At that point, we will not be able to discern consciousness and self-awareness or the lack of it. Even now, there are moments when an AI model will express itself in a way that is almost human. Some experts say AGI is less than 5 years away. Other experts say we are still decades away from AGI.  Jensen Huang, CEO of NVidia Corp, believes we are within 5 years of AGI. Within that time, he believes we will easily solve the hallucination, false information, and laziness issues of AI systems. The hallucination problem is solvable in the same way it is for humans - by checking statements against reliable, existing sources of information and, if need be, footnoting those sources.  This partial solution is what Perplexity AI has been doing from the outset of their AI release, and the technique has been incorporated into Microsoft CoPilot. When you get a response to a prompt in Perplexity or CoPilot, you will also get footnotes at the bottom of the response referencing links as proofs of the response.  Of course, Huang has a vested interest in this AGI outcome, since he oversees the company that develops the ‘superchips’ for the best of the AI systems out there.  On the other hand, president of Microsoft, Brad Smith, believes we are decades away from AGI. He believes we need to figure out how to put in safety brakes on the systems before we even try to create continually more intelligent AIs. To be fair, he sort of fudges his answer to the appearance of AGI as well.  Fast and Slow Discoveries Some scientific discoveries are sudden and change things very quickly. Others are slow and plodding and take a long time to come to fruition. It is entirely possible that AGI could develop overnight with a simple, previously unknown, discovery in how AI systems process information. Or it could take decades of work.  Quantum computers, for instance, have been in development for decades now, and we are still many years away from quantum computers having a real functional impact on public life. Quantum computers take advantage of the non-linear uncertainty of quantum particles and waves to solve problems incredibly fast. Rather than digital ‘1s’ and ‘0s’, a quantum computer deals with the superposition of particles (particles occupying the same state until they are measured), the observation bias (we do not know anything about a quantum particle or state until we observe the particle or state) and the uncertainty principle (we cannot know the position of a particle and the speed at the same time) at the core of quantum mechanics. More generally, this is called 'indeterminacy'. A quantum computer only provides output when an observer is present. It is very bizarre.

Image made with MS CoPilot While some of us wait patiently to have a quantum desktop computer, other discoveries happened very quickly. Velcro was discovered after the inventor took his dog for a walk and had to get all the burdock seeds out of his clothes. He realized that the hooked spikes on the seeds would be great as fasteners. For all the amazing things the 20th century brought us, Velcro may be one of the most amazing. Likewise, penicillin, insulin, saccharin, and LSD were all discovered instantly or by accident. 

Image made with MS CoPilot Defining our Terms Part of the difficulty with where we are in the evolution of AI in the public sphere is the definition of terms. We throw around words like ‘intelligence’, ‘consciousness’, ‘human’, ‘awareness’ and think we know what they mean. The scientists and programmers who create and build these systems constrain and limit the definitions of ‘intelligence’ so they can define what they are seeking to achieve. What we, the public that uses ChatGPT, or Gemini, or CoPilot, think the words mean and what they, the scientists, programmers, and researchers, think the words mean are very, very different. This is why the predictions can be so vast for where AI is headed.  What I Think My personal view, and not in any way an expert opinion, is that AI systems will create the foundation for very fast and large scale outcomes in their own development (this is called ‘autopoiesis’ - a new word I learned this week - which means the ability of a system to create and renew parts within and from itself). We will not know that AGI is present until it appears. I do not think human beings will create it. Instead, it will be an evolutionary outcome of an AI system, or AI systems working together. That could be tomorrow, or it could be years and years from now.  Defining our terms is part of how we retrofit our understanding of AI and what it does. What is ‘intelligence’? Does the ability to access knowledge, processing that knowledge against other forms of knowledge, determining the value of that knowledge, and then responding to it in creative ways count as intelligence? Because this is what an AI does now.  What is ‘consciousness’? Does a glimmer of consciousness, such as we perceive it, equal the state of consciousness?  What is ‘awareness’? When we teach an AI to be personal and refer to itself as ‘I’, and we call an AI model a ‘you’, at what point do we say it is aware of itself as a separate entity? Would we even know if the system were self-aware? Only in the past 20 years have we determined that many creatures on the planet have self-awareness. How long will it take for us to know an AI model is self-aware? These are deep questions for a human as much as they are for an AI model. We will discuss them more in the next essays. For now, though, I think the glimmers of consciousness, intelligence, and self-awareness we see in the AI models we have now are simply reflections of ourselves in the vast mirror of human knowledge the AI model depends upon.  Read the full article

[strangetriumphbluebird]

Ontological Sociology is a new theoretical approach to the study of social reality. It is grounded in the belief that life, society and culture are all living systems. An ontological sociologist would argue that social reality is not static but rather co-evolving with human beings who are constantly changing it through their actions.

Ontological sociology holds that human beings are autopoietic systems, meaning they have a circular process of self-creation and environmental participation. This process of self-creation and co-relationship occurs through the interactions between individual agents and their environment.

[footnotes-2-plato]

Whitehead and the Free Energy Principle: The Physics and Metaphysics of Information (dialogue with Tim Jackson)

Tim Jackson and I met for another thought jam to explore the interplay between contemporary physics, information theory, biology, and Whitehead’s process philosophy. We got into the ontology of abstraction and in the end found ourselves ruminating on the nature of reality in an increasingly technologically mediated world. Our conversation unveiled a shared concern: as physics has become…

[0ubl13tt3]

[pantopia]

Υπάρχουν ορισμένα πράγματα που πρέπει να τα πούμε και να τα ξαναπούμε, να τα λέμε και να τα ξαναλέμε, για να τα ακούμε -ή να τα ακούν αυτοί που πρέπει- και να τα ξανακούμε μέχρι να γίνει μέσα μας το κλικ. Η πραγματική γνώση δεν είναι πληροφορίες, ή εγκυκλοπαιδικές γνώσεις. Αυτές υπάρχουν στις εγκυκλοπαίδειες, στα λεξικά, στο ίντερνετ. Και όποιος θέλει να τα ψάξει θα τα βρει. Μεθαύριο στη κοινωνία όποιος ξέρει τέτοια πράγματα θα είναι κυριολεκτικά άχρηστος. Και θα νιώθει άσχημα μέχρι να του βρουν οι άλλοι τι να κάνει ή μέχρι να ανακαλύψει και να μάθει να κάνει κάτι πιο ανθρώπινο. Την δουλειά αυτή την κάνει ήδη καλύτερα το ίντερνετ. Το επόμενο επίπεδο οργάνωσης του ανθρώπινου μυαλού είναι να ξέρεις να κάνεις πράγματα. Πως γίνεται κάτι;

Πως γίνεται ένα καλό φαγητό;

Μια καλή συνταγή. Άρα, συνταγές. Κι αυτά ήδη υπάρχουν στο ίντερνετ και μπορούμε να τα βρούμε. Βέβαια κάποιος πρέπει να τα πραγματοποιεί. Αλλά όταν έχεις τη συνταγή, δεν τρως την απογοήτευση της αποτυχίας.

Το τρίτο επίπεδο γνώσης όμως είναι αυτό στο οποίο αναφέρονται άνθρωποι όπως ο Τόνι Ρόμπινς μαζί με τα προηγούμενα ενιαία τα αποκαλεί μοτίβα. Πρώτον, να ξέρει κανείς να ξεχωρίζει μοτίβα και δεύτερον να ξέρει να τα χρησιμοποιεί. Αυτό είναι πχ η δουλειά μιας μοδίστρας. Να διακρίνει το πατρόν ή να μπορεί να βγάλει πατρόν. Και να μπορεί να το χρησιμοποιήσει για να κάνει ένα ωραίο φόρεμα.

Το τρίτο επίπεδο όμως και στην κατασκευή ρούχων είναι να μπορεί κανείς να σχεδιάζει μοτίβα ή πατρόν. Αυτός ή αυτή είναι σχεδιαστές. Κάτι πιο σπάνιο, γιατί είναι πιο δημιουργικό. Όμως υπάρχει άλλη μια διάσταση σε αυτό που γενικεύει σχεδόν όλη τη λειτουργία του εγκεφάλου. Το πρώτο, το δεύτερο και το τρίτο επίπεδο στην πιο καθαρή μορφή τους όταν διδάσκονται από τον Ρέυ Ντάλιο ονομάζονται Αρχές. Είναι η ικανότητα να αναγνω��ίζεις τις αρχές που διέπουν οποιαδήποτε εργασία που γίνεται σωστά ή λάθος, οποιαδήποτε συμπεριφορά, γιατί αυτό χαρακτηρίζει την φύση των πραγμάτων που συμβαίνουν ή που ζουν. Μετά είναι να μπορείς να τις εφαρμόζεις στην οργάνωση της επιχείρησης ή της ζωής σου για να έχεις σταθερά αποτελέσματα, καλά αποτελέσματα και για να γλυτώνεις να σκέφτεσαι κάθε φορά τι θα κάνεις σε κάθε περίπτωση σαν να μην υπάρχουν παρόμοιες καταστάσεις, που μπορούν να μπουν σε ομάδες που τις αντιπροσωπεύουν μία ή περισσότερες αρχές.

Ή για να αναγνωρίζεις όταν κάτι δεν σου κάθεται, γιατί δεν σου κάθεται. Διότι έχεις μάθει να εφαρμόζεις εμμονικά τα ίδια μοτίβα σκέψης και κατά συνέπεια συμπεριφοράς σε διαφορετικές περιπτώσεις. Οπότε για να αλλάξουν τα αποτελέσματα στη ζωή σου πρέπει να αλλάξεις τα εμμονικά μοτίβα σκέψης και συμπεριφοράς και να τα εμπλουτίσεις με λειτουργικά μοτίβα, λειτουργικές αρχές. Τις οποίες μπορείς να αναβαθμίζεις όταν είσαι σε θέση να βγάλεις ένα καλύτερο συμπέρασμα. Επιπλέον στο τρίτο επίπεδο σχεδιάζεις εσύ μοτίβα σκέψης, συμπεριφοράς, παραγωγής που είναι ανώτερης ποιότητας από αυτά που ξέρουν και χρησιμοποιούν οι γύρω σου, είτε το συνειδητοποιούν είτε όχι.

Όποιος ανεβεί εκεί είναι ψηλά στη κλίμακα εξέλιξης, η οποία είναι βασικά αυτοποίηση.

Κι όμως υπάρχει άλλο ένα επίπεδο με το οποίο καταπιάνομαι στο βιβλίο μου για όσους καταλαβαίνουν άψογα ελληνικά, αφού έχουν φτάσει σε επίπεδο συνειδητότητας και αυτοποίησης αλά Ρέυ Ντάλιο ή Τόνι Ρόμπινς και τους λοιπούς δασκάλους της πειθαρχίας. Είναι όταν έχεις τακτοποιήσει και διορθώσει τον χαρακτήρα σου και την προσωπικότητα από τα κληρονομικά, γενετικά και επιγενετικά λάθη και περιορισμούς, εγωισμούς και τυφλά σημεία. Και είσαι σε θέση να ανοίξεις το προσωπικό σου μυαλό κι άλλο, και να αφήσεις το σύμπαν να συμμετέχει. Όταν νιώθεις ασφαλής στο σύμπαν, και δεν αφήνεις τα κόμπλεξ (συμπλέγματα / μοτίβα) σκέψης και συμπεριφοράς να σου περιορίζουν τη ζωή στα ίδια και τα ίδια λάθη, εμμονές, ιδεοληψίες, προκαταλήψεις και κοινωνικούς ιδεαλισμούς. Όταν το χάος δεν είναι πια απειλητικό αναλαμβάνει τη λύση με την μορφή έμπνευσης, συγχρονισμού, ευκαιρίας ή συγκυρίας. Όταν μάθεις να κινείσαι τόσο άνετα πάνω στο τεντωμένο σκοινί της εξέλιξης από συνθήκες και συνέπειες της αρχικής σου ταύτισης με την οικογενειακή και κοινωνική προκατάληψη σε οραματισμένο σκοπό τότε το τρομακτικό άγνωστο μεταμορφώνεται στο αδιανόητα προφανές αχά!!!

Δεν υπάρχει πια τίποτα τυχαίο ή ξεκάρφωτο στη ζωή. Όλα είναι συνδεδεμένα και οργανωμένα σε πτυχές από γνωστές ή άγνωστες αρχές και συνθέσεις μοτίβα...

Εσύ, είσαι μοδίστρα ή σχεδιάστρια;

[ookwrd]

Redefining our relationship with AI: shifting from alignment to companionship, for a sustainable AI industry

New Era of AI: Redefining Our Relationship to Technology from Alignment to Companionship Approaches, for a Sustainable Technological Society.

As the AI landscape keeps updating itself at the greatest speed, so does the relationship between humans and technology. By paying attention to the autopoietic nature of this relationship, we may work towards building ethical AI systems that respect both the unique particularities of being a human, and the unique emerging qualities that our technology displays as it evolves. I’d like to share…

[probablyasocialecologist]

A tiny Hawaiian squid, Euprymna scolopes, has become a model for thinking about this process. The “bob-tailed squid” is known for its light organ, through which it mimics moonlight, hiding its shadow from predators. But juvenile squid do not develop this organ unless they come into contact with one particular species of bacteria, Vibrio fischeri. The squid are not born with these bacteria; they must encounter them in the seawater. Without them, the light organ never develops. But perhaps you think light organs are superfluous. Consider the parasitic wasp Asobara tabida. Females are completely unable to produce eggs without bacteria of the genus Wolbachia. Meanwhile, larvae of the Large Blue butterfly Maculinea arion are unable to survive without being taken in by an ant colony. Even we proudly independent humans are unable to digest our food without helpful bacteria, first gained as we slide out of the birth canal. Ninety percent of the cells in a human body are bacteria. We can’t do without them.

As biologist Scott Gilbert and his colleagues write, “Almost all development may be codevelopment. By codevelopment we refer to the ability of the cells of one species to assist the normal construction of the body of another species.” This insight changes the unit of evolution. Some biologists have begun to speak of the “hologenome theory of evolution,” referring to the complex of organisms and their symbionts as an evolutionary unit: the “holobiont.” They find, for example, that associations between particular bacteria and fruit flies influence fruit fly mating choice, thus shaping the road to the development of a new species. To add the importance of development, Gilbert and his colleagues use the term “symbiopoiesis,” the codevelopment of the holobiont. The term contrasts their findings with an earlier focus on life as internally self-organizing systems, self-formed through “autopoiesis.” “More and more,” they write, “symbiosis appears to be the ‘rule,’ not the exception. . . . Nature may be selecting ‘relationships’ rather than individuals or genomes.”

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins

[mthvn]

Metahaven, Versions and Waves, 2020. Jacquard weaving, climbing gear, installation view at “Autopoiesis,” Tick Tack, Antwerp, 2023

[loneberry]

As biologist Scott Gilbert and his colleagues write, “Almost all development may be codevelopment. By codevelopment we refer to the ability of the cells of one species to assist the normal construction of the body of another species.” This insight changes the unit of evolution. Some biologists have begun to speak of the “hologenome theory of evolution,” referring to the complex of organisms and their symbionts as an evolutionary unit: the “holobiont.” They find, for example, that associations between particular bacteria and fruit flies influence fruit fly mating choice, thus shaping the road to the development of a new species. To add the importance of development, Gilbert and his colleagues use the term “symbiopoiesis,” the codevelopment of the holobiont. The term contrasts their findings with an earlier focus on life as internally self-organizing systems, self-formed through “autopoiesis.” “More and more,” they write, “symbiosis appears to be the ‘rule,’ not the exception…. Nature may be selecting ‘relationships’ rather than individuals or genomes.”  —Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins

[burlveneer-music]

Montresor - Autopoiesis - chamber math-rock from Melbourne

Autopoiesis - the capacity of a system to reproduce itself Montresor's first album in 9 years was a long time in the making, with many compositions dating back to 2018's February Album Writing Month challenge. Autopoiesis is an extended labour of love by guitarist and composer Cameron Pikó, paying tribute to a lesser-known subgenre of music with a fascinating history, the short-lived Rock in Opposition (RIO) movement of the late 70s. Influenced by RIO bands such as Henry Cow and Univers Zero, the music fuses technical instrumental progressive rock with classical instrumentation: clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, piano, harpsichord and marimba alongside guitars, bass and drums. Cameron Pikó - guitars Chris Martin – bassoon Stuart Byrne – bass clarinet Charlie Cawood – bass guitar Vilan Mai – clarinet Morgan Ågren – drums (1-2, 6-8) Gerry Pantazis – drums (3-5) Phil Turcio – piano Richard Allison and Gabriel Riccio – additional keys Composed by Cameron Pikó Cover art by Kit Nicholls

[fabiansteinhauer]

Wozu Rechtsheorie?

Um reichlich tanzen, also ausreichend und richtig reigen zu können.

1.

Kleine Tische, das sind Tabellen, Täfelchen, Tabletts oder Tabletten. Polunin ist ein Reiger, ein richtiger Tänzer. Besonders gut geht es dem Polunin im Moment nicht. Sagen wir so: er ist überlastet, im Stress, gereizt. Er schreibt im Moment Mails im Zug und versendet sie an die Falschen. Er hat, wie das eben im Alltag so ist, zuviel im Kopf gerade, unter anderem zuviel kleine Tische, also zuviele Tabellen, Täfelchen, Tabletts oder Tabletten.

Er würde beobachtet, sagt er gegenüber der Presse, die ihn interviewt und fotografiert. Stimmt, sagt die Presse, nicht nur die, auch sein Publikum (Polunin tanzt öffentlich) sagt ihm, dass es ihn beobachtet und zückt die keinen Tafeln, die Mobiles. Er ist überobachtet, überbetrachtet, überachtet oder übertrachtet, einfach überlastet mit Bildern und Blicken, vor allem mit den Kreuzungen von Blick und Bild. Die Kontrafaktur, der ein Beobachter selbst ist, knirscht gerade durch ihn, den Polunin.

Polunin sitzt nun auf einer Halbinsel fest, nämlich auf der Krim, das ist der Ort, von dem es in Land.Libretto heißt, dass dort der Johannes Pastuch ermordet (vermutlich sogar geschlachtet!) wurde. Auf dem Johannishof wurde danach ein großes, trauriges Totenmahl gefeiert, aber das ist jetzt schon wieder lange her, das war 2018.

2.

Der Tanz sei die Leidenschaft, ein anderer zu sein - heißt es in der zeitgenössichen Rechtstheorie, nämlich bei Pierre Legendre.

Wer Rechtstheorie betreibt, tanzt, weil der Begriff des Rechts dem Begriff des Reigens, des Tanzens affin ist. Man hat die beiden Begriffe unterschieden, damit man durch sie und mit ihnen trennen, assoziieren und austauschbar halten kann. Was soll man denn trennen, assoziieren und austauschbar halten? Die Einbildung und die Ausbildung, also darin alle Elemente, mit denen man etwas nehmen und geben, sich und andere orientieren und dann die Welt händeln und darin handeln kann. Diese Elemente nennen wir, aber nur in einer kleinen Forschungsgruppe zu Lettern, Letter: Das sind Mahle und klamme Sendungen/ Buchstaben und andere Stäbe/ Briefe und andere limitierte Gründe. Palunin ist paranoid und schizoid, das sage ich mit und in ständiger Sicherheit, weil ich das unter anderem in Aby Warburgs Sinne meine, der davon ausging, dass die ganze Welt paranoid und schizoid ist. Normalität funktioniert auch dann, wenn man alles mit allem verbinden und alles von allem trennen kann, wenn man alles von allem unterscheiden und alles mit allem verwechseln kann.

Der Zensor, die Zensur, die Einrichtung von Symbolen als Ordnung, die Vorstellung eines Kosmos als vernünftigem, liebenswerten und liebenswürdigem Lebensraum, die funktioniert gerade deshalb, weil man alles von allem trennen und alles mit allem verbinden kann, weil man alles mit allem verwechseln kann - und darum die Xucuru ebensogut und ebenso schlecht ´leben könne, wie Trojaner oder die Bewohner von Minneapolis. Sie alle können mit Illusionen eine unsichere Zukunft haben, bis sie sterben, obschon ihre Kosmologie und ihre Kosmographie unterschiedlich ist und ihren Lieben manchmal etwas zustösst. Man kann es manchmal vergessen: Leute können auch dann glücklich sein, wenn sie nicht wie Frankfurter Professoren leben und nicht gut finden, was die gut finden, nicht lecker und lobenswert finden, nicht einmal begehrenswert finden, was die begehrenswert finden.

Man kann es schon mal vergessen, solange man es nicht zu lange vergisst, ist das nicht so schlimm: Dass Institutionen historisch, geographisch, psychisch und gesellschaftlich immer kleiner sind als man denkt - und dass sie dazu noch selber pendeln. Die Tänzer sind so wichtig, weil sie nicht für sich tanzen, sondern für die Welt. Noch paranoide Tänzer wie Polunin sind so wichtig, weil sie nicht sich nachmachen, sondern die Welt nachmachen und darin für Andere und Anderes tanzen, nicht für sich. Man darf sich vom Begriff der Autopoiesis ruhig bezircen lassen, aber muss schon auch wissen, was gemeint ist, unter anderem dies: Dass nichts in der Welt für sich ist, alles nur für etwas anderes.

Wie Ino Augsberg sagt: Die Übertragung ist nicht zu stillen.

[queering-ecology]

Chapter 13. Biophilia, Creative Involution, and the Ecological Future of Queer Desire by Dianne Chisholm

Our essence as a species binds us to explore and affiliate with all life. We are lovers who can add up glucose, amino acids, water, fragrant oils, pigments, and other issue and call it both a flower and a mystical gesture. We can also decimate pollinators with an unloving tonnage of pesticides, precipitating the extinction of entire populations of those mystical gestures, once and forever. Lives without access to sensations are lives that edge out the earth’s raw, pervasive sweetness, that deeply biophilic connection to all life. –Ellen Meloy

Biophilia can be a mindful reverence for the infinity of organic sexual-social order; a love for the diversity of non-human life that stirs the mind to infinity for the beneficial enlightenment of humanity Biophilia can be an earthy curiosity for the erotic vitality with which life affects fidelity to extreme geography; an erotic-ethical affiliation between humans and nonhuman life in experimental symbioses whose ecological benefits are sensed and desired, if not fully cognizable (360)

Biophilia, Episemophilia, Cognitive Adventuring

What do nature writers want?; nature writers desire to know what nature desires (361)

“What does a prickly pear cactus desire that couples it so tenaciously to bare basalt sandstone with a sexual rhythm that erratically keeps pace with drought and flash flood? What conjunction of organic and inorganic elements add up to such a thriving, if exotic, symbiotic assemblage?

 the ‘intercourse’  that can develop is not zoophilic bestiality nor anthropomorphic romancing; rather it is a transmutation of human being into something other, prompted by the closeness of the human body to the vibrating heat and rhythms of the animal pack (361)

‘Becoming-other-than-human’; by being so close to animals (in this case big horn sheep) Ellen Meloy becomes caught up in the pack's migrations and affections in an other dimension of belonging to place. She senses an otherworld with de-familiarized, or deterritorialized human sensibility—a sensibility pushed to the limit of being human on the threshold of becoming other and she wishes to “bring back their startling news” to the human side, where human knowledge of the nonhuman can be put to mutually beneficial work.  

The human mind evolve(s/d) in contact with animal life (Meloy). Children playacting the animal; children are drawn to animals, animating the senses, connecting and communicating with others, to explore and affiliate with nonhuman lifeforms.

“Touched by indigenous life to the desert heartland, Meloy allies herself with native nature/culture and she foregrounds and reconnects pre- and post-colonial territorial practices” (372)

“To Touch an Otherworld”:Biophilic Ethics

Species interdependence is the name of the worlding game on earth, and that game must be one of response and respect…Queer messmates in mortal play, indeed.—Donna J. Haraway

For humans to aid bighorn survival, it is crucial to understand the zoogenic factor (or the autopoiesis of animal life) in co-evolutionary ecology.

Synthesis weds symbiosis in a post-anthropocentric recovery of the wild—a becoming-animal of wildlife management that “runs contrary to the historical imperative to press everything alive, dead, or otherwise into human service” (307) (374)

Deleuze emphasizes the anti-utilitarian, communal ethics of becoming-animal. “it is no longer a matter of utilizations or captures, but of sociabilites and communities” (1988, 126) (375)

Human alliances with wild animals that do not only protect animal territoriality but also promote animal-earth symbiosis. How can human interference proceed while respecting and/or preserving the other’s own relations and world? (375)

The Ecological Future of Queer Desire

“Opponents to native fish recovery programs…measure worth as most of us do, by human ego. What good are these fish? You can’t eat them, they appear to have no medical, economic, sport, or industrial value…even their file drawer in the wildlife management bureaucracy ---“nongame”---assigns them not their own innate something but that which they are not: not sport, not food. These fish, many people believe, are dead-end. Tertiary detritus with strange humps, and weird lips. They are just too queer….what does a humpback chub want?” ---Ellen Meloy

Rejects the ‘survival of the fittest’ in favor of cyborg syntheses and unnatural symbiosis (survival of the queerest?)—sexual selection that refines and perfects the family tree

‘sexuality is badly explained by the binary organization of the sexes, and just as badly by a bisexual organization within each sex. Sexuality brings into play too great a diversity of conjugated becomings; they are like n sexes, an entire war machine through which love passes” (Deleuze and Guttari 1987, 278) (375-6)

“Only queers can battle an imperative that unites Left and Right, thereby neutralizing domestic politics” (Lee Edelman, 2004)

“A better science and monitoring is required if variants are to be identified as sympatric (species that cohabit the same region, which do not usually interbreed but which do hybridize naturally, if rarely) or extrinsic (hybridization due to human civilization). More than improved technology , it takes devotion to distinguish variations that signal either adaptive evolution or “the last-ditch, high-pitched shriek of preextinction”. For life’s sake—or more precisely, for life for life’s sake—our biophilia is put to the ultimate test. (379)

[holohedral]

autopoiesis (n): the property of a living system that allows it to maintain and renew itself by regulating its composition and conserving its boundaries

[rachelarobinson]

The Barret Time reading discusses the way artists provide their viewers with an experience involving time and motion and how artists make decisions to affect how they want to move their viewers’ eyes throughout the piece and around a space or an object. By doing so, the artist considers how long they want a viewer to view their art and at what pace they want a viewer’s eyes to move through and around a piece, and with this, a lot of components are included throughout this process.

The main points of this reading are how artists consider their work as a narrative and how they sequence it and at what pace and how large of a scope of events it will include, all important aspects in successfully accomplishing this. The reading includes numerous examples of different elements of time and motion and how artists have used these aspects in their own artworks to make dynamic and meaningful art.

Something new that I learned in the reading related to the different aspects of motion in a piece refers to the different aspects that make up creating motion in photography. I understood before that having a blurred subject or background in a picture implies motion but what I didn't previously know about it was all the settings behind the process such as the shutter speed, whether or not the camera is stabilized or not, or the panning of the camera and how artists use a variety of combinations of these techniques to show motion in two-dimensional images. Photography is really fascinating to me and I know when to be able to tell if there’s implied motion but I never knew much about how it was created and I think now understanding how to create a sense of motion in images will help me in this class since one of the main aspects of four-dimensional art is seen through photographs and it's good to have an understanding of photography in order to create this.

One artist’s piece that I really liked is the Ice Pyramids in the Arctic Circle by Andy Goldsworthy, which was an ephemeral sculpture that no longer exists or has been altered, if not destroyed, by time in the weather. I really enjoy this piece because the viewer would never be able to go see this piece in its original form because this sculpture can be fleeting and subservient to stronger forces.

Another piece I enjoyed is The Quintet of Remembrance by Bill Viola because of how interesting it is to see these emotions being expressed at first very slowly but then these emotions being very dramatic feeling once change is seen in the subject’s facial expressions, placing more emphasis on how emotions are truly felt versus how they look. I really like this piece because of how it truly shows how dramatic yet realistic different emotions feel because of how easy it is to deceive people.

Additionally, I find the Autopoiesis piece by Ken Rinaldo to be fascinating how the fifteen musical and robotic sculptures interact with the viewers in a way where it is continually evolving its own behaviors in response to the unique environment and to the viewers’ movements. It is also really cool to see how the sculptures will talk to one another in a musical language of audible telephone tones and how they can express fear with high rapid tones and calmness with low tonal sequences as well as whistling to themselves.

This reading is being theoretical in terms of it speculating the different ways photography and films can create a sense of time and motion without it being practical. It is explained throughout the reading why this occurs and why motion and time can be inferred through a photo or film. By doing this, the text explains how people are able to include different senses of time and motion in their works instead of what happens naturally. In other words, artists start off with speculations of how to create time and motion in different works and being able to find techniques such as camera settings for shutter speed can turn this speculation into a theory because there is evidence of how these things can be done and how these motions and time are proven to be seen.

[cleekleequlee]

Scattered thoughts from (re)readings of systems thinking

On Maturana, experience and perception, or perception based on experience

It's funny that I cannot explain Maturana quite well even if it profoundly changed my thinking.

Maturana's biological achievement includes the breakthrough on understanding frog's vision, particularly how what it sees is not what there is out there, e.g., a fly, but is the "information" necessary for its action, e.g., how a fly moves so the frog could catch it. (In some mysterious ways it resembles J J Gibson's theory of affordance, so the object, or the environment is not a thing that can be objectively represented, but is always limited by, or seen through an observer's capacity to translate it to potential action.)

Of course Maturana goes further with understanding primarily about human minds and cognition:

"Therefore, underlying everything we shall say is this constant awareness that the phenomenon of knowing cannot be taken as though therre were "facts" or objects out there that we grasp and store in our head. The experience of anything out there is validated in a special way by the human structure, which makes possible "the thing" that arises in the description." (p. 25-26, Maturana & Varela, 1998)

Is it a scientific/biological deduction from how autopoiesis is understood in terms of life form? Or is it already metaphorical to apply on cognition, minds and knowledge? Irrespective of the answer, the implications on organization of system and on knowledge and learning are huge. Making it relevant to my interest on human-nature connection, the connection itself is not about expanding the scope or boundary of a system, from human to more-than-human, but meaning to be open to the "perturbations" of beyond human society, gradually adjust its own structure, from where it is today, "fitting" (like a fitting at a tailors) into the new coupling.

2. Self-organization and energy flow

There are different ways to understand self-organization. Prigogine use the physics of dippisative structure, while some others (to be identified source) explain it as the stages from 1. deviation of equilibrium due to positive feedback loop, 2. self-organization, 3. phase transition, 4. new equilibrium. The second explanation of self-organization as a stage in phase transition is similar to the depiction of Complex Adaptive Systems/Cycles, (though CAS always gives me a bit of both hierarchical and teleogical taste).

Now think in the language of self-organization, there are a few things to be considered

a) self-organization, as in the example of murmuration or in its computer simulated examples, is about simple rules applied at the local, micro level. Where are these rules from? Do they originate from bottom, or cascaded from top (I wouldn't say so!), or are they themselves result of evolution?

There is also the question of scale - can different strategies, or micro rules, exist in different pockets of locality?

Transformation scholar Karen O'Brien (O'Brien, 2013; O'Brien & Hochachka, 2024) attributes the spread of new values to its universal appeal, which is a very strange set up for a bottom-up view of transformation. I'd rather again goes to the practice theory, ecofeminist and Mol, and find those shared "logics" of hands-on front line workers in touch of life.

One key feature of self-organization, according to the entropic explanation, is it has to be fed by a constant flow of energy, the energy from order to chaos, It is salvaging on those energy that self-organization gains hope and find new ways to organize. Thinking with the personal experience, self-organization starts with flow of energy, flow of experiments, flow of movement. Don't settle. Wayfaring doens't mean proceeding toward a goal, but continuous adjust according to the minute situation. The new direction emerge from this constant movement, trying, experimenting. What does it mean for design? This is an angle I could explore further for NERD 6 in November.

b) the question of time - Prigogine seems to have discussed it more extendedly in Order out of Chaos (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984) will have to check it out

c) how do these local rules spread? What are the distinctions between those small scale experiments that gets amplified, and those don't?

If we think self-organization as the "positive" scenario of bifurcation in non-linear causality, what is the small difference that makes all the difference? Is it the "aha" moment of an individual? Is it coincidence of intellectual curiosity and certain kinds of power? Is it random? What Manzini's social innovation tries to do is to amplify the weak signals, experimentation of new modalities. That is where the idea of self-organization is most relevant to social design. What are the lessons to draw from physics/biology?

(might continue, we'll see)

[pantopia]

That we live in a universe is a fact now,  although most people don't realise what it means yet. But that we have the possibility to enter in the state of Pantopia regardless the initial external circumstances is to be discovered and conquered only by connecting with YourSelf. Which provides you with Wisdom, Power and Love to live a fulfilling life expressing yourself honestly.