I’m actually somewhat uncomfortable calling Paleolithic renderings “art” – not because they don’t meet some standard set of criterion, but because of the very nature of the ‘calling’ itself seems to go against the experience of the makers of the art.  See, there again, an assumption: “the makers of the art”, which includes a...

Bifurcations are "splits" in the way a system develops from one state to the next.  Think of them as two roads diverging in a yellow wood; one leads to some unknown mystery.  The other leads to MILKSHAKES (stay tuned). My understanding is that bifurcations are always relative (did that paradox slip by you?); depending upon...

A fellow student pointed out recently to me that compression algorithms are an excellent way to see feedback at work, and used the example of mpeg2 video compression.  Here we have a system that utilizes multiple levels of abstraction and feedback in order to efficiently compress video data. I will give you a picture or...

If I had X-Ray vision I might see this were I to look into a mirror...You can make out quite a few interesting features. Apparently my first cervical vertebrae never fully closed... so part of my spine is 'open' (okay you can't tell that from this image, but you CAN from my CT scan!)....

First-order Solution: The problem and the solution share an epistemological context, each helping drive the other. Second 'phase' (to the right): In this context 'more of the solution' creates 'more of the problem' through a symmetrical relationship. The SAME problem is produced by the SAME solution. No real transformation is forthcoming from within the system, because...

Here is the final view inside my head, showing a number of suspiciously empty spaces... hmmmmm. The cat scan slices of my head - sagittal sections

Well, things wouldn't be complete unless I included the other two missing dimensions. Unfortunately, these three dimensions will only reveal an extremely minimal amount of information about the marbles rattling around in my noggin. To get a sense for the many more dimensions that I inhabit, you'd have to read through this blog and...

Ok I've been thinking about feedback. One thing that struck me as interesting was that feedback, as a concept, seems to assume two things (and probably more): 1) step-wise time (and thus some kind of "state" in which a system can be identified, and thus 2) some kind of 'levels' within and between systems, in...