Larryd

Larry D

__Thesis Design

African Genesis- Sanford Kwinter__ Sanford Kwinter begins to illustrate how separate entities can migrate or shape a particular network. He uses the metaphor of animals of various densities placed in areas within a particular field. The density of the animals has the ultimate effect of volatizing the space. He claims all works of nature, as well as architecture, are volatilizations and contractions as the example of the animal. In the case of the person within a network we can be classified as social animals and our apparatuses are results of the plain. A change within a plane could affect the arrangement of its entities. The example used is Kalahari, which were once the location of a large inland lake and a network of rivers. Over time deposits altered the landscape. It is no longer composed of a collection of winding rivers but a tectonic built by sediment deposits created by a natural force altering a field. The ecological communities were changed in a coordinated process and rhythm. Both algorithmic functions, rhythmic distributions and functions, arrange the entities as a collective. Social animals often establish territories and become limited to them. An animal can dominate a particular territory but become dominated by another species once the leave. The boundaries then become a repeated negotiation of tensions and fronts. In African music, every composition contains at least two rhythmus operating simultaneously. There is little structural hierarchy because a single beat does not overtake another. The clear separation between the beats preserves the stability of the entire fabric. Qualities of cross-rhythm operation provide the flexibility of the social-ecological system. Design, similarly to music, must keep both directions at the same time. Within nature, design becomes a series of circuits placed in tension to allow for variations.

__From Grid to Network- Collapsing Walls.__ Grids and networks, which have long organized life processes, have changed dramatically adding to a situation filled with complexity. Our society has shifted from an industrial to an informational society demonstrated by the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The wall was a symbol of division while the World Wide Web was a sure result of globalization. Walls seclude in order to keep order and control while web links and the Internet is a system of mutation where nobody is in control. These shifts have become global creating a new form of network culture. After the World Wars, modern industrial organizations were brought on by new information and communication technologies. There was a shift from a structure of grids to a tightly woven system of networks. But with complexity comes chaos. Chaos is a condition where order cannot be gained because of insufficient information. Unlike linear systems there is a level of unpredictability, which is unavoidable. The example of the different stages of water is used. Water can be a solid, liquid, or a gas. Frozen is the most ordered state. Gaseous becomes chaotic lacking a system of control while liquid becomes a buffer between order and chaos. People are distinguished from animals by their ability to walk a straight line. The curve can be difficult and paralyzing. Straight lines and the grids they represent give a rule of reason. For example, the typical workday under fordism is linear. The worker’s day was divided into equal but separate parts. Straight lines and right angles of streets are built around logic of efficiency that keeps industry running. Architects such as Mies keeps his consistency of the order of point, line and plane. Venturi created architecture around the automobile creating a network culture on an entirely new level. Gehry creates his forms and weaves them into an urban fabric, which is a grid.

__From Object to Field- Stan Allen__ An architect’s work on both the field and the object consisting of time in the studio and time on the site. Here, designing presents all of its messiness and unpredictability. The translation from object to field refers to a mathematical theory accepting computer simulations of evolutionary change. In effect form matters but not as much as the forms of things as the forms between things. The kit of parts form different entities that develop into a larger whole. For example, the mosque at Cordoba, Spain had been enlarged in four stages and the fabric of the original structure remains intact and local relationships remain fixed. The parts are not fragments of wholes but parts themselves. The mosque continues to be the same in the face of several renovations. Minimalist work used a tectonic shift using the viewing space reinforcing the condition as a "specific object". It often develops within a relationship between points and in sequences of events. The grid has become a simple way to partition territory and to standardize objects. But it is only convenient as a starting point and not as an overreaching ideal. Many girds can combine to create a field operating on multiple dimensions, such as Tokyo. Flocks are a phenomenon created by a various entities. Changes and obstacles in the environment are compensated by an adjustment. Crowds are similar but interact in much less predictable patterns.

__Syriana__ Syriana addresses how western governments wield political power to gain economic gain. Danny Dalton plays the role or a free-lance insurgent working for both big companies and governments. In the beginning of the film, weapons are traded to buyers but Dalton turns and uses it as bait to kill the target. Oil companies working in the area often hire citizens from foreign nations because of cheap labor. When the company had a downsizing, the workers were fired and lost visas, which meant they had to leave the country. Governments of the west began using embargos to create a pro-western economy and benefit the petroleum industry in the U.S. Ninety percent of the oil left on Earth is in the Middle East and control over in is essential to any superpower that manipulates it but when China wins the bid for the contract the U.S. labels the prince a terrorist. Intelligence communities within the U.S. forgo assassinations to gain certain control over the bids so China doesn’t gain the opportunity. The Prince is killed because they would side with China and his brother would make a deal with the prince. One of the workers that got laid off in the beginning could not find another job and ended up leading a suicide mission against an oil tanker with a missing missile.

__Code 46__ Maria Gonzalez has the same dream on the birthday where she is on a subway but every year she encounters one less stop. On her current birthday, there is only 1 more stop left so she attempts to stay awake to avoid her destiny. She works for a company that develops papels that give people permission to have different experiences. She tells William Geld her experiences in living outside the city with the rest of the lower class. She is caught smuggling the papels out of the laboratory and she sells them on the street. The illegal products become deadly killing people. William falls in love with her but is assigned to the case of the missing papels. Maria ends up having a code 46, which is an unregistered pregnancy with William. She gets a procedure to eliminate the pregnancy and her memory of William. Eventually she remembers him from her dream on the train and they flee to Jebolai because it is legal there. William is caught and they erase his memory of Maria along with his ability to read minds.

__Soft Systems"- Sanford Kwinter__ Soft sciences didn’t really begin to be investigated until hard sciences, backed by new technologies, were at the sufficient level. Two "Copernican" events that helped expedite the process were the general acceptance of the theory of the continental drift and the Apollo missions to the moon. Through technology it became possible to examine the world to extents that were not previously known. Tectonic plates changed the idea of a unified terrestrial crust into a hypothesis of several fields interacting at will through the forces of nature. As shown on the photos taken from outer space, the bodies of water on earth appear to be vast buffer zones between stability and instability. Landmass and water counteract and clash along certain boundaries (coastlines). Ironically, according to the tectonic theory, the separate landmasses were once one large entity with very similar properties. Water is an unstable substance that has the ability to morph and move. The harmony comprising the entire planet would be considered a system of "softness". A system is considered soft when it is constantly morphing and is comprised of a dense network of active information. Their evolution is controlled by internal mechanisms while the information is received from an outside source. Networks existing between different states also have defining characteristics. In a solid, the molecules line up in a fixed pattern. In a gas, they move around freely and randomly. A liquid is referred to as an intermediate state. Sanford claims the single most important conceptual development is the distinction between linear and non-linear systems. Linear systems are comprised of a series of entities that interact without effects. They cannot be analyzed individually because their primary behaviors are based upon interaction between parts. Nonlinear systems can change in different ways over time. Biology is often used as an example of morph genesis. The process how form gradually out of a homogeneous environment is known as epigenesis. It explains how certain characteristics can emerge from virtually nothing. A perfect example is the reproduction of genes within a human body. Genes are simple parts within a complex system of nonlinear qualities. They work together to process the raw data stored within their informational core.

__"Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software"- Steven__ Johnson- I found this reading very interesting! Johnson begins by illustrating an experiment using a slime mold. The mold is comprised of various elements, all of them the same. Each unit acts independently of the other using what is called coordinated behavior by relaying signals to each other. The intriguing fact is that each entity was equal; none possessed a unique characteristic giving it hierarchy. Agents were able to exist within complex structures with the regulation of simple rules. Cells would follow in the same paths traveled by other cells. The system could use local rules between interacting cells to create a higher-level activity adapted to an environment. Ants are a good example of entities that cannot function alone. The collective to ensure efficiency is constantly monitoring the amount of ants performing tasks within a particular system. An individual ant is unable to assess the situation on its own. The system works because it is based from the ground level where overall intelligence is based upon local experiences. According to Gordon, there are five fundamentals that must be met. The more ants you have the more accurate survey of the current situation will be available. The more entitles you have the more effective the system will be. If you start with simpler tasks on the micro level more sophisticated behavior will build up due to the lack of intelligence. Random encounters within tasks could alter the entire system. The system itself will naturally circulate useful information. In fact, the evolution of the colony over time affects the behavior of the entities. In older colonies the ants tend to live much shorter lives but the whole becomes more stable. In certain respects, human cells are like ants. Each cell has a specified job and it is capable of "learning" from other cells. Others can influence entities within a particular system. In SimCity, the values of lots are calculated mathematically in respect to the surrounding ones. Exterior factors heavily influence its particular function within a block giving it significance. It falls between the realm of pure mathematical calculations and pure randomness.

__Incorporations- Manuel DeLanda- The worst reading yet!!__ Temporal patterns and spatial patterns, such as chemical waves and patterns, can have many dire consequences for the future of evolution. When a solitary wave keeps its identity after interacting with other waves it becomes a solition. Energy is able to form into a pulse like wave and remain the same over time. Systems such as oceanic and atmospheric motions can generate simple structures. Transitions between nonlinear systems can be "mechanism independent" and "mathematical mechanism". The entire system could then be condensed into a single point. Phase portraits of most systems may contain more than one attractor, which means the system is given a choice with a few different outcomes. Metal is the conductor of all matter. They are the most powerful catalysts and have been said to bear a privileged status in the machinic phylum.

__Videodrome- David Cronenberg__ Videodrome expresses the television’s potential as a viable interface to affect our everyday activities. The show videodrome is a mixture of pornography and violence. Essentially the television was the retina of the mind and became part of reality for Max. Max’s lifestyle has morphed into half reality and half videodrome. People who have become exposed to videodrome have growths in their brains, which is said to be a separate organ adapting to the situation rather than a tumor. In his reality the television becomes a surface and begins to suck him into the world of videodrome. He even gets a slit in his torso that accepts new tapes, like a VCR or game console would accept cassettes. When he gets analyzed for the hallucinations a situation arises where he ends up whipping a girl but it turns into a television. Videodrome turns him into an assassin that receives missions by the tapes inserted into his torso. Max ends up killing the network officials and Oblivion’s daughter so videodrome could be aired without a problem. In the end videodrome convinces Max to kill himself. Throughout the film, there is a strong emphasis on the unity between reality and videodrome. For example, the gun grows into part of his hand so they become one. At the end he even sees his suicide on a television before he does it. Complex sensual situations were meant to confuse him such as the girl and the blood coming from her ears. It was meant as a catalyst for absorption into his mind. Whatever was going to happen on videodrome was going to become Max’s reality.

__Alphaville__ Alphaville is supposed to depict a strict fascist state that is ruled by logic. Lemmy came from the outlands to infiltrate the secure state and destroy Alpha 60, the controlling computer. It seems like Berlin after World War two because the city is partitioned into quadrants. All of the women within Alpha have serial numbers on their necks so their everyday moves can be traced. When Lemmy is interrogated, Alpha 60 gets confused because he doesn’t operate with the same logic as a machine. He is considered to have above average intelligence since the computer is unable to determine his true feelings. The citizens do not operate with their own intuition but only for the common good. Feelings are forbidden within the confine of the city. The scene in the pool where people were executed for crimes against the state demonstrated that there was no tolerance for error. One of the men claimed he was insane because he had feelings before he was shot. At the end of the movie, the girl is unaware of what she is feeling since it was not socially acceptable to express it. Alpha 60 inevitably defeated itself. Lemmy was correct in that the human mind does not operate within the logic of a computer.

__Pianos not Stereos: Creating Computational Construction Kits__ The MIT laboratory explored the relationship between the human body and several interfaces such as musical instruments. By playing an instrument such as a piano you become a creator of music and because it is done through an analog you are able to form a much greater relationship with the product. Computational processes are often thought to of been developed from constructional design where new tools and activities are used to aide in the work of the participants. Through these principles, two different types of connections are developed: personal connections and epistemological connections. Personal connections rely on construction kits that connect to the users’ interests, passions, and experiences. Epistemological connections focus on the connection of construction kits and the connection to important domains of knowledge. (p4) The programmable brick takes development to an entirely new level. The LEGO brick contains a tiny computer that controls activities. To use the brick, children ,must learn to write commands that organize a particular program and then the result is downloaded as software into the brick. Use of the brick requires the comprehension of feedback and control. StarLogo was designed to "construct worlds in the computer". Similar to the __Emergence__ reading, decentralized systems are acknowledged to be a system of random events organized by entities. A pattern can only exist if an outside force comes in and creates one. The system needs outside influences in order to be manipulated. MOOSE is a system where virtual worlds could be built to form a community. The children essentially write the programs without even realizing the full potential of the effect. In developing programs, the children become educated not by teachers but by their interactions with other students.

__Some Xbox Enthusiasts Microsoft Didn’t Aim For__ Microsoft invented a product that has computing power far beyond what was required for a game console. It is essentially a much smaller computer that can easily be transformed into a typical personal computer. After installing a "mod" ship to alter the primary functions, a hard drive could be added so information could be read off of the console itself instead of a game disc. When the transformation is complete, an operating system such as Linux is used.Apparently Microsoft has a problem because Xbox is sold at a low price with the intent of adding revenue through the purchase of software. Because it is being used as a personal computer instead of a game console there is no need to buy the software. The issue that arises "are you allowed to tinker with your personal property" becomes pertinent because it is perfectly legal unless you are using pirated software. An entire culture developed around cracked Xboxes for the purpose of research and development. Forums and chat rooms are filled with hackers collaborating to form the most efficient use of the newly discovered $200 personal computer potential.

__The Hacker Work Ethic__ The act of hacking, often thought of as stealing, is a source of entertainment for some. Hackers see the computer as an interface where programming problems provide a need for innovation. The work ethic of hackers has become part of the system itself and the role of information professionals is becoming more pronounced. The dedication forms a personal obligation where the hacker personally feels the effectiveness of his activities. It becomes a form of work and can become the center of a true hacker’s life. Passion results with a feeling of great fulfillment. Many open-source programs such as Linux have been developed as a result of hacker activity. Such programs are a product of collaborations between hackers individually writing codes and improving on various versions passed down from one another. Such projects are developed at their own pace, devoid of major companies with deadlines. The article mentions Plato’s Academy along with scientific ethic. According to the model, theories are developed collectively and their flaws are perceived and gradually removed by means of criticism provided by the entire scientific community.(p58) The two main rules of the scientific ethic is that the sources must always be mentioned and the new solution must not be kept secret but published again so the entire community could benefit from it. Such a system seems to be highly effective and often the most efficient when compared to a software development company with a limited amount of skilled workers operating under time constraints. The main strength of the system comes out of the principle that one hacker is responsible for teaching another. One forgoes his learning experience by working with others. __Noise in Formation__ The section "Buzz of Information" examines the very origins of network processing of varying complexities within the global world. Along with the development of technology historical events, such as the fall of communism (Berlin Wall), heavily influenced the information revolution evolving the world from its previous state (isolation) into a tightly woven network of different entities interdependent on the same systems. The information revolution started with the birth of literacy, the primary vehicle for the transmission of information. Further developments in technology such as animatronics and cybernetics blur the distinction that was once clear between human and objects. All entities that exist within the system are able to relay information through logic rather than reasoning. Information can translate into noise, which often causes instability. Noise doesn’t always have adverse effects but nevertheless it complicates a system. But as a measure of absorbs ion the greater the redundancy the less information is processed. Noise becomes essential as a carrier of information to a receiver. Entropy can be measured by the volume and type of volume that is processed by an entity. Along with chaos comes uncertainty, which is not a glitch in the act of absorption. Gaps within human knowledge naturally exist within the world. For example, time is a measure of randomness. __Roma__ In Roma, Fellini attempts to show all views of Rome, even the unpleasant ones that most officials opposed. A man embarks on a journey throughout the city experiencing everything that a typical urban dweller would see. First the man takes the train to a boarding house. The typical structure of an Italian family is shown. Along the Autostrada there is a series of accidents along with a demonstration. Fellini makes a careful attempt not to be biased in any particular way filming even sides of Roman life that might be considered embarrassing. During the construction of the subway, the difficulties in introducing a new field within a network slow down production. When the wall is broken, some frescos are destroyed permanently erasing several priceless artifacts from Roman history. The man tours several brothels containing prostitutes, where even the most prominent of Rome go to enjoy themselves. Drug addicts and the homeless are filmed carrying their part within the system that comprises a city. The protests at the end of the movie were probably the most profound views of ordinary Roman life. A large group of young adults were arrested and beaten for disagreeing with the Italian government, an event that would most likely be edited in a biased documentary. Ironically the final scene is a boxing match held in a public square. It seems that violence is not curbed but controlled by a group of individuals.

Demonlover The film "Demonlover" reminded me of a modern adaptation of "Videodrome" in some aspects. Instead of a literal pornographic film the contemporary equivalent was used, anime. Three companies were competing to get control over the media and sabotage was inevitable. Demonlover was a company that was the leader of Japanese comics and anime and with the acquisition it would become a media giant crushing a rival company named Megatronics. Throughout the film both parties fought for control in unorthodox ways behind the scenes attempting to be discreet. In the end the workers that comprised the large companies began to look out for their own interests and attack each other for ownership of Demonlover. Once again, a clip of media that was shown through an interface to heavily influence a system as a whole seduced the individuals. - more to add

Complexity Complexity exists within a system when several entities interact independently under s set of restrictions. As in the Emergence reading, the example of the ant colony demonstrated a great level of complexity on the micro scale that affected the entire system. The more interaction the ants had with each other the more evident their roles became. Efficiency in numbers results because of redundancy and every compulsory operation is completed. Each entity gained information from discoveries made from others and decisions were made internally to benefit the whole. The evolution of the system was based on adaptations in operations in reference to neighboring colonies. For example, the combative activity of the colony would stabilize the more developed it became. Ants from different colonies began to understand territorial boundaries but at times foreign entities would bring new information. The generation of noise generated by the outside source would complicate the system and possibly add new rules to the existing ones. I do not feel that noise has to cause a deal of confusion but has the ability to create efficiency as a result of new developments. After working with NetLogo, my understanding of the results of complexity became much more evident. The template named Grand Canyon simulated rainfall on a predetermined topography and its path due to gravity. Forces such as gravity and flow seemed important but I feel that more variables were needed to create a credible system. As a group, we are working on adding factors such as porosity and obstructions to increase interactions between entities. Certain options that were available on the erosion template became extremely valid in creating a believable tool. From noise and interactions I believe entities could be assigned roles as a result of a combination of randomness and the relay of information. Experience could be transferred from one unit to another and eventually throughout the system. Similar to cells and DNA coding, directions could be possibly inherited and then enriched with experiences. When a cell comes in contact with a virus it is able to develop antibodies that get passed down through off springs until the entire system contains the new instructions. Glitches in the system, such as cancer, could occur in an anomaly where two different signals are being transmitted with contradictory information. Two systems occur simultaneously and interact until one overwhelms the other. The clash itself generates a new output and causes a sense of confusion for the larger system. increased rate. As in the use of Netlogo simulations, complexity often increases when more variables are added.