2/11/81 The Responsive Environment
". . . Time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live. . ." - Einstein
A prologue to this medium must inevitably be drenched in all its possibilities if it is to achieve significance beyond the selection of one strategy. (E.g., "bricoleurity"-as with much of Levi-Strauss, it is more his method than his data that attract attention. This method here may sometimes compensate for less than nonserial immersion in the perceived distortions [relative to literate norms] imposed by consent to signal each other via the media of space-time-information-collapse technologies. What is the signal, and where is the analogue? How do we differentiate phonemic units, and how do they combine to form the "phonetic"?
Recall Weiner's cybernetic injunction that the
most sophisticated intelligent machine would allow digital
process to be controlled by the softness of an analogue
overlaythat higher form of "fuzzy set" which in
its plasticity allows the hard edges of precision to be directed
toward non-zero set of possibilities. Herein sleeps the slumbering
giant of teleonomy's analogue targets. Add too the
movement toward invisibility of "causes" throughout these
complex, interacting networks, whose "drivers" should all
fool Alan Turning
into thinking their desire for lunch was more than a clever program.
Here we begin work with the hierarchy, structure, and difference between autopoiesis structure/organization maintaining homeostasis and allopoiesis (homoeostatic operations leading to products other than the system itself) and apply our distinctions to how first-order cybernetics/aesthetics [of observed systems] lead to and impose order on second-order cybernetics/aesthetics [of observing systems].
2/11/81 First and Second-Order Aesthetics: Perception and Process States
Adopting Von Foerster's distinction between
first
and second-order cybernetics, it could be argued that there is truly first-
order aesthetics, distinct from second-order process in relation to
observed systems. The distinction, however, is worth maintaining since it
precisely delineates differences between traditional "abstract"
definitions
of aesthetics as objective order "out there" and more
recent, complex traditions, e.g., Schiller/Schopenhauer who
express themselves
in terms of a balance between the senses, intellect, and cognition of the
world via the axis of auto/allopoietic poise of mind and object. This
Romantic
restoration of perceptual process is necessary for any analysis of
consciousness and aesthetics and only makes it more apparent how
philosophers ignored
this territory which now invents data on instinct, variations on form
and process of unconscious and preconscious states, as well as
matters of poise
between cognitive awareness and interactive acceleration possible with
this technology. The terrain is less and less suitable for
"objective" examination with the recognition that this
interaction makes possible novel process states, continually modified by
the self-referential capacities
of the technology: a Nietzschean dilemma transposed. All is less
forbidden, because even more is permitted with higher
frequency before. This dilemma was foretold by the poets and
prophets of the 19th century, but
these forms represent a discontinuity in kind only now operational.
Procedures on Assembling a Glossary
Glossary entries will be assembled throughout the conference in small groups of messages which will facilitate subsequent use via electronic editing. Thus they can be selectively deleted, modified, and added to by others. Later entries out of alphabetical order will be re- arranged to fit in sequence so that in the future (for display/demonstration purposes) the glossary printout can be recalled as an up-to-date document.
What follows is the first series of entries. The source is Mind and Nature by Gregory Bateson with additional information from The Cybernetics of Cybernetics by Heinz Von Forester. The terms entered here are chose on the basis of their relevance for the description of natural systems as a class which includes the existence of mind. Hence the base-value of Bateson's work. This choice relates to the nature of present systems as a special form of group mind, now capable operating nature. Some members of the "artificial intelligensia" would, of course, argue from the functionalist view point that this system may not represent a conceptually distinct form but simply a different physical manifestation of an organizational form which already exists in intra-or inter- personal/brain interaction/communication.
co-evolution: a stochastic of evolutionary change in which two or more systems interact in such a way that changes in system A set the stage for the natural selection of changes in system B. Later changes in system B, in turn, set the stage for the selecting of more similar changes in system A.
homology: a formal resemblance between two organisms (systems) such that the relations between certain parts of A are similar to the relations between corresponding parts of B. Such formal resemblance is considered to be evidence of evolutionary relatedness.
idea: In Bateson's epistemology, the smallest unit of mental process is a difference or distinction or news of a difference. What is called an "idea" in popular speech seems to be a complex of such units. But popular speech will hesitate to call, say, the bilateral symmetry of a frog or the message of a single neural impulse an "idea."
information: any difference that makes a difference.
stochastic: (Greek, stochazein, to shoot with a bow at a target; that is to scatter events in a partially random manner, some of which achieve a preferred outcome.) If a sequence of events combines a random component with a selective process so that only certain outcomes of the random are allowed to endure, that sequence is said to be stochastic.
cybernetics: (Greek, kybernetes, steersman; Latin, gubernator, governor.) "Cybernetics is a word invented to define a new field of science. It combines under one heading the study of what in a human context is sometimes loosely described as thinking and in engineering is known as control and communication. In other words, cybernetics attempts to find common elements in the functioning of automatic machines and of the human nervous system, and to develop and a theory which will cover the entire field of control and communication in machines and living organisms." - Norbert Weiner Scientific American, November, 1948).
first order cybernetics: the cybernetics of observed systems. second order cybernetics: the cybernetics of observing systems. (Cf. Heinz Von Foerster, The Cybernetics of Cybernetics, University of Illinois Press, 1974.)
teleology: the notion in evolutionary theory that purposive behavior can act as a causal agent in the structuring of systems. The term generally refers to goal-seeking behaviors.
teleonomy: A more recent view of teleological process which suggests the goal-seeking may occur via a systemic network of possible processes, rather than "naive teleology"-- aiming straight at a recognized goal.
autopoiesis: In cybernetics, this is a special case of homeostasis in which the critical variable held constant is the system's own organization.
Responsive Environmental Technology
There is an interesting group of people already on EIES whom we can tap for useful information on new technologies that can be added to create the basic module for artists to engage at a sophisticated level. I have been conducting my own search with these people, identifying new ones, following leads and so forth. I can continue to do this individually and transfer particularly appropriate messages, or we could initiate a technology conference of our own to tap this network directly and achieve a much faster precis of what is known. I gather that there is a public conference on "Telecommunications and the Future" which I have not had time to check out yet.