STEVEN WOLFRAM, RELATING PATTERNS, PART 2 / OTHER: TARA DONOVAN & PATTERNS IN LOS ANGELES

Relations to Other Areas: Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Computer Science, Philosophy, Art, Technology,

a) The same basic forms of behavior occur over and over again almost independent of underlying details.
b) Principle of Computational Equivalence: that whenever one sees behavior that is not obviously simple-- in essentially any system--it can be thought of as corresponding to a computation of equivalent sophistication

a) A network system is fundamentally just a collection of nodes with various connections between these nodes, and rules that specify how these connections should change from one step to the next.

b) So even though there need not be any correspondence between elements in a system and in a model, one might imagine that there must still be some kind of complete correspondence between effects. But the whole point of a model is to have a simplified representation of a system, from which those features in which one is interested can readily be deduced or understood. And the only way to achieve this is to pick out only certain effects that
are important, and to ignore all others.

example: Snowflakes: follow a simple algorithm, but outside forces, like temperature and moisture in the air ensure a different snowflake each time

Here are some patterns I find walking around campus. I inter-weaved them with human-made and nature-made

http://www.acegallery.net/artistmenu.php?Artist=8

Artist Tara Donovan makes huge structures with simple materials, but puts them together in the same way to make amazing and complex-looking pieces.

Posted on May 6, 2008

STEVEN WOLFRAM, RELATING PATTERNS IN NATURE TO PATTERNS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Going back to what I was researching earlier, I decided to read in depth the studies of Steven Wolfram. (WolframScience.com).

WolframScience.com
When a pattern forms, the color of each element will tend to be the same as the average color of nearby elements, and opposite to the average color of elements further away.

what happens with two slightly different choices for the relative importance of elements that are further away.

all of these patterns in a sense have the same basic form in every direction. there are many animals whose pigmentation patterns exhibit stripes with a definite orientation

No doubt randomness helps in maintaining some degree of stability in markets--just as it helps in maintaining stability in many other kinds of systems that we have discussed in this book.

By looking at these simple programs, Wolfram was able to relate them to human characteristics: financial patterns.

From A New Kind of Science:
"Each cell then corresponds to a single trading entity, and the color of the cell at a particular step specifies whether that entity chooses to buy or sell at that step.
One can imagine all sorts of schemes by which such colors could be updated. But as a very simple idealization of the way that information flows in a market, one can, for example, take each color to be given by a fixed rule that is based on each entity looking at the actions of its neighbors on the previous step.

Posted on April 24, 2008

THE STUDY OF ARCHITECTURAL PATTERNS THROUGH SIMPLE PROGRAMS & GEOMETRY

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION

Posted on April 22, 2008

PATTERNS IN ARCHITECTURE & TECHNOLOGY

I am studying algorithms and methodologies that can be applied to a specific aspect of evolution in the human race. Rebeca Mendez, in the last critique had suggested architecture and its congruent evolution with technology:
As humans advance in technology- the way we are able to mold metals, plastics, concrete- a different aesthetic, as a whole, emerges. I want to research patterns buildings make as time progresses and technology advances.

(Italy, www.italyis.com)
(Machu Picchu, www.horizons-unlimited.com)

(www.planet-ware.com)
(Italy, www.authentic-italy.co.uk)

(Disney Concert Hall, www.glassandsteel.com)
(Burj al Arab Dubai)

(London, www.london.se.co.uk)
(Dubai)

STEVEN WOLFRAM: A NEW KIND OF SCIENCE
To better understand patterns, I have been directed toward the research of Steven Wolfram and his book: A New Kind of Science.
_Published in 2002
_Empirical and systematic study of computational systems
such as cellular automata. He calls these simple programs and argues that the scientific philosophy and methods appropriate for the study of simple programs are relevant to other field of science.
_A New Kind of Science:
a) The nature of computation must be explored experimentally, and that the results of these experiments have great relevance to understanding the natural world. It has approached two traditions:
engineering- which seeks to build practical systems using computations; mathematics, which seeks to prove theorems about computation.
b) Introduction of a third tradition: the systematic, empirical investigation of computation systems: "new"
and "science". He felt that traditional mathematics failed to describe the complexity seen in these systems meaningfully.
_Simple Programs
Study of simple, abstract rule- elementary computer programs, one quickly finds instances of great complexity among its simplest cases Simple means: its operation can be completely explained by a simple graphical illustration, it can be completely explained in a few sentences of human language, it can be implemented in a computer language using just a few lines of code, the number of its possible variants is small enough so that all of them can be computed. If a program is simple, where does its complexity come from?- Simple programs can be seen as a minimal example of emergence, if the details of
the program's rules have little direct relationship to its behavior, then it is very difficult to directly engineer a simple program to perform a specific behavior. Some exhibit properties familiar from traditional sciences, such as thermodynamic behavior, continuum behavior, conserved quantities, percolation, sensitive dependence on initial conditions, traffic, material fracture, crystal growth, biological growth, sociological, geological, and ecological phenomena.
A feature of simple programs is that making them more complicated seems to have little effect on their overall complexity.
_Mapping and Mining the Computational Universe
Believes it is necessary to systematically explore all
of these computation systems and document what they do.
Believes that this should become a new branch of science, like physics or chemistry.
_Philosophical Underpinnings
Providing a coherent system of ideas that justifies computation as an organizing principle of science. Intrinsic randomness generation: natural systems can generate their own randomness, rather than using chaos theory or stochastic perturbations implies that explicit computational models may in some cases provide more accurate and rich models of random-looking systems.

Here are some visual patterns made in Processing using Simple Programs.
All of these are from http://www.complexification.net/gallery/.

Here are some visual patterns of cities from an aerial view. These are found on Google Images by typing 'city patterns'. In this experiment, one is able to approximate the chronological order based on the patterns.

Posted on April 17, 2008

CONCEPT PROPOSALS: HUMANS VS. NATURAL PHENOMENA

I am very interested in the comparison between nature phenomena and human-made ones. In order to study the human race, it is a necessity to analyze their origin: Nature.

CONCEPT I
STRUCTURES OF NATURE VS. MAN-MADE STRUCTURES

(http://complexification.net/gallery)

A visual comparison between structures made in modern human society. How do these structures relate? Why are they formed? Are there any algorithms that fit these structures?

ie: Conway's Game of Life

-> I was also interested in how Beautiful World had a list of comparisons that eventually traveled through an entire spectrum
by relating one thing to another.

/////

CONCEPT II
ANIMAL STRUCTURES VS. HUMAN STRUCTURES

To take animal hierarchies, like those demonstrated in Prides of Lions, Packs of Wolves, Flock of Birds, and compare them to human behavior- democracies, communism, anarchism.

/////

CONCEPT III
NATURE VS. NURTURE

There are many scientific studies analyzing what aspects of people and animals are innate versus behaviors that are learned. I aim to study domesticated animals- dogs, and relate them to their wild counterparts. I aim to find similar studies between humans and animals that show that certain aspects are learned rather than instinct.

The Companion Species Manifesto, Donna Haraway (see previous post)
Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway
Machinic Phylum (not just Humanistic System, includes technology)
Pavlov's Dogs (see previous post)
Judith Butler
Classical Conditioning

Posted on April 15, 2008

ED FELLA & GEOFF McFETRIDGE @ RED CAT

(One of Geoff's more intricate pieces. I love the detail of the hair and simple, yet emotional physiognomy.)

On Sunday, Nick and I met up with Brittany and Roxy at the Red Cat for the Ed Fell and Geoff McFetridge Exhibit. It was very typographic based, but what I found most interesting was the comparison between Ed, who calls himself an 'exiting' graphic designer and Geoff, who is rather new to the field. While Ed presented his work in the last decades, Geoff showcased his work from the last months.

(I love seeing the relationship between simple shapes and structures.)

(There was this beautiful little room with Geoff's geometrical work all over the walls.
When you walk in, you are surrounded by forms and colors.)
(Geoff's gigantic head mural. Nick is there for size reference.)

(Geoff's poster about Yoga. Makes me laugh... haha!/Spring08/150B)

(Ed Fella's one of many posters, this one was for Rebeca Mendez's lecture at Art Center)

Nick and I had this discussion about Ed's work being more letter forms without high consideration of the level of legibility and form. His work, though very beautiful and intricate, was very difficult to read and actually gain information from. It reminded me more of a decorative painting with text than a flyer. Geoff, on the other hand, worked on simplicity and getting a message across as clear and crisp as possible. His work focused on simple shapes to describe a complex concept.

Posted on April 12, 2008

DONNA HARAWAY: THE COMPANION SPECIES MANIFESTO

INTER-SPECIES COMMUNICATION
Donna Haraway
The Companion Species Manifesto

_uses the term 'companion species' instead of 'companion animal' because humans, as historical and social organisms, have been affected by many species that do not fall into the animal category, such as insects and bacteria
_hopes to explore significant otherness by taking dog-human relationships seriously
_"history of evolutionary biology" studying the other species that grow with us as our helpers, workers, threat/enemies, companions/friends
_her goal: reflect upon human-animal relationships and other nature, cultures

(http://www.bookslut.com/nonfiction/2004_05_002059.php)

**More information will be posted once I get my hands on the book! There are no summaries online, boo.

Posted on April 10, 2008

CLASSICAL CONDITIONAL: Pavlov's Dogs

I separated communication between and among species into two categories:
natural (last entry) and conditional (this entry). Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) and
Donna Haraway have directed their research to the study of animals and conditioned reflexes.
Dogs are a target species because they would not exist without humans and they have
grown and evolved to live with us. Therefore, it is natural that
they learn what is not
necessarily innate.

(http://nobleprize.org)

PAVLOV'S DROOLING DOGS
There are certain things that are uncontrollable. Naturally, mammals salivate
when in the presence of delicious-smelling food. This is because saliva is needed
to moisten the food to make it easier to chew and saliva contains enzymes to help
with the digestion process.
Pavlov was interested in this reflex. He noticed that whenever he fed his dogs,
he would be wearing a lab coat. The dogs associated food with the lab coats, so their mouths
would dribble with saliva at the sight of the coats. Bringing this further,
he would ring a bell. The dogs associated the bell with food.
Pavlov's discovery was important because the bell and the coat had no relation at all
to the given reflex, making it different from the bright markings of a bright animal.
Animals constantly adjust to their environment as part of the evolutionary process;
those who do not learn generally die and cannot produce offspring.

Pavlov dogs Game

(http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/pavlov/readmore.html)

Posted on April 10, 2008

TOPIC RESEARCH: INTERSPECIES, (not) INTRASPECIES RELATIONSHIPS

(http://desertmuseum.org)

Last quarter, while researching what makes a signal look aggressive, friendly, dominant, and fearful in order to project a passive, unoffensive signal into space, I researched inter-species communication. That is, what type of signals do animals on earth give to each other to convey a message, and how do they differ. I've separated the different type of communication into the five different senses and why animals would communicate. The following
types of communication is innate. For example, most animals already know that bright rings on a snake are dangerous. A porcupine presents itself as an unpleasant treat because of its spines.

RESEARCH ON ALL SENSES

COMMUNICATION IS:
The imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs (dictionary.com).
... interchange of information.

WHY WOULD DIFFERENT SPECIES WANT TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER?
To warn, to attract, to display their ability, to protect themselves, to repel, and to inform another of something they want to do.

***COMMUNICATION OF DIFFERENT SPECIES, separated by senses
//VISUALLY
_Snakes, Poison tree frogs, spiders Snakes are brightly colored with intricate or contrasting bands of red, yellow, black, white etc. This coloration serves as a warning signal to enemies. It can also confuse predators as to which direction the snake is moving, since different colors blend at high speed.
_Peacocks flaunt their feathers to show their strength, health, and appear to be larger than they really are to scare predators. Congruently, the bright feathers are used to attract mates.
_Flowers are brightly colored to attract insects and animals for pollination.
_Dogs, cats, mammals have fur that stands up when in fear or unsure. This makes them look bigger and robust to deter a fight.
_Ungulates display pursuit-deterrent signals to indicate to a predator that pursuit would be unprofitable because the signaler is prepared to escape- they hop in such a way that shows that they are capable of running away. Such signals can advertise prey‚its ability to escape, and phenotypic condition (quality advertisement), or can advertise that the prey has detected the predator (perception advertisement).
//SMELLS
Many mammals, in particular, have glands that generate distinctive and long-lasting smells, and have corresponding behaviors that leave these smells in places where they have been. Often the scented substance is introduced into urine or feces
_Skunks have muscles located next to the scent glands allow them to spray with high accuracy as far as 2 to 5 metres (7 to 15 ft).
The smell aside, the spray can cause irritation and even temporary blindness, and is sufficiently powerful to be detected by even an insensitive human nose anywhere up to a mile downwind. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk)
_Corpse plants emits smells associated with rotting meat to attract carnivores in hopes of getting them to bring their pollen from one plant to the other.
//TOUCH
Defense mechanisms that provide a warning visually and also have a painful repercussion if messed with.
_Turtles have hard shells that usually dissuade lazy predators from making them an easy snack.
_Porcupines have quills that are as sharp as needles, detach very easily, and will remain embedded in an attacker. Unlike needles, however, the quills of New World porcupines have microscopic, backwards facing barbs on the tip that catch on the skin making them difficult and painful to extract. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupine)
_Prickly Pears/ cacti
//TASTE
_Corpse plant
_Fruits are sweet and delicious. Animals consume these fruits and drop the seeds elsewhere.
//HEARING
_Growling is a low, guttural vocalization produced by predatory animals as a warning to others, as a sign of aggression, or to express anger.
_RattleSnake

Good Explanation of Animal Warnings
Animal communication is largely by instinct, while human communication is cultural

(http://corbis.org)

(http://savethelemur.org)

Posted on April 10, 2008