Data Ecologies Abstracts

Kirsty Kitto

Many of the systems in which science is currently interested can be classified as complex, and they appear to be defying the scientific method. Despite this, little work is currently being done to investigate general reasons for this failure. One proposal, that many complex systems are in fact contextual in their responses to interaction and therefore stymie the reductive techniques of the scientific method, will be investigated. A work-in-progress interpretation of quantum theory, that it in fact describes nonseparable and contextual complex systems, will be presented, and some ways in which this might be used to model complexity explored.

Hans Diebner

Data ecology or operational hermeneutics

To optimize society has been an early vision of cybernetics as historical examples like the CyberSyn? project in Allende's Chile show. Still, or nowadays even more, a democratizing tendency is attributed to the cybernetic achievements, above all, of course, the internet and related techniques. Some people even speak of a second renaissance, indicating above all that art and science converge through the unifying power of cybernetics. No doubt, the new techniques open undreamt-of possibilities for creativity. At the same time, the goldfish bowl blogosphere, for example, with its data presented on a silver platter, is a source for system theoreticians to model the "creative processes" in society. This is not only used in new marketing strategies like viral marketing, but also utilized by artists within the fields of "Guerilla art," for example.

Interestingly, almost parallel to the evolution of cybernetics, the arts tended to integrate itself into a systemic entity. Boris Groys writes in the Modern Tate catalog on "Open Systems" (2005): "... it was precisely the radicalisation of the notion of creativity by the revolutionary avant-garde that has historically led to its integration into the ÕsystemÕ. The avant-garde art saw itself as the embodiment of the pure negativity, as the medium of destruction and annulment of all traditional, mimetic, naturalistic art forms." Recent activities in system theory are the systemic description of how innovations emerge through the counter-acting influence of art. Groys' suspicion that art becomes part of the system holds in a literal way. This is why I want to promote the revival of a allegedly out-fashioned opinion by Heidegger, put into a timely expression: Cybernetics tends to Verdinglichung (reification), whereas art has the potential to twist out from Verdinglichung. In my conception derived from this point of view, "data ecology" means a negotiating practice between cybernetics and hermeneutics which I like to call "operational hermeneutics."

Julie Tolmie

Applying Multimodal Mapping, Notation, and Formalism in Mathematical Microcosms

Mathematical microcosms are created by expressing mathematical structures or processes as multimodal objects. Not surprisingly, the resultant systems reveal structures not explicitly encoded in the mapping. This is not unlike deducing relationships from axioms; the choice of mapping creates (visual) primitives from which more complex structures can be constructed or recognised or ÔdeducedÕ.

Diverse mappings create diverse microcosms. Interrelationships between these microcosms are necessarily tight, either being explicitly defined in the multimodal mappings themselves, for example the same parameter to colour vs space vs time, or being implicitly induced across the multiple representations of the ÔsameÕ mathematics, for example between a local and global view, or a minimum dimension vs higher dimension phase space.

Notations and multimodal formalisms are required to ÔreadÕ the space. To some extent they evolve along with it and are not independent of its content. But there is also a generic element; just as reading mathematical equations is taught, reading and moving between different levels of the mappings becomes the modus operandi of the space. This is not unlike navigating and making sense of diverse game environments without explicit instructions.

The example considered is rational numbers mod 1, with a focus on the interplay between the algebraic (group structure) and geometric viewpoints. The microcosms thus created can be used to rethink anything (and any data) expressed in these number systems.

Peter Bruza

The Quantum Mechanics of Semantic Space

Recently a serendipitous and potentially far reaching connection was made: The formalisation of Quantum Mechanics (QM) shows curious similarities to a class of semantic model emerging from cognitive science. Such models have an impressive track record of replicating aspects of human information processing such as word association norms. This talk aims to provide some initial steps to explore this intriguing connection with the goal of producing a new genre of formal and operational models of human sub-symbolic reasoning related to information processing and retrieval. The general thrust of the underlying research is to provide the groundwork for technology, which can genuinely and reliably enhance human awareness in complex information environments.

Bruno Marchal

The consequence of the computationalist hypothesis in the physical sciences

The computationalist hypothesis is the postulate that there is a level of description of myself such that "I" am unable to detect a functional substitution made at that level. I will present a simple, informal, but thoroughly deductive argument showing that IF "I" am a machine (whatever "I" means except we suppose "I" is different from the "whole physical universe", if that exists) then the observable universe, whatever that is, cannot be the result of a computational process. If time remains, I can show how to extract some empirical verifiability criterion for testing the computationalist hypothesis, and explain why quantum mechanics, without wave collapse, confirms it up to now.

Maja Kuzmanovic:

On growing of worlds: whole systems in turbulent environments

We can perceive the universe around us as composed of many overlapping, simultaneous realities, interconnected ecologies of worlds, in which we constantly influence their patterns and are influenced by their connections. By acknowledging this interdependence, we minimise the predominance of rigidly hierarchical, reductionist or exclusive world-views - from finding alternatives to technocratic 'security theatre' or homogenous global consumerist culture, to proliferating biological and cultural diversity.

Whatever their shape or flavour, many of today's Earth-bound realities are slowly and often imperceptibly sliding towards pervasive environmental and social instability. In order to be able to perceive, experience, or act with these instabilities in mind, human-scale endeavours should become more in tune with ecological-scale transformations. This requires a shift from short-term, mechanistic 'action-response' driven tactics, to long-term, systemic and environmental reflection. Thinking which enables an integrated approach to engaging with complex issues. Moving from objects to relationships, from collections to communities, from structure to process and from contents to patterns, whole systems thinking can provide fresh perspectives to current problems. This approach is based on the assumption that inclusive and participatory cultures can generate systems, actions and behaviours that are better suited to an existence in turbulent situations.

At [foam], we research the potentials for fertile 'design ecologies' based on whole systems thinking. These ecologies should be able to entangle physical environments and digital simulations, traditional crafts and emerging technologies, artistic and scientific endeavours. They encourage proactive engagement and problem-solving from multiple perspectives. They integrate thinking and making, ethics and aesthetics, aiming to generate and integrate realities, where the 'built' and the 'grown' are interdependent aspects of diverse and abundant patterns of life.

Steven (Pix) Pickles

"What am I doing rendering fractals?"

I will be presenting the results of my aesthetically driven investigations into polynomial strange attractors, particularly the number spaces they occupy. Existing investigations into this area tend to treat the attractors as discrete points in a vast number space, resulting in a wonderfully varied but ultimately disparate collection of bizarre shapes. My investigations suggest that these shapes exist in a continuum of smooth transitions.

My background as a computer scientist will bring two notable qualities to my talk. Firstly, a profound lack of understanding of the mathematical relevance (if any) of my discoveries. And secondly, the emphasis on the seemingly irrelevant implementation details of the software i developed to perform these investigations.