Re: [-empyre-] An indecipherable communication?: Gaia and sonictopologies

["Joel Weishaus" <weishaus@pdx.edu>]

Relative to this is Deleuze and Guatteri's statement, "A multiplicity is
defined not by its elements, nor by a center of unification or
comprehension. It is defined by the number of dimensions it has; it is not
divisible, it cannot lose or gain a dimension without changing its nature."
("A Thousand Plateaus" P.249.)

-Joel

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barrie" <barriec@optusnet.com.au>
To: "soft_skinned_space" <empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2003 3:06 AM
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] An indecipherable communication?: Gaia and
sonictopologies


> Dear Christina, I view of what you have said below _quoted_, the following
> may be of interest to you and the list.
>
> By Margaret Wertheim and with the title Brain Worlds; Hawking, Derrida and
> living with the other.
> http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=48452
> A discussion of string theory and possible physical states for the
universe
> coupled with Derrida's idea of the _ensemble_:
>
> **
> The organizing motif of Derrida¹s talk, the idea to which he returned
> again and again (his singularity, as it were), was the notion of the
> ensemble, or collection. Here, of course, he meant ensembles of people <
> ethnic groups, religious communities, nation-states, local neighbourhoods,
> families and so on. But Derrida also wanted to alert us to the French use
of
> the word, its adverb sense, ensemble, as in ³vivre ensemble < living
> together.²
> **
>
> And
>
> **
> Certainly, the universe has no trouble reconciling itself. The
> schizophrenia is not in nature but in our mathematical models. It is not
the
> world that is fractured, but our understanding of it.
> **
>
> This resonates with a recent article, also by Wertheim, about
conciousness;
> Coche and concousness:
> http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/53/features-wertheim.php
>
> **
> Many contemporary philosophers of the mind assume that consciousness must
> be a phenomenon involving the entire brain, or at least large parts of it.
> Crick and Koch believe, however, that awareness is a local phenomenon
> emerging from the behaviour of small networks or ³coalitions² of neurons
> interacting. ...
> **
>
> These ideas seem to mesh with your view of the data landscape as analogous
> with the notion of gaia, mesh of life, mesh of information. But the nodes
of
> the internet are without a meta program, an organising principle, a will.
> Perhaps one will evolve [William Gibson]. Mutual conciousness? Perhaps at
> the level of quantum foam.
>
>
> Cheers, Barrie
> barriec@optusnet.com.au
>
> on 29.11.03 07:28 AM, Christina McPhee at christina112@earthlink.net
wrote:
>
> > Dear Empyreans,
> >
> > I was interested by Allessandro's remarks a couple of weeks ago in
exchange
> > with Barrie and others. He and Barrie seemed to touch on something that
> > compels my own practice -- the matter of the invisible or indecipherable
> > 'code' or system' on the one hand, and its immanence, or presence, in
the
> > mediated gesture of a specific art; and how might it be thought of as a
> > 'natural' gesture coming from the system of Earth itself (gaia).
> >
> > Imagine interpolated virtual and actual spaces thrive and decay, die and
live
> > in a riparian zone, watered by pervasive computing As a neural territory
or
> > intelligent topology, the net acts as if alive. As a place of continuous
ruin
> > and simultaneous regeneration, the networked space of electronic
> > communications is re-presenting, itself.  A semiotic model may offer us
the
> > net as a subjective topology,  a synaptic process-space. This space is
not
> > silent. Semiotically, it Ovoices¹ itself. A model of the net as a live
voice
> > finds some echo in analogy to the Gaia hypothesis on the nature of the
> > physical landscape. As life, Gaia persistently self-represents, or emits
> > information about herself [1]. This is an old idea in new dress. ³Day by
day
> > pours forth speech,² declares the Psalmist. In semiotic terms, a
landscape of
> > voice or self-expressive phenomena, as actual, real information > >
landscape and  sonic topology.
> >
> >
> > Let us intuit the structure, or topology of data streams, whether in the
> > electronic or in the natural ecosystem, as an invisible domain that
persists
> > over, and through discontinuities. The leap across the breaks, or
breakdowns,
> > can be expressed musically by means of formal structures of recursion
and
> > feedback loops, as in classic cybernetic theory, but also as in Baroque
fugue
> > structures. I imagine recursion and flow, between natural data and
> > human/machine, an interpolated, mutual consciousness.  The place of flow
is
> > sonically expressive.
> >
> >
> > As a visual artist, one may turn a gaze to what cannot be Oseen¹. Here
we move
> > into a zone of the sublime. Sublimity refers to that which is below,
beyond or
> > immanent relative to an ontological or cognitive threshold. I assume
that
> > there is a way of expressing this indeterminate zone, or invisible
condition,
> > in both the realms of the physical, cultural landscape and in the
interior,
> > ³behind the screen² landscape of the net.
> >
> >
> > As an ecosystem, the data landscape may be described as continually
subject to
> > entropy, following the second law of thermodynamics. Life itself may be
> > thought of arising, like a phoenix from ashes, as an articulate
resistance to
> > entropy.  A continuous dialectic between entropy and the architectural
> > self-structuring process of life means that homeostasis is predicated on
> > breakdown, or ruin. Data stream is not always continuous.  Scientific
> > instrumentation for measurement and transmission of physical data may
fail.
> > Anomalies of landscape data are not always explicable based on known
models.
> > Humans struggle with the limitations of their bodies, including,
fatigue,
> > inattention, illness and mortality.  A telemimetic aesthetic of the
sense of
> > place in the data landscape accommodates breakdown of the Olanguage¹ of

> > information streams. This is true as much for electronic cultural
topologies
> > of the net as for the physical This is true as much for electronic
cultural
> > topologies of the net as for the physical landscape of our planet.
> >
> >
> > A poetics of entropy and growth proceeds analogically to forms of
recursion
> > and feedback loops, as in the art of fugue.   I imagine recursion and
flow,
> > between natural data and human/machine, an interpolated, mutual
consciousness.
> >
> > Christina--
> >
> >
> >
> > Transmedia artist
> >
> >
> > <www.christinamcphee.net> <www.naxsmash.net>
> >
> >
> > Adjunct faculty, Department of Architecture, c/o Hargrave Studio,
California
> > Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California
> >
> >
> >
> > Perhaps, even if one of my personal methods is to trying to see things
with an
> > alien eye.
> >
> > If the same binary information could be read as text, programming code,
movie,
> > sound (many musicians like Massimo worked in this field), that should be
even
> > other possible intepretations, unknown now.
> >
> > And intertia would be one of them
> >
> > Gaia theory, anyone? It's just another point of view: the earth as a
global
> > sentient organism and the humanity as cells of this (sorry for
simplifing too
> > much, perhaps).
> >
> > _______________________________________________ empyre forum
> > empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>
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