Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.0906170055330.28260@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.aol.com>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>
Subject: \net Phen Fen
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:55:45 -0400 (EDT)
To: sondheim@panix.com
\net Phen Fen
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Fen\net \net
There are networks everywhere in my work: networks of viewers, collab-
orators, responsive objects, negotiable spaces, Biovision Hierarchy files
(.bvh), parent/child relationships. Generally, networks are characterized
by deep and surface metrics and geodesics. The dynamics of networks are
characterized by the cheat, the kludge, and the hack. Physics is the clean
hack.\net
\net
A phenomenology is a description of a landscape and habitus in dialog. The
tenor of a phenomenology is its dynamics, its 'rasa.' \net
\net
The metric of a phenomenology is its underlying fuzzy structure; the
metric undergoes continuous transformation since habitus and landscape are
dynamic. Transformation sends f(x) -> f(x'). There are surface and deep
metrics. The deep metrics constitute protocol space where x is always
preserved. The surface metrics constitute a supple space dependent upon
the deep metrics for their dynamics. The surface metrics may undergo
'ragged' transforms within which information is created or annihilated.
\net
\net
The surface metrics are dependent upon the deep metrics. The deep metrics
tend to exist as mathesis; in other words, they are, more often than not
related to the metrics of space-time. The surface metrics are cultural
artifacts. The surface metric tend towards _corporate style._\net
\net
Geodesics in the surface metrics are paths of least resistance; their
determination is both psychological (i.e. 'this' choice and not 'that')
and topographic ('this' choice created through the metrics is the simplest
choice possible). An example of the former: rectilinear text and graphics
within an html environment. An example of the latter: an avatar 'falling'
a kilometer in Second Life. \net
\net
The surface metric is susceptible to habitus short-cutting: Cheat, kludge,
and hack. The cheat is 'something appearing as more or less than it is,'
something 'magical.' The cheat involves symbolic manipulation which may be
constituted by a formal series of (fuzzy) operations. The kludge is
'making do, using available technology, employing the clumsy or inelegant
if it produces acceptable results. The kludge is abject. The hack is
'beneath the surface, something doing something it wasn't "intended" to
do.\net
\net
The habitus of the real is the cheat, the kludge, and the hack. The cheat:
Manipulation by proxy. The kludge: Manipulation by experiment 'at hand.'
The hack: Exposure, subterfuge, the cleaning-up of the kludge. Physics is
the clean hack. \net
\net
The 'true,' the 'beautiful,' the 'good,' are names of legitimation
processes applied to phenomenologies. Otherwise of course: There is no
intention or meaning 'to' or 'of' the real. \net