viii Book: Bill Ross - 'Order and the Virtual'
'The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology'
So much of what we experience is nuanced. What was conscious thought, becomes tacit knowledge and unconscious. Is that consciousness nullified as Ross writes on page 76? I wrote a note 'reflection as hesitation'; also prompted to think about intution (p.83) and our word uses in 'retardation' (which here is no problem at all - in physics and complex sciences/systems. Again the 'principle of least action' arises (p.82). With more physics and cosmology to follow, it helps a little that 'manifold' has landed begging to be understood across the contexts. Bill Ross notes how Delueze and Michel Serres used the game metaphor [Game analogy #1]. Again, lifting this to a scribble 'Health-Illness is quite a game'! This will be the subject of a post soon. In England at least the law and manifold on health (being productive) and illness has been utterly disrupted. The game-table has been kicked over, by those in society who still able? New spaces, and canvases are needed. Kantian thought and interpretations are added to Leibniz. A heady mix but clearly essential as Bill Ross's critique is developed.
The book was a must-read, as in the contents: Complexity (with a presentation next month), cosmology, Serres, and Claude Shannon. In Game Analogy #2, "Communication is understood here to encompass much more than meaningful exchange; all phenomena 'communicate'". p.85. I couldn't agree more with with these 'games', this thought being 'situated within the purchase of information theory' (p.86). Bizarrely (or not), in the same year two papers:
Jones, P. (1996) Humans, Information, and Science, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24(3),591-598.
Jones, P. (1996) An overarching theory of health communication? Health Informatics Journal,2,1,28-34.
Ross explains the global view of Michel Serres when it comes to 'information'. This entranced me, and I only scratched the skin:
Jones, P. (2008) Exploring Serres’ Atlas, Hodges’ Knowledge Domains and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons, IN Kidd, T., Chen, I. (Eds.) Social Information Technology Connecting Society and Cultural Issues, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 7, pp. 96-109.
Here
there's a pointer to the cosmology to follow - Ross is true to the
title. I have let most of the Astronomy Yearbooks go, but still retain a
few. Key birth-years, but also for the articles that are a historical
snapshot. Here, Bill Ross discusses the game of Cepheid variables and
their significance in mapping the universe. Truly, fascinating. Weaver's
three levels of salient action are listed. Threads are tied too, with
conclusions offered. These rules are reappraised, physics ever present.
In light of one of the above papers I should revisit Serres, and
Leibniz; the search for 'overarching explanatory power' (p.91) is
ongoing. This game draws on Serres invitation to imagine a diagram, a
network of nodes, channels, and propositions. This tabular formulation
and its relations for me, spans the history of economics (Quesnay's tableau),
the current state of economics (human values), and next (mathematical?)
steps for Hodges' model. So many questions here: surely node can't be
an axis? I felt like Hansel, picking up sweets, Cartesian lines, scalene
forms, thresholds, coming across hoops to jump through through to
terminal equilibri. As you walk the sound of the thalweg, downstream... where Bergson features once again.
Reading
Ross, over several months coincided with several key themes gaining in
personal coherence. Bayesian ideas as might be applied to Hodges' model,
even if in a naïve way (c/o feedback on draft notes). The remainder of chapter 3 includes time (thought), percept (space), to close with Deleuze's Ideal Game. I looked up Cortázarian hopscotch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopscotch_(Cort%C3%A1zar_novel).
Ross reflects on the Ideal Game (does it exist, for Deleuze, only in
thought?), and the distinction between 'domestic' chance (Baysian) and
radical contigency belonging to the clinamen. In response to 'physical action and and the thought being on the same continuum', don't ask (please!), but I scribbled: 'corridor care' - a dangerous game, far from ideal. Plus, bird's using quantum entanglement to navigate. 'Kant's chaotic manifold' I will also investigate for next month.
completion to follow...
Many thanks to Edinburgh University Press for my review copy.
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-order-and-the-virtual.html
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965
