British Computer Society: AI for One Health and Planetary Health

 BCS SPECIALIST GROUP ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (BCS SGAI)! 

AI for One Health and Planetary Health: Where Are We?

Friday November 8th 2024 - British Computer Society London Office (near Moorgate Underground)

Invitation to Register

http://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2024/

A full-day event with invited talks on the following topics:

• One Health and Planetary Health: the case for considering a unified health perspective
• Translational Diagnostics in Companion Animals
• Mixed AI approaches to surfacing information hidden in veterinary electronic health records
• Hands-on Tutorial: Low-Code/No-Code AI: Democratise AI for Text, Images, and Audio
• AI for One Health and Planetary Health: is there a generic framework?
• Low-Code/No-Code AI for Biomedical Image Classification: Visual Impairment as a case stud
• Low-Code/No-Code AI for Planetary Health: World Fisheries and Aquaculture as a case study

The  21st  century  brings  major  global  challenges,  including  climate  change  and  rapid  population  ageing, calling  for  transdisciplinary  involvement  of  diverse  sectors  and  stakeholders,  including  academics  and students, companies and societal organisations. One Health considers human health, animal health, and our shared  environment  as  parts  of  a  deeply  interconnected  system.  Our  environment  is  changing  and  it  is affecting  our  health.  Planetary  Health  emphasises  that  everything  is  connected:  "the  quality  of  the  air  we breathe and of the water we drink, the quality and quantity of food we produce, our exposure to infectious diseases, and even the habitability of the places where we live". Digitalisation is happening in both human and veterinary medicine. Human-AI collaboration can bring humans and AI together to gain more valuable insights  than  either  could  achieve  alone. The  event  comprises  a  number  of  talks  with  speakers  from  the Animal  and  Plant  Health  Agency  (APHA.gov.uk),  Veterinary  Health  Innovation  Engine  (vHive),  Small Animal  Veterinary  Surveillance  Network  (SAVSNET),  National  Health  Service  (NHS)  England,  and  UK universities.  

Low-code/no-code AI is on the rise with Large Language Models (LLMs) at its core, including multimodal LLMs that can produce content (text, image, video, or audio/speech) as output (generative AI). Come along to the hands-on tutorial if you are interested in content generation and content analysis of text, images and  audio  with  open-source  LLMs from  Google,  Facebook,  Microsoft  and  OpenAI  in  just  3  lines  of python  code  (low-code  AI)  and  LLM  prompting  (no  code  AI).  The  exercises  can  be  executed  in  1  to  5 minutes using Google Colab (free of charge for basic use and without setup to use).  

There will be Certificates of Attendance for those who register and attend the event.

We hope that you will come and join us, and that you enjoy this new offering from the BCS SGAI.

Full details are available at http://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2024/

Reduced delegate fees!!
The  delegate  fee  is  just  £50  plus  VAT  for  BCS  and  SGAI  members  and  £90  plus  VAT  for  others. This includes  attendance  at  the  event,  lunch  and  refreshments.  A  special  rate  of  £35  plus  VAT  is  available  for students. A Group Discount Rate is available for group bookings of three or more.

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To register for future mailings about SGAI events go to http://www.bcs-sgai.org/register/

Max Bramer
Chair BCS Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence (bcs-sgai.org)

Being constantly rational - in pursuit of evidence . . .

. . . while being chased by the absurd . . .

Individual

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      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

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Group

Descartes’ - cogito ergo sum^ A psychological case formulation for ...?	(Being constantly …) rational^ ... in pursuit of evidence
Drama: A case formulation for the audience.	Absurd: When £££$$$ meets health  - the where of when the audience aren't interested in the how, and why of the case formulation.

The theatre of the absurd does not need language.

Hodges' model?

In absurd terms the structure must go! No ifs ands or buts ...
Replace the intellectual concepts with poetic images
 but before you do optimise for distance from sense. 

"In the Theatre of the Absurd, the audience is confronted with actions that lack apparent motivation, characters that are in constant flux, and often happenings that are clearly outside the realm of rational* experience. Here, too, the audience can ask 'What is going to happen next?' But then anything may happen next, so that the answer to this question cannot be worked out according to the rules of ordinary probability based on motives and characterizations that will remain constant throughout the play. The relevant question here is not so much what is going to happen next but what is happening? 'What does the action of the play represent?'" Esslin. (p.416).

*and relational?

^D’ANDREA, F. (2017). BEING HUMAN. A FEW REMARKS ABOUT DESCARTES’ COGITO ERGO SUM. Studi Di Sociologia, 55(2), 135–146. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26479662

Esslin, Martin. Chapter 8 The Significance of the Absurd. The Theatre of the Absurd. London: Pelican, 1982. (3rd Ed.).

Previously: relational - rational

"Coal Fired Computers" c/o MUTE

"Graham Harwood and Matsuko Yokokoji (YoHa) build

contraptions that expose and collapse down the productive

chains linking telecommunications media to some of the

raw materials that constitute them.
In this interview with ANTONY ILES, however,

Harwood rejects theoretical discourses

of resistance in favour of a more direct and technical

method of 'action research' which skirts art and politics." p.159.

INDIVIDUAL

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     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

Poster image for YoHa's Coal Fired Computers exhibition, AV Festival, Newcastle 2010

"AI: Though these projects do not work solely within a logic of 'representation' they do, almost as a side effect, produce awful images. I am thinking in particular of the film still from Aluminium and the blackened lung hooked up to a coal fired computer. If the 'contraptions' you make can be thought of as diagrams of socio-technical relations, what are the qualities of the images they produce? To what extent are these images necessary by-products of the processes. GH: We can see the images arising out of the forces that threaten to break the machine, or assemblages arising out of its in-betweenness. Its unfinished nature always requires the imagination of the participant/viewer to finish the job, fill in the details. This is a powerful strategy." p.164.

Source: Iles, A. (2011) Double Negative Feedback. In the mud and blood of networks: an interview with Graham Harwood, MUTE. Spring/Summer, Vol. 3, #1, pp.158-171. 

Image: http://yoha.co.uk/cfc

https://www.metamute.org/editorial/magazine/mute-vol.-3-no.-1-double-negative-feedback

Note 'Anti-disciplinary' in this issue too:

https://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/anti-disciplinary-feedback-and-will-to-effect

Will investigate anti-disciplinary, as this appears to strike a discordant note in nursing in Hodges' model promulgating genericism. A quick check was encouraging leading to MIT Lab, but then disappointing in terms of personnel and resignations - but a lead for the future (inter- multi- transdisciplinary and Hodges' model).

(Yes, second post from this issue of MUTE, a random yet informative purchase. It cost £12.00. Still clearing, boxing, moving ...).

"Rational Concepts" 1977 by Norman Dilworth

"Rational Concepts" 1977 by Norman Dilworth. Tate
© Norman Dilworth

Hodges' model: seeking rational* concepts to deliver person-centred, integrated care and make sense of subjective and objective realities.

ARTIST Norman Dilworth 1931 – 2023 [Born in Orrell, Wigan]
MEDIUM Screenprint on paper
DIMENSIONS Image: 600 × 600 mm
COLLECTION Tate
ACQUISITION Purchased 1981
REFERENCE P07424

[NOT ON DISPLAY]

Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dilworth-rational-concepts-p07424

*Irrational too.

I sketched Dilworth's image on 5th March at Tate Liverpool, the exhibition: "Keywords. Art, Society and Culture in 1980s Britain" from 28 Feb 2014 to 11 May 2014.

Call for Papers: Diagrams 2021

The organization of Diagrams 2021 is making rapid progress. Five outstanding Keynote speakers have now been announced. Also, the free, online conference has adopted a novel approach to the program structure that is expected to provide fair access to the conference across multiple time zones.

 Find more details in the 2^nd call for papers attached below or on the webpage www.diagrams-conference.org/2021 - and do pass on the information if you know researchers or students for whom it may be relevant.

Best,

Mikkel Willum Johansen 

Publicity Chair

Diagrams 2021

 

*** Call for Papers: Diagrams 2021 ***

12^th International Conference on the Theory and Application of Diagrams

September 28 – 30, 2021

Virtual Event

www.diagrams-conference.org/2021

 

*** Highlights ***

 

- FREE REGISTRATION

- Proceedings published by Springer

- Three Tracks: Main, Philosophy, and Psychology and Education.

- Graduate Symposium

- Best Paper and Best Student Paper awards

- Submission dates in April 2021.

 

***************** Keynote Speakers Announced *******************

Shaaron Ainsworth, University of Nottingham

Daniel Rosenberg, University of Oregon

Katarina Scheiter, University of Tubingen

Atsushi Shimojima, Doshisha University

Frederik Stjernfelt, Aalborg University of Copenhagen

 

Francesco Bellucci, University of Bologna, is the Inspirational ECR Speaker for Diagrams 2021

******************* Novel Program Schedule *********************

Diagrams 2021 will adopt a novel approach to scheduling talks, to accommodate different time zones across the globe. See

http://www.diagrams-conference.org/2021/index.php/program/

for more details.

*************************************************************

Diagrams is the only conference series that provides a united forum for all areas that are concerned with the study of diagrams and has a multidisciplinary emphasis.

For 2021, *MAIN TRACK* conference topics include, but are not limited to:

– applications of diagrams,
– computational models of reasoning with, and interpretation of, diagrams,
– design of diagrammatic notations,
– diagram understanding by humans or machines,
– diagram aesthetics and layout,– evaluation of diagrammatic notations,
– graphical communication and literacy,
– heterogeneous notations involving diagrams,
– history of diagrammatic notations,
– information visualization using diagrams,
– nature of diagrams and diagramming,
– novel technologies for diagram use,
– reasoning with diagrams,
– semiotics of diagrams,
– software to support the use of diagrams, and
– usability and human-computer interaction issues concerning diagrams.

In addition to the main track, Diagrams 2021 will have two further tracks: Philosophy, and Psychology and Education; for their topics of interest, see

http://www.diagrams-conference.org/2021/index.php/calls/main-track/

http://www.diagrams-conference.org/2021/index.php/calls/philosophy/

http://www.diagrams-conference.org/2021/index.php/calls/psychology-of-diagrams/.

 

If the main research contribution of your submission is considered to fit either of the other tracks then you are strongly encouraged to submit to the respective special track, each of which has a dedicated program committee.

Authors of accepted submissions will be expected to be in attendance at the virtual conference to present their research and respond to questions presented by delegates. All presenters must accept that it is not within the power of the organisers to prevent delegates from recording  talks. However, when registering, delegates will be asked to confirm that they will not record any part of the conference.

*****************************************************************

Submission Categories

The conference will include presentations of refereed Papers, Abstracts, and Posters, alongside a graduate symposium.

We invite submissions for peer review that focus on any aspect of diagrams research, as follows:

- Long Papers (16 pages),

- Abstracts (3 pages),

- Short Papers (8 pages),

- Posters (4 pages – this is both a maximum and minimum requirement).

More details and all important dates can be found on at www.diagrams-conference.org/2021.

*****************************************************************

________________________________

Mikkel Willum Johansen

Associate professor

Department of Science Education

University of Copenhagen

data-verse 1 by Ryoji Ikeda

INDIVIDUAL

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

HUMANISTIC----------------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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GROUP - COMMUNITY - POPULATION

My source: Ings, S. Sublime numbers, FTWeekend, Life&Arts, 30 Nov-1 Dec 2019, p.15.

Spaceship Earth

Ack. Azuma Makoto

PERSON

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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BIOSPHERE: ALL LIFE

Azuma Makoto

Photo source:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/374643262755074853/

My source:
Quick, H. Forces of NATURE, FT Weekend, September 8 2020.

 

"Can you hear me?" Nalini Malani

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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group - population

A still from stop-motion animation work 'Can you hear me?' (2017-20)

 

Commission
Nalini Malani: Can You Hear Me?

23 September 2020 – May 2021

Whitechapel Gallery unveils a major new work, Can You Hear Me? by Nalini Malani (b. 1946, Karachi, Undivided India), as part of its prestigious annual programme of artist commissions.

My source:

Spence R. (2020) Written on the body, FT Weekend, Life&Arts, 5-6 September, p.13.

https://www.ft.com/content/2793f080-6690-4047-bc8d-8afab2b60026

Book Review: v Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History

Mathematics + Art

Running since May, I need to wrap this review up. As already noted this is a marvellous read and not just as a supportive friend through lockdown. Conscious of more reading and a new part-time clinical role, I could write so much more and read so much more into the text.

 Gestalt and patterns are described and illustrated, which prompt me to 'see' fields of knowledge, care domains and blank/blanc space (p.263). Amid this physical and psychological data can assume their simplest forms? Piaget is significant too in the thought on whole-part distinction and our preoccupation (science's) with a unified world view. This fits with future reading on Hodges' model and how learners categorize and develop their disciplinary and professional vocabularies.

If the mathematics might deter further reading on group theory, perhaps symmetry in art and sociology might be persuasive (chap. 7)? Does chapter 8, 'Utopian Visions after World War I mean that introspection and with it reflection are futile (p.288)? There could be another model/theory of nursing here: with Psi waves, Bohr Kierkegaard (p.281 Either-Or 1843), ideas, observation and competition in physics interpreting physics the uncertain times continue. I do get a (vague?) sense that the notion of consistency is very important and of use here too (p.322). As in healthcare and science the search for evidence is relentless, it is sobering to read (again) of the limits of language and hence mathematics (p.326, Wittgenstein's tower of meaning, Figure 9.3). The book is multicultural yet reminded me of the feats of navigation, observation and collective memory across Oceania.

In my notes, I picked out Karl Gerstner's, Aperspective 1: The Endless Spiral of a Right Angle and looking for an image to post here found an Aeon post:

How physics and maths helped create modernist painting

If you visit the post above the relevance of Aperspective 1 to me is not necessarily obvious, yet Hodges' model is full of axes, right-angles, symmetries and asymmetries. Recently, working through a little angst, I've been writing about Hodges' model from a definitive perspective. If there was a manual what would it 'say'? The center of the model is a fusion of right angles and disciplinary domains. What is involved, implied, communicated in the many forms of crossings (p.386)?

A.R. Penck: 'The Crossing' (1963)

Michel Serres is quoted:

"The ordered structure blew up." p.410.

With a long-standing interest in visualisation in the humanities, I had written Levi Strauss - maths in social sciences in my notes.

Bourbaki, Sontag the names come thick-and-fast - more reading.

This is an amazing book, the content, quality, index, references. I'm going to close here, but may return in future (there's 556 pages and the end notes are excellent too). As I pick up another book, a great find is another disciplinary bridge (Fechner, Psychophysics, 1860) more recently rediscovered in Buddhism and neuroscience?

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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group - population

Psycho-	-Physics

The Crossing image: 

https://www.dw.com/en/exhibition-utopia-and-demise-shows-tensions-in-east-german-art/a-50303887

Lynn Gamwell (2016) Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691165288. p.283.

(Sincere thanks to PUP and John Wiley for the review copy.)

Call for papers - Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio - Rhetoric and Health

Call for papers - Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio www.rifl.unical.it

Vol. 15, N. 1/2021 Rhetoric and health

Edited by Maria Grazia Rossi

Deadline: 20.01.2021

Words can act as a pharmakon, becoming a remedy or a poison. Considering both theoretical tenets and empirical findings, we have convincing evidence on the power of language and words in changing minds and fostering behavioural change.

In the context of health, it has been underlined how the quality of communication affect (clinical) outcomes, at the individual level (on patients) and the collective or societal level (on citizens). During the current COVID-19 pandemic, it has become even more clear that such communication effect is indirect and mediated by factors such as understanding, motivation, social assistance, trust in the system, etc. Words that are well-spoken but also, obviously, well understood can have a strong impact on the quality of our lives, concerning the clinical, emotional and social spheres. This is why the proper and effective use of words should be considered as a common ethical responsibility: it is an ethical responsibility for healthcare providers that directly take care of patients, but it is also a responsibility of public and private institutions working to promote behaviours favouring the adoption of a healthier life and the building of healthier societies, respectful of other people and more environmentally friendly. What happened from a communicative point of view to justify the need to activate a state of emergency and maintain lockdown restrictions is exemplary in this respect, also to discuss the conflict between values that is pervasive in our complex and interconnected societies. Even beyond the pandemic, many examples can be mentioned to discuss the importance of both the effectiveness and quality of communication. Take as examples social campaigns and/or advertisements on health issues related to cases such as the public debate on vaccination or antibiotic resistance, the social campaigns to combat pollution or against smoking in public spaces.

However, it is not obvious to find a consensual framework to define what counts as communication of quality, even if rhetoricians investigated heavily on this issue. Not necessarily a successful communication is also desirable from an ethical perspective. Obtaining persuasion – to be able to change attitudes and/or behaviours, it is not necessarily equivalent to do it in an ethically way. For example, implicit persuasion strategies often (but not always) can be described in terms of manipulation tools attempting to manipulate people and to change their habits. Again, this applies at the individual level within the interactions between patients and healthcare providers, with therapeutic recommendations described as genuine persuasive acts. At the collective level, it also applies to public communication, including the communication made on social networks, where fake news and misinformation spread even more quickly.

The links between rhetoric and health can be therefore analysed from two different points of view. From a linguistic point of view, the main problem is to figure out which communicative strategies are effective to persuade patients (and citizens) in changing a given behaviour and/or accepting the treatment more appropriate to a specific medical condition. From an ethical point of view, the main problem is to figure out which effective communicative strategies are legitimate, meaning they respect values defining both the patient (citizen) agenda and the doctor (political/health system) agenda. The discussions concerning the frameworks of value-based medicine and patient-centered medicine fit in this context, as well as fall in this debate the current attention given to the frameworks of narrative medicine and persuasive technology (applied to telemedicine, mobile apps, social networks, etc.).

Vol. 15, N. 1/2021 of RIFL expects to explore the links between rhetoric and health, accepting papers aim at considering the role of communication in the context of health, and papers considering persuasion from an ethical point of view – at the individual level (between patients and providers) and the collective/societal one (between institutions and citizens, between media and citizens).

Papers should be theoretical or empirical. All fields will be considered (Philosophy of Language, Classic studies, Literary studies, Linguistics, Psychology, etc.) if they are relevant to discuss the persuasive and/or the ethical dimension of communication in the context of health. Papers exploring the following areas are very welcome:

• Words and language as pharmakon
• Communicating science, communicating the COVID-19 pandemic
• Doctor-patient communication
• Persuasion, argumentation and manipulation in the context of health
• Ethic of the medical discourse and ethics for health
• Ethical relevance and effectiveness of narrative medicine
• Shared decision-making between patients and providers
• Social campaigns and advertisement for health
• Persuasive technology and health
• Social networks and seeking information on the web
• Value-based medicine
• Patient-based medicine
• Public opinion and health
• Visual persuasion and the role of images in the context of health
• Linguistic strategies developed for healthcare providers
• Emotions and interpersonal relations in the context of health
• Language and placebo effect

We call for articles in Italian, English and Portuguese. All manuscripts must be accompanied by an abstract (max 250 words), a title and 5 keywords in English.

The manuscript must be prepared using the journal template Download template. All submissions must be prepared by the author for anonymous evaluation. The name, affiliation to an institution and title of the contribution should be indicated in a file different from that which contains the text. The contribution must be sent in electronic format .doc or .rtf to segreteria.rifl AT gmail.com.

Instructions for authors:

Maximum contribution length:

40000 characters (including spaces) for articles (including bibliography and endnotes).

Deadline 20.01.2021

Publication: June 2021

CFP Full text: http://rifl.unical.it/index.php/rifl/announcement/view/23

My source:

Philos-L "The Liverpool List" is run by the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy/philos-l/ Messages to the list are archived at http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/philos-l.html. Recent posts can also be read in a Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/PhilosL/ Follow the list on Twitter @PhilosL. Follow the Department of Philosophy @LiverpoolPhilos

Book Review: iv Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History

Mathematics + Art

As a reader fascinated by the connections between knowledge and the disciplines in which it is placed, it was encouraging to note reference to "Psychophysics" (p.136) the title of a book by Fechner. This is discussed under Suprematism with the development of tools for experimental psychology and evolving consciousness. The early 1900s was a time a search for higher consciousness and not just invention but new invention, made-up words for poetry, as art strove to shed light on the mind reaching for a "transrational" level of reasoning. It seems little has changed as many artists still seek the spiritual and Absolute in their work.

Reading of psychophysics is reinforcement for me of the many disciplinary bridges of which the book presents one. In Hodges' model you often find yourself traversing psychosocial, socioeconomic, physicopolitical, psychopolitical, psychosomatic and other bridges. This book demonstrates how in the four domains (plus spiritual) of Hodges' model, art and mathematics are interchangeable with respect to mind - body (reality), the objective and subjective. There are bound to be many writings that might follow on Malevich's Black Square, his icon to the secular age. I have wondered about Hodges' model as a culturally neutral, inert space, if there can ever be such a thing. Free will and probability provides a bridge of even greater span (for me 'here') in social physics (p.145). Using mathematics to understand human behaviour. What would Quetelet make of big data today and the often 'lively' debates between psychology and psychiatry?

Chapter 4 Formalism includes a definition:

"Today we use the word "formalism" to name both the mathematical and the artistic impulse to isolate form (abstract structure), but the term has a different origin in the two fields." (p.153).

Flatland is a marvellous book (plate 4-2, p.157) as is Gamwell's outline of the perception of space: Helmholtz's learned geometry. (p.156). Key mathematicians and their work feature here; Peano, Frege, Cantor and how consistency entails existence (p.161). Language introduces noise as much as when spoken it needs air as a medium. The focus on language, meaning and poetry with resort to made up words and pictograms to analyse rhythmic patterns is fascinating. There is this too:

"The task of artists who work with paint is to provide graphic symbols for the units of our mental processes. . . . The artist's task would be to provide a special sign for each type of space. Each sign must be simple and clearly distinguishable from all the rest. It might be possible to resort to the use of color, and to designate M with dark blue, B with green." (p.171). Khlebnikov.

The book prompts you to read further: Bohm and the interpretation of Hilbert's thought, "meaning-free" and "meaningless" begs further study.

In mathematics humanity has sought to understand not just the discipline but our place in the Cosmos. In chapter 5 (pp.196-223) we learn of Leibniz's project to invent the first artificial language.

More to follow ...

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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group - population

	Continuous phenomena: 24 hr air temperature
	Discontinuous phenomena: Bank deposit (p.134)

Lynn Gamwell (2016) Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691165288. p.283.

(Thanks to PUP and John Wiley for the review copy.)

Book Review: iii Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History

Mathematics + Art

Chapters 2 and 3 on proportion and infinity and chapter 7 on symmetry concern foundational topics in mathematics and also the arts. From antiquity through to modern day the ideas are interwoven within and across personalities, history and the development of thought and a never ending quest for knowledge and meaning.

The diagrams in chapter 2 work very well illustrating the literal transformation of the representation of 3D space on a 2D plane. Linear perspective then presented it own challenge for artists, the human figure correctly proportioned against architecture that can dominate space, as intended, but on a canvas?

I have long laboured the point that in Hodges' model, it takes physical and emotional labour to put the patient (person, carer, student, ...) at the center of the model. In art, Alberti suggested putting the vanishing point in the center of a painting to achieve an overall symmetry (p.81). We realise of course that comprehensive, non-judgemental, person-centredness also relies on political labour too.

In chapter 3 on infinity, the 'frightening' aspect of the concept is highlighted from the outset in the work of Cantor, even before discussing rational and irrational numbers. As much as we clearly seek to reduce phenomena, it is fascinating; the human drive to unify, synthesize and discern some higher Absolute order. The existence of free will was subject to question (C. 19th) and is still debated today, with probability calculations and quantum mechanical additions. Although we might understand a concept in a certain disciplinary context, the conjunction of disciplines (art and mathematics) and the meaning of terms abstract and objective (and hence subjective) are instantly and usefully perturbed. That's what I enjoyed about reading this.

In the first post on Gamwell's book I suggested the (oh so real!) mystery of mathematics for me. The book could have been a challenge in terms of explaining complex mathematics, but this 'tome' rewards rather than confounds the reader. In chapter 3 you will find 'set theory' and Cantor's Actual infinity. At the risk of contradicting myself, aleph-zero, aleph-null et al. are worth (require) re-reading. Gamwell provides the titles of other key texts, some dating to the earliest writings and with some background. Gamwell refers to friar Giodano Bruno and the plurality of worlds, another very early reference to SETI. A reminder of a book to pick up again, with Leopardi Giacomo in the Zibaldone: infinity, (other) beings and nihilism too?

Like you perhaps, I have seen this engraving many times:

Camille Flammarion:
L'atmosphère météorologie populaire.
Paris 1888

As if often the case, there is more to this than meets the eye.

Thanks to Gamwell (p.126) I can see Hodges' model not only as "the place where four roads meet" but:

"In this nineteenth-century popular science on meteorology, an anonymous engraver depicted a medieval cleric who, like Bruno, imagined that beyond the fixed stars on the dome of the heaven were other suns, other worlds, and, according to a vision of the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel, a spirit-filled chariot with "a wheel intersecting a wheel" (shown in the upper left-hand corner) that could magically roll in four directions...".

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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group - population

	Cantor's real number axis, he called "the continuum", it is dense. p.123. statistics
	STATISTICUS (Latin: 'of the state') p.120.

More to follow ...

Lynn Gamwell (2016) Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691165288. p.283.

(Thank you to PUP and I must add John Wiley for the review copy - more to follow.)

Source image:

Camille Flammarion: L'atmosphère météorologie populaire. Paris 1888.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267625072_Feasibility_of_Parallaxes_with_CoRoT

Book Review: ii Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History

Last time I suggested that philosophy is missing from the title. Architecture is another very welcome theme in the book, the significance of perspective to art being obvious, but not the only focus. As mentioned the preface is an invitation to dive in. The oldest star atlas (xi), Chinese, sets the scientific and global tone to follow. My interest in diagrams, was quickly awoken as there are many in this book. I recalled the lunar cycle depicted on cave walls and bone. The first diagrams from prehistory. The preface works brilliantly as an introduction, such that I couldn't wait for chapter 7: "Scientists describe such symmetries using the mathematics of group theory" (xv).

Mathematics + Art

For young scholars the book plays the role of sign-posting schools and history of thoughts and ideas. [Paraphrasing..] Adorno and Horkheimer ... wrote the first in-depth analysis of the loss of confidence in enlightenment ideals, a condition that came to be called postmodernism (xviii). There's an observation of artists being inspired by mathematics, but not mathematicians drawing upon art - with some rare exceptions. When possible, Gamwell's approach to the personality and intellectual environment of mathematicians and artists is psychological (noting key traumas), at others the author adopts a more sociological and cultural stance. The prose throughout is clear and flows very well, even with some inevitable and necessary cross-referencing.

Chapter 1 Arithmetic and Geometry brings home the relationships and dependencies between maths, arts, belief and changes in our understanding of the Universe. When I learned in my teens of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, which Ptolemy would have visited, (p.30) I was shocked and still am at this loss. Sadly a loss that is not just an ancient phenomenon.* Interested in astronomy, the loss of Hipparchus's globes and co-ordinate system is a further blow. A cross-cultural perspective is maintained throughout the book, with Islamic mathematics, South America and Asia. Do you know the difference between philosophy and mathematics? There is an opinion here. From the Greeks - Neoplatonism, early Christian and medieval thought and the 'liberal arts', I knew the modern book version of the 'Quad-rivium' on my shelf was of significance:

"In the late Roman and early Christian era, scholars continued to study the ancient texts based on a curriculum - arithmetic geometry, music, and astronomy (the quadrivium, Latin combination of quadri and via meaning "the place where four roads meet") - first described by the Pythagoreans and adopted by Plato for his Academy." (p.37)

An original purpose for Hodges' model, remains curriculum planning and development, the definition of the core disciplines of learning has always been a roll call of sorts. The book can serve all, but younger scholars especially, as it sets out the formulation of scholastic traditions which have a chapter each:

1. logicism (chapter 5): Realism - St Augustine - Platonic realm
2. intuitionism (chapter 6) - Conceptualism - Peter Abel - distinct objects only in the mind
3. formalism - (chapter 4) Nominalism - William of Okham - mere signs or names (p.37)

Even today we must ponder on the status of the seven liberal arts, the quadrivium plus the trivium of grammar, rhetoric and logic. To classics scholars this will be introductory, but invaluable grounding for many learners - young and more senior.

There is an account of eastern and western cultures and the relative development of mathematics. The sciences and theology feature markedly as human reason made progress - increasing certainty only to suffer from doubt with new discoveries. The 'via negativa' (Latin for "negative way", p.47) reminded me of two books on ignorance I purchased in London. I arrived there March 12th and soon thought; "What on Earth (as a nurse too) am I doing here?" Especially, being in the basement for Jazz Live at Pizza Express, Soho. These are indeed uncertain and challenging times.

You may have noticed I have not mentioned the art thus far. Well there is plenty. By page 47 we are up to plate 1.52 'The Cloud of Unknowing' 1998 by Roman Verostko.

Post iii soon.

*In lockdown I followed a conversation on the destruction of libraries from the digital Hay Festival:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/hayfestival_event32

(This does require a subscription to Hay Player.)

Book Review: Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History

Spotting this book really hurt my face. The resulting contortion: the half-smile - half-grimace was painful, but I had to approach the publisher for a review copy.

In the email I was honest. I fessed-up to being a mathematical hopeless lover of the discipline. So many maths teachers, so many broken pieces of chalk, so much pain and anxiety. In the early 1970s my late uncle Doug (Engineering, Liverpool University) provided some tuition at weekends. This did not translate into exam success, but he did not diminish my wonder and awe of this subject.

I mention this to set some personal background and give you a sense of my gratitude to Princeton University Press for the privilege of this tome with its 576 pages and 9.5 x 12 in. The email included my work in mental health nursing and having this blog with a small readership and twitter. I've already posted highlighting this book, but thanks to PUP and your faith.

In Waterstones, Gower St, London in February I saw a copy downstairs, so although published in 2016 this book still has currency. The hardback, sat on your knee, you know it's there. That isn't a problem, but sometimes the clearly high production standards and quality literally 'shone' in certain lighting. The quality, high legibility and art reproductions are not to be missed: 444 color + 102 b/w illustrations.

Maybe there are a few math (maths?) teachers who will pass this way and think about their teaching methods, a child's ability, aptitude and sense of wonder. Even if the mind before them doesn't 'get it', please leave that sense of wonder intact. Nurture it, nudge it as best you can to inform the other literacies and provide the momentum for lifelong learning.

There's a word missing from the title, philosophy, which Gamwell combines in a balanced, almost formulaic manner, that had me captured - enraptured from chapter 1. No! Wrong again. Even the preface works indicating the global scope to follow soon. ...

Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History

Lynn Gamwell (2016) Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691165288. p.283.

(Thank you to PUP for the review copy - more to follow.)

Research on the use of the Image Description feature on Twitter

via SOCIOTECH list

A colleague of mine at The University of York is running a study needs some help (message below):

My student, Arwa Alnajashi is looking for participants for a study about the use of the Image Description feature on Twitter. You don’t need to know anything about this feature to participate, but you need to be over 18, tweet images reasonably regularly (perhaps once a week or so), and have a public Twitter account. You can live anywhere in the world, but need to tweet mainly in English.  All participants will receive an Amazon gift voucher worth GBP 10 (or equivalent in local currency).

The study will involve analysing some information about your tweets over a month period, but all information will be completely anonymous and confidential and we will not store your tweets. Your commitment will be to answer two questionnaires, at the beginning and end of the study, this should take no ore than 20 minutes.  By being in the study, you will also hopefully learn some helpful information about how to use this feature in Twitter.  You will be able to withdraw from the study at any point if you wish and have your information deleted.

This study has been approved by the Physical Sciences Ethics Committee of the University of York.

If you have any questions please contact Arwa Alnajashi at aa1764@york.ac.uk
or me Helen Petrie at helen.petrie@york.ac.uk

If you would like to participate, please send Helen an email and she will send you a link to the study.

Thanks for your interest!

Munker illusion: Finding a palette for holistic, person-centred care

Hodges' model - Integrated Care?

It is as obvious as black and white.

Health, social care & education
are bound to be siloed.

Get over it!

What do you want: a rich picture?

Color Assimilation Grid Illusion

"Only the grid is colorful, the rest of the video is in grayscale, but the lower resolution of our color perception makes the color assimilate/blend into the grayscale cells within the human visual system."

https://www.patreon.com/posts/color-grid-28734535
 

"I've found that the grid works best."  Øyvind Kolås

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - population

#carearchitecture #careresolution #integratedcare

See for original post:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/color-grid-28734535

My source: Massimo

"IV Square" by Sandra Blow RA.

Sandra Blow RA. IV Square (2004)

Screenprint on paper. The Golder - Thompson Gift (2010) (c) The Estate of Sandra Blow

A second print from this issue of Printmaking Today, in which I can see the need for the 'Public Understanding of Science' amid great uncertainty.


My source:
Simmons, R. A Collection of Collections, Printmaking Today, Spring 2019, Volume 28. pp.36-37.

In my mind's eye I can picture care: Frame by Frame

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Aphantasia - unable to visualise mental images Ed	Animation Frame by Frame Aphantasia - 2.5% of people may have it Requires memory plus areas in the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes to work together.
Catmull ... has "blind mind's eye"	... a former Pixar President

Additional links:

Can’t count sheep? You could have aphantasia

Aphantasia: Losing the mind’s eye 

Low, V. Picture this: the top animators who can't draw mental images, The Times, Wednesday, April 10, 2019, p.24.

"Calculated Risk" (2018) Ciara Phillips

Calculated Risk (2018) Ciara Phillips
Relief print and screen-print on paper on paper
Copyright - Courtesy of the artist.

Ciara Phillips

While far from a printmaker (or 'webmaker') Printmaking Today is a real treat. It gets read page-by-page - cover-to-cover and the challenge - finding this image on the cover - is not to be enthused and inspired by several contributions in an issue. I was disappointed there were no back-issues for sale at the recent Print Symposium.


My source: Cover - Printmaking Today, Volume 28, Spring 2019, Issue 109

Situational awareness: How do you assure the quality of your 'BIG picture'?

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

	Four Lasers Over Paranal

My source: New Scientist