antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 1:48 pm on January 26, 2026

Is there any literature which relates Rosen’s notion of complexity with other literature in philosophy of science?

Query on Twitter:

https://x.com/FibraDomingos/status/2015231522089910656

I got a good response from ChatGPT so am sharing here in the hope of provoking some more:

There is a small but real ‘bridge literature’ that takes Rosen’s notion of complexity (impredicativity, closure to efficient causation, and the modelling relation) and places it into live debates in philosophy of science (models vs simulations, mechanism vs organisation, computability, self-reference, and the status of explanation in biology).

If you want direct, explicit connections, these are the most on-the-nose starting points.

Christensen and Hooker, ‘Anticipatory systems and time: a new look at Rosennean complexity’ (2005). This is explicitly pitched as “consequences … on science as a whole” and works through how anticipation forces a rethink of time, causality, and what counts as an adequate scientific perspective for biology. (Wiley Online Library)

Cárdenas, Letelier, Gutiérrez, Cornish-Bowden, Soto-Andrade, ‘Closure to efficient causation, computability and artificial life’ (Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2009). This is one of the clearest places where Rosen’s “organisms aren’t mechanisms / no simulable model” claim is treated as a philosophy-of-science issue about computation, modelling vs simulation, and what “closure” amounts to logically. (DCC Universidad de Chile)

Siekmann, ‘An applied mathematician’s perspective on Rosennean complexity’ (2017). Not philosophy-of-science in the narrow sense, but it directly reframes Rosen’s anti-mechanism stance as a claim about a particular kind of mechanistic modelling, and so lands right in the mechanistic explanation debate (what mechanisms can and can’t capture). (ScienceDirect)

On the “Rosen ↔ autopoiesis / second-order cybernetics / closure” axis (which is probably the most travelled bridge into philosophy of science of biology):

Recent autopoiesis work that explicitly uses Rosen’s modelling-relation framing to sort out what is “natural system” vs “formal system”, and relates operational closure in autopoiesis to Rosen’s closure to efficient causation. This is squarely about explanatory status (definition, theory, model) and how to interpret formalisations. (ScienceDirect)

For the “Rosen ↔ self-reference / impredicativity / logic” axis:

The Springer chapter ‘Impredicativity, Dynamics, and the Perception–Action Divide’ (2003) treats Rosen’s ‘epistemology of complexity’ as a central source and ties it to broader work on impredicativity and self-reference. That’s one of the more direct routes from Rosen into mainstream philosophy-adjacent discussions of self-referential structure. (Springer)

For the “Rosen ↔ modelling / representation / semantics” axis:

Pattee’s line on the ‘epistemic cut’ and ‘semantic (semiotic) closure’ overlaps strongly with Rosen’s concerns about modelling, description, and closure, and Pattee explicitly frames it as about the conditions for objective scientific description when symbols and dynamics intertwine. (casci.binghamton.edu)

A slightly wider map of “where Rosen sits” in philosophy-of-science terms

Models vs simulations, and what it means to model at all
Rosen’s modelling relation pushes you toward the semantic/pragmatic view of models (models as mediating structures with interpretation), and away from “simulation = model”. The computability/closure debate papers are where this gets cashed out technically and methodologically. (DCC Universidad de Chile)
Mechanism vs organisation
Rosen’s slogan ‘throw away the physics, keep the organisation’ ends up adjacent to contemporary arguments about whether mechanistic explanation can capture organisation-level closure. Siekmann is useful precisely because it tries to translate Rosen into the language of current modelling practice and mechanistic explanation. (ScienceDirect)
Closure concepts across traditions
Rosen’s closure to efficient causation is often compared (sometimes too quickly) with autopoietic operational closure. The autopoiesis “cartography” paper is useful because it is explicitly about avoiding category mistakes: when are we defining a natural organisation vs building a formal surrogate. (ScienceDirect)
Complexity as impredicativity (not “many parts”)
This is the thread that links Rosen to philosophical discussions of self-reference, circularity, and limits of formalisation. The impredicativity chapter above is a decent doorway into that conversation. (Springer)

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 1:41 pm on January 26, 2026

Fibra @FibraDomingos on Twitter: Trying to simulate autopoiesis in an emergent manner, with a simple scaling rule and with each unit having binary state attribution and a corresponding gate (AND, OR, XOR) associated to it.

Trying to simulate autopoiesis in an emergent manner, with a simple scaling rule and with each unit having binary state attribution and a corresponding gate (AND, OR, XOR) associated to it.
2:53 PM · Nov 28, 2024
Fibra on X: “Trying to simulate autopoiesis in an emergent manner, with a simple scaling rule and with each unit having binary state attribution and a corresponding gate (AND, OR, XOR) associated to it. https://t.co/HtvZ4dq5TO” / X

Trying to simulate autopoiesis in an emergent manner, with a simple scaling rule and with each unit having binary state attribution and a corresponding gate (AND, OR, XOR) associated to it. pic.twitter.com/HtvZ4dq5TO
— Fibra (@FibraDomingos) November 28, 2024

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 4:29 am on January 25, 2026

2026 Conference: Systems Thinking and Systems Practice, Hosted by the University of Hull Centre for Systems Studies (CSS), Systems and Complexity in Organisation (SCiO) and The OR Society, 24-26 March 2026 | University of Hull, UK

Hosted by the University of Hull Centre for Systems Studies (CSS), Systems and Complexity in Organisation (SCiO) and The OR Society, 24th – 26th March 2026 | University of Hull

Hosted by the University of Hull Centre for Systems Studies (CSS),

Systems and Complexity in Organisation (SCiO) and The OR Society

Overview ⋮ 2026 Conference: Systems Thinking and Systems Practice ⋮ Blackthorn Events

https://events.blackthorn.io/en/8eNd4w6/2026-conference-systems-thinking-and-systems-practice-5a1oWS7bIzd/overview

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 4:26 am on January 25, 2026

Metamodern Theory & Praxis Volume 2 (2025)

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES
Williams » Science & Technology Studies » Metamodern Theory and Praxis » Volume 2 Issue 1
Volume 2 Issue 1

Image Credit: Daniel Martin Diaz

Metamodern Theory & Praxis 2 (2025)
THEORY
“Everything” Is in Quotation Marks
Meta-Subjectivity and Ideational Analysis
Constructing (Social) Constructivism
Metamodernism as a Cultural (and Literary) Paradigm
Metamodernism as a Guidepost for Building Transformative Movements
A Metamodern Analysis of the Postcolonial and Marxist Theory Debate
PRAXIS
A Metadisciplinary Approach to Asian Medicine
As I Am, So I See
The Mechanism of the World
Annular Theory & Praxis
Three Poems
*DOI activation pending imminent ISSN assignment

Metamodern Theory and Praxis is a new, peer-reviewed, anti-disciplinary, Open Access journal dedicated to bleeding-edge work in the Human Sciences (Humanities + Social Sciences) and focused on the unfolding paradigm(s) of metamodern theory and praxis. More Info and previous issues.
Volume 2 Issue 1 – Science & Technology Studies

https://sts.williams.edu/metamodern/v2i1/

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 12:00 pm on January 23, 2026

Transduction – leading transformation – Issue #206

My weekly posts

The Vitamin

I’m reflecting on the fantasy of “The Vitamin” – that one missing thing which, once discovered, suddenly explains all the struggle and unlocks brilliance. Individually, we dream of a breakthrough that makes everything easier. In organisational life, I see the same hope: that one change, insight or fix will deliver salvation. The post asks whether such a Vitamin really exists at work – or whether progress is usually messier, harder-won, and less magical. The Vitamin – chosen path

Courses and events

Outcome-based commissioning: a ten-step introduction – Cohort 10, this February

Back by popular demand! Our introductory course for commissioners will run again this February, with the first session on 25 February. This online and interactive learning programme will enable you to grasp the core principles and practices of effective commissioning. You’ll be better placed to help develop public services that make a really positive and lasting difference to local people’s lives. You’ll also be able to act quickly with confidence using a commissioning mindset and call on your network of fellow participants for support and challenge. https://link.redquadrant.com/10StepFeb26

Child House to be rolled out nationally – well done to the RedQuadrant consultants who were involved

This is wonderful news! I remain very proud of the small but hopefully valuable role RedQuadrant played in supporting this fantastic example ofsystems change or systems convening in moving public services closer to how they ought to be! https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_child-victims-should-never-be-forced-to-repeat-activity-7407439019019485184-Q_Hx?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAADUV_eUBZSxZvFpx70OV050F6K5HM2MhTMo

Introducing the RedQuadrant Local Government Reorganisation hub

Local Government Reorganisation is coming fast. By April 2028, every new authority must be safe, legal, and fully operational. That means statutory officers secured, ICT cutovers rehearsed, services live, and residents experiencing seamless continuity. The RedQuadrant LGR Hub is the only model that guarantees readiness while embedding lasting capability. With a single accountable structure, governance at its core, and capability pillars across adults, children’s, SEND, ICT, finance, housing, and place, the Hub ensures no gaps, no surprises. Three outcomes, every time: Safe and legal on day one; Visible assurance and confidence in delivery; Future-ready capacity with transformation built in. Find out more now: https://www.redquadrant.com/lgrhub

Commissioning Compass: systems assessment for change

Our newly launched tool, the Commissioning Compass, helps you to assess your commissioning system and form an action plan for improvement. It’s available for free via our Teachable site – try it now! link.redquadrant.com/commissioningcompass

Next National Commissioning Academy

We’re building our cohort for the next national commissioning academy – our flagship commissioning programme from the PSTA. Register your interest now: https://link.redquadrant.com/nextacademy25

What I’ve been reading:

Congratulations to Andrew Humphreys. who has stepped into a new role as SAVVI Delivery Manager.

The SAVVI project, (short for Scalable Approach to Vulnerability via Interoperability) is about helping public services identify, assess, and support people at risk of poor outcomes, whether that’s homelessness, child poverty, or even being unable to evacuate during a flood. By developing open data standards, practical guidance, and innovative tools, SAVVI enables a truly coordinated, multi-agency response. You can read more on Andrew’s role, and on the project, here: https://coda.io/@savvi/welcome/exciting-news-from-the-savvi-team-313

Things I shared on socials:

Ricard Solé youtube conversation with Dr Michael Levin – the bounds of complexity in living systems (2024)

What are the bounds of complexity in living systems? How can synthetic biology and bioengineering be used to interrogate emergent properties or information processing in cells & organisms? Ricard Solé youtube conversation with Dr Michael Levin – the bounds of complexity in living systems (2024) | Systems Community of Inquiry

The Wide Angle: Understanding TESCREAL — Silicon Valley’s Rightward Turn | Washington Spectator

For decades, the conventional wisdom about Silicon Valley was that it leaned progressive. And by many measures (like donations by Big Tech employees to political candidates), the industry has been aligned with the Democratic politics that dominate the San Francisco Bay Area. The Wide Angle: Understanding TESCREAL — Silicon Valley’s Rightward Turn | Washington Spectator

2026 Conference: Systems Thinking and Systems Practice

The Centre for Systems Studies at the University of Hull, The OR Society, SCIO and International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR) warmly invite you to join us for the conference ‘Systems Thinking and Systems Practice’ that is due to take place at the University of Hull from 24th – 26th of March 2026. ⋮ 2026 Conference: Systems Thinking and Systems Practice ⋮ Blackthorn Events

Indian vultures: Decline of scavenger birds caused 500,000 human deaths

Once upon a time, the vulture was an abundant and ubiquitous bird in India. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c28e2pvzn3lo?utm_content=buffer04bc7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 7:04 pm on January 19, 2026

Beyond Doomsday – Heinz von Foerster’s legacy in systems theory and cybernetics – call for contributions

https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/calls-for-papers/beyond-doomsday-heinz-von-foersters-legacy-systems-theory-and-cybernetics?fbclid=IwY2xjawPXndtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEegYVdqZ8bCuwDl12PbKkJAjj3Vm9_FlgYp9PtQy1rEHJwsW68wKVu-g1wx14_aem_k5H9dr3rxK441m6pnPDtXg

Closes:

30 Jun 2026

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Journal

Kybernetes

Guest editor(s)

Albrecht Fritzsche

Submit your paper here from 1 January 2026

Introduction

Friday, the 13th of November 2026, is Doomsday. According to von Foerster et al. (1960), it is the day when population growth will reach infinity, thus ending the possibilities of humanity to survive. Interestingly enough, it is also the day of Heinz von Foerster’s 115th birthday anniversary, which gives us a good reason to review his contribution to systems research. Heinz von Foerster has been a pioneer in this field, working closely with other leading figures such as John von Neumann, Margaret Mead, Norbert Wiener, Humberto Maturana, Francisco Varela, Gregory Bateson, or Niklas Luhmann (Umpleby, 2008). Originally trained as a physicist, he addressed numerous different topics across many disciplines. Von Foerster has shaped our understanding of second-order cybernetics and contributed significantly to the development of radical constructivism (Scott, 2004). To him, we owe the notion of the trivial machine (von Foerster, 1984), the ethical imperative (von Foerster, 2003), and many other thought-provoking concepts and expressions.

The Doomsday Calculation, of course, is also a provocation. While it concerns a serious issue, is also raises questions about the use of simple mathematics to make predictions of future social development. Setting the date on Friday, the 13th associates it with superstition. Setting it on von Foerster’s birthday adds a sense of humour. Nevertheless, this article is not just a tongue-in-cheek comment on the limitations of formal modelling. Knowing that he was a leading figure of second-order cybernetics, von Foerster et al.’s (1960) article can also be read as a reflection on the possibilities to approach grand challenges in society objectively, and the dangers of ideology and self-referentiality. In this sense, Doomsday is significant for today’s scientific discourse on many levels, showing the topicality of von Foerster’s work in different ways.

The aim of this special issue is to collect articles that discuss Heinz von Foerster’s work from different angles. It invites contributions from former students and collaborators who give first-hand evidence of von Foerster’s teaching and research activities, as well as conceptual and empirical works that make use of his concepts and models to study today’s world and society. Furthermore, we warmly welcome articles that look beyond the mere application of formal constructs to observe the observers in contemporary science. What can we learn from second-order cybernetics for tackling grand challenges today? How do we find a balance between enforcing the necessary steps to cope with climate changes, over-population, pollution, etc., while at the same time leaving systemic structures intact? How do we use science and engineering to create new opportunities for development and expand abilities to choose instead of limiting them? And how can we add a little bit of humour help us to fight desperation in view of all the problems haunting us?

During submission, please make sure that you pick the right special issue and the right article category.

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/kyb
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/kyb#jlp_author_guidelines

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else while under review for this journal.

Key deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 1 January 2026
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 30 June 2026

References

Scott, B. (2004). Second‐order cybernetics: an historical introduction. Kybernetes, 33(9/10), 1365-1378.

Umpleby, S. A. (2008). A short history of cybernetics in the United States: The origin of cybernetics. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften, 19(4), 28-40.

Von Foerster, H., Mora, P. M., & Amiot, L. W. (1960). Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, AD 2026: At this date human population will approach infinity if it grows as it has grown in the last two millenia. Science, 132(3436), 1291-1295.

Von Foerster, H. (1984). Principles of self-organization—in a socio-managerial context. In Ulrich, H. & Probst G.J.B. (ed.) Self-organization and management of social systems: Insights, promises, doubts, and questions (pp. 2-24). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Von Foerster, H. (2003). Understanding understanding: essays on cybernetics and cognition. New York: Springer.

Sign Relations • Graphical Representations

The dyadic components of sign relations have graph‑theoretic representations, as digraphs (or directed graphs), which provide concise pictures of their structural and potential dynamic properties.

By way of terminology, a directed edge $(x, y)$ is called an arc from point $x$ to point $y,$ and a self‑loop $(x, x)$ is called a sling at $x.$

The denotative components $\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{A})$ and $\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{B})$ can be represented as digraphs on the six points of their common world set $W = O \cup S \cup I =$ $\{ \mathrm{A}, \mathrm{B}, ``\text{A}", ``\text{B}", ``\text{i}", ``\text{u}" \}.$ The arcs are given as follows.

Denotative Component $\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{A})$: $\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{A})$ has an arc from each point of $\{ ``\text{A}", ``\text{i}" \}$ to $\mathrm{A}.$
$\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{A})$ has an arc from each point of $\{ ``\text{B}", ``\text{u}" \}$ to $\mathrm{B}.$
Denotative Component $\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{B})$: $\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{B})$ has an arc from each point of $\{ ``\text{A}", ``\text{u}" \}$ to $\mathrm{A}.$
$\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{B})$ has an arc from each point of $\{ ``\text{B}", ``\text{i}" \}$ to $\mathrm{B}.$

$\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{A})$ and $\mathrm{Den}(L_\mathrm{B})$ can be interpreted as transition digraphs which chart the succession of steps or the connection of states in a computational process. If the graphs are read in that way, the denotational arcs summarize the upshots of the computations involved when the interpreters $\mathrm{A}$ and $\mathrm{B}$ evaluate the signs in $S$ according to their own frames of reference.

The connotative components $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{A})$ and $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{B})$ can be represented as digraphs on the four points of their common syntactic domain $S = I =$ $\{ ``\text{A}", ``\text{B}", ``\text{i}", ``\text{u}" \}.$ Since $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{A})$ and $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{B})$ are semiotic equivalence relations, their digraphs conform to the pattern manifested by all digraphs of equivalence relations. In general, a digraph of an equivalence relation falls into connected components which correspond to the parts of the associated partition, with a complete digraph on the points of each part, and no other arcs. In the present case, the arcs are given as follows.

Connotative Component $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{A})$: $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{A})$ has the structure of a semiotic equivalence relation on $S.$
There is a sling at each point of $S,$ arcs in both directions between the points of $\{ ``\text{A}", ``\text{i}" \},$ and arcs in both directions between the points of $\{ ``\text{B}", ``\text{u}" \}.$
Connotative Component $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{B})$: $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{B})$ has the structure of a semiotic equivalence relation on $S.$
There is a sling at each point of $S,$ arcs in both directions between the points of $\{ ``\text{A}", ``\text{u}" \},$ and arcs in both directions between the points of $\{ ``\text{B}", ``\text{i}" \}.$

Taken as transition digraphs, $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{A})$ and $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{B})$ highlight the associations permitted between equivalent signs, as the equivalence is judged by the respective interpreters $\mathrm{A}$ and $\mathrm{B}.$

Resources

Sign Relation • OEIS • MyWikiBiz • Wikiversity
Survey of Semiotics, Semiosis, Sign Relations

cc: Academia.edu • Laws of Form • Research Gate • Syscoi
cc: Cybernetics • Structural Modeling • Systems Science

#c-s-peirce, #connotation, #denotation, #inquiry, #logic, #logic-of-relatives, #mathematics, #relation-theory, #semiosis, #semiotic-equivalence-relations, #semiotics, #sign-relations, #triadic-relations

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 3:00 pm on January 8, 2026

patterns vol. 4

December 2025

https://www.patternmaking.org/patternsvol4

“You are not going in circles.

You are growing in them.

Spiraling upward, applying

old lessons to the

unfathomable new.”

Allena Staples, Cow Parade

A year like 2025 can make us feel like we are in a swirl. What felt important no longer feels quite right. We head in one direction, and then abruptly turn to the next. We want to cover our eyes in horror, only to be softened by kindness. We feel like we’ve climbed a hill to stand on, only to realize it is sand, and there are others.

When it feels like the merry-go-round is going too fast, I’ve found the best thing to do is to focus in, to feel the cold metal in my palms, and to remind myself to just hold on. As David Whyte might say, to start close in. It’s good advice for any day, but when the stakes are high there is no choice but to learn. By focusing in, we find what is ours to do.

Trees have no choice but to start from where they are. Unlike us, they cannot even pretend to start afresh. Their growth is always in circles, and on their edges.

Which leads me to wonder, does the bark of trees ache as it expands, like a young child’s legs?

Might our aches be our becoming? In a world where I cannot determine if I am terrified or excited, I’ve come to accept we may never know.

Our pattern making community calls this fall felt like a rare respite from the swirl, providing space to metabolize our rage with our love. Our joy with our despair. We let ourselves swell with paradox and marvel at the sustenance that comes through connection, all while noticing our respective edges.

Perhaps more than ever, the work in this volume was generated with a fierce determination to stay present, and a tender awareness of how impossible this can feel.

In this volume, you will read about becoming at the cost of belonging, the benefits of rage, the dangers of care, the importance of being in our bodies, and how creativity and reflection can be a reliable if not murky way through. We will share lessons of middle age and long-held grief and honor the sacred act of nurturing spores of magic, love, and tradition. We conclude by sharing how discussions of new technology have helpfully led us to grapple with what we hold most dear.

And, through it all, we hope you will receive a subtler message: loving encouragement to reframe the ache of what can feel like circles as something else entirely.

With grace and in community,

Jessica

— along with the intrepid Dee, Kayla, Jen, Gabi, Anne, Efraín, Denise, Paula, Kevin, Skye, Dana, Laura, Annie, Kelci, Josiane, Nadya, Signe, Amanda, Allena, and Sandra.

Volume 4 Index
1. Cow Pants — Allena Staples
2. Will the real Jessica please stand up? — Jessica Kiessel
3. Joyful Lightness — Kevin Hong
4. The Proverbial Lift — Paula Hodges
5. Throw the Boots — Kayla Christopherson
6. You want me to care less? — Jessica Kiessel
7. Grace — Annie Norbeck
8. Lately — Dee Thomas-Butler
9. bit o’ art — Kelci Price
10. Margins II — Annie Norbeck
11. Learning to See — Jessica Kiessel
12. Mushroom House — Josiane Smith
13. A Remixed Mixtape — Amanda Spector
14. You Gotta Lean Forward — Paula Hodges
15. Barbie — Sandra Wegmann
16. Hike — Allena Staples
17. Olive Night — Laura Lehman
18. Our new “AI Protocol” …erm…Process Notes

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 5:27 am on January 7, 2026

Autopoietic modernism: literature, reflexivity, and the ecology of meaning in Robert Musil – Watson (2025, preprint)

[Sound because I was searching (in a lazy internet way) to see if anyone had coined ‘autopoeitic drift’ before me]

Download file PDF Read file

Preprints and early-stage research may not have been peer reviewed yet.

Abstract

This article proposes that Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities anticipates the systemic reflexivity that defines modern social and ecological life. Reading Musil through Maturana and Varela’s concept of autopoiesis, Luhmann’s theory of second-order observation, and Watson and Brezovec’s recent work on autopoietic ecology, the essay argues that the novel functions as a living system 1 : a network that reproduces meaning through continuous self-observation. Musil’s portrayal of Kakania reveals a society that endures through procedural vitality rather than belief, exposing the recursive operations that sustain modern institutions. In this context, Laclau’s notion of the empty signifier and Derrida’s différance illuminate how communication survives the exhaustion of meaning, while the rise of populism and mistrust in institutions mark the global extension of Musil’s crisis of reflexivity. Ulrich and Agathe’s “other condition” represents the counter-movement to this drift-an experiment in relational consciousness that models the ecological coupling absent from bureaucratic systems. Their intimacy, interpreted through Haraway’s situated knowledges and Latour’s actor-network theory, exemplifies an ethics of recursive relation rather than transcendence. The essay concludes that Musil’s unfinished modernism articulates an autopoietic ethics: a mode of responsiveness and adaptation suited to a world in which meaning, communication, and life are co-extensive operations. In translating early modernist reflexivity into contemporary ecological terms, Musil offers a paradigm for rethinking ethics and politics under the conditions of global systemic interdependence. I treat autopoiesis as a structural homology rather than a biological literalism: the novel models how meaning reproduces its own enabling distinctions. This clarifies Musil’s contemporary relevance: under audit cultures and platform governance, communication increasingly survives by reproducing procedures after conviction has waned.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397379750_Autopoietic_modernism_literature_reflexivity_and_the_ecology_of_meaning_in_Robert_Musil

[Other uses of the phrase ‘autopoeitic drift’ appear to be around the maintenance of a specific ‘living’ artowrk or set of artworks:]

https://www.getty.edu/publications/living-matter/keynote/

Click to access RivencRoth_LivingMatter.pdf

[And this, which speaks of Assemblages and Plato, Tarski and, um, other things too:]

Of Assembly

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 5:23 am on January 7, 2026

Elinor Ostrom’s IAD – A framework for analyzing institutions through individual choices

The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework was designed by Ostrom and her colleagues from the Ostrom Workshop in 2005 to facilitate analysis of institution processes through which individual and collective choices occur.

The IAD framework includes analyzing actors, norms, institutional settings, incentive structures, rules, and more. Social scientists have widely adopted the IAD framework to study institutional arrangements and the emerge and changes of institutions over time.

[Lots of explanations, teaching tools, useful materials]

https://ostromworkshop.indiana.edu/courses-teaching/teaching-tools/iad-framework/index.html

Jon Awbrey 5:28 pm on January 5, 2026
Tags: Algebra ( 2 ), Arithmetic, Combinatorics ( 2 ), Computation, Graph Theory ( 24 ), Group Theory ( 3 ), logic ( 43 ), Mathematics ( 42 ), Number Theory, Recursion, Representation, Riffs and Rotes, Semiotics ( 20 ), Visualization ( 28 )

Riffs and Rotes • Happy New Year 2026

$\text{Let} ~ p_n = \text{the} ~ n^\text{th} ~ \text{prime}.$

$\begin{array}{llcl} \text{Then} & 2026 & = & 2 \cdot 1013 \\ && = & p_1 p_{170} \\ && = & p_1 p_{2 \cdot 5 \cdot 17} \\ && = & p_1 p_{p_1 p_3 p_7} \\ && = & p_1 p_{p_1 p_{p_2} p_{p_4}} \\ && = & p_1 p_{p_1 p_{p_{p_1}} p_{p_{{p_1}^{p_1}}}} \end{array}$

No information is lost by dropping the terminal 1s. Thus we may write the following form.

$2026 = p p_{p p_{p_p} p_{p_{p^p}}}$

The article linked below tells how forms of that order correspond to a family of digraphs called riffs and a family of graphs called rotes. The riff and rote for $2026$ are shown in the next two Figures.

Riff 2026

Rote 2026

Reference

Riffs and Rotes

cc: Academia.edu • Laws of Form • Ma^thstodon • Research Gate
cc: Cybernetics • Structural Modeling • Systems Science • Syscoi

#algebra, #arithmetic, #combinatorics, #computation, #graph-theory, #group-theory, #logic, #mathematics, #number-theory, #recursion, #representation, #riffs-and-rotes, #semiotics, #visualization

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 4:46 pm on January 5, 2026

The cybernetic music of Bebe and Louis Barron – the score to Forbidden Planet (1956)

I learned about this from Imaginary Worlds podcast Episode 288: Music of a Forbidden Planet from Eric Molinsky

https://www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org/episodes/music-of-a-forbidden-planet

The First Electronic Filmscore-Forbidden Planet: A Conversation with Bebe Barron

by Jane Brockman

The First Electronic Filmscore-Forbidden Planet: A Conversation with Bebe Barron

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebe_and_Louis_Barron

From ChatGPT:

Forbidden Planet (1956) is one of the cleanest, most literal intersections of film music and cybernetics.

The connection in one line
Louis and Bebe Barron built and ‘performed’ cybernetic electronic circuits, inspired directly by Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics, and used the circuits’ feedback-driven behaviours to generate the entire electronic score for Forbidden Planet. Effectrode+1

Who the musicians were, and why they matter
The film’s ‘music’ (credited on-screen as ‘electronic tonalities’) was created by the composer-engineer couple Bebe Barron and Louis Barron. It is widely recognised as the first entirely electronic score for a major feature film. Wikipedia+1

They were not working like later synth composers who play stable instruments. They were building unstable systems and harvesting the sonic traces of those systems behaving, failing, and sometimes ‘dying’.

What ‘cybernetics’ meant in their studio (not metaphorically, but technically)
Cybernetics, in Wiener’s 1948 sense, is about control and communication in animals and machines, especially via feedback. JSTOR+1

The Barrons took that seriously, and operationalised it:

They built ‘cybernetic circuits’
They followed concepts and equations from Wiener’s Cybernetics (1948) to design bespoke electronic circuits for different themes and characters. Wikipedia+1
They treated circuits as quasi-organisms
They described their circuits as behaving like ‘lower life-forms’ with characteristic activity patterns and ‘voices’. In their own liner notes they emphasised that each circuit had its own behaviour, not just a timbre. Wikipedia
Feedback and instability were the sound source
They pushed circuits into overload, where feedback, oscillation, and breakdown generated complex, unpredictable outputs. Many circuits burned out, which meant sounds were often unrepeatable. So they recorded everything. Wikipedia+1

This is a cybernetic method: you set up a system with internal feedback loops, perturb it, observe how it responds, and then select results. It is composition via controlled emergence.

Why this is cybernetics rather than ‘just electronic music’
A lot of electronic music uses electronics as instruments.

The Barrons used electronics as systems with autonomous behaviour.

That distinction matters:

instrument model: human chooses notes; machine produces them predictably
cybernetic model: human sets conditions; machine produces behaviours; human curates and edits outputs

Their process looks like an early form of what we would now call generative or procedural sound design, except fully analogue, and with real physical failure modes.

How it shaped film music history (and why the credit matters)
The Musicians’ Union pushed MGM to avoid calling it ‘music’, so the Barrons were credited with ‘electronic tonalities’. This labour/definition conflict had real consequences: it helped block them from further Hollywood scoring work. Wikipedia+1

This is an important cybernetics-adjacent point: institutions defend existing categories to preserve stability. The Barrons produced a disturbance in the system (a new form of scoring), and the system compensated by relabelling it and excluding them.

The deeper connection: cybernetics inside the film’s story-world
Forbidden Planet is already a cybernetics-saturated film: control rooms, automation, feedback, and the ‘monster from the Id’ as an emergent product of a man-machine system.

The score is not just accompaniment. It is structurally aligned with the film’s themes because it is produced by the same conceptual machinery: humans interacting with autonomous systems that respond in ways you cannot fully predict. A scholarly analysis of the score explicitly reads its sound world through organism-machine hybrids and ecology, which is very much in the cybernetics lineage. JSTOR

A useful way to think about it (very Wiener, very Barron)
If you want the cybernetic punchline:

The Barrons composed by designing a feedback system, letting it behave, and then selecting the behaviours that best regulated the audience’s emotional state in the film.

That is control and communication, via sound, using actual cybernetic artefacts.

Jon Awbrey 10:10 am on January 1, 2026
Tags: C.S. Peirce ( 41 ), Connotation ( 11 ), Denotation ( 11 ), inquiry ( 18 ), logic ( 43 ), Logic of Relatives ( 15 ), Mathematics ( 42 ), Relation Theory ( 16 ), Semiosis ( 14 ), Semiotic Equivalence Relations ( 11 ), Semiotics ( 20 ), Sign Relations ( 18 ), Triadic Relations ( 17 )

Sign Relations • Semiotic Equivalence Relations 2

A few items of notation are useful in discussing equivalence relations in general and semiotic equivalence relations in particular.

In general, if $E$ is an equivalence relation on a set $X$ then every element $x$ of $X$ belongs to a unique equivalence class under $E$ called the equivalence class of $x$ under $E$ . Convention provides the square bracket notation for denoting such equivalence classes, in either the form $[x]_E$ or the simpler form $[x]$ when the subscript $E$ is understood. A statement that the elements $x$ and $y$ are equivalent under $E$ is called an equation or an equivalence and may be expressed in any of the following ways.

Thus we have the following definitions.

In the application to sign relations it is useful to extend the square bracket notation in the following ways. If $L$ is a sign relation whose connotative component $L_{SI}$ is an equivalence relation on $S = I,$ let $[s]_L$ be the equivalence class of $s$ under $L_{SI}.$ In short, $[s]_L = [s]_{L_{SI}}.$ A statement that the signs $x$ and $y$ belong to the same equivalence class under a semiotic equivalence relation $L_{SI}$ is called a semiotic equation (SEQ) and may be written in either of the following forms.

In many situations there is one further adaptation of the square bracket notation for semiotic equivalence classes which can be useful. Namely, when there is known to exist a particular triple $(o, s, i)$ in a sign relation $L,$ it is permissible to let $[o]_L$ be defined as $[s]_L.$ This lets the notation for semiotic equivalence classes harmonize more smoothly with the frequent use of similar devices for the denotations of signs and expressions.

Applying the array of equivalence notations to the sign relations for $A$ and $B$ will serve to illustrate their use and utility.

The semiotic equivalence relation for interpreter $\mathrm{A}$ yields the following semiotic equations.

In this way the SER for $\mathrm{A}$ induces the following semiotic partition.

The semiotic equivalence relation for interpreter $\mathrm{B}$ yields the following semiotic equations.

In this way the SER for $\mathrm{B}$ induces the following semiotic partition.

Taken all together we have the following picture.

Resources

Sign Relation • OEIS • MyWikiBiz • Wikiversity
Survey of Semiotics, Semiosis, Sign Relations

cc: Academia.edu • Laws of Form • Research Gate • Syscoi
cc: Cybernetics • Structural Modeling • Systems Science

Jon Awbrey 12:08 pm on December 30, 2025
Tags: C.S. Peirce ( 41 ), Connotation ( 11 ), Denotation ( 11 ), inquiry ( 18 ), logic ( 43 ), Logic of Relatives ( 15 ), Mathematics ( 42 ), Relation Theory ( 16 ), Semiosis ( 14 ), Semiotic Equivalence Relations ( 11 ), Semiotics ( 20 ), Sign Relations ( 18 ), Triadic Relations ( 17 )

Sign Relations • Semiotic Equivalence Relations 1

A semiotic equivalence relation (SER) is a special type of equivalence relation arising in the analysis of sign relations. Generally speaking, any equivalence relation induces a partition of the underlying set of elements, known as the domain or space of the relation, into a family of equivalence classes. In the case of a SER the equivalence classes are called semiotic equivalence classes (SECs) and the partition is called a semiotic partition (SEP).

The sign relations $L_\mathrm{A}$ and $L_\mathrm{B}$ have many interesting properties over and above those possessed by sign relations in general. Some of those properties have to do with the relation between signs and their interpretant signs, as reflected in the projections of $L_\mathrm{A}$ and $L_\mathrm{B}$ on the $SI$ ‑plane, notated as $\mathrm{proj}_{SI} L_\mathrm{A}$ and $\mathrm{proj}_{SI} L_\mathrm{B},$ respectively. The dyadic relations on $S \times I$ induced by those projections are also referred to as the connotative components of the corresponding sign relations, notated as $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{A})$ and $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{B}),$ respectively. Tables 6a and 6b show the corresponding connotative components.

A nice property of the sign relations $L_\mathrm{A}$ and $L_\mathrm{B}$ is that their connotative components $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{A})$ and $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{B})$ form a pair of equivalence relations on their common syntactic domain $S = I.$ This type of equivalence relation is called a semiotic equivalence relation (SER) because it equates signs having the same meaning to some interpreter.

Each of the semiotic equivalence relations, $\mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{A}), \mathrm{Con}(L_\mathrm{B}) \subseteq S \times I \cong S \times S$ partitions the collection of signs into semiotic equivalence classes. This constitutes a strong form of representation in that the structure of the interpreters’ common object domain $\{ \mathrm{A}, \mathrm{B} \}$ is reflected or reconstructed, part for part, in the structure of each one’s semiotic partition of the syntactic domain $\{ ``\text{A}", ``\text{B}", ``\text{i}", ``\text{u}" \}.$

It’s important to observe the semiotic partitions for interpreters $\mathrm{A}$ and $\mathrm{B}$ are not identical, indeed, they are orthogonal to each other. Thus we may regard the form of the partitions as corresponding to an objective structure or invariant reality, but not the literal sets of signs themselves, independent of the individual interpreter’s point of view.

Information about the contrasting patterns of semiotic equivalence corresponding to the interpreters $\mathrm{A}$ and $\mathrm{B}$ is summarized in Tables 7a and 7b. The form of the Tables serves to explain what is meant by saying the SEPs for $\mathrm{A}$ and $\mathrm{B}$ are orthogonal to each other.

Resources

Sign Relation • OEIS • MyWikiBiz • Wikiversity
Survey of Semiotics, Semiosis, Sign Relations

cc: Academia.edu • Laws of Form • Research Gate • Syscoi
cc: Cybernetics • Structural Modeling • Systems Science

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 6:47 am on December 30, 2025

Improving the reporting of intervention studies underpinned by a systems approach to address obesity or other public health challenges – Li et al (2022)

Bai Li¹^*Steven Allender²Boyd Swinburn³Mohammed Alharbi¹Charlie Foster¹

Share by Michele Battle-Fisher, PhD on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mbattlefisher_bai-et-al-2022-improving-reporting-of-activity-7407444850884775936-X18o?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACuq-oBecVFDW6PCf3lkoG-peMeuLBeoho

Introduction

A systems approach to obesity prevention is increasingly urged (1, 2). However, confusion exists on what a systems approach entails in practice, and the empirical evidence on this new approach is unclear. Several reviews (3–6) have tried to synthesize available evidence on a systems approach targeting obesity and other public health areas, but found that authentic, comprehensive application of this approach is scarce. We believe this is largely due to the uncertainty around the exact meaning of “a systems approach,” and sub-optimal reporting.

Fully and transparently reported evidence can improve our understanding of how a systems approach is applied practically in different cultures and settings, support methodological development, and improve synthesis of emerging evidence on the effectiveness of this new approach.

https://media.licdn.com/dms/document/media/v2/D561FAQHVn8QF_FU7gg/feedshare-document-pdf-analyzed/B56ZsyG4yOGsAY-/0/1766072226785?e=1767830400&v=beta&t=Vqd8Z7evETKR9aTrrUJoSH4Y9XlWqfqjTsrT7W2QRlA

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.892931/full