Group Project Mike Ryan

Mostly done by Ryan.


1 orange color and flattened shape separate it from the other 3. has atachement point at one end, and a round depression in the other - some internal object visible inside depression
- midway between smooth and waxy and rough and porous - median environment. grows attached to a vine or branch - attachment scar -




2 waxy smooth skin - same larger class as 3 and 4 due to color has a woody knob at one end and a raised hardened point at the other.
- from a wet environment to shed water with waxy smooth skin. grows attached to a vine or branch - attachment scar -growth as a chain of linked fruits, due to similar structures at both ends.





3 rough pitted skin. same larger class as 2 and 4 due to color. has a socket-like depression in the center of a raised area at one end, and a much smaller similar structure at the other.
-rough pitted skin to capture moisture - dry environment. grows attached to a vine or branch - attachment scar - growth as a chain of linked fruits, due to similar structures at both ends.






4 rough pitted skin, larger class as 2 and 3 due to color. Has a similar socket structure to #3 on one end and a flatter structure at the other.
-
-rough pitted skin to capture moisture - dry environment. grows attached to a vine or branch - attachment scar - growth as a chain of linked fruits, due to similar structures at both ends.

M Christopher Experiment

Things You’ll need.

1. A six million dollar man doll.
2. A bionic woman doll.
3. A flexible measuring tape.
4. A pencil to record measurements.

Step One: Disrobe both dolls.
Step Two: In a well lit room hold each doll in one hand and measuring tape in the other.
Step Three: Carefully measure each doll and record the following.


Six Million Dollar Man Bionic Woman

Height from head to toes ___________________ ______________

Circumference of shoulders ___________________ ______________

Circumference of waist ___________________ ______________

Circumference of head ___________________ ______________

Circumference of quadriceps ___________________ ______________

Leg Length from groin to toe ___________________ ______________

Bionic Arm Action ___________________ ______________

Bionic leg kick distance ___________________ ______________

What trends does the experiment show? Is one doll larger than the other? Based on your measurements which doll do you feel is better stronger and faster? Why do you think this is?

Continue your experiments with Barbie and Ken. Are your results similar? Why?

Park Classification - Cell Surface

For my classification attempt, I'm treating a small patch of ground as the surface of a cell. Each different plant structure emerging from the soil is to be analyzed as a binding surface for cellular interaction in this pseudo-cell. The function and purpose of each structure is determined by its physical appearance, and from this I plan to create an interactive flash piece along the lines of a medical diagram, wherein the user navigates the different cell structures to determine their importance and purpose in the life of the cell.

grove park

Ok. I wont be in class tomorrow, so i will fill you in on what i "did" at grove park. i basically walked around for a few hours and took a photo of each piece of trash that i saw. i didnt move it or anything, so a lot of them seem to have plants growing back over them, dirt, they're faded, etc. i have about 60 pictures and i may take more. as for classifying these specimens, i was thinking about a few things: classifying them by their original porpuse or signification or, i think more interestingly, categorizing them somehow by the corporations thorugh which they were produced. let me know what you think about this. i was afraid that this was like the most obvious possible solution, because that stuff (trash) is the most easily recognizable, but i also couldnt get past the amount of trash and the overwhelming evidence of human involvement with that landscape. i guess i am interpreting the trash as a kind of microcosm of the larger Grove Park. suggestions/comments/criticism very welcome...have fun in Paines Prairie.

anna foucault posting

how does the idea of classification relate to continuity?What is the relationship, if any, between the two?
Classifcation relates to continuity in a kind of backwards relationship. some ideas of continunity discussed in the reading talked about the idea that evolution and all life forms are of a "continuos fabric" in which there are no sharp delineations between one species and the next. This is seen as maybe a problem or a glitch in the understanding of natural history and our understanding of science. it is a problem because it is impossible to guarantee that the distnctions we make between or among species are not going to change over time or even be radically different in an unstudied population. the process of classification stands in opposition to the idea of continuity. if nature on the whole is a macrocosm of something like one species, like us, for example, then it is easy to picture the LACk of distinction between individuals. i keep thinking of the construction and structure of race and how we try to define certain individuals as being a member of a certain race. in actuality, though, it is impossible to distinguish one skin tone from another if lined up next to eachother according to skin color. As Bonnet is quoted in the reading, "everything is graduated, shaded" and Buffon, "genera, orders, and classes exist only in our imagination". So, continuity is a problem for classification, but im sure it also helps in the designs of classification and in our order of understanding species' differences.

Foucault's models of evolution

Foucault presents us with three models of “evolution” that preceded Darwin. Please explain in your own words Bonnet’s, Maurpertius’s and Robinet’s theory of succession/evolution.

Foucault discusses evolutionary thought after Classicism and before Darwin as a "...linking together of the table of identities and differences to the series of temporal events" (151). Foucault distinguishes this understanding of evolutionary thought from what science understands of it today, but also distinguishes the ideas of Bonnet, Maurpertius and Robinet from Classical knowledge about nature, which does not allow for a "...temporal series (to) be integrated into the gradation of beings", or a means of unifying the 'chart' to a 'series' of events (150).

Foucault discusses Bonnet's method of unification as one that understands evolution as a quest to a kind of perfection likened to God, from which we are so distant still, that we cannot yet even see if that gap could ever be bridged. Bonnet seems to model evolution as a linear and forward-moving series of species, such that as each type achieves the next stage of perfection, it actually becomes the next perfect species, so that a fish might become a bird, or an ape might become human, and something below an ape might become ape. The most perfect species then, in terms of complexity, will always be giving rise to a new species that is more like, yet infinitely distant, to God. Yet the distinction between different species will still be recognizable, since species do not blend, but progress into other species, which gives rise infinitely to multiplicity of beings. ("There will be Newtons among the monkeys and Vaubans among the beavers" 151-2). Foucault says that Bonnet's system supposes time as a factor of classification, and is used to generalize the unity of time to the unity of beings.

With Maupertuis, evolutionary thought conceives of time differently. Here, time is like a line of events that allows given variables (the charted characteristics of taxonomy) to emerge at certain times, but still insists of continuity in the 'fabric of beings'. In other words, exterior events (ruptures or changes in 'the conditions of the life of living beings) are what cause new species to come into existence. Yet, this model says that new forms are modifications defined through the memory of other living forms, until a chance 'deviation' gives rise to new species. Foucault says,"Maupertius supposes that the particles of matter are endowed with activity and memory" (154). Here the term 'memory' is used to tie together a succession of events into smaller units of continuity, while the term 'activity' allows for chance encounters and attractions to bring about more or less complex beings, as well as 'deviations' that add up to 'evolutions' into new species. Through these deviations, they array of variable characteristics is 'charted,' yet the conception of time as 'memory' of parent characteristics expresses continuity.

Similarly, Robinet's evolutionary notions suppose that 'continuity precedes time," meaning that all characteristics or variables of the 'chart' fall between an original simple model of complexities and the complexities that are evident in humans, and that history is a way to trace the possibilities of variables, rather than the continuous development of complexity or progress of a single 'living principle' that survives and changes according to the necessity of 'fitting-ness' to exterior conditions (Darwin). For Robinet and Maupertius, the 'fabric of beings' is seen as a way to let history fill out the chart of variable characteristics that are possible for nature. Robinet, however, sees the evolutionary trend as a 'project' toward the possibilities of complexity. This project is the feature that unifies the series of events in nature's history.

pre-Enlightenment classification of the Orange Fruit of Central Florida

(alison and anna)


Identification and origin:
These round fruits are generally various shades of the color orange, sometimes with various tints and shades of yellow, brown, or red, although the fruit can also be seen in an undeveloped states in dull greens and yellows. The orange fruit has been determined a southern mutant descendent of the northern native pumpkin, as seen through the likeness between the shapes, exterior color and some aspects of the interior structures of the two. The interior structure of the orange fruit contains small uneatable pods, as well as a wealth of tiny nectar-filled sacs contained within transparent skin-like membranes. The inside of the fruit can thus be imagined as an interior body part or organ likened to certain bodily aspects of a youth, especially a young girl, whose sweetness blossoms at a certain age, after which her composition becomes increasingly bitter and dry. The pumpkin, however, as a native of the land, tastes more of the soil from which it is grown, while the orange is clearly a more exotic crop with the brighter hue of a hotter sun, a sour acidic bite of barbarian peoples, and a juicier constitution-sometime even containing fluid in the color red- which comes of course from the falling water that its blossom drinks in humid climates, as well as the centuries of blood-shed sucked into the fruit by the trees whose fingers draw it from the blood-soaked lands of the Spanish. The orange fruit is thus thought to be a non-native product of trade attributed many generations back to the people whose constitution and blood the fruit sometimes resembles.

Fruits of the orange family:
Several descendents of the orange fruit come from other peoples of the world, including such inferior fruits as the sour yellow lemon, which is smaller and causes pain in the cheeks when eaten, like its step-sister the sour, but more bitter lime. Another fruit in this family, whose origins are unknown, is the larger, more pale grandmother: the putrid pink grapefruit, for which a suitable use has not yet been discovered.

Growth patterns:
The orange fruit grows in trees or on bushes in tropical climates, and can usually be found in large groupings of trees known as orchards or groves. Such areas of orange tree growth are especially lovely in the cooler tropical season when the fruit reaches its prime sweetness and dispenses a pleasant aroma throughout the local atmosphere. For this reason, orange tree groves are especially popular locations for picnicking in amiable southern winter climates.

Symbolic value:
The fruit is often given as an empathetic gesture to those in ill-health, or who are otherwise unwell due to various sadnesses often associated with loss. However, the orange fruit is also given at occasions of celebration and on holidays as gifts between family members or between workers of middle standing to their superiors on holidays. These uses of the fruit posit it as a symbolic gift of well-wishing, though it is sometimes also viewed from the outside as a symbol of ‘brown-nosing,’ which is an attempt by an inferior sort of person to raise their standing in the eyes of persons of higher status through gift-giving.

Appearance:
The surface of the fruit in most states of development and decomposition mirrors the process of aging as seen in the topology of an elderly male’s nose. The fruit has been known to last for several weeks sometimes before the process of wrinkling and bubbling of the skin sets in, much like a man whose nose stays fresh and smooth through his younger years, but begins to take on a more bubbly and warty look late in life. The long period of youthful appearance of this fruit allows one to purchase it well in advance, and in quantities well in excess of the amount one can consume, yet still give it away for well-wishing or ‘brown-nosing,’--or even find other uses for it--by the time one figures this out.

classification/continuity

how does the idea of classification relate to continuity?What is the relationship, if any, between the two?

Classifcation relates to continuity in a kind of backwards relationship. some ideas of continunity discussed in the reading talked about the idea that evolution and all life forms are of a "continuos fabric" in which there are no sharp delineations between one species and the next. This is seen as maybe a problem or a glitch in the understanding of natural history and our understanding of science. it is a problem because it is impossible to guarantee that the distnctions we make between or among species are not going to change over time or even be radically different in an unstudied population. the process of classification stands in opposition to the idea of continuity. if nature on the whole is a macrocosm of something like one species, like us, for example, then it is easy to picture the LACk of distinction between individuals. i keep thinking of the construction and structure of race and how we try to define certain individuals as being a member of a certain race. in actuality, though, it is impossible to distinguish one skin tone from another if lined up next to eachother according to skin color. As Bonnet is quoted in the reading, "everything is graduated, shaded" and Buffon, "genera, orders, and classes exist only in our imagination". So, continuity is a problem for classification, but im sure it also helps in the designs of classification and in our order of understanding species' differences.

language and continuity

Language is of course the words we use to describe things and situations. Continuity in reference to foucault's classification is made up of the continuous network of beings. In other words"all beings form an uninterupted space". In a description or a classification of all living things language cannot be seperated from the task at hand because it is the only method we have of assigning meaning. or cllassifying things. So we must come up with a way to use language to effectively and efficiently classify this continuity of beings. The language must be well contructed so that each designation of being "indicates clearly ther place it occupies in the general arrangment of the whole".

language and continuity

Language is of course the words we use to describe things and situations. Continuity in reference to foucault's classification is made up of the continuous network of beings. In other words"all beings form an uninterupted space". In a description or a classification of all living things language cannot be seperated from the task at hand because it is the only method we have of assigning meaning. or cllassifying things. So we must come up with a way to use language to effectively and efficiently classify this continuity of beings. The language must be well contructed so that each designation of being "indicates clearly ther place it occupies in the general arrangment of the whole".

Visualization of Continuity and Rupture of Classification

"One visualization of catastrophe and continuity is a bundle of strands with the occasional offshoot reaching out to another seemingly unrelated bundle. How do you visualize the periodic rupture between a set of classified entities and the “accidents” caused by outside forces like climate change etc…? Describe your model."

A model of continuity that works well in my mind-space is that of intermeshing gears. In this visualization of the system of natural history, the driving power source would be life itself, that which keeps all the individual life forms "moving." Each gear is representative of an individual entity and each set of intermeshing gears on a plane of the set of classified entities. Each gear is distinct, and carries out its own function, but works as part of a continuous system that provides motion throughout. While a spur gear is different from a larger spur gear which is different from an orbital gear, each carries the motion from itself through to its neighbors as organisms do in their life cycles.

In the natural system, environmental cataclysm or habitat displacement can bring about drastic change, giving rise to entities that fall outside the realm of the old classification system. In the visualization, this is represented by axles extending perpendicularly from the plane of gears to a new plane removed in space. The same main motivator drives this new series of gears, as life drives the newly divergent organisms. Eventually the new plane of gears/organisms can be indexed and categorized, and like its predecessor new axles can sprout off due to environmental pressure or cataclysm to create a new set of unknown organisms.

Continuity + Classification

How is classification related to the idea of continuity?
What is the relationship if any between classification and continuity?

Presently, ha, Classification and Continuity still
pervade popular philosophy. As with Religious fanaticism, there is still
Security in Classical Science. By playing a crucial role in the way we
deduce our popular "reality", classification eludes to continuity
through temporal illusion. The two are forced into relation.

The pendulum swings.

Modern philosophy digests this archaic system
of measurements and comparisons and spits out a revised model of
language that bases its structure on the inclusion of every scientific and
spiritual predecessor. The material world is merging with the ethereal essence of "life". Nothing is omitted for the purposes of inclusion. In other words, we no longer need the opposite to point to its opposite. We use the opposite to point to itself and move forward in an evolution that realizes that we no longer need classification in order to point to continuity since continuity is another method of deduction.

reflective writing on last half of Foucault's chapter on classification

Please pick one of the sets of questions below and write about them in the form of a blog post. I have also included a quote below which I think will be relevant when we talk about the notion of hybridization three weeks from now.

How is classification related to the idea of continuity? What is the relationship if any between classification and continuity?


One visualization of catastrophe and continuity is a bundle of strands with the occasional offshoot reaching out to another seemingly unrelated bundle. How do you visualize the periodic rupture between a set of classified entities and the “accidents” caused by outside forces like climate change etc…? Describe your model.


Foucault presents us with three models of “evolution” that preceded Darwin. Please explain in your own words Bonnet’s, Maurpertius’s and Robinet’s theory of succession/evolution.

What is the relationship between language and continuity? How can language potentially “interfere” with constructs of continuity?


"Life does not constitute an obvious threshold beyond which entirely new forms of knowledge are required. It is a category of classification, relative like all other categories, to the criteria one adopts. And also, like them, subject to certain imprecisions as soon as the question of deciding its frontiers arises."(p. 161)

A "Post-Enlightened" Classification

A Visual Classification of Assorted Citrus Fruit.

For the purposes of this visual classification, the subjects are most easily divided into two broad categories, then further into three subcategories. In the broadest, each of the four fruiting bodies is one of two colors, either orange or yellow, and one of two shapes, elongated spheroid or compressed spheroid. Seeing as these divisions are compound, in that all the yellow fruiting bodies are elongated whereas the only orange fruit is compressed; the fruits can be separated into distinct groups by these major characteristics. From here on, each will be referred to by their group name, either yellow group or orange group.

Within the yellow group, certain similarities are shared in addition to their common color and form. While all are elongate, all also possess distinct rounded protrusions at each end of their major axis. Inside each of these protrusions is a small attachment scar. For each fruiting body, one scar is more pronounced, while the other is subtler. The nature of these scars points towards the conclusion that these fruiting bodies grow on a tree or woody shrub of some sort, as they appear wholly different than the types of attachment scars found on fruiting bodies that grow on vines or non-woody shrubs.

Inside the yellow group, the main division falls on the fruits’ surface texture and size. The two largest specimens have a skin that is extensively crenellated and wrinkled over the entire surface of the fruit. The smaller specimen is smooth save an even scattering of small pore-like dimples and extremely shiny and slick to the touch. This difference in external covering implies a different set of environmental conditions in the growing region of the rough and smooth fruiting bodies. Given its smooth texture and waxy appearance, the smaller of the fruits would appear to hearken from an arid climate. This waxy looking coating retains water and keeps the fruit from becoming desiccated via transpiration in the heat of the day. A similar waxy coating can be found on the leaves of several other succulent plants that thrive in the dryness of deserts, reinforcing this conclusion. Conversely, the larger rougher fruits would appear to be native to a very moist environment. The rough, porous, highly textured surfaces of the fruit provide a gratuitous amount of surface area from which transpiration can occur. Thus, the fruiting body aids in the circulation and expulsion of excess water to keep the sap of their plant circulating and providing nutrients for their continued growth. In extremely wet environments, nutrients are often much diluted, so this aid to increased sap flow into the fruiting bodies is essential for proper growth.

The structure of the attachment scars on the three yellow fruits serves to reinforce the above conclusions. On each of the large wrinkled fruits, the major attachment scar is broad and multi-pored. This shows that the stem attaching each fruit to its plant was sturdy and had many vessels to transport sap into the fruit. Additionally, the thick stem provides enhanced attachment support for the fruit in the face of the torrential rains it faced in its native climate. The smaller waxy fruit’s attachment scar is much thinner and also waxy. In an arid climate smaller surface area of a plant’s stems allows less moisture to escape via transpiration. The thick stems of the larger fruit are not required, as the waxy smaller fruit does not need to withstand the buffeting of heavy rains.

Switching to the wholly separate category of fruiting bodies, the orange fruit shares a few similarities with its yellow cousins. Like the others, it has scars at each end, however since it is compressed as opposed to the elongate yellow fruit, each of the scars lies on its minor axis. Its skin is midway between that of each extreme of the yellow fruit. While it is not wrinkled like the wet-climate fruit, neither is it waxy like the arid-climate fruit. This leads to the conclusion that the orange fruit is from a more temperate region with average rainfall. The extreme transpiration-enhancing qualities of a wrinkled skin are not required, nor are the moisture retaining qualities of a thick waxy coating.

The orange fruit’s attachment scar closely resembles that of the larger yellow fruits’ but in size falls between that of the larger and smaller of the yellow fruits. This further reinforces the conclusion that the fruit’s plant grows in an environment with average rainfall. As was concluded with the yellow fruits, the orange fruit appears to grow on a tree or woody shrub as well.

The final notable quality of the orange fruit is perplexing, and perhaps cause for further study. As opposed to the minor attachment scars of the yellow fruits, which clearly show the location of the flowering body, the minor scar on the orange fruit takes the appearance of a recessed spheroid beneath the surface. This spheroid can be seen through a circular excision that makes up the minor scar. It is possible that the fruit in its growth overtakes part of the flowering body, which is then incorporated bodily into the distal end of the fruit. This would imply that the flower itself is quite small, and perhaps recessed in some way into its stem. Whereas the yellow fruits’ flower attachment scars appear normal and reflect a common flower, perhaps this recessed unusual scar on the orange fruit reflects a specialized flower. As common flowers are most often pollinated either by wind or winged insects, perhaps the specialized flowers of the orange fruit indicate a climate without a sufficient winged pollinator, or some hindrance to airborne pollination. In this case, the flowers could be smaller and recessed to entice ants or other small crawling insects into the flower body to aid in the pollination of the plant.

Masuru Emoto - New World

Global Oneness

Global Oneness Project

Anna's Experiment

Anna Kell
Grad. Digital Seminar- science experiment-based art proposal

In the wild, many animals camouflage themselves with their exteriors. Certain rabbits’ furs become pure white in the snowy season, turtles’ shells conceal them among rocks and logs, and perhaps the most famous example, the chameleon, is constantly adjusting the color of his skin to better match whatever he is resting on. Even animals that don’t necessarily seem to be built for this camouflage feature do a great job of hiding in their surroundings simply by being very aware of their movements. Deer, squirrels, foxes and more are often impossible to see when walking through the forest. They can sense when we come near and they freeze in their tracks. Humans react in similar ways when in a dangerous situation or when trying to go unseen. Animals and humans have this natural inclination to stop moving when danger is sensed. Likewise, many predators, birds of prey in particular, see in a non-focused and all encompassing kind of way. They observe the terrain and what they are looking for is motion. Outlines of the animals from a distance cannot be seen, but movement is readily detected. This movement always clues a predator in to the location of their prey.

I am proposing an installation that relies on this movement-based decipherability. The installation would consist of a large viewing area, so that viewers could have an extended viewing distance for what would be built near the opposite wall. I am envisioning a wall of pattern, which would cover the opposing wall. Just as in the wild, animals’ markings seem based on their natural surroundings, this pattern would be a kind of all over pattern somehow indicative of our culture. Maybe that would be made with images of scanned skin and other colors/textures which would seem instantly relatable to our surrounding environment, or it could take the form of an all over image. A soundtrack could be useful, too, for contextualizing the event into some type of nature/culture scene. This is a piece with many possibilities, depending on the location of installation.

This image wall would span the height and width of the wall, and directly at its base would be a mechanized track. Attached to this track, much like a train car, would be a very specific shape (at this point is yet undecided), which would stand vertically on its car attached to the track. Every so often, the train would lurch into motion. This mechanism, however, would be activated by a lack of kinetic motion, and would become more active the further away the audience is in the room. Like a scared animal, this shape would freeze if someone violently entered the room, or walked rapidly around. The more still and distant the viewers can be, the more they will learn about the shape in motion.

The idea would be that the viewer’s senses would be alerted by their own lack of movement. Hopefully, like a smart predator, they would become interested in trying to see the shape in motion. I think this installation would work based on communication between viewers. The first people to walk into the room when it has been empty, will be especially informed because as they round the corner, they will perceive all the motion that is happening on that wall. They will know what is going on and many viewers would probably feel inclined to let newcomers in on the secret as well. So, in one sense this project relies on social interaction, and in another, it relies on the ability to be a passive individual. I am always interested in the idea of adaptation. Mainly this stems out of my own tendencies to want to please others, to become who I am with, and to need to feel accepted. Aside from my personal associations, I think this piece has a lot to say about the group and the individual. In order for any individual to locate his/her prey, s/he must communicate with the entire group or be totally solitary. The prey in this piece is the moving shape, but unlike in the competitive nature we are accustomed to, within this constructed environment everyone relies on each other for survival, and the end reward is shared by everyone.

Ryan's Experiment

http://www.newevolution.org/experiment/index.html

A Duck!

This is the scene that made me think of the explanation of Foucault's Order of Things :) Enjoy