Which kind of mathematics was known and referred to by those who wanted to integrate mathematics in «Wisdom»:Neopythagoreans and others?

Plato, so the story goes, held mathematics in high esteem, and those philosopher-kings that ought to rule his republic should have a thorough foundation in mathematics. This may well be true – but an observation made by Aristotle suggests that the mathematics which Plato intends is not the one based on theorems and proofs which we normally identify with “Greek mathematics”. Most other ancient writers who speak of mathematics as a road toward Wisdom also appear to be blissfully ignorant of the mathematics of Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonios, etc. – though not necessarily of their names. The aim of the paper is to identify the kinds of mathematics which were available as external sources for this current (on the whole leaving out of consideration Liberal-Arts mathematics as not properly external). A number of borrowings can be traced to various practitioners' traditions – but always as bits borrowed out of context

Time and the digital: whitehead, deleuze and the temporality of digital aesthetics

The aesthetics of digital art seem to be inextricable from time and process. Surprisingly though, interaction with digital systems has traditionally been marked by spatial concepts and metaphors, positioning the aesthetics of interaction as a convergence of spaces where data and agents 'meet'. This preoccupation with space has placed restrictions on aesthetic theories that seek to represent interaction with digital systems. Within this dissertation, I argue that questions of time and the more specific questions of the temporal and 'temporalising' nature of interaction have been neglected. Through a process-oriented investigation of interactive digital art works, produced by a range of artists such as George Legrady, Jeffrey Shaw, along with Dennis Del Favero, Peter Weibel and Neil Brown and Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, I address this problem and propose a temporal aesthetic theory of interaction. I thus offer a specific understanding of digital aesthetics in which the process of interaction is foregrounded. I work towards this aesthetic theory of interaction by firstly enacting particular tenets of A. N. Whitehead's process philosophy and Gilles Deleuze's philosophy of time, informed by Brian Massumi, Manuel DeLanda and Michel Serres. These thinkers are used to develop a theoretical framework that centres on an understanding of time, process and the event. Directed by this framework, I firstly investigate several non-interactive works by David Claerbout, Bill Viola and the installations of Dan Graham. This investigation of non-interactive works provides the grounding from which I argue that the digital re-presentation of events produces a particular type of time. Thus, particular processes, such as the technological mediation of events, exemplified in the work of Claerbout, Viola and Graham, can be thought to produce their own type of time. From here I propose that, when the process of interaction is introduced into the aesthetic event, time is both produced by digital re-presentations and also encountered in interaction. As a user comes into contact with a database of information, they encounter a particular type of time. In this event, the database enacts a temporal aesthetic in the sense that it archives various sections of the past, and then these are made available again for the user in the present (or for other users in the future). A user is able to navigate through these sections of past, experiencing them simultaneously, or in a nonlinear fashion, or re-sorting them into a temporal order. Motivated by this Whiteheadian approach and by investigating a set of artworks that utilise archives, such as those of the Atlas Group, Armin Linke, George Legrady, Luc Courchesne and Masaki Fujihata, I develop a temporal aesthetic theory that accounts for the multiple modes of temporality immanent to digital interaction. My understanding of Whitehead's conception of time is modulated by Deleuze's philosophy of the virtual. Enlisting what Steven Shaviro would term Whitehead's "pursuit of univocity" or an object-oriented philosophy, I focus upon the event as a processual encounter. Using the paradigm established by Whitehead's panexperietialism, I view all the digital actants as processes. These processes ¬ software, archiving, visualisation or the physical processes of interaction ¬ all transpire over different scales of time, producing different temporal rhythms. Informed by Whitehead, Deleuze and supplemented by Serres, I thus propose a type of time that is scalar. Here, digital temporality can be seen to yield nonlinear and chaotic temporalities, produced by, and encountered in, interactive events. User-generated occasions are sequential, software occasions are asynchronous, and the temporality of the archive nests within it various levels of the past. The interactive event is the coming together of these occasions an event in which we encounter multiple scales of the temporal; an event that I will describe as multi-temporal in nature

Phylogeographyj kinship and molecular ecology of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus)

The molecular ecology for sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the northern Gulf of Mexico was investigated in detail using a suite of molecular markers. In addition, several genetic related aspects for the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean putative sperm whale populations were described. These analyses have provided new insights requiring proper management to ensure the survival of the northern Gulf of Mexico sperm whale stock m an area of increasing industrial activity. The majority of surface behavioural reactions witnessed after biopsy darting were mild and short-term. No significant differences were determined between males and females and repeat sampling events on the same individual did not lead to an increase in the response level. Population structuring between the four putative populations, with respect to mtDNA, was highly significant and warrants the classification of each putative population as a unique stock for management purposes. The majority of Gulf of Mexico samples were from females and young males believed to be sexually immature based on rough size estimates. Incidental resampling of a few individuals over periods of days, months and years adds support for site-fidelity to the northern Gulf of Mexico exhibited by at least some whales. Although our sample set compares a more restricted geographic area than previous studies, the lack of significant nuclear differentiation between neighbouring populations suggests that sexually mature males disperse from their natal populations and spread their genes to the more philopatric females. The genetic composition of Gulf of Mexico sperm whale groups fits the mixed sex and bachelor group type so common in other areas of the world, while the two all-male North Sea stranding groups fit the bachelor group scenario. Relatedness within the Gulf of Mexico female-dominated groups was significantly greater than that found between groups, but still surprisingly low and composed of both single and multiple matrilines. Highly related whales (i.e. parent-offspring) were present within groups, but infrequent. The most common relationship found was that of half- siblings. The all-male bachelor groups were comprised of multiple matrilines and members were generally unrelated, although cases for half-sibling pairs were present

Experimental and theoretical studies in reactive molecular scattering

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D32573/80 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Rotating convection : 1995 Summer Study Program in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

The 1995 program in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics addressed "Rotating Convection," with particular emphasis on high-Rayleigh-number convection and on convection in the ocean.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OCE-8901012

An Artistic Perspective on Distributed Computer Networks. Creativity in Human-Machine Systems

This thesis is written from an artistic perspective as a reflection on currently significant discussions in media theory, with a focus on the impact of technology on society. While mapping boundaries of contemporary art, post-digital art is considered the best for describing current discourses in media theory in the context of this research. Bringing into the discussion artworks by Martin Howse & Jonathan Kemp (2001-2008), Maurizio Bolognini (Bolognini 1988-present), and myself (mi_ga 2006), among many others, this research defines post-digital art, which in turn defines a complexity of interactions between elements of different natures, such as the living and non-living, human and machine, art and science. Within the analysis of P2P networks, I highlight Milgram's (1967) idea of six degrees of separation, which, at least from a speculative point of view, is interesting for the implementation of human-machine concepts in future technological developments. From this perspective, I argue that computer networks could, in the future, have more potential for merging with society if developed similarly to the computer routing scheme implemented in the Freenet distributed information storage and retrieval system. The thesis then describes my own artwork, 0.30402944246776265, including two newly developed plugins for the Freenet storage system; the first plugin is constructed to fulfill the idea of interacting elements of different natures (in this case, the WWW and Freenet), while the other plugin attempts to visualize data flow within the Freenet storage and retrieval system. All together, this paper proposes that a reconsideration of distributed and self-organized information systems, through an artistic and philosophical lens, can open up a space for the rethinking of the current integration of society and technology

Sociobiology, universal Darwinism and their transcendence: An investigation of the history, philosophy and critique of Darwinian paradigms, especially gene-Darwinism, process-Darwinism, and their types of reductionism towards a theory of the evolution of evolutionary processes, evolutionary freedom and ecological idealism

Based on a review of different Darwinian paradigms, particularly sociobiology, this work, both, historically and philosophically, develops a metaphysic of gene-Darwinism and process-Darwinism, and then criticises and transcends these Darwinian paradigms in order to achieve a truly evolutionary theory of evolution. Part I introduces essential aspects of current sociobiology as the original challenge to this investigation. The claim of some sociobiologists that ethics should become biologized in a gene-egoistic way, is shown to be tied to certain biological views, which ethically lead to problematic results. In part II a historical investigation into sociobiology and Darwinism in general provides us, as historical epistemology', with a deeper understanding of the structure and background of these approaches. Gene-Darwinism, which presently dominates sociobiology and is linked to Dawkins' selfish gene view of evolution, is compared to Darwin's Darwinism and the evolutionary' synthesis and becomes defined more strictly. An account of the external history of Darwinism and its subparadigms shows how cultural intellectual presuppositions, like Malthusianism or the Newtonian concept of the unchangeable laws of nature, also influenced biological theory' construction. In part III universal 'process-Darwinism' is elaborated based on the historical interaction of Darwinism with non-biological subject areas. Building blocks for this are found in psychology, the theory of science and economics. Additionally, a metaphysical argument for the universality of process- Darwinism, linked to Hume's and Popper's problem of induction, is proposed. In part IV gene-Darwinism and process-Darwinism are criticised. Gene-Darwinism—despite its merits—is challenged as being one-sided in advocating 'gene-atomism', 'germ-line reductionism' and 'process-monism'. My alternative proposals develop and try to unify different criticisms often found. In respect of gene-atomism I advocate a many-level approach, opposing the necessary radical selfishness of single genes. I develop the concept of higher-level genes, propose a concept of systemic selection, which may stabilise group properties, without relying on permanent group selection and extend the applicability of a certain group selectionist model generally to small open groups. Proposals of mine linked to the critique of germ-line reductionism are: 'exformation', phenotypes as evolutionary factors and a field theoretic understanding of causa formalis (resembling Aristotelian hylemorphism). Finally the process-monism of gene-Darwinism, process-Darwinism and, if defined strictly, Darwinism in general is criticised. 1 argue that our ontology and ethics would be improved by replacing the Newtoman-Paleyian deist metaphor of an eternal and unchangeable law of nature, which lies at tire very heart of Darwinism, by a truly evolutionary understanding of evolution where new processes may gain a certain autonomy. All this results in a view that I call 'ecological idealism', which, although still very much based on Darwinism, clearly transcends a Darwinian world view

Presences of the Infinite: J.M. Coetzee and Mathematics

This thesis articulates the resonances between J. M. Coetzee's lifelong engagement with mathematics and his practice as a novelist, critic, and poet. Though the critical discourse surrounding Coetzee's literary work continues to flourish, and though the basic details of his background in mathematics are now widely acknowledged, his inheritance from that background has not yet been the subject of a comprehensive and mathematically- literate account. In providing such an account, I propose that these two strands of his intellectual trajectory not only developed in parallel, but together engendered several of the characteristic qualities of his finest work. The structure of the thesis is essentially thematic, but is also broadly chronological. Chapter 1 focuses on Coetzee's poetry, charting the increasing involvement of mathematical concepts and methods in his practice and poetics between 1958 and 1979. Chapter 2 situates his master's thesis alongside archival materials from the early stages of his academic career, and thus traces the development of his philosophical interest in the migration of quantificatory metaphors into other conceptual domains. Concentrating on his doctoral thesis and a series of contemporaneous reviews, essays, and lecture notes, Chapter 3 details the calculated ambivalence with which he therein articulates, adopts, and challenges various statistical methods designed to disclose objective truth. Chapter 4 explores the thematisation of several mathematical concepts in Dusklands and In the Heart of the Country. Chapter Five considers Waiting for the Barbarians and Foe in the context provided by Coetzee's interest in the attempts of Isaac Newton to bridge the gap between natural language and the supposedly transparent language of mathematics. Finally, Chapter 6 locates in Elizabeth Costello and Diary of a Bad Year a cognitive approach to the use of mathematical concepts in ethics, politics, and aesthetics, and, by analogy, a central aspect of the challenge Coetzee's late fiction poses to the contemporary literary landscape

Eniatype: Transdisciplinary Practice for Methodologies of Communication

Full version unavailable due to 3rd party copyright restrictions.The thesis demonstrates a rethinking of methodologies of communication through ecological design. Human communication and ecological accountability are inextricably linked in architectural design: the current global ecological crisis underscores this fundamental connection. Within architectural practice the communication from architect to participant or environment is not at all straightforward. This is also true of the dyadic relation between context, design and communication in architectural education. Notational systems within architectural education used as a communication tool have made the composition of architecture an activity like the composition of fiction: the activity of communication. So deep is the connection between architecture and communication in our culture that for much of the time we ignore it and behave as if notation were really a transparent window – just as in reading a working drawing in architectural practice we may ignore the intermediacy of notation and imagine that thoughts are reaching us directly from the architect’s mind. The most important criterion of notational systems, whether literally or architectural, is precisely that it should not draw attention to itself, nor disturb the illusion of neutrality and faithfulness. Through original design exploration, this work proffers a critical vision towards the built environment. These conceptions challenge the everyday education of architectural design by offering a transdisciplinary framework for design production. The work concludes with the necessity for a new design field entitled ‘Eniatype’. Eniatype is still in its nascent stages. It has the potential to become a far-reaching awareness that bonds the disciplines of design ecologies, theory of notation, instructional design and aesthetics; together they form the acronym ENIA. The work establishes the theoretical foundation for Eniatype in four parts. Part one, ideation, is a survey of visions on architectural practice illustrating original concepts such as ‘Correalism‘, ’Reflexive Architecture‘ and ’Recursive Vision‘. Part two, Enia, illustrates the principles of design ecologies, theory of notation, instructional design and aesthetical strands in projects such as ’Basque Enia‘ and ’Beijing Enia‘. Part three, Type, conveys the principles of the logical theory of types in ’Working Drawing, Participant and Environment‘. Part four, Eniatype, synthesise these approaches through a series of research sessions towards a transdisciplinary idea of architectural education and practice. The work describes a burgeoning field, Eniatype, which promotes ecological transitions within local and global contexts through architectural education. By linking working drawing and environment within architectural education, unique ecological design proposals were produced, which promote a new role in defining the ciphers of future design thought