Tag: en

Wakes

creativity, habits, process

So I wake. Too much light. No way to sleep. I need to leave the bed. Pijama? On. Body doesn’t want to move. Destination: Home Office. Sit. Wait… Go on! Write. Sketch. Write. Sketch. Write. Oh. Look! You woke up!! G’morning!!

Tunes

creativity, process

Like getting closer and closer to a tiny something on the forest floor I want to greet. And then I kind of fall inside. Into a project. For weeks, sometimes months. Tune-in. Sprint. And then I tune-out. Pause. For weeks.

Waster

entrepreneurship

Nondoing and being useless. How might we apply this in business?

So far I think that ideas need space. Periods of nondoing and being useless, wandering.

But wait! Here, I apply nondoing for the purpose of creativity. Oh.

What about communication as pull not push? Here too, there is underlying purpose of expecting interactions. Oh!

So could nondoing/uselessness fit into a business world?

Chaos

biomimicry, chaos, living systems collaboratory

This post is part of my exploration of Living Systems: Chaos.

Few months ago, I was wondering about fractals. Today I watched two videos (below) that link unrelated case studies through one example of fractals and one formula underneath. It talks about how fractal geometry is just a representation of underlying patterns in nature and in life, in general. We cannot see this pattern with our eyes though (oh, well, unless we look into tree branches for some quick example!). To see deeper, we need a different kind of language. And this formula with computer modelling seems to help with that. I guess that’s what MV meant by saying that ‘sciences helped to see Living Systems’. (15/05)

And here I continue to wonder, would we see those links without technology? How wow technology is for helping se these links. Making the invisible visible. (17/05)

[to be continued…]

Questions

biomimicry, chaos, living systems collaboratory, question

I continue to explore Living Systems philosophy based on Mansoor Vakili’s thinking. Here are my current questions.

Questions, Part One:

  1. Universe as Energy and Information Pattern:
    • What is this pattern’s representation? 
    • How does dynamism (‘dance of energy’) fit with static processes? 
  2. The 3rd Shift (Consciousness):
    • What does it mean “when we observe the universe it responds to our observation”? Does it mean that reality in our heads happen when we pause to pay attention?
  3. The 4th Shift (Networks):
    • How to study these processes and relationships as a beginner? What are the fundamentals/language/vocabulary of this study?
  4. The 6th Shift (Chaos and Order):
    • How to determine the balance of chaos and order in a living system?
    • What is some example approach for studying and understanding how chaos theory works in practice? 
  5. Modelling the Living Systems:
    • How can we model a minimum viable system, so that we understand and embody it? 

Questions, Part Two and Three:

  1. Synchronicity: “when a nonlinear network reaches a critical point of instability, a new order spontaneously emerges. In this stage, the elements synchronize in full cooperation, creating a whole”
    • What conditions are needed for this to happen?
    • How might we foster conditions for human synchronisation? 
  2. Randomness:
    • What’s the connection there: ‘6 degrees of separation in human population’ and randomness?
  3. Non-Linear Systems and Cause/Effect:
    • Hmm?
  4. Power-Law Distribution: “non-linear networks are mostly made of order with only a little randomness”
    • Hmm?
    • What is a healthy/balanced level of order and randomness is a system? How to go about it when creating a new system?
  5. Fractals:
    • How do we work with fractals? How to create a new system with this approach? Or how to analyse an existing system with this approach? How about some experimentation sessions to explore fractals hands-on and models?
  6. Spirituality:
    • Which spiritual traditions align with Living Systems ideas? Could we map these to extract patterns and align these what science is saying?

Breaks

random

How to rest… I’m gonna go so. Where is my jacket? The one with cats? Found it. Ok. To town please! Oh winds, noise, hello. I’ve missed you. I hear you. I hear all of you. Let me park it right there. Right. Wait. I’ll go find a bench. Wet as always. I love. Watching. You. One by one. Rushing bees. Xoxo. I’d like something. Italian icecream! Pistacio. With some sea salt. Nice? Nice. Alright. Let’s go. Let’s hang out! Hello buildings! Still here! Anything new? Apart of dog poo? How is my icecream? Oh, oh. I dropped it! When staring at the white noise. I hear you! C’mon. Let me inside. A new exhibition is on! A dead cow on display. Oh, it’s fake. Good. Ok. It took 5 years! Wow. Brave. And free. The artist, I mean! So silent. Nothing allowed. Well. It’s cold. And dark soon. Better go home. Where is my cab? A bike, I mean. Cycling in the rain… // Back to the sofa. Did you go to town? Me neither. Just typed this up! Feeling good. Rested!

Life Is

coexistence, living systems collaboratory, transformation
A draft of a reflection on “Living Systems Philosophy” seminar with Mansoor Vakili, part of Living Systems Collaboratory.

“If Universe created humans, how come we’re creating activities that are against it…”

Mansoor

Transformations

It seems to me that destruction is part of transformation process. So perhaps humans are going through personal transformation now, so that the minds evolve to a higher consciousness.

Let’s take a body pain as example. To me, a headache is always a signal to adjust my lifestyle/actions. So, what we’re seeing now in the world is a sea of signals to adjust our lifestyles.

Can transformation happen in some other way? … It can too, with more time, with millions of smooth transitions like water polishing the rock. A shift towards tiny smooth transformations is a transformation in itself.

Brain as Hub

I’m curious about Mansoor’s thought on “brain as a hub”. I don’t understand it yet, so I have no comments! Oh, I have questions. How come brain is a hub and not the entire body as a hub?

I’m exploring how gut is responsible for a human body wellbeing and how the wellbeing of the gut links with the brain. So, is brain the hub or the gut? Or …?

Awareness

When I walked the other day, I thought about someone’s comment on “fish doesn’t know they’re in the water”. So, would we say that humans developed the brain to see the whole and then look after the whole?

Hmm, but how do we know that fish doesn’t know they’re in the water? I’d like to be careful of praising humans for their ‘awareness’. 🙂

Left and Right Brain

When I walked today, I thought about words we use, “right brain” and “left brain”, “linear” and “non-linear”. I enjoyed Ilaria’s comments in LSC Lab Hours that from neuroscience perspective there’s no “right and left brain”.

But also I’m curious about ideas that different parts of the brain are activated when we “think creatively” and “think analytically”. I did some course a while back on “Learning How To Learn” and it showed some graphics on that… Today I was thinking, I notice a difference when I need to approach a logical task with imagination or just by pure “lets do it fast” approach. In the course, they referred to these states as “focused” and “defocused brain state”, where defocused state is about making unexpected links in the brain that leads to unexpected insights/solutions, while focused state is about employing the brain to bring back the facts (from one of the memories we have, I don’t remember how they are called now).

So, my challenge to myself now is to use more of defocused states for logical tasks – say fixing a website error – by going for a walk first. 🙂

Systems

A cool take-away from the talk was a reflection on my question:

“If bacteria, human body, Earth are all living systems. So, if we balance a lower-level system (bacteria), does it create cascading effects for a higher-level system (body, Earth)?”

Ruta

I discovered this question when writing MUTANTU comic book, and where I make links between climate change on Earth and heatwaves/inflammation in the human body. So, I was/am curious to explore, how this question can be tested at least as a thought/theory experiment.

Planetary Health

I appreciate the comments I got from LSC collabrarians. Tashka mentioned that ‘health’ can be measured through ‘homeostasis’. A new word for me! Ilaria mentioned that ‘human health leads to planetary health’ and shared some research links like “‘The Lancet Planetary Health‘”. This made me think that I could test the health of the microbiome of the soil and link that with the health of the microbiome of the human gut, to produce an insight of links (or non-links) between ‘health of Earth and Body and Bacteria’. (( I saw some soil testing kits on sale mentioned by Genspace at their upcoming online event on “Soil Analysis” ))

to be continued…

P.S. Did you notice I love walking?

Life as Systems

biomimicry, living systems collaboratory
Reflection on “The Systems View of Life” seminar with Fritjof Capra, part of Living Systems Collaboratory.

I love collecting words and blending them together. Here’s a collection from Fritjof Capra’s talk on Systems Thinking: “Everything is a self-organised system”, “Thinking in relationships and patterns, not things”, “Cooperative Dance”.

Conversations Spark Movements

Fritjof gave a brief intro on systems thinking as a blend of science, indigenous knowledge and arts, which was born in 1920 when biologists, psychologists, ecologists had a conversation.

That makes me wonder what would happen if more of such inter-disciplinary conversations would happen now? The power of conversations!

Pattern for Human Cooperation

The main idea of the talk was about shifting from seeing parts to patterns. Because the whole is more than its parts.

One way to look at this idea is to see similarities between disciplines and projects, and such to develop a generalist’s mind who sees a big picture rather than a specialist narrow mindset.

On a meta level, all disciplines are the same. With 0oo project, we aim to showcase links between disciplines through a simple pattern for human cooperation. What is it? It’s as simple as Question, Idea, Project. Sounds so basic, right? A basic rhythm? 🙂

Life can be overwhelming in these digital times. But with a mental model of questioning, ideating and creating, life welcomes a natural creative flow into a routine.

Network Mindset

I loved how F. Capra defines “mind as a process”. Here at 0oo we question, how can people from different cultures play a coherent (thinking) dance?

Like hundreds of people play a different instrument but together they are part of one concert, is it possible for inter-disciplinary collaborations?

“Mind is a process, not a Thing.

Mind is a mental activity.

The process of knowing is the process of Life.”

Fritjof Capra

Sure it is if we remember a basic rhythm of Questions, Ideas and Projects. Moreover, what happens if we put this exercise into a technology interface?

More so, what happens if people are encouraged to develop a creative (networked) mind? Just click everywhere and explore, and you will see how the world is connected.

New 0oo name and look

Caring for Fellow Cells

F. Capra looked at everything as a system with examples of cells being produced, repaired and regenerated by the Living Network.

Here, I imagine how 0oo community members would be looked after within the network. Overall, 0oo is a mutual human-to-human help system. We’ve thought of how a credit score (collected through online collaborations) going to minus indicates that a member needs someone to fund them, so that they get back to “balance”.

Community Interactions

“Each cell is a cognitive system,” repeats Fritjof. I wonder what can we learn from cells? With SAME community, we explore how each member is like a cell part of a larger whole (a community).

But wait! It’s not about “parts” but “patterns”! So, I noticed how members’ interactions fuel the community. Dance of Life.

Ideas Shape Culture

Obviously, I loved F. Capra comments on how social networks generate themselves, generate ideas and shape culture. That’s what we aim for with 0oo project, to be a space where culture shapes itself organically among world’s cultures and disciplines.

Ideas shaping culture relates so much with my work in general (KOKONO). I deeply believe that “human” is unique in its ability to create ideas and organise communities that shape our culture. (Have you read my Banana Break on that?) There’s space for everyone to ideate and create together!

Communities Regenerate Life

Guess what, I asked F. Capra a question: “What conditions are needed to welcome Regeneration in Society?” He said “life itself is regenerative. Networks regenerate. Sustaining life equals regenerating life. Engaging with regenerative activities, i.e. understanding of Life as a Living System”.

“How does nature sustain Life? By creating communities and maintaining communities (bacterial colonies).”

Fritjof Capra

Create and nurture communities. Be a web! “Be an octopus” ~ MUTANTU. 🙂

The Poetry of Data

creativity, living systems collaboratory
Reflection on “The Poetry of Data” seminar with Nathalie Miebach, part of Living Systems Collaboratory.

Outfits

The seminar felt like a rhythm that fuels life. A sequence of transformations. I loved seeing data becoming a visualization, then becoming music and sculptures. Every step is transforming the shape of the idea, but the idea stays the same! It’s like the idea is changing outfits. Love that.

What are some additional ways that data can be integrated/demonstrated in regards to a living system?

Data?

I’m curious to explore — what is data. I think, it depends on how one defines what is data. I see “data” as information and as information sources beyond my mind. But actually, even thoughts from my mind (when recorded) become data. So, everything is data when observed.

Diary

How can data be integrated? Simply put, when my thoughts are written down, they synthesise into an idea. A new living system is born right there.

Conversations

Things get even more interesting when “data of thoughts” is integrated with someone’s else’s “data of thoughts”. Simply through conversations and feedback loops. Here again, new ideas come to life! New living systems are born.

Projects Melting

Going further, data integrates, when an idea expands between projects (and mediums). Say with my book, I noticed links with a game project that friends is interested to start. Then, both of our projects would melt into something bigger than our individual projects.

Overall, creation and co-creation is where I see “data integration” happening.

What are some ways you can implement data in your project?

Mapping

I’m starting to link existing thinkers’ work with the spells my book character needs to learn. As the book’s purpose is to entertain but also to sink in deeper and shape people’s ways of thinking, so this is an important bit — to give nuggets of living systems philosophy and science that readers can explore afterwards.

Link-Building

Also, I’m curious to mention real projects throughout my book. Imagine a piece of comic (a scene) that is about a project that actually exists in the world. This way, a book links with websites. I’d show these in the appendix at the end of the book. Hmm!

—

Quotes

Legos

X RAZMA: Constructions toys very appreciated for building sense of imagination. also the ancient ones of sticks, stones

Ruta Danyte: Would be cool to see Legos expanding on a Living Systems look! #tetrahedron

Claudia Brenner: Information systems are like lego / modular pieces.

Together Alone

Ruta Danyte: Love hearing privacy mentioned in collaboration! I call it “my cocoon”

Stephen Bau: “There must be a time to retreat into my studio and think by myself” – reminds me of Susan Cain’s exploration of the power of introverts

Ruta Danyte: “collaboration is about hearing smth new” – !

Data Plays

Ruta Danyte: How might we play with data?

X RAZMA: Data scrapbooking // data collage

Lisa Naugle: The ability to translate from one medium to another and another is so critical for building knowledge, awareness, understanding

C A: Inclusive data viz through multiple translations

Natalya Sheveleva: Love this, data is the ingredient and then you play with different ways of cooking it up

Memes

Stephen Bau: An aural representation of a memetic virus? “Memes are to culture what genes are to biology: the base unit of evolution.”

Lisa Naugle: Yes, … sometimes it just takes one person to give a thumbs up!!

Discomfort Maps

Stephen Bau: When we think about human experience design, we tend to avoid the feeling of discomfort by amplifying the satisfaction of felt needs.

Stephen Bau: How does discomfort become an effective means of challenging blind spots and encouraging social evolution by centering discomfort?

Ruta Danyte: Showcasing discomfort opens up some space for transformation

Stephen Bau: We often use empathy maps in UX design. How might we design discomfort maps to rethink human experience design?

Transformations

Mansoor Vakili: How could we convert quantitative data to qualitative patterns ?

Ruta Danyte: Quant to qual, chaos to insight – hmm

Ruta Danyte: “being courageous by simply trying to figure smth out” – love this!

Natalya Sheveleva: You can endure the complicated after your hands are in it, naive simplicity is paramount to help you start. Great reflection for me

Natalya Sheveleva: Reminding me that trauma lives in sense processed data

Mark Wagnon: Aesthetics (including the beautiful representation of ‘raw data’) can move through the ‘mental machinery’ of the ‘conditioned mind’, as well as, the ’emotional trauma’ of our ‘heart intelligence’.

Regeneration

biomimicry, trimtab spacecamp

Reflection on Carol Sanford talk on Regeneration at Trimtab Spacecamp (BFI) where I participate with a project 0oo

Trimtab Spacecamp with Carol Sanford

Definition of Regeneration

What is Regeneration? Carol is asking.. To me, a word “regeneration” sounds like “re-generate” and thus something that is continuing to live, on repeat. I imagine a sun shining, continuing to live, in its own cycles. Waves crashing, coming and going, in its own rhythms. Then regeneration in my life is about tuning into my own rhythm and purpose. And perhaps that’s what Regeneration means in general. Tuning into rhythm and purpose.

Regeneration happens when we Evolve Capacity for Essence Expression via Self-Actualization. We seek to evolve capacity not of the doing, but the ability to express what it is that makes each living entity itself in the capacity it needs to represent.

Carol Sanford

I agree with Carol’s view on regeneration as in this quote above. That’s why I do what I do. But I want to add on top and in between a network as a layer. Through my life experimentation, I realised that collaboration, interaction, symbiosis is indeed essential for a meaningful life. And in fact interaction often (if not always) drives “capacity”.

Principles of Living Systems

Whole: we tend to fragment and see parts

Essence: essence is; you have essence that is revealed

Potential: comes from distinct opportunity for essence to express itself

Development: bringing more of 1, 2, 3

Nested: seeing dynamics of all worlds

Nodal: asking what’s the key intervention

Fields: energy fields

Carol Sanford

Questioning Principles

How does “Whole Principle” apply to the idea of Symbiosis (as a metaphor for collaboration vs solo creation)? Perhaps true co-creation can only happen when all parts show up as wholes… Hmm!

What kind of education programme would not fragment but reveal “the whole”? To me, it sounds like self-directed lifelong learning, exploring freely and widely, and at the same time creating an ecosystem as “Personal Learning Network” that becomes a platform for projects’ birth.

Trimtab is a metaphor to be nodal and think where to intervene, by expressing their essence and such creating butterfly effects.

Amanda Joy

If you had one shot, where would you shoot? I’m not sure. I think life is not one shot, but a dance of order and chaos, and shooting in many places increase a chance for more seeds. Also, mixing different disciplines breed new ideas. I’d rephrase this as “After you’re shooting everywhere while creating your ecosystem, where do you zoom in?” which is about a process of exploring widely and then zooming into specific projects for impact. Maybe that.

Watching Words

Whole is not the same as its parts. But if you don’t categorise, you can’t manage it all. Nothing is differentiated from itself. The world of big data. So you make generic categories. But this leads to our inability to see potential. If you say problem solving, that means you’re working with fragments and not wholes. See how our language reveals our thinking?

Carol Sanford

Well, here, let me reflect on 0oo project as it is a Mission at this Trimtab Spacecamp.

Yes, indeed, our language reveals our thinking. 0oo is a collection of thoughts by world’s humans. Everyone is encouraged to write clearly, so that people from diverse cultures and disciplines can understand each other. More so, each research question, idea or a project can be discussed, so that clarity is reached at all levels in the journey of bringing new ideas to the world. 0oo also facilitates multi-cultural understanding through machine and human translations. Whatever you share (questions, ideas, projects, comments) on 0oo, it’s automatically translated from English to Chinese, Japanese, Lithuanian, Russian and Earth Language (symbols). People can edit translations for more accuracy by simply clicking “edit”.

Regeneration through 0oo

Whole

0oo helps everyone to work with individual wholes and collective wholes. Simply enter a journey of expressing your essence while sharing questions that spark your curiosity, collecting ideas from your mind and the crowd, and seeing projects unfold that turn your essence into fruits.

0oo helps people to navigate information overload while focusing on general categories that summarise the world’s processes – Questions, Ideas, Projects. There are more general categories, if you’re feeling geeky!

Essence, Potential, Development

To sum up, all humans could express their essence and benefit the individual and collective whole, in a living networked system, which is natural. This living system is not a current “work” or “business” environment. 0oo proposes Internet as a living system for this whole-essence-actualisation to happen.

Nodal

It seems to me, “think nodally” is about the key obstacle as in design sprint. Or like a fractal thing, a min. effort. A trimtab, right.

So here 0oo offers a “nodal moment” for everyone. The min.intervention is your commentary about questions that matter to you. And you can make that comment straight away. 🙂

Regeneration as Rhythm and Purpose

I described my definition of Regeneration at the start of this post. To me, regeneration it seems to be about everyone tuning into their rhythm and purpose.

But more so, 0oo helps all humans tune into one rhythm like a heartbeat. Simply, by sharing Questions, Ideas, Projects (see the rhythm?) and involving into a commentary about that. Whatever is purposeful to you, you can find it on 0oo. If it isn’t there yet, it’s your purpose to start a conversation about it.

“Question Your Methods”

Carol Sanford

Interacting with Your Own Mind

I’ll finish up with Carol’s comment on motivation (“We come with motivation, and we seek motives to connect to”). During her talk she repeated “Interact with your own mind”, so I invite you, my reader, to do just that, to interact with your own mind and phrase a question that troubles your sleep.

Fractals

living systems collaboratory, mental models

Reflections on Fractals: The Colour of Infinity movie, part of Living Systems Collaboratory.

Main Ideas

Overall, Fractals seem to be about a pattern “Input –> Output –> Input –> …” Input leads to output that leads to input and it goes on and on to infinity. Universe goes forever if you zoom in and zoom in and zoom in.

Ideas first, applications later. Fractals allow for a better description to observable world. And I feel that the movie was essentially about using fractal geometry as a way of describing data (like a cloud in the sky) in a simple way. Essentially, it gives a simple formula for complexity.

Usefulness of Formulas

Humans these days face so much information overload, so we definitely need some formula to “compress information overload” and navigate complexity of the modern world. 0oo project may have an answer to that with its F(X)Y formula. It seems to me that there are different formulas that all apply in different contexts but all share a desire or purpose to help humans navigate complexity. E.g. Fractal Geometry has its own formula. 0oo has its own formula too. Interesting, isn’t it?

Questions

It was described as “simple possible transformation”. So I wonder, what does that mean? How does that apply to human transformations and societal change?

System for Freedom. How do Fractals apply for thinking of “Order and Chaos together”?

How do Fractals apply for creative projects? And for the way humans design products, services and the human world?

Thoughts

Infinite thinking. It’s easy to justify actions with ‘general principles’. Like ‘oh this is how everything works in universe, so we must use it in human lives, in tech, etc’. But is it always the case? What about unknowns of unknowns? What if you/me/we are wrong? And then it sparks cascades of actions.. Can science be ‘general’ or is it always attached to our ‘social’ lives? Because every-thing influences everything.

Social application. From the movie, it seemed that the application of Fractals was technology. I’d love to see social problems explored with such general principles as Fractals. If fractal geometry allows to compress data so that we can use high quality images easier, what if we imagine how fractal geometry can compress data about social problems and solutions in the world? Or am I missing the point of how valuable fractal geometry is? 🙂

Picture of society. The movie also said fractal geometry allows to have a more accurate picture of the world, like a cloud in the sky. So I wonder. It is cool to get a picture of the cloud. But I’m also so curious about human world aka society that no one has a picture of! Could Fractals be applied to see challenges humans face? And then to come up with solutions?

Communities. When watching a movie, I was wondering: How do Fractals apply to the community development? Well if Fractals are universal principles, then it should apply to community as much as it does for technology, right?

Templating creativity. It’s easy to template with general principles. But what about a human error? Randomness that leads to unexpected results? Creativity needs a random too. Or does it? Or are we simply templating the patterns?

Automation. If Fractals are about set of instructions repeated over and over again, where does such thinking make sense?

My overall thought of usefulness of Fractals is: Everything is interesting if you zoom in deeply enough.

RUTA.iO

Fractals show us nature’s pattern of smaller wholes being reflective of larger wholes in which they are embedded. This is a similar principle to Fuller’s concept of the Trimtab, a small rudder on a larger rudder on a ship, that is the place in a system where the minimum amount of effort causes the maximum effect. What insights can we gain from looking at fractals that can inform how we intervene in systems or otherwise create systems change? How did the film inspired you? How does this connect to your project and your work?

Living Systems Collaboratory

I think it’s about butterfly effects. Small actions accumulate and spark bigger scale change. In the way, I have a quite a clear application of Fractals to one of my projects, SAME.community: Strangers talk between members spark spontaneous cooperations that shape our social habits and contribute to shaping social norms (members repeat “strangers talk” in their circles afterwards).

Virtual Plays

living systems collaboratory, tools

Reflection on Virtual Reality in Theatre talk by Kiira Benzing, part of Living Systems Collaboratory.

I loved the idea of emergent tech that is about social connection, emotional and unique unexpected experiences. Overall, love that tech is about bonding people!

Purpose

Thinking deeper here, does responsibility come here too? Is bonding always good? What happens when bond is just temporary and after immersive experience participants are left in their lonely worlds? How can tech facilitate a lasting bonding between people? Perhaps immersive experiences matched with social networking tech? More on that, how can tech facilitate meaningful connections between diverse people?

The Way

I loved Kiira’s approach on failing publicly as testing new ways of creating and engaging the audience with real-time feedback.

“What if you fail publicly?” Ha!

I recently realised that feedback loops are essential for all of my projects. I feel some sort of curiosity and urgency about people’s response and it motivates me to produce the works to see the reaction and take the next step then.

It shapes my behaviour too. Instead of planning, I come up with an idea and ask various people about it. For example, I post on Instagram, write a quick blog, post on 0oo, SAME community, share with LSC. I feel it’s essential to have multiple spaces for feedback loops. 1:1 (email, chats), group (calls), 1:strangers (most social media). I wonder how would I incorporate such behaviour even more into my process?

For example, I was sketching about synergy and butterflies came out. So I described it as a social experiment and I started playing with that for real. 🙂 Then I’m thinking how this “Synergy Bubbles” approach fits SAME community too. Perhaps it would make a cool ice-breaker for strangers within the community!

Also, I’m thinking of trying a different way of writing a book and producing each chapter like a music single, and then combing all chapters into an album (a book). The plot is inspired by conversations with various people I met online. I’d like to engage random people to my process too. Hmm.

Stories

I loved Kiira’s comments on transporting people into new worlds through story. Well, that’s the purpose of arts and such a great use of human life (to engage each others in stories!)

I was curious how Kiira spoke about characters (“Are they important for the plot? What their body looks like?”). It helps to polish the story.

“How do we help audience get confidence to get into these worlds? Design for different levels and stages?” That makes me rethink spells (weird peculiar ones or doable ones) and perhaps structure a plot into different types of quests with different moods and spells. Four worlds in one!

Something else caught my attention in the talk. The gods were from traditional Greek myths. So, I’m thinking can we go beyond old stories and introduce something new? In my book, I’m thinking about introducing gods like Universe, Earth, Bacteria, Sprout… Well, pagans would say that’s nothing new though!

Tools

So now stories start on Miro. (I also use Airtable!)

Science in VR

Someone mentioned that Living Systems would suit the medium of VR so well. I agree. Imagine becoming a bacteria and the Earth, and the Universe, how does that feel?

Mind Changes

chaos, living systems collaboratory, transformation

Reflections on Mansoor Vakili talk on Living Systems Philosophy, part of Living Systems Collaboratory.

Can we imagine that the collaborating networks are the seeds and hubs of the human intellectual network? …and that they have enough potential to internalize, enrich, simplify, and visualize this transformation process, and bring it to the world? How does this connect to your project and your work?

Living Systems Collaboratory

Hmm, yes and no. It’s both. Human networks and human bodies with a mind that moves a collaborative hand.

Hmm, actually, it seems I realised now that solo time is on a feedback loop with a collective time. Both feed one another.

Reflecting in a diary, friending all ways of thinking and feeling from within.

Swimming in the collective time, so that solo time is on a creative energy wave.

Solo Adventures

I feel like a diary is the way to nurture our mind as a non-linear loving portal to experiencing a collective dance of ideas that come on a fast-forward time mode from the ocean of intelligence of humans.

I feel like prototyping is a self-organised (personal) transformation process we all seek. The one that gives space for our mind to self-organise and open up for a creative, non-linear thought.

I feel like being observant is the way, to human mind and the body, to other minds and the bodies, to nature, its beauty with all of its minds and bodies! “Working with the Heart, not the Mind” always feels so much easier and “going out and coming back with a Question!” makes me remember Beautiful Questions.

In my project, MUTANTU book, a character goes from the struggles of perfection, order, solo effort, feeling the Fear to the adventures of a superhero playing with uncertainty, randomness, spontaneous cooperation on creative projects and feeling the Love. My project is a diary too that encourages to be observant to one’s thoughts, others and nature. So it’s kind of “self-organise yourself” type of guidebook with a humorous twist.

Networks

I felt like today’s talk was on Transformation from both sides: from the mind, the body, to the human networks while the mind is also shifting itself and the human network at the same time, because we’re part of one culture.

Solo and Collective in fact coexist! So, I have one more project, a SAME community, that explores questions like I asked today:

How could we spark spontaneous synergy moments and make it a cultural norm?

How can social systems of humans use “fractal-ing”? Say, how would communities behave as fractals?

How do we sync with those who may be invisible in the network?

If transformation happens in mind+brain first, so what mental models do humans need to learn to move into non-linear world? Can we imagine education and work systems adopting these mental models?

Ruta.io

Nothing is ever complete, just a fusion of linear and non-linear thinking, curiosity and conversation, bridging in general.

Perfect for the end of the year.

The Natural Ways

biomimicry, living systems collaboratory

Reflections on “Symbiotic Earth” movie, part of Living Systems Collaboratory.

Symbiosis to me is a co-creation process between humans but also a deep sense of connection with all living world. We’re part of nature. I am. We are.

Life as Process

This film makes me think differently! I previously noticed that everything around me and inside me is alive. But now, a deeper dimension has been added. Like a feeling of being home. Like a feeling of being heard. Like a feeling of listening and noticing. Like a feeling of being together. Evolving together. I have this quote from the movie on my desk “What is Life? A process! Life creates more life. A live thinking planet. Life on Earth regulates its environment. Environment modules Beings, and Beings module Environment”. Like a dance of interactions. Really easy way to live! I mean, really. Just interactions. A natural way of being.

Communities

I loved seeing the world through the micro lens so much. “Cell makes more life. Cell as a community.” It made me think, how would we live if we see a “Human as a Community” and “Humanity as Organism”? Hearing that 3 events during evolution sparked all species on Earth from 4 bacterias was a WOW moment. Where do we go from there? Because life is a process, it keeps evolving. So what’s next?

Truth?

Also I could not believe how some ideas that are in textbooks are not true. Why we believe that genes define our lives (the movie says it’s a Cell that runs the show)? Why we believe that everything is dead (and not a living process=Life)? Why we believe in selfish genes (and not Interdependence and evolving together)? The point on Thought Collectives and how scientific facts change based on culture and that many theories used are Metaphors, not Facts make me say LOL. What else can I say. Overall, I loved the approach in the movie on “I had to change my world-view” and “truth doesn’t exist”. And how a film maker followed a rabbit-hole, questions, interviews, puzzles, trying to create a new world-view for himself and showing this process in the movie. My style!

Leaps

Finally, I loved the example of some beings go through transformation twice – like a caterpillar and the larva in the sea. It shows how little we know about evolution and how much is there to explore.

Eco-Thinking

I’m already integrating the learnings into my creative process. How I create my project MUTANTU is a dance of interactions (like this movie, like collabrarians, like my notes on stickies adding on top of each other). I’m thinking, how could any of my projects be part of larger ecosystems? And how each of my projects could connect with other projects of mine and others? I call it eco-thinking!

Feedback

One of my new habits I’m seeing evolving is, I often question “what is the easiest way for me to move forward with a project or a seed?” Often the answer is in the conversation, a call, an email, a question described on 0oo.li, a feedback loop, a reflection. Like life is a process creating more life, I see how thoughts are a process creating more thoughts that eventually get composted or turn into projects. Overall, the more feedback loops, the faster the project evolves. Idea ping pongs, that’s how I call it. I also encourage people in my ecosystem to make something, showcase it for feedback. Ping-pong. Ping-pong. Ping-pong.

Mutants

biomimicry, community

If bacteria are community-forming organisms, then what can humans learn from bacterias, so that humanity acts as one organism?

Like blue-greens capture energy to make food, humans (can) capture creative energy to make ideas and projects that shape our culture.

What environment bacterias need? And humans?

Then, like waste is food, ideas are food.

Also, if each body part has different (stable) populations of bacterias, how does that apply to a human-made world run by human creativity?

Dream Worlds

living systems collaboratory, tools

Reflections on “Speculative Design”, talk by John Crawford, part of Living Systems Collaboratory.

My main take-away is: Trust my imagination and go explore widely and wildly! Create those worlds. Then invite others into those worlds. Ah, if I tune into Living Systems mindset, I’ll add: Create the worlds in parts and invite others to contribute to those worlds as we go!

Speculative Design

Overall, I loved the sound of Speculative Design (SD). I have to admit, sometimes the names of frameworks keep me away from exploring them, but I found SD inviting. While I play with design tools daily, I can see how design is very structural process and often it limits me, and puts me in the box (of using the frameworks). While SD sounded like a playground where ideas (and questions of course!) breed free!

“SD takes a one step further and into science fiction, it tries not to predict future but speculate it (how these ideas will develop in future?). The art of impossible, putting us into a world that we can experience together, SD is about not communicating idea but exploring a theme/constellation/possible scenarios” 

John Crawford

How inviting this is? It really triggers me to explore SD further! And I know that for me it’s easy to “communicate the idea”. So it feels like an inviting challenge to tune into a different channel and “explore constellations”! Hmm.

Artists as Inventors

Another take-away is about celebrating art! “Artists are inventors of future” – oh, this is so wild to think/feel/live in tech worlds I often hang out. I really find such a perspective liberating. My inner child is awake, thank you! Oh, also, I agree so much on John’s point that design solves problems and art is not about “solving”, it goes beyond that. My favourite comment was John’s point on “art adds a new layer to design, it’s not about solving problems, but finding new questions, deeper ways of thinking, …” I may not consider myself an artist (well, I never went to the art school!), but such definition speaks to my heart. Yes indeed! Finding new questions! Oh, how much I love such a mental gym.

What else I took from the talk, I loved the emotion and the buzz within comments section of Youtube! Q&A is a way more molding/bonding than a screenshare. More Q&As! Why not. Q&A on emergent media was cool. “We’re inventing the medium when we use the tool” – love this. Such an invitation. 

Prototyping

Oh, I just noticed I did not relfect much on Prototyping yet. So let me try. Prototyping is super easy for me. I’m a fast thinker and imagine quickly. Trusting my explorations is what I need to push myself more… Trust deep dives. While going back to prototyping, I see it as a canvas to build on, for me it starts with a chat in the woods (“imagine this!”), then a A4 paper sheet, simple sketch, I show it to someone, then I move onto WordPress (I LOVE prototyping with websites because it allows me to add on and add on, like polishing you know?), and then again I show it to someone, get feedback, update, the cycle continues. Maybe that’s what John meant with “iterative approach is cyclical”?

I wonder though, how to push the limits in the prototyping? How to make failure desirable? Because here lies true learning. How to make and showcase too early on purpose? What an interesting exercise is that! Hmm. I’ll think about it. Maybe I’ll even do it. 🙂 

Living Systems

Lastly, I loved John responding on “Living Systems Principles influencing design”. I thought about it these days when I read Lynn Margulis thinking. You can see what’s on my mind here.

Here is my chat-poem of today:

dream big, zoom in

dream big, zoom in

dream big, zoom in

= seed

Ruta.io

On Life

biomimicry, living systems collaboratory

Reflections on “Living Systems” talk by Mansoor Vakili, part of Living Systems Collaboratory.

Interesting view on linear and non-linear world. I haven’t thought about such a separation (“linear” and “non-linear”) before, I even did not think about such names before. And here I wonder if this separation is necessary? Or perhaps the root cause is an imbalance between linear and non-linear thinking? Between masculine and feminine? Between logical and creative? I like the idea of co-existence striving for existence for all types of being. I think that these days we’re overusing the logical thinking, but perhaps that mixed with a creative logic would play a nice symphony?

Hub

Overall, from the talk, I love the idea of Earth as a cognitive system! I imagine it breathing through winds, and it totally shapes perspective. I’m curious about the minimum effort as a natural way of being too. In my work, I explore an idea of how humans go through personal transformation and shift their thinking from linear to non-linear, in particular, from destructive to caring. I love the idea of self-healing living system which a human body is! Here I would add and say not “a brain as a hub” but “a brain-heart-gut as a hub”. Especially, the bacterias in our gut. The deep universes yet to be discovered! And hey, what is the role of bacterias in this paradigm shift?

Energy

In the talk was also said that “Universe is made of energy” – in my work, I use this as a metaphor that Universe is a comic character. Going back to Masoor’s writings where he talks about Earth achieving its selfawareness goal and human being part of this process now, I wonder, what about beyond Earth, what about the Universe itself? The Universe as energy and its higher goal to survive? ..

Relationships and Values

Overall, coming back to the talk itself, I love seeing relationships and values in linear and non-linear thinking. That’s what I’m also exploring through my storyline (my project is a comic book!). I wonder, is this list completed? What other values and relationships of nonlinear world we could add to this list?

I’m still amazed how a human, being an example of a living system, is behaving the opposite to other systems. Masoor says it’s because we’re stuck in a linear perception mode. But I creatively think that the Earth made humans as an experiment, as an error, and we turned out to be not so smart, just an average, so here we’re – a species worth laughing about!