on IT
pertinent and peculiar perspectives of Leif LeBaron

preliminary

introduction

Though I endeavour to express myself clearly, it seems that mystery is a fundamental part of my experience and inevitably my expression. In any case, I wish to not squander attention.

This text addresses the context, here in «preliminary», of my contemplation/research/development as expressed in «general» and «specific». This collection is incomplete and subject to recurrent revision/mutation.

These are seed-like forms; they are compact and abstract: Their meaning extends – grows in a fertile mind – into the state space of their innate signification. I have much to show, though I have nothing to prove. I am interested in engaging others in communication/cooperation, by which we all may prosper.

learning

I am a naturally curious and sensitive individual, learning through a self-sustaining process of cultivating this curiosity/sensitivity. I mean to distinguish here between the kind of knowledge which may be learned from personal experience/involvement, and the kind of knowledge which may be externally acquired/accepted without internal verification/understanding/invention (Does one truly understand the wheel without reinvention?).

abstract | physical

In many ways, I am a profoundly disappointed alien within my species. I search the human record so that I might see further and more clearly, but with few exceptions my inspiration withers in the prevailing shadow of collective confusion and involuntarily returns to the «vision» which employs my mind. I am compelled to communicate/manifest/express what I see.

I am deeply involved with both the physical and the abstract, though I remain primarily engaged in abstraction. The conditions/constraints associated with physical specification/implementation have induced me to cultivate a process of cognitive/imaginative development/evolution (virtual prototyping as it were) which has, if not improved the process of development, at least allowed me to continue in the circumstance of such conditions.

context

Throughout the past decade, I have employed an unusual situation: In contrast to the usual hurried/busy/stressed human life, most of my attention/time has been freely available to direct as I wish, with minimal distraction. This situation/environment is directly related and essential to the nature of my development/work.

Specifically, I am engaged in exploration/contemplation/conception of the augmentation/cultivation of consciousness with information technology. This is very broad/deep/interconnected/complex/profound to me; a compelling sense/perception of unification pervades my experience of this universe – my cosmology/ontology – and it is therefore difficult, if not destructive, to isolate/extract particular patterns from the associative network of which they are conceived. Further, the diversity of my interest/curiosity inhibits specificity. This is the context of my communication.

It is beyond my present condition (within such limited/disembodied bandwidth/communication) to illustrate what I see in a way which feels satisfactory. I can only place a few points here and there, representing these patterns of patterns (in many more dimensions than three), so profoundly interesting/beautiful/meaningful/complex to me, and hope that we both may see (link: maps.html)…

resonance/similarity

I notice in myself, some pertinent resonance/similarity with the following persons/projects (a brief/incomplete/unordered list).

• Bismillah Khan
• Stuart Kauffman
• Rodney Brooks
• Andy Goldsworthy
• Henry David Thoreau
• Vannevar Bush, J.C.R. Licklider, Douglas Engelbart, Ted Nelson
• Unununium

general

consciousness

I remain sadly surprised that some fundamental tools for the augmentation/cultivation of consciousness do not yet exist. Of course, we do have much more than what was available decades, if not years, ago; however, it is not as much the what which seems so deficient, as the how: how we use what we have. I assert that we may realise our objectives with greater brevity and ease by utilising our resources differently, in more naturally efficient ways. Ongoing examination of archetypes/paradigms/precepts/axioms/maxims is useful, if not necessary.

The curious consciousness may be equipped with some basic tools: collectively, a semiautonomous prosthesis for the mind; a truly personal computer which learns about its owner; a superego/tutor/friend which remains ready to observe and feed that curiosity/consciousness through an evolving and increasingly potent interface.

memory | sense

It seems that biological nervous systems are best applied to interacting/dancing with the dynamic and unpredictable environment of the present (self-sustaining sense/response streams). By contrast, digital systems are best applied to memory/data/samples and the manipulation/computation thereof. The nervous system may remain free of the frozen state of static data, while such data remains immediately available.

the bucket
(self-organisation)

It seems we are involuntarily compelled to save our experience, to capture/record/remember. We put our records into containers for future retrieval, trying to organise them in vain, as the maintenance of the growing database increasingly and ironically consumes our attention. Manual/imposed organisation is not sustainable. This universe is self-organising, and so too may be our data. We may simply dump all records into a single container/bucket: An ocean of data in which an evolving ecology of self-organising algorithms/patterns may be cultivated.

the seed
(self-defining structure)

The predominant human modes of encoding/recording/storing information – specifically, disembodied/static literal script (written language) and its paradigm of sequential/serial structure – seem rather crude/inefficient/tedious/impeding (naturally, this depends upon the objectives of the author/reader). Hypertext helps, but there is opportunity for much more. Rather than trace an author’s peculiar history/trajectory through a given region of information space, held captive as it were, and led along a prescribed path, the author may instead provide a system of coordinates such that a reader may wander at will, led by her/his/its own peculiar interest/experience.

It is possible to create information structure in a way which resembles a virtual seed: a compact/responsive/dynamic system which may accept various input parameters/conditions/filters which correspond to specific output. Each specific tree may be extrapolated/derived from the virtual forest-space of the seed.

Such structure is not an imposed external abstraction, or an empty framework into which only specific data may fit; rather, it is innate to the information in question, and naturally self-defining.

software

There is certainly opportunity for improvement to existing hardware, but software is much further behind, as it appears to me. Our present hardware – though it certainly has problems – is impressively potent; however, much of that potential remains essentially unrealised, squandered by pernicious paradigms and superfluous software. Why is our present software dead? If we are to live with (rather than for) computers, perhaps we should also make computers live.

data
Application Program

Computers are useless without data/input; they exist to manipulate/store/retrieve data, to respond to input. In spite of this fundament, data has become subordinate to the Application Program which promises false freedom within the prison of its paradigm. By contrast, Unix systems offer an environment/workshop/laboratory with many simple and precise tools which may be used in myriad combinations. We can make such tools more accessible/available by making them (and the environment in which they exist) more dynamic/responsive/interactive.

The nature of the data/input may shape the program, much like a river/stream shapes the matter through which it flows. Such a program represents a common pattern of the data in question.

The Application Program may be replaced with a dynamic configuration/system of atomic modules which are loaded/unloaded as necessary for the data/context in question. Such atoms/modules of fundamental utility may be be arranged to compose/define the operating system/environment.

specific

The following brief descriptions address concrete examples of hardware/software projects which I am engaged in.

tabula eduro

Many would benefit from a simple/portable/efficient information storage/retrieval device. Existing laptop/handheld/portable computers dissipate too much energy. The work – the potential utility – is apparently obscured/impaired by an obsession with the technical specifications/features of the tool; an expensive and complex camera is not required to create a beautiful and useful photograph.

By directing attention toward basic utility, it becomes obvious that some simple and fundamental applications of such a device are presently neglected. We have solar-powered calculators, but where are their progeny: the dictionaries/encyclopædias/notebooks and other such basic resources/tools?

I suggest a minimal photovoltaic-powered device specifically designed/optimised for low-power dissipation and efficient operation within a limited scope of basic storage/retrieval (minimal computation): keyboard, persistent display, persistent solid-state memory, standard network and serial bus connectors. Batteries may be used to supply power when light is insufficient but power consumption must remain as low as possible (at least enough to operate indefinitely during average daylight luminosity at 60° from the equator).

keyboard

The common keyboard (whatever its layout: QWERTY or Dvorak or …) is not a good fit for human hands. The arrangement of keys/sensors should reflect the kinesiology of hands; specifically, those of its primary user. The keyboard may also be like a musical instrument: with sensitivity, precision, and many different modes of input/interaction (which remain useful even in the presence of a perfect dictation system).

See keyboard notes (link: keyboard.html) and keyboard illustration (link: keyboard.pdf) for more detail.

symbols

It seems useful to identify a high-level symbol set representing common patterns/abstractions/actions/things, to simplify information representation and to reduce the quantity of keystrokes required to produce a given result. Our basic character/symbol sets can be augmented with layers of increasing abstraction.

Our present systems understand the atomic characters of which we compose our words, but they do not understand the words: Such common/useful words as «person» and «communication» can each be understood as a unit entity, addressable by a single symbol/keystroke in addition to its sequence of constituent characters. A string/sequence of characters/atoms is not the same as a word/molecule; we can evolve the structure/chemistry of our symbology.

the typographic interface

The prevalent GUI (WIMP implemented in Macintosh, X11, Windows, &c.) is a disappointing (mis)interpretation of the interface research developed at Xerox PARC, and what has increasingly become an ironic distraction/impediment of superfluous/grotesque/wasteful interface elements which call attention to themselves, away from the very data/input for which they exist to serve.

The CLI (implemented in Unix, &c.) is impressively/beautifully potent/useful but abstruse/complicated and deficient in presentation (due to the limits of hardware at the time of its inception).

I see much opportunity to develop an interface which is at once both text-based and graphical, in similarity to a well-formed typographical document which combines raw text and images with natural visual/spatial patterns/geometry to maximise meaning and minimise the burden of reading.

iWeather

Assuming sufficiently compact and inexpensive sensor technology, I believe there is enough individual interest to sustain the development of a peer-to-peer weather data network. By contrast, most publicly available weather data is acquired from a few centralised weather stations (airports, observatories, &c.). There is much to be gained from a distributed peer-to-peer network in which the quantity and location of data sources generally reflects the population density and distribution. Accuracy is naturally achieved by redundancy, and the inherently increased geographical resolution/distribution is clearly desirable.

music

The visualisation/representation/composition/manipulation of music/sound data may utilise a state space in which the various dimensions of interest intersect the data. A basic 3D music space (link: music_space.pdf) permits an integrated address space in which specific (harmonic/melodic/rhythmic) domains may be isolated/filtered by viewing the data orthogonally along one of its respective dimensions (time/amplitude/frequency). The data may remain untouched, the space rotated instead. (Of course, such integrated multidimensional modelling is useful for the representation/manipulation of many kinds of data, not only audio.)

I see much potential to develop improved waveform editors and new systems of musical notation. It seems strange that an audio waveform and its associated (European) musical notation are so distinctly different.

Illustration: harmonic series (link: harmonic_series.pdf).