[FRIAM] a memory less ephemeral: Narrating Complexity

Sun Dec 30 18:09:10 EST 2018

Well, the ones I remember were the ones at the complex, itself, in which I finally got the assembled sages to admit that the word system, on which they seemed to put a lot of weight, “what-ever-the-hell-we-happen-to-be-talking-about.”

We started a wiki and carl and steve and I wrote a lot of stuff, but we never pulled it into a publication, because, to be honest, I have never quite ever understood what steve is talking about. 

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Steven A Smith
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2018 2:50 PM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] a memory less ephemeral: Narrating Complexity

Nick -

I do think this is the kind of cross-disciplinary material that we several could use as a good "shared meal"...  a good choice for a "book club", if you will.   I don't expect Springer drops prices on their books (ever?), but those with institutional affiliations can probably get access to the e-book through their library, etc.?

Do you remember being amongst those conversations at Cowgirl/Aztec back somewhere between 2003 and 2007?

- Steve

This is the kind of thing we ought to sit down to read together … perhaps when the price comes down?  Or bite the bullet and do it now? 

N

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Steven A Smith
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2018 11:52 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group  <mailto:friam at redfish.com> <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: [FRIAM] a memory less ephemeral: Narrating Complexity

This just out:

https://susan-stepney.blogspot.com/2018/12/narrating-complexity.html

Is anyone here familiar with any of the contributors' work?   From the Springer website:

    https://www.springer.com/gb/book/9783319647128

Narrating Complexity

This book stages a dialogue between international researchers from the broad fields of complexity science and narrative studies. It presents an edited collection of chapters on aspects of how narrative theory from the humanities may be exploited to understand, explain, describe, and communicate aspects of complex systems, such as their emergent properties, feedbacks, and downwards causation; and how ideas from complexity science can inform narrative theory, and help explain, understand, and construct new, more complex models of narrative as a cognitive faculty and as a pervasive cultural form in new and old media. 

The book is suitable for academics, practitioners, and professionals, and postgraduates in complex systems, narrative theory, literary and film studies, new media and game studies, and science communication.

I've known Susan for nearly 20 years when she worked with Logica (vaguely parallel to BiosGroup) and we've collaborated on a few topics over those years.Even though I've had an interest and minor stake in this field (relating the domain of narrative and storytelling to complexity science), I haven't kept up with this line of her work (she is so diverse and prolific it would be impossible) kicked off in 2012.

    https://susan-stepney.blogspot.com/2012/07/narrating-complexity.html

Our friend and colleague from proto-FriAM, Mike Agar helped some of us think about this general area in his own unique way, and I seem to remember there were others still in this circle besides Guerin and myself, with an interest/stake in it (NickT?)   We had a few discussions over beer/coffee at the Aztec Cafe and Cowgirl Cafe, as I remember it (circa 2006?).  We also engaged Tim Taylor (then Librarian at SFI, now Admin Assistant to Krakauer at SFI, always a poet).

A mini-salon held 2 summers ago at Jenny Quillien's on Metaphor (I distinctly remember DaveW, StephenG, KimS, and a few others attending) was vaguely tangential to the topic.

I don't expect to purchase my own copy at these prices (eBook OR Hardcover) but will probably try to engage Susan a little on the topic anyway.  

>From the Springer Preview online, in her co-author's introductory chapter:

Narrative is the semiotic articulation of linear temporal sequence.

this is just his working definition for the purpose of the book, but an interesting level of abstraction for the purpose.

- Steve

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