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<p>I've been hosting my colleagues (Matt and Janire, who some may
remember from SFx) from Wales/Spain this last week. Janire is
doing a book signing at PhotoEye Gallery this afternoon at 4PM
for her book on Ed Grothus and the Black Hole - "Atomic Ed" .</p>
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<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://calendar.sfreporter.com/cal/1628254">https://calendar.sfreporter.com/cal/1628254</a></p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation.cfm?Catalog=DT496">https://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation.cfm?Catalog=DT496</a></p>
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<p>The relevance to this braided thread is that I've been following
the discussion(s) here but have not had an opportunity to engage
with them until now while instead engaging in a lot of
across-the-pond/across-a-generation parallax discussions woven
around the theme of recognizing/weaving narratives with
non-linguistic tools (immersive photography/videography/VR/etc.).</p>
<p>Looking for something entirely different, I tripped over the
following article on the topic of Narrative and Complexity
Science:</p>
<p> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://woods.stanford.edu/news/stranger-fiction">https://woods.stanford.edu/news/stranger-fiction</a></p>
<p>With a quote from James Holland Jones:<br>
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<p><i><strong>Jones:</strong></i><i> The human brain evolved to
learn from stories. Stories encode the fundamental information
that people need to know about the worlds – physical,
biological, social – in which they live. We retain and
retrieve information better when it is given in narrative
form. I think that written fiction provides powerful tools for
modeling complex systems, not that different from what we use
in studying them in science. When you tweak some element in a
complex system, there will be both cascading and ramifying
consequences.</i></p>
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<p>I think this theme ties in with Nick's fascination with the
"magic" he attributes to programmers (in general, or just those
modeling complex systems?) and "emergence". I would claim that
writing narrative (or even more acutely so, poetry) is an even
more magical act. <br>
</p>
<p>When I think of the brevity of forms such as flash-fiction
(dribble, drabble, twittiture, etc.) or a Haiku (5/7/5) or Zen
Koan, I am reminded of the (useful) ambiguity in
mathematics/physics/information-theory regarding
data-compression, entropy, and cryptography. I am also
reminded of the varied and recent use of the term "compression"
here.<br>
</p>
<p>A superficial analysis of what makes these forms work suggests
that skillful use of allusion is one key. This appears to me to
be sort of a bootstrap or meta-cryptography technique. By
pointing broadly toward (alluding) a large existing body of
cultural understanding, a sort of code-book is invoked such that
each line or even word taps into entire complex backstories. <br>
</p>
<p>Consider Hemingway's famous 6 word short-story: <i><br>
</i></p>
<p><i> "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."</i></p>
<p>or Masahide's famous line: <br>
<i> Barn's burnt down --</i><br>
<i>
now</i><br>
<i>
I can see the moon. </i></p>
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<p>Mumble,</p>
<p> - Steve<br>
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