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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 \u2013 physical,
biological, social \u2013 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><br>
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<p>Mumble,</p>
<p> - Steve<br>
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