....coding as literacy: Metalithikum IV (Applied Virtuality Book Series, Band 4)..CODING AS LITERACY: METALITHIKUM IV (APPLIED VIRTUALITY BOOK SERIES, BAND 4)....

....vera bühlmann,
ludger hovestadt,
Vahid Moosavi

Birkhäuser 2015

..VERA BÜHLMANN,
LUDGER HOVESTADT,
VAHID MOOSAVI

Birkhäuser 2015....

cover front.jpg

....book cover text

Recent advancements in computer science, namely in data-driven modeling techniques, have opened up a new level of design culture that also affects architecture. This book collects the contributions from information scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, design culture theorists, and architects to the fifth Metalithikum Colloquy. The overall interest of the conference was to consider computational procedures beyond a strictly case-based analytical paradigm, and in a more principal role instead: we suggest to see them embedded in a more comprehensive ’computation literacy’. The main point of reference for the discussions was one particular procedure called Self Organizing Maps (SOM). In this particular case, such a change in perspective – seeing it related to a form of skill that allows for many degrees of sophistication reveals it as having great capacities in relation to data-driven modeling that seem yet to be largely unexplored. The second aspect discussed was what it entails to think about ‚data‘ in data-driven modeling, in quantum physical terms.


While some of the contributions are for a rather specialized audience (Information Science), others are more readily accessible for grasping the relevancy of apparently mere technical aspects that are being discussed.
With a preface by Teuvo Kohonen, who has invented and introduced SOM more than thirty years ago. And with contributions by Dr. phil. Vera Bühlmann, Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, CAAD, ITA, ETH Zurich; Prof. Michael Epperson, Center for Philosophy and the natural Science, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, California State University, Sacramento, USA; Prof. Barbara Hammer, CITEC centre of excellence, Bielefeld University, Germany; Prof. Dr. Timo Honkela, Department of Information and Computer Science, Alto University; Prof. Ludger Hovestadt, Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, CAAD, ITA, ETH Zurich; Vahid Moosavi, Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, CAAD, ITA, ETH Zurich and Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore-ETH Centre; Prof. Sha Xin Wei Director School of Arts, Media and Engineering, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University, also Founding Director Topological Media Lab, Concordia University, Montreal; Dr. Elias Zafiris, Department of Mathematics at the University of Athens.

 

table of contents

On the book series
Introduction — coding as literacy

TEUVO KOHONEN
What makes the self-organizing maps (SOM) so particular among learning algorithms?

LUDGER HOVESTADT
Elements of a digital architecture
Timaeus—Pythagoras—Ptolemy—Alberti—Lagrange—Markov

SHA XIN WEI
A nonanthropocentric approach to apperception
Jean petitot’s fiber-bundle approach to apperception—the case for continua

VAHID MOOSAVI
Pre-specific modeling: computational machines in a coexistence with concrete universals and data streams
How to approach the notion of scientific modeling—Formal definitions and categories of scientific modeling—Idealization in scientific modeling—Universals and modeling—Specific modeling: models based on abstract universals—Limits of modeling based on abstract universals—Gödel’s incompleteness theorem and arbitrariness of models based on abstract universals—Curse of dimensionality in complex systems—From particular to genericand the concept of “error”—Pre-specific modeling: models based on concrete universals—Dedekind cut: when a particular object is represented by the negation of its complement—From generic to particular: object-dependent representation—Massive unstructured data streams: an inversion in the notion
of measurements and data processing—Computational methods supporting pre-specific modeling—Markov chains—Self-organizing map—No more external dictionary and no more generic object—Computing with indexes beyond ideal curves

ANDRE SKUPIN
SOM. Self. Organized.

ELIAS ZAFIRIS
The nature of local/global distinctions, group actions, and phases: a sheaf-theoretic approach to quantum geometric spectra
Observables and geometric spectrum—Group actions and the
erlangen program—Local group actions and gauge theory—The advent of quantum theory—What is a sheaf?—The program of “relational realism”—Quantum mechanics as a non-spatiotemporal gauge theory—Quantum geometric spectra

BARBARA HAMMER
Self-organizing maps and learning vector. Quantization for complex data
Introduction—Fundamental principles–Unsupervised prototype-based techniques—Supervised prototype based schemes—Metric learning—Relational and kernel mapping—Recursive models—Conclusions— Acknowledgments

MICHAEL EPPERSON
The common sense of quantum theory: exploring the internal relational structure of selforganization in nature

TIMO HONKELA ET. AL.
GICA: grounded intersubjective concept analysis. A method for improved research, communication, and participation
Introduction—Contextuality and subjectivity—Shedding light on subjectivity: crowdsourcing—Becoming conscious of individual differences as a way of increasing understanding—False agreements and false disagreements
—Making differences in understanding visible—Theoretical background—Cognitive theory of concepts and understanding—Subjective conceptual spaces—Intersubjectivity in conceptual spaces—Conceptual differences in collaborative problem solving—The gica method—Introduction to subjectivity and context analysis—Preparation and specifying the topic—Determining relevant stakeholder groups—Collecting focus items from relevant stakeholders and others—Collecting context items—Focus session—Filling in
the tensor—Data analysis and visualization—Knowledge to action—Discussion—Gica as a participatory method—Focusing on subjective differences—Barriers for successful communication in participatory
processes—Summarizing our contribution and future directions—Acknowledgments—Further references

VERA BÜHLMANN
“Ichnography”—the nude and its model. The alphabetic absolute and storytelling in the grammatical case of the cryptographic locative
Theme one, plot one: humanism—Blessed curiosity—The alphabetic absolute—The comic—Mediacy and real time—How to address the tense-ness of radioactive matter in a universe’s instantaneity?—The unknown masterpiece: the depiction of nothing-at-all—The signature of the unknown masterpiece—Theme one, plot two: the summation of infinite terms in series—Science, liberalization, and the absolute—Two kinds of mathesis : general and universal—Cartesian limits—Algebra in the service of parabolic in-vention—Theme one, plot three: naming that of which we know nothing—We are Leibniz’s contemporaries—Algebra’s scope of infinitary discretion—“Nature is there only once”: the promise of a general metrics—Symbolisms and modes
of determination—Psycho-political struggle around the cardinality and ordinality of sums (totals)—The presumptuousness of universal measure—Discrete intellection of invariances vs. measuring the continuity owed to constant values

 

on the metalithikum book series

Technology is not simply technology, it changes character over time. We suggest there is a twin story to that of the Neolithikum. We call it Metalithikum and postulate that it has always accompanied the former.  It concerns the symbolics of the forms and schemes humans are applying for accommodating themselves within their environment. We assume that the protagonists of this twin story, the symbolics of those forms and schemes, are also not simply what they are but change character over time. With Printed Physics (2012)  Domesticating Symbols (2013), and Symbolizing Existence (2016), this book is the fourth volume based on the Metalithikum colloquies organized since 2011, where distinguished personalities from a broad range of architecture-related fields come together to discuss particular technical developments that are economically significant and philosophically interesting. The colloquies are organized by the applied virtuality theory-lab at the Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich.

..BOOK COVER TEXT

Recent advancements in computer science, namely in data-driven modeling techniques, have opened up a new level of design culture that also affects architecture. This book collects the contributions from information scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, design culture theorists, and architects to the fifth Metalithikum Colloquy. The overall interest of the conference was to consider computational procedures beyond a strictly case-based analytical paradigm, and in a more principal role instead: we suggest to see them embedded in a more comprehensive ’computation literacy’. The main point of reference for the discussions was one particular procedure called Self Organizing Maps (SOM). In this particular case, such a change in perspective – seeing it related to a form of skill that allows for many degrees of sophistication reveals it as having great capacities in relation to data-driven modeling that seem yet to be largely unexplored. The second aspect discussed was what it entails to think about ‚data‘ in data-driven modeling, in quantum physical terms.


While some of the contributions are for a rather specialized audience (Information Science), others are more readily accessible for grasping the relevancy of apparently mere technical aspects that are being discussed.
With a preface by Teuvo Kohonen, who has invented and introducedSOM more than thirty years ago. And with contributions by Dr. phil. Vera Bühlmann, Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, CAAD, ITA, ETH Zurich; Prof. Michael Epperson, Center for Philosophy and the natural Science, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, California State University, Sacramento, USA; Prof. Barbara Hammer, CITEC centre of excellence, Bielefeld University, Germany; Prof. Dr. Timo Honkela, Department of Information and Computer Science, Alto University; Prof. Ludger Hovestadt, Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, CAAD, ITA, ETH Zurich; Vahid Moosavi, Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, CAAD, ITA, ETH Zurich and Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore-ETH Centre; Prof. Sha Xin Wei Director School of Arts, Media and Engineering, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University, also Founding Director Topological Media Lab, Concordia University, Montreal; Dr. Elias Zafiris, Department of Mathematics at the University of Athens.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

On the book series
Introduction — coding as literacy

TEUVO KOHONEN
What makes the self-organizing maps (SOM) so particular among learning algorithms?

LUDGER HOVESTADT
Elements of a digital architecture
Timaeus—Pythagoras—Ptolemy—Alberti—Lagrange—Markov

SHA XIN WEI
A nonanthropocentric approach to apperception
Jean petitot’s fiber-bundle approach to apperception—the case for continua

VAHID MOOSAVI
Pre-specific modeling: computational machines in a coexistence with concrete universals and data streams
How to approach the notion of scientific modeling—Formal definitions and categories of scientific modeling—Idealization in scientific modeling—Universals and modeling—Specific modeling: models based on abstract universals—Limits of modeling based on abstract universals—Gödel’s incompleteness theorem and arbitrariness of models based on abstract universals—Curse of dimensionality in complex systems—From particular to genericand the concept of “error”—Pre-specific modeling: models based on concrete universals—Dedekind cut: when a particular object is represented by the negation of its complement—From generic to particular: object-dependent representation—Massive unstructured data streams: an inversion in the notion
of measurements and data processing—Computational methods supporting pre-specific modeling—Markov chains—Self-organizing map—No more external dictionary and no more generic object—Computing with indexes beyond ideal curves

ANDRE SKUPIN
SOM. Self. Organized.

ELIAS ZAFIRIS
The nature of local/global distinctions, group actions, and phases: a sheaf-theoretic approach to quantum geometric spectra
Observables and geometric spectrum—Group actions and the
erlangen program—Local group actions and gauge theory—The advent of quantum theory—What is a sheaf?—The program of “relational realism”—Quantum mechanics as a non-spatiotemporal gauge theory—Quantum geometric spectra

BARBARA HAMMER
Self-organizing maps and learning vector. Quantization for complex data
Introduction—Fundamental principles–Unsupervised prototype-based techniques—Supervised prototype based schemes—Metric learning—Relational and kernel mapping—Recursive models—Conclusions— Acknowledgments

MICHAEL EPPERSON
The common sense of quantum theory: exploring the internal relational structure of selforganization in nature

TIMO HONKELA ET. AL.
GICA: grounded intersubjective concept analysis. A method for improved research, communication, and participation
Introduction—Contextuality and subjectivity—Shedding light on subjectivity: crowdsourcing—Becoming conscious of individual differences as a way of increasing understanding—False agreements and false disagreements
—Making differences in understanding visible—Theoretical background—Cognitive theory of concepts and understanding—Subjective conceptual spaces—Intersubjectivity in conceptual spaces—Conceptual differences in collaborative problem solving—The gica method—Introduction to subjectivity and context analysis—Preparation and specifying the topic—Determining relevant stakeholder groups—Collecting focus items from relevant stakeholders and others—Collecting context items—Focus session—Filling in
the tensor—Data analysis and visualization—Knowledge to action—Discussion—Gica as a participatory method—Focusing on subjective differences—Barriers for successful communication in participatory
processes—Summarizing our contribution and future directions—Acknowledgments—Further references

VERA BÜHLMANN
“Ichnography”—the nude and its model. The alphabetic absolute and storytelling in the grammatical case of the cryptographic locative
Theme one, plot one: humanism—Blessed curiosity—The alphabetic absolute—The comic—Mediacy and real time—How to address the tense-ness of radioactive matter in a universe’s instantaneity?—The unknown masterpiece: the depiction of nothing-at-all—The signature of the unknown masterpiece—Theme one, plot two: the summation of infinite terms in series—Science, liberalization, and the absolute—Two kinds of mathesis : general and universal—Cartesian limits—Algebra in the service of parabolic in-vention—Theme one, plot three: naming that of which we know nothing—We are Leibniz’s contemporaries—Algebra’s scope of infinitary discretion—“Nature is there only once”: the promise of a general metrics—Symbolisms and modes
of determination—Psycho-political struggle around the cardinality and ordinality of sums (totals)—The presumptuousness of universal measure—Discrete intellection of invariances vs. measuring the continuity owed to constant values

 

ON THE METALITHIKUM BOOK SERIES

Technology is not simply technology, it changes character over time. We suggest there is a twin story to that of the Neolithikum. We call it Metalithikum and postulate that it has always accompanied the former.  It concerns the symbolics of the forms and schemes humans are applying for accommodating themselves within their environment. We assume that the protagonists of this twin story, the symbolics of those forms and schemes, are also not simply what they are but change character over time. With Printed Physics (2012)  Domesticating Symbols (2013), and Symbolizing Existence (2016), this book is the fourth volume based on the Metalithikum colloquies organized since 2011, where distinguished personalities from a broad range of architecture-related fields come together to discuss particular technical developments that are economically significant and philosophically interesting. The colloquies are organized by the applied virtuality theory-lab at the Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich. ....