Category Archives: science/math

the undefinable

Posted on January 22, 2017 by twotreatises

As John Newman said with respect of definitions of communication: “The diversity and complexity of communication is such that a generally accepted definition becomes so profoundly involved that it hinders rather than helps further thought on the subject.” He proposes … Continue reading →

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city as palimpsest, redux

Posted on September 7, 2016 by twotreatises

“Richard Lehan* has pointed out the impact of urban archaeology’s ‘discovery of layered cities’ – notably Heinrich Schliemann’s discoveries in Troy (1871) and Arthur Evans’ in Crete (Knossos, 1876) – upon modernist urban literature. Urban fantasy has been particularly influenced … Continue reading →

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a word for everything

Posted on May 3, 2016 by twotreatises

isovist: the volume of space visible from a given point (part of “space syntax“)

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stacks of information

Posted on January 19, 2016 by twotreatises

“One of the fundamental challenges for both librarianship and information science is to find a way to contend with ever-larger piles or stacks or sets of information. Because of the linguistic, psychological, cognitive, social, and technical complexities of information retrieval, … Continue reading →

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The Big Switch [book]

Posted on September 30, 2015 by twotreatises

The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google makes comparisons between the introduction of electricity as a utility and the progress of software, and even hardware, as utilities (via the internet)–an intriguing, though as Nicholas Carr admits, somewhat … Continue reading →

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