Current events
Contents
Current Conference Call Scheduling Calendar
TBD
July 26/2008 Update
Alexander's Notes on the Synthesis of Form has taken a while to percolate through my brain. Although I originally proposed that the next paper emphasize the 'ecosystem principles pattern language' (still a worthwhile goal), it struck me that Alexander was proposing a different approach to solving problems. In fact, I believe 'solving' may be an inappropriate word, since it tends to focus our attention on 'point solutions' at the expense of a more systems-oriented approach. I believe this emphasis will be complementary to developing a pattern language based on Maibritt's paper.
I have posted some ideas at Peer Journal. I would be very interested in your comments.
In parallel, I will spend time next week adding more 'misfits and requirements' as proposed in Talk:EBBT:_Overview. My target is 20 per category, or 120 in total. I think that will provide a useful pool to test Alexander's analytical approach. It will be interesting to see whether the resulting structure can be used to synthesis a 'preferred state'. In fact, a test is whether it proves useful for our own work - there are certainly lots of problems to be solved!
- thanks, Norbert
June 3/2008 Update
I stumbled on Notes on the Synthesis of Form purely by accident. It popped up as an Amazon recommendation, and I ordered it on the assumption that it was a new book by Christopher Alexander. In fact, it is a 1971 reprint of a 1964 book, long before Alexander wrote The Timeless Way of Building and A Pattern Language. I found the book fascinating in that it provides the background to Alexander's ideas about pattern language which I had trouble fully understanding from his later books. In his 1971 foreword, Alexander states that he over-emphasized the method in Notes on the Synthesis of Form (he certainly spends a lot of time on set theory and formulae). I believe he over-reacted in his later works and de-emphasized the method.
I was also surprised at how Alexander's ideas paralleled the progress of the Patterns from Nature project. Even more important, I believe his 'top-down' approach to building pattern languages may help us overcome the 'speed bumps' that have slowed our progress. Although we are developing interesting insights and connections from the ecological principles, the approach seems 'scatter-shot' and not at a level of detail that would be useful to a designer.
If you have some time, head over to Notes on the Synthesis of Form for the Readers Digest version. If you are logged into the Wiki, you can also download my 'crib notes' that more closely reflect the structure and content of the book.
I need to get cracking on the next BioInspired! Newsletter and am also working on another project with Fil. However, within a few weeks I should have time to start using the ecological principles as a way of generating a list of
'misfits' that they implicitly resolve.
- Thanks, Norbert
May 15/2008 Update
I admit that I have 'fallen off the face of the earth', but I am back. Thanks to Eileen, Martha and John for keeping the Patterns Wiki 'turning over' - check out the Update Log for details. Special thanks to John for the excellent literature survey - it will keep me busy for months.
We have some new members: Nick Beck of Terrapin Bright Green presented at the IBE 2008 conference. Eileen invited Andrey Shlyakhtenko to join our group. Josh Stack of Northeast Green Building Consulting (check out the Biomimicry presentation) learned about us through the recent BioInspired! Newsletter article and has registered himself on the Wiki. He pointed me at "Solving for Patterns" in Wendell Berry's book Gift of Good Land - I posted the chapter at What is a 'Pattern'?. Although I do not think Berry knew about Alexander's 'A Pattern Language', the parallels are very strong.
I have taken a stab at deconstructing Maibritt's paper into a set of factors relating to the six ecological principles that she focused on as well as application examples. I then threw everything in a [1] that you can view. Clicking on the page symbols at the bottom of nodes opens a list of links, and clicking on a link sends you to the appropriate page in the Patterns Wiki where more detail and references are listed. This will allow us to easily add additional information without making the concept map even more complex. The next step is to look for relationships between factors and applications, and see if patterns emerge from this 'bottoms-up' approach.
Julian Vincent posted a pointer to an EPSRC bulletin that talks about interdisciplinary collaboration (and its challenges) as well as research opportunities in non-equilibrium thermodynamics.
That's it for the moment. If anyone is interested and has the time to help work on the 'Ecosystem Based Biomimetic Theory' concept map, I can set up a conference call.
- Thanks, Norbert
March 18/2008 Update
The presentation at IBE went much better than the previous two conferences - the message was clearer and we were able to present some implications of our work. A PDF of the charts (with notes) has been uploaded to http://sinet.ca/patterns. Overall, the IBE conference was heavily weighted towards 'in the weeds' papers, although it included a bioethics essay contest as well as a few papers that took the larger view.
The 'Patterns from Nature' article was published in the February BioInspired! Newsletter and a pointer posted to the Biomimetics listserver. I have not been overrun with new volunteers.
I have uploaded Maibritt's paper 'An ecosystem based biomimetic theory for a regenerative built environment' to List_of_Patterns - as with most other documents, you need to be logged in to download the paper. In addition to providing a number of references, the paper includes specific applications of the principles to architecture.
Next steps:
- I have been talking with Maibritt about using her paper to block out the structure of a pattern language based on her definition of the ecosystem principles. I suspect that this will quickly identify gaps or areas of overall that will identify what may be more fundamental patterns. I would like to standardize on the Cmap concept mapping tool (- it is similar to mind mapping software but allows greater flexibility in linking nodes and attaching information. You can even save the Cmap on a common server (assuming I can figure out how to make this secure).
- Please post material on food webs to the Interdependence proto-pattern discussion page or send me the reference.
- I want to pursue submitting a paper to a peer-reviewed journal. Please send me journals that you think would be appropriate. I haven't given up on the 'Journal of Experimental Biology', Maibritt suggested 'Biomimetics and Bioinspiration'. Include why you think we should focus on the journal - I will use that information to come up with a set of evaluation criteria.
- I want to develop a plan to get funding for this project, so that we can access dedicated resources. Any ideas would be gratefully accepted.
- Thanks, Norbert
February 2/2008 Update
I plan to provide a short update on the 2nd law of thermodynamics and Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics (NET). I am about 2/3rds through "Into the Cool" by Eric Schneider/Saga (wrote a number of papers with James Kay). Schneider/Saga spins a fascinating tale, suggesting that "nature abhors a gradient" is a driving force behind the development of complexity, evolution and ecosystems. Unfortunately, he sometimes does not 'connect the dots' and is not as exact with terminology as I would like. The gist of the argument is that resource gradients build up when energy flows through a system, due to limitations in the rate at which the energy can be dissipated. Complex structures emerge in many physical and chemical systems to degrade the gradient more thoroughly. For example, conduction is limited in how it can degrade energy because it is driven by random motion of atoms or molecules. Convection (organized motion) is much more efficient. Similar examples are seen in biology and ecology, based on the correlation between energy dissipation and organization/complexity. Energy quality (exergy) is key: the challenge is to degrade high quality energy into low quality energy (typically heat). This heat is often exported into the encompassing system, increasing entropy and balancing the reduced entropy due to greater organization within the system.
I found Schneider/Saga confusing about the rate at which gradients are degraded. He states that the 2nd law does not require that the gradient be degraded quickly . However, gradients and energy flows are all about rates - if you do not dissipate the energy fast enough, the gradient grows. I think there is confusion between energy dissipation and usage of other resources. The 2nd law talks about gradients imposed on a system. Schneider/Saga sometimes implies that biomass represents a resource gradient that can be dissipated through burning or decomposition, but my suspicion is that this outside the 2nd law (there may be a gradient that can be used, but the gradient is not the same as that imposed by incident solar radiation.
"Into the Cool" explores how mature ecosystems use cycling and storage to slow down the rate at which energy and other resources are consumed. I am not sure if this is due to NET or other factors (Schneider/Saga points out that survival is another imperative, sometimes at conflict with the 2nd law). The implication is that you are burn fast and flare out, or husband resources and last. Again, I suspect some confusion between different types of gradients . All resources on earth are constrained. However, energy resources are constrained not only due to quantity but also because processes using energy are often irreversible due to loss of energy quality (you can convert work to heat, but you cannot convert the heat to an equivalent amount of work). Material resources can technically be cycled indefinitely if you are smart enough (although material quality may play a part). On the other hand, linear processes or processes that cycle extremely slowly can make material resources unavailable. Maybe these questions will be resolved in the last part of the book.
I have a few ideas on what the 2nd law and NET might mean for designers - at the moment they are pretty vague and philosophical:
- there is a continuum between systems driven by the 2nd law imperative: physical, biological, natural and human
- most biological systems use non-heat pathways to manipulate resources and degrade energy
- ecosystems seem 'tuned' for endurance rather than sprints - Schneider/Saga hints at reasons but does not directly link back to the 2nd law or NET
- system resource 'cascades' are the norm, linear processes the exception
- we should look for 'enabling' (rather than 'point' solutions) - Ducks Unlimited focuses on wetlands, not directly on ducks
I also want to kick off the discussion of Interdependence (see recent posts by Martha and Fil). Schneider/Sagan imply that individuals cannot fulfil the imperative of reduce gradients. The complexity involves individuals that are part of systems. Again, a bit of hand-waving without a lot of direct linkages to fundamental laws.
- Thanks, Norbert
PS. I will be writing up my notes on "Into the Cool" shortly. I am back in Toronto with decent Internet access again
January 17/2008 Update
Happy New Year, everyone! The Patterns abstract for the IBE conference has been accepted. I plan to schedule two conference calls, one to explore the design implications of the two proto-patterns we have fleshed out, the other to start work on the 'interdependence' proto-pattern. It would be great to have the first call next week, with the second one early in February. I hope that the rest of the presentation development for IBE can be done asynchronously through the Wiki and e-mail. Please let me know (a) which conference call you are interested in and (b) what days/times (and timezone) you are available. Fil/Damian, I have your availability already.
Fil started me on research about exergy, which also came up in the readings about self-organizing systems. I have posted notes from various articles and also a discussion with a colleague on the implications for vortex motion and the work of PAX Scientific. I will post a summary of how all this relates to sustainability later today or tomorrow. I get the sense that Kay's ideas provide a powerful framework for understanding ecosystems, but the implications are unclear. For example, our use of fossil fuels could be mapped to the 'release' phase of the Holling's four-box model, with the exception that the rate of restoration will long exceed the existence of humans on earth.
- Thanks, Norbert
PS. I am planning an article on the project for the February BioInspired! Newsletter, to give an update on progress since the project announcement in the September 2006 issue, demonstrate that we are working to fill in the 'deep patterns' that Janine talks about, and lastly to locate additional expertise in areas such as exergy, self-organizing systems and ecosystem dynamics.
