This blog supports 3d model & rendering course at the university of toledo, center for the visual arts. class members are invited to post updates and pictures of their work-in-progress; thoughts and opionions on the reading; helpful tips on the use of the modeling/animation software (blender and terragen); links to other 3d artists of interest; miscellany related to 3d art and space.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Reading 2: Due Feb 17
Give an example of how Rudy Rucker grounds mathematics in the experience of human body. How does he explain the relationship between parts and wholes in those terms?
Rudy Rucker explains how and why mathematics has evolved into the five modes - number, space, logic, infinity, and information, and how they relate to perception, emotion, thought, intuition, and communication. To illustrate this, Rucker uses the human hand as a mathematical pattern. First, the hand can be thought of as a number; the number 5. You can also take into account how many hairs you have on your knuckles or how many wrinkles there are on your fingers. The hand can also be seen as space. It is a three-dimensional object, attached to your arm with no holes in it. The hand can also be seen as logic. When you touch something hot, your hand jerks back. When you clench your fist, your knuckles turn white. The hand is infinite. Abstractly speaking, your hand makes up infinitely many mathematical space points. Finally, the hand could be seen as information. It is made up of millions of cells and strands of DNA that define your characteristics. The hand is just a small example how math can be tied to the human body.
Rudy Rucker grounds mathematics in the experience of the human body by relating parts of the body to the whole. Just as the whole body has parts (which are made of of many parts themselves), mathematics is made up of similar patterns. This makes mathematics a distinct universal system of concepts. The patterns of mathematics can be grouped into 5 archetypes: number, space, logic, infinity, and information. For example: Hand as number can be seen as being made up of 5 fingers, a number of hairs, and muscles, and skin molecules. The area, mass, and size of your hand are all calculable. The hand just as every other part of the body or any organism for that matter is made up of a myriad of patterns and concepts.
Every detail of the hand can be counted and numbered as an obvious way of relating it to math, but Rucker uses an additional four elements to relate it to mathematics: space, logic, infinity, and information. As numbers, fingers are parts in which the lengths have a specific numerical value according to their proportion to the rest of the body as a whole. As space, the hand is a tangible 3d object that exists in a space. As logic, the parts of the hand are linked, mechanically, to the whole (in regards to movement). The hand's behavior is logical in it's environment. As infinity, it is practical matter that can be broken down into smaller and smaller structures. As information, it is a representation of your DNA code. I think Rucker uses the hand as an example because it is the easiest to visualize. Any other part of an animal's, or any creature's, anatomy could be explained mathematically.
Rudy Rucker defines mathematics as the study of pure pattern. Mathematics grounds all the certain objects in universe in a pattern system that related to number, space, logic, infinity, and information. These five archetypes can be connected to the five basic psychological activities: perception, emotion, thought, intuition, and communication. He analyzes hand as object in patterns of number, space, logic, infinity, and information to interpret his statement. Hand can be calculated in length, numbers of fingers, mass, etc. (number) Hand is an object existing in 3D space. (space)Various behaviors of hand work in a logical way. (logic) Hand can be counted as consisted of infinity points and lines. (infinity) features of hand various from people to people. Every one’s hand is designed according to their own DNA. (information) Individuals are isolated from each other while they also compose the whole society. It’s hard to say the whole society and individual which one is more fundamental. It’s like the problem of chicken and egg.
Rudy Rucker explains how and why mathematics has evolved into the five modes - number, space, logic, infinity, and information, and how they relate to perception, emotion, thought, intuition, and communication. To illustrate this, Rucker uses the human hand as a mathematical pattern. First, the hand can be thought of as a number; the number 5. You can also take into account how many hairs you have on your knuckles or how many wrinkles there are on your fingers. The hand can also be seen as space. It is a three-dimensional object, attached to your arm with no holes in it. The hand can also be seen as logic. When you touch something hot, your hand jerks back. When you clench your fist, your knuckles turn white. The hand is infinite. Abstractly speaking, your hand makes up infinitely many mathematical space points. Finally, the hand could be seen as information. It is made up of millions of cells and strands of DNA that define your characteristics. The hand is just a small example how math can be tied to the human body.
ReplyDeleteRudy Rucker grounds mathematics in the experience of the human body by relating parts of the body to the whole. Just as the whole body has parts (which are made of of many parts themselves), mathematics is made up of similar patterns. This makes mathematics a distinct universal system of concepts. The patterns of mathematics can be grouped into 5 archetypes: number, space, logic, infinity, and information. For example: Hand as number can be seen as being made up of 5 fingers, a number of hairs, and muscles, and skin molecules. The area, mass, and size of your hand are all calculable. The hand just as every other part of the body or any organism for that matter is made up of a myriad of patterns and concepts.
ReplyDeleteEvery detail of the hand can be counted and numbered as an obvious way of relating it to math, but Rucker uses an additional four elements to relate it to mathematics: space, logic, infinity, and information. As numbers, fingers are parts in which the lengths have a specific numerical value according to their proportion to the rest of the body as a whole. As space, the hand is a tangible 3d object that exists in a space. As logic, the parts of the hand are linked, mechanically, to the whole (in regards to movement). The hand's behavior is logical in it's environment. As infinity, it is practical matter that can be broken down into smaller and smaller structures. As information, it is a representation of your DNA code. I think Rucker uses the hand as an example because it is the easiest to visualize. Any other part of an animal's, or any creature's, anatomy could be explained mathematically.
ReplyDeleteRudy Rucker defines mathematics as the study of pure pattern. Mathematics grounds all the certain objects in universe in a pattern system that related to number, space, logic, infinity, and information. These five archetypes can be connected to the five basic psychological activities: perception, emotion, thought, intuition, and communication. He analyzes hand as object in patterns of number, space, logic, infinity, and information to interpret his statement. Hand can be calculated in length, numbers of fingers, mass, etc. (number) Hand is an object existing in 3D space. (space)Various behaviors of hand work in a logical way. (logic) Hand can be counted as consisted of infinity points and lines. (infinity) features of hand various from people to people. Every one’s hand is designed according to their own DNA. (information)
ReplyDeleteIndividuals are isolated from each other while they also compose the whole society. It’s hard to say the whole society and individual which one is more fundamental. It’s like the problem of chicken and egg.