Emergence
Emergence is one of the founding principles of agility, and is the closest one to pure magic. Emergent properties aren’t designed or built in, they simply happen as a dynamic result of the rest of the system. “Emergence” comes from middle 17th century Latin in the sense of an “unforeseen occurrence.” You can’t plan for it or schedule it, but you can cultivate an environment where you can let it happen and benefit from it.
A classic example of emergence lies in the flocking behavior of birds. A computer simulation can use as few as three simple rules (along the lines of “don’t run into each other”) and suddenly you get very complex behavior as the flock wends and wafts its way gracefully through the sky, reforming around obstacles, and so on. None of this advanced behavior (such as reforming the same shape around an obstacle) is specified by the rules; it emerges from the dynamics of the system.
Simple rules, as with the birds simulation, lead to complex behavior. Complex rules, as with the tax law in most countries, lead to stupid behavior.Many common software development practices have the unfortunate side-effect of eliminating any chance for emergent behavior. Most attempts at optimization — tying something down very explicitly — reduces the breadth and scope of interactions and relationships, which is the very source of emergence. In the flocking birds example, as with a well-designed system, it’s the interactions and relationships that create the interesting behavior.
The harder we tighten things down, the less room there is for a creative, emergent solution. Whether it’s locking down requirements before they are well understood or prematurely optimizing code, or inventing complex navigation and workflow scenarios before letting end users play with the system, the result is the same: an overly complicated, stupid system instead of a clean, elegant system that harnesses emergence.
Keep it small. Keep it simple. Let it happen.
Born to boogie
I’m assuming most folks under 60 know [and adore] T. Rex’s delightful rock ditty “Bang a Gong” [aka "Get It On"], a worldwide hit in the early ’70s. As marvelous as “Bang a Gong” is, perhaps even more wonderful is the single that immediately preceded it, “Hot Love”, which was not a hit in the US. “Hot Love” is, unlike “Bang a Gong,” not really a rock song: call it proto-disco or maybe even boogie. Its hypnotic
Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston
The Wilhelm
I read an article about this awhile ago. There’s something nerdy satisfying about recognizing it in a movie you’re watching. Funny, too.
Lexicon
There should be a term for games that are won or lost by poor officiating. Or at least games that are won or lost because of some factor beyond the control of the players on the field. It would be the fourth category in the win, loss, tie categorization. It would apply to the super bowl won by the Steelers in February and the game just ‘won’ by UConn in the NCAA tournament.
Beer Advertising
“Is it just me, or is it finally the weekend?”
Suggestion
Sing Bob Marley with a Swedish Chef accent.
Room by the Pound
A hotel in Germany has started charging its guests by the pound for an overnight stay, according to a Local 6 News report.
The hotel owner in the town of Norden, Juergen Heckrodt, said he was continually getting overweight guests, so he decided to make them step on the scales to determine room costs.
The hotel requires guests to pay half a euro or 61 cents per 2.2 pounds, according to a Reuters report.The report said that the move appears to be working with returning guests. “Much to (Heckrodt’s) surprise, the guests were thinner on their next visit,” according to the report. Heckrodt said he hopes his initiative will inspire others to lose weight too and live longer. The hotel does not turn anyone away who refuses to step on the scales. If they do refuse, they are charged a regular room rate — without a discount.
User Interface Suggestion
You know how when you fill out your address information online usually you have to select from a long pop up menu of state codes? I went to a site today that simply had you type your state code in. It was much simpler. Less time consuming. I encourage all web developers to incorporate this simple switch. Of course, for those who don’t know the abbreviation for their state or province you could supply a pop up window with the pertinent information, but for the 99% that do, you’d cut down on all that scrolling, especially for those of us who live in Texas!
Snakes on Planes?
Just when you thought it didn’t get any better than Lake Placid… If they launch any film trailer in a space capsule to help aliens understand our culture, it should be this one (scroll down to see it). My favorite part is the guy who looks like he is reaching for his oxygen mask.
Seed’s Daily Zeitgeist
- Protein Flicks
The first two videos ever to show individual proteins being produced within living cells, as shot by an ingenious team of Harvard chemists. Divide and conquer, ye proteins.- Motivated Reasoning I: Hot Cognition
Chris of Mixing Memory clears up some misconceptions about a study hinting that partisans are irrational.- The Need for Heretics
Freeman Dyson goes against scientific consensus, and he wants others to do the same.- Blue Ball Machine
Turn up the sound, and prepare to spend the next few hours completely mesmerized. (via grrlscientist)- New video from the band that plays on our podcasts
Cinemechanica’s new spot for their song “I’m Tired of Paul McCartney” follows a day in the life of the band. There’s working at a call center, running a record label, washing dishes at a restaurant…and doing a physics problem set??
Science on Religion
Religion is such an important phenomenon that it is high time we directed all the magnificent truth-seeking tools of science on religions, to see what makes them work in the ways they do. I am not suggesting that science should try to do what religion does, but that it should study, scientifically, what religion does. Is there a good reason to oppose this? Those who are dubious about, or fearful of, the authority of science will have to search their souls. Do they acknowledge the power of science, properly conducted, to settle controversial factual questions or do they reserve judgment, waiting to see what the verdict will be? The ethos of science is that you pay a price for the authoritative confirmation of your favorite hypothesis, risking an authoritative refutation of it. Those who want to make claims about religion will have to live by the same rules: prove it or drop it. And if you set out to prove it and fail, you are obliged to tell us.
Deep Blue
From Marginal Revolution:
One of my “absurd views” is that the first computer to become conscious was Deep Blue playing against Gary Kasparov in 1997. It only happened for a moment but in one spectacular move Deep Blue performed like no computer ever had before. After the game, Kasparov said he felt a presence behind the machine. He looked frightened.
A Long Memory
A tortoise believed to be 250 years old died yesterday in a zoo in Kolkata, India. The creature was once the pet of a British military officer–in the mid 18th century. Hearing this story reminded me of a fine short story by Julia Whitty, about the long life of a similar tortoise. The story is told from the perspective of the tortoise, and the vastness of time is caught by its view. The story is the title story of a collection — A Tortoise For The Queen Of Tonga.
Rebuild NOPL
Get yourself a Rebuild NOPL T-shirt. Or just send cash.
NS-KCC05
About four years ago, I bought myself this expensive rice cooker. I didn’t do any real research on it. I just assumed that if I bought something expensive from an Asian market with a decent selection that I would be pleased. I am happy to report that I was right. It is the best thing I’ve bought for myself in the new millenium. The happy and simple Zojirushi elephant logo makes me just slightly less happy than the perfect rice it makes.
Sleepy
Is a big river going to feed into a small one? No.
Born into Brothels
We watched Born into Brothels tonight. It elicited a powerful profound confluence of sorrow and joy.
Man Dies Stuck in the Mud
Handedness
Here’s an article on handedness.
Indie Retail
Curated shopping–the concept of offering a selection of products as carefully edited as a museum collection–has become a retail buzzword in recent years (see “Shopping Etc.,” March 2005). Colette, in Paris, and Moss, in New York, helped pioneer the concept, and both still set the standard for others. Now every major North American city seems to have at least one independently owned store with a decidedly unique approach to shopping. When it comes to furnishing interiors, these shop-owners-turned-lifestyle-curators assemble a contemporary mix of art, design, and craft that is exuberantly decorative and conceptual, even ironic. Unlike the pop-up retail trend–low-maintenance stores that appear temporarily in urban areas–boutiques that mix local and global designs are in it for the long haul, acting as incubators for lesser-known talents with bright futures.
(The article has a long list of these boutiques for anyone interested.)
Ellen Lupton
Fonts are the gateway into graphics for a lot of people. Before the mid-80′s, nobody knew what they were except for specialists. Now it’s a subculture. There’s a whole font intelligentsia.
C.G. Jung and the Hopi Elder
In 1925 Jung had an extended conversation with the Hopi Elder of the Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico. Ochwiay Biano tells Jung of the tribe’s reaction to the strange Europeans who have come from the East into their world. The Elder says:
See how cruel the whites look. Their lips are thin, their noses sharp, their faces are furrowed and distorted with folds. Their eyes have a staring expression; they are always shifting and seeking something. What are they looking for? The whites always want something; they are always uneasy and restless. We do not know what they want. We do not understand them. We think that they are mad.
Jung continues:
I asked him why they thought the whites were all mad. “They say that they think with their heads,” he replied. “Why of course. What do you think with? I asked him in surprise. “We think here,” he said, pointing to his heart.
From McSweeney’s
Math Rules
Reasons to take math in high school:
Choose math because you will lose less money. When hordes of idiots throw their money at pyramid schemes, it is partially because they don’t know enough math. Specifically, if you know a little bit about statistics and interest calculations, you can look through economic lies and wishful thinking. With some knowledge of hard sciences you will probably feel better, too, because you will avoid spending your money and your hopes on alternative medicine, crystals, magnets and other swindles — simply because you know they don’t work…
Choose math because you will live in a world of constant change. New technology and new ways of doing things change daily life and work more and more. If you have learned math, you can learn how and why things work, and avoid scraping by through your career, supported by Post-It Notes and Help files — scared to death of accidentally pressing the wrong key and running into something unfamiliar.
