{"id":794,"date":"2019-06-16T17:05:31","date_gmt":"2019-06-16T17:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/?p=794"},"modified":"2019-07-22T12:41:03","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T12:41:03","slug":"towards-an-ontological-meta-stack-who-wants-a-subjectivity-sandwich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/towards-an-ontological-meta-stack-who-wants-a-subjectivity-sandwich\/","title":{"rendered":"Towards an &#8220;Ontological Meta-Stack&#8221;: who wants a Subjectivity Sandwich?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Taking the layered systems approach to its supra-logical endpoint. Chains of blocks ALL the way down.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Welcome to Canberra\u2019s latest premium residential high rise address. DM for PayPal details. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/realestate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#realestate<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/canberra?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#canberra<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/soundart?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#soundart<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/noise?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#noise<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/3dprinting?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#3dprinting<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/mechanicalart?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#mechanicalart<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/truesciencefact?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#truesciencefact<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LEGCIi7Md3\">pic.twitter.com\/LEGCIi7Md3<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Brian McNamara (@Rarebeasts) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Rarebeasts\/status\/1125228331744366592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote>\n<script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve been invoking a <strong>layered stack mode<\/strong>l (after <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/OSI_model\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">OSI<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@VitalikButerin\/the-meaning-of-decentralization-a0c92b76a274\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buterin<\/a>) to attempt finer grain <strong>characterisations<\/strong>, <strong>explanations <\/strong>and <strong>rationalisations <\/strong>of various epistemic and phenomenological happenings in the domain of <strong>cryptocurrencies <\/strong>and blockchain-architected P2P networks for a while. It\u2019s a helpful lens with which to attempt definitions of many of the most loosely employed terms in regular use\u200a\u2014<strong>\u200adecentralisation<\/strong>, <strong>permissionlessness<\/strong>, <strong>censorship-resistance<\/strong>, <strong>immutability<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/hackernoon.com\/reaching-everyone-pt-ii-resilience-censorship-resistance-and-the-bitcoin-blockchain-c1c133d5ac96\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Take a look at Reaching Everyone Pt II for the low-down<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/960\/1%2A4rbyK33PLHkMXSixvMWP5g.jpeg?w=620&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>By Kevin Durkin for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inthemesh.com\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">In The&nbsp;Mesh<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/960\/1%2ALmvhGE32KmMeT8IFoFaS0Q.png?w=620&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>Excerpt from TokenSpace cryptographic asset taxonomy research manuscript.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;Layering has both technical and social implications: it makes the  technical complexity of the system more manageable, and it allows the  system to be designed and built in a decentralized way.&#8221;  <br><br>How layering made building the ARPANet possible: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wOEE5d578C\">pic.twitter.com\/wOEE5d578C<\/a><\/p>\u2014 \u0634\u062a\u0631 \u062f\u06cc\u062f\u06cc\u061f \u0646\u062f\u06cc\u062f\u06cc (@arbedout) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/arbedout\/status\/1127905391499726850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 13, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote>\n<script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reason for the above framing is that the <em>acid test <\/em>of a conceptual framework\u2019s robustness when harnessed to build classification systems such as taxonomies and typologies is its ability to <strong>accept new objects<\/strong> or be <strong>generalisable into a meta-metholodology<\/strong>. To this end, one can also readily frame the <strong>ontological quest<\/strong> (simply put, the pursuit of wisdom and meaning) as a <strong>layered stack of intellectual discliplines<\/strong>. I\u2019m sure this notion of an <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/parallelind\/status\/1072124160900558849\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><em>ontological meta-stack<\/em><\/strong><\/a> isn\u2019t a totally original approach, but having played with it for a while it\u2019s become a useful conceptual lens with which to (try to) understand how <strong><em>trans\/multi\/inter\/anti\/pan\/omni\/supra\/quasi\/para\/post disciplinary<\/em> <em>research<\/em><\/strong> (choose your favoured poison) differs from <strong><em>steady state<\/em><\/strong> scholarly work. Furthermore, layered stacks may be one of the most easily invoked mechanism to achieve differential discretisation whilst grappling with linear domains. <em>Apropos<\/em> <em>of nothing<\/em>: a few years ago I was completely preoccupied with the wacky idea of starting a <strong><em>serious-and-satirical<\/em><\/strong> research disorganisation-superimposition that I was very tongue-in-cheekily calling <strong><em>The Institute of Non-Linear Phenomenlogy. <\/em><\/strong>Stacks of layers need not apply within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overly <strong>individuated, siloed or specialised knowledge domains<\/strong>\u200a\u2014\u200atypically mature fields\u200a\u2014\u200atend to be hyper-focused on very small regions of the spectrum rather like the spectroscopic disciplines which <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=Vy_FP0wAAAAJ&amp;hl=en\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">I spent a decade playing supramolecular detective<\/a> with. A photophysicist \/ spectroscopist could spend an <strong>entire lifetime<\/strong> \u201cplaying with\u201d a narrowly bounded set of quantised energy levels in an atom, molecule, crystal or superstructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/960\/1%2AHorbJGKrboDM0NJVvjnU5A.png?w=620&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>The electromagnetic spectrum, much more than meets the eye\u200a\u2014\u200aor at least that the eye can detect &amp; process. Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/3\/30\/EM_spectrumrevised.png\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/3\/30\/EM_spectrumrevised.png<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Likewise, a researcher could spend a fruitful and fulfilling career looking for the <strong>same signatures in wildy different systems<\/strong>. I studied the same ?(CO) vibrational signature in both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0009261403012880\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">exotic low-temperature astrophysical ices<\/a> and in <a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1021\/ic0623112\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">complex solution-based supramolecular assemblies<\/a>. The same fingerprint can be exploited to provide rich information with respect to its environment on both <strong>sub-nanosecond and celestial timescales!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/960\/1%2AjRFavXXPaeEj2btU1y6mRQ.png?w=620&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>Vibrational spectroscopy applied to astrophysically relevant ices. Conducted at Leiden Observatory, 2003.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/960\/0%2AeKuCghvkXkQA8QJH.gif?w=620&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>Time-resolved IR spectroscopy of Re(I) complexes &amp; their transient excited states on the picosecond timescale. Conducted at the University of Nottingham &amp; Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, 2003\u20136.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It would be remiss to attempt an approach to this weighty subject without discussing <strong>taxonomy<\/strong>, <strong>epistemology <\/strong>and more generally the <strong>design science of information systems<\/strong>. Taxonomy is one of the more powerful intellectual tools at our disposal with which to progress <strong>towards ontologies<\/strong>\u200a\u2014\u200aalthough a classification system may not have truth value in itself, it may be an intermediate development and therefore useful in its own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/960\/1%2At7OJCjEmpwbFe36XkGEaRQ.png?w=620&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>Excerpt from TokenSpace cryptographic asset taxonomy research manuscript.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>Let\u2019s not get too deep into the weeds here, instead take a look at various <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/tag\/tokenspace\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TokenSpace<\/strong><\/a><strong> materials to go deeper: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/hackernoon.com\/a-brief-primer-on-navigating-tokenspace-2290a90b5a65\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Primer<\/strong><\/a><strong>, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/hackernoon.com\/q-a-on-tokenspace-a-new-conceptual-classification-framework-for-cryptoassets-6a6d16234ed5\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Q&amp;A<\/strong><\/a><strong>, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@parallelind\/tokenspace-compressed-35f513c20237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Compressed Essay as Analytical Index<\/strong><\/a><strong>, Manuscript (available on request), Lecture video (soon!).<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/960\/1%2AS2vqX_LwyC14WogpA57ZdA.png?w=620&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>Excerpt from TokenSpace cryptographic asset taxonomy research manuscript.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tegmark\u2019s notion of <a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1401.1219\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">subjectivity at the Universe\u2019s margins<\/a> (<strong>Planck limits<\/strong>, <strong>complex adaptive systems<\/strong>) with empirical objectivist domains betwixt seems <em>appropos<\/em> here. Let\u2019s call it a <strong><em>subjectivity sandwich<\/em><\/strong>. Feynman famously opined \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/calteches.library.caltech.edu\/1976\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">There\u2019s Plenty of Room at the Bottom<\/a>\u201d, but there ostensibly exists <strong><em>even more room<\/em> <em>at the top<\/em><\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okay so here it is, <strong>the first iteration anyway<\/strong>. Let me know what you think by commenting or pinging me on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/wassimalsindi\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>. In reality, this framework may not be truly linear, granular and hierarchical but there is hopefully some value to it. Perhaps the next iteration of this half-baked idea will be an open form: woven meshes, interlinked gears\u200a\u2014\u200a<strong><em>an ontological meta-<\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Directed_acyclic_graph\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><em>DAG<\/em><\/strong><\/a>!?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/960\/1%2A93mgp9hVZKVLX67S9bKGOw.png?w=620&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As we move from bottom to top, <strong>complexity of the agents in focus increase alongside subjectivity<\/strong>. But at sub-quantum scales, the Universe also appears subjective\u200a\u2014\u200aat least based on observations through our current paradigmatic lenses. <strong>Interesting phenomena tend to emerge at the margins<\/strong>, between disciplines or even as a synthesis of several elements of the meta-stack. Perhaps it\u2019s time to repurpose the wonderful <em>bibliotechnical<\/em> term <strong><em>marginalia<\/em><\/strong> to capture this essence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cryptocurrencies are a great example of systems drawing on a number of these components. Indeed at the network level these <strong>protocols are very simple messaging systems<\/strong> but can exhibit extremely complex and <strong>unexpected emergent phenomena<\/strong>\u200a\u2014\u200a<a href=\"https:\/\/hackernoon.com\/towards-an-analytical-discipline-of-forkonomy-summer-2018-e6da993ee3f9\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Forkonomy is a good example<\/a> of an attempt to apply unusual lenses to characterise unusual goings-on. This may also help to explain why researchers possessing deep subject-specific knowlege pertaining to one of the areas which cryptocurrency draws upon\u200a\u2014\u200acryptography, distributed systems, protocol engineering, law, economics, complex systems\u200a\u2014\u200aoften find it <strong>difficult to communicate with fellow scholars rooted in another traditional pastime<\/strong>. Perhaps the rise of novel meta-disciplines such as complexity science show that one approach\u200a\u2014\u200ain our parlance\u200a\u2014\u200ato harness and further understand non-linear domains is to capture as much of the stack as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/960\/1%2AEgBAe41U4WPO8-P7Gb6u0g.jpeg?w=620&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>An Ontological Meta-DAG? \u201cCivilisation Tech Tree\u201d (Sid Meier, Firaxis&nbsp;Games)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>TLDR: Are we entering a new \u201cAge of Techno-Dilettantism\u201d?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taking the layered systems approach to its supra-logical endpoint. Chains of blocks ALL the way down. Welcome to Canberra\u2019s latest premium residential high rise address. DM for PayPal details. #realestate #canberra #soundart #noise #3dprinting #mechanicalart #truesciencefact pic.twitter.com\/LEGCIi7Md3 \u2014 Brian McNamara (@Rarebeasts) May 6, 2019 I\u2019ve been invoking a layered stack model (after OSI and Buterin) &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/towards-an-ontological-meta-stack-who-wants-a-subjectivity-sandwich\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Towards an &#8220;Ontological Meta-Stack&#8221;: who wants a Subjectivity Sandwich?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,12,13],"class_list":["post-794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-articles","tag-forkonomy","tag-tokenspace","without-featured-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9ARiU-cO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":808,"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions\/808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pllel.com\/industries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}