Natural systems operate on multiple scales: the swarm rule

In Daniel Golman's essay (see link at right) he talks about swarm intelligence - think ants and how their system operates. "no single ant grasps the big picture or leads the other ants (the queen just lays eggs); instead each ant follows simple rules of thumb that work together in countless ways to achieve self-organizing goals"

The swarm rules might boil down to:
"Know your impacts.
Favor improvements.
Share what you learn."

I am thinking about "a sense of wonder" and if this new piece has the theme of invigorating a sense of wonder - in us who make it, who share it and those who share what their experience of it was. Thinking of that process as a system - thinking about David Lynn's ideas on systems.

There is also something about the visible and the invisible. We can't see molecules, we can see the ant colony. We can't see an idea, we can see its manifestation (sometimes). We can follow the evolution of an idea and follow the systems created by an idea. (From atom to atom bomb)

If bricks could move..... A NEW PROJECT BEGINS

With seed money from Emory University, Center for Chemical Evolution, Center for Creativity we are launched into a new project. CCE and Emory have funded several local artists/organizations to collaborate with scientists to explore the ideas of chemical evolution - "...the chemistry associated with the emergence of life. Research projects within the center have a particular focus on understanding how a complex mixture of molecules present on the early earth could have assembled into functional biological building blocks like DNA and proteins." (From the CCE website)
We are one of the artists/groups. Assembled by Chip and myself, we are an assortment of movers, musicians and performers committing ourselves to this artistic/scientific collaboration journey. Chip and I met with David Lynn and Meisa Salaita at Emory last week to get grounded. Sunday I met with: J. Noble, Corissa Castle WOod, Simon McLane, Damita Boyd, Taylor Kinser, Henry Peteet, Alexandra McColl and Normando Ismay at Normando's studio to start moving some ideas around. Here are the notes:


We started with an overview of the potentials for the project. Celeste handed out notebooks to all - and explained that I would like to keep track of some of the process via journaling. People are welcome to take their notebooks (ponder when we are not together) or just leave them with me.
Then we listened/watched the David Lynn short lecture on chemical evolution - while listening/watching we were notating and drawing on large sheets of paper with colored pencils etc. Encouraged not to stay on one's "own" piece of paper, but to move around. The lecture is here if anyone wants access to it:

http://bigthink.com/ideas/15500.

We then looked at the notations and noted similarities, ideas that grabbed us, images that were interesting, etc. Celeste made a list as we went. Discussion also ensued. Then time to dance.

Improv #1. "How Rules Give you a Direction". This was an idea presented in the lecture, the idea about rules, and then our discussion led to how rules give you a direction, and also that in chemistry the rules become pathways. So we made "rules" for the improv, all drawn from our notations from the lecture:
RULES:
- We've all agreed to play the game.
- We will work together as an organism - collaboratively, collectively
- Commitment to a process of wonder
- Mindful assessment
- Trust
- Something has to start it

With these rules (or parameters, actually) we started. Celeste chose words/phrases from our list and those were the catalyst. They were dropped in at intervals as the improv evolved.

Debrief: Immediately following the improv we journaled on our own for 10 minutes and then talked. The journaling was focused on capturing some of the thoughts while improvising, and also responding to the question "Did being in your body with this material produce a kind of thinking/or particular thoughts?" This discussion was videotaped.

Improv #2:
Equipped with what we learned from the first improv, what we reflected through journaling, and observations. We entered into a second improv. For this one the "ideas" would not come from Celeste dropping text, but from ---? We discussed that perhaps a gesture would signal that someone had an idea that we would explore. Of course, this comes from the science of it: where does life come from? where does an idea come from? and how does it evolve?

Same rules as improv #1

Debrief: The signal was unnecessary - movement ideas were "signalled", communicated and evolved without having to indicate that something was starting. No text emerged in this improv.

Comp #1:
Using Shakespearean sonnet as structure - we broke into a quartet, duet and two solos to explore the Center for Chemical Evolution's three themes. We worked for about 20 minutes and then shared what had been created. Noting moments that resonated. These studies were videotaped.

To close we watched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL3lhm6oy5I
A rap video about astrobiology.

Next rehearsal Sunday April 24
NO REHEARSAL NEXT WEEK: APRIL 17 (Unfortuntately, I have to go out of town)
May rehearsals: 1,8,15,22
Hopefully our scientist will join us for these.
We'll talk about June and the July/August conference as I get more info.