Comments on: Why Spontaneity Comes from Following the Rules

By: Nevea

Nevea — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:37:59 +0000

If I were a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, now I’d say Koawubnga, dude!

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:38:08 +0000

Thanks Michael, fascinating example. Don’t suppose you’ve got a spare Oulipo membership pass?

By: Michael Costello

Michael Costello — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:18:42 +0000

This is such a interesting concept. I have been intrigued by it for as long as I can rmember writing, 15 or 16 years now. When I was in grad school a friend gave me a book called the Oulipo Compendium. The Oulipo are an international group of artists, mathematicians, scientists, etc. who devise rules and constraints to create “potential literature.” Several of its members are successful writers and poets. The only American member I have discovered is Harry Mathews. I highly recommend him. Other members include(d) Italo Calvino, Georges Perec, Jacques Roubaud, Raymond Queneau, and Ian Monk. In the words of Raymond Queneau, Oulipo’s co-founder, Oulipians are “Rats who build the labyrinth from which they will try to escape.” Anyone who is is interested in creativity should become acquainted with this group and their work. Some of it is pretty mindblowing. Offshoot groups have formed too, constraints for visual artists, musicians, and even cooks.
Thank you for this post.

By: Eye Of The Beholder

Eye Of The Beholder — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:06:37 +0000

[...] this on the log Lateral Action. Brian Eno and Will Wright are two artists / innovators whose work I like and this is pretty nerdy [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:02:23 +0000

Thanks Kevin.

@ Anthony James – In the words of W.H. Auden, “If I could tell you I would let you know.”

By: Anthony James Barnett - author

Anthony James Barnett - author — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:00:20 +0000

If only I could discover the simple rules behind making a novel into a best-seller – ahhh!

By: Kevin MacDonell

Kevin MacDonell — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:09:34 +0000

See:

http://www.wolframscience.com/

and:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_New_Kind_of_Science

I saw and heard a lot about it when it came out 6 or 7 years ago, but not much since.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:14:24 +0000

@ Stacey – Thanks, and love the Asimov quote!

@ hofmeyr – Yeah, rules rule!

@ Kevin – I’ve not seen the book, but it sounds like a similar idea.

@ Nathan – Are you suggesting that Facebook works?

By: Nathan Hangen

Nathan Hangen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:55:24 +0000

I guess it really depends on the system. For instance, Facebook probably wouldn’t work if it was as simple as Twitter is, but Twitter’s environment creates a playground for users and developers alike.

Then there’s the learning curve factor and the task of learning an entirely new system. This is why most new platforms don’t make it…we just don’t have time. Facebook showed us how to be more productive there than we were on MySpace, and Twitter showed us that it doesn’t take any longer to Tweet than it does to text someone.

By: Kevin MacDonell

Kevin MacDonell — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:53:31 +0000

Reminds me of that much-hyped book, “A New Kind of Science”. I haven’t watched the posted video – perhaps they reference it there – but this post strongly reminded me of the central idea, which is that a very simple set of rules can give rise to enormous complexity, with possible explanations for every sort of apparently highly-organized phenomenon, including life.