Session 4 :: 10.6.2020 / AE500610 :: Leaf & Crown :: Linden

Teasers

Teaser 0 :: Master in Design & Computation

TU / UdK Master Program
https://www.design-computation.berlin/
apply until 31.7.2020

Teaser 1 :: Umfrage zur digitalen Semester

https://survey.wi.uni-potsdam.de/index.php/152432?newtest=Y&lang=de

Teaser 2 :: Bäume der Erkenntnis

https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/RC-015184/baeume-der-erkenntnis/

Formalia

The last session

Last session of the course 'Of organic and digital trees' is going to start @10:00 AM near entrance to greenhouses of Botanischen Volkspark Blankenfelde-Pankow.

Bring Your trees & texts & works along !

Formalia 1 :: Rundgang

Do we want to participate ?

Formalia 2 :: SG Validation

Studium Generale students who will not validate more than 80% of attendance will be asked to write an essay. There are two topics You may potentially choose:

What role do trees and forests play in Life and Work of Ursula leGuin ?

Is the "core metaphor" false or true ? If true, is it true subjectively or objectively ?

The core metaphor

The Core Metaphor(s) :: Subjective variant

Observer observes a certain similarity-of-forms, a certain "morphism", between organic entities known as "trees" and structures of the digital realm.

Observer observes a certain similarity-of-forms, a certain "morphism", between organic processes known as "germination, differentiation, growth and decay" and processes taking place in the informatic realm.

The Core Metaphor(s) :: Objective variant

There exists a certain similarity-of-forms, a certain "morphism", between organic entities known as "trees" and structures of the digital realm.

There exists a certain similarity-of-forms, a certain "morphism", between organic processes known as "germination, differentiation, growth and decay" and processes taking place in the informatic realm.

"The Core Metaphor is false"

You will be divided into break-out rooms.

Please try to provide as much arguments as possible for the statement: organic and digital trees are distinct types of entities which have very little (resp. nothing) to do with each other.

In case You encounter difficulties, address the question: What distinguishes "organic" from "digital" trees ? How are these types of entities (concepts?) different from each other ?

You have 15 minutes. Frohe philosophieren !

Room 3

materiality: organic tree is touchable, smellable, tastable, drinkable (senses)

origin: human made vs. nature-made

reproduction: copy+paste vs. germination+growth

growth: adding information vs. adding material (organic tree grows according to linear time)

death:

Room 2

surroundings of the organic trees

no firewall in the organic world, more "attackable" organic trees

embedded vs. abstract

picture of Rhizom more fitting to digital trees?

Room 1

why do we use the metaphore of "tree" for the digital one?

Digital trees might live longer than organic trees

Digital trees can have more branches than organic trees (close to endless)

"The Core Metaphor is false"

Room 2

surroundings of the organic trees

no firewall in the organic world, more "attackable" organic trees

embedded vs. abstract

picture of Rhizom more fitting to digital trees?

Room 3

materiality: organic tree is touchable, smellable, tastable, drinkable (senses)

origin: human made vs. nature-made

reproduction: copy+paste vs. germination+growth

growth: adding information vs. adding material (organic tree grows according to linear time)

death:

Room 1

why do we use the metaphore of "tree" for the digital one?

Digital trees might live longer than organic trees

Digital trees can have more branches than organic trees (close to endless)

L & C :: Language and Communication

Genealogical tree of programming languages.

Stammbaum.

Initiation into sanskrit.

(formal & generative) grammars.

Parsers.

World Wald Web.

Direct acyclic graphs (DAGs).

Motto

The essence of any programming language is its "parse tree".

Natural languages can be conceptualized and described as forests of cognitive structures.

L & C :: Genealogy of Programming languages

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Genealogical_tree_of_programming_languages.svg

Linguistic Stammbaum

more on languages, evolution, etc. in my Prolegomena Paedagogica wizzion.com/PP.pdf

(discussion of Schleicher's (1873) Stammbaum on p. 36)

L&C :: Invitation to Sanskrit

https://sanskrit.inria.fr/

(c.f. also Prolegomena Paedagogica, p. 114-115)

L&C :: Formal grammars

In formal language theory, a grammar (when the context is not given, often called a formal grammar for clarity) describes how to form strings from a language's alphabet that are valid according to the language's syntax. A grammar does not describe the meaning of the strings or what can be done with them in whatever context—only their form. A formal grammar is defined as a set of production rules for strings in a formal language.

A formal grammar is a set of rules for rewriting strings, along with a "start symbol" from which rewriting starts. Therefore, a grammar is usually thought of as a language generator. However, it can also sometimes be used as the basis for a "recognizer"...

L&C :: Formal languages as trees

Gramatiken

L&C :: Parse trees

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_syntax_tree

while b ≠ 0
  if a > b
    a := a − b
  else
    b := b − a
return a

Note of warning

"Strictly formalist, transformationalist approach had failed to furnish a complete, consistent elegant framework for the study of natural languages but

significantly facilitated construction and further development of artificial and programming languages."

(Prolegomena, p. 120)

Simply stated: formal languages are about games with symbols but not about communication or exchange

World Wald Web

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un2yBgIAxYs

Break :: Der Maulwurf kommt in der Stadt

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6zwaoi

How do trees communicate

Break-out room, 10 minutes.

Room 2

(Clarissa, Gloria Gammer, Luise von Zimmermann, nikolozka, Veronika Limmer, Volkher Karl Wieland Lemke)

smell emissions (like resin, for example)

they communicate with their mizells, via roots

chemicals in water they transport

pollen,

insect messenger

sounds ( of sap of the trees ,...)

perhaps with their leafs

colours, e.g. of leaves, bark, blossoms

Mykorriza as communication leader

Room 3

(Alex, emeka ene, Filipe, Ole, Paul Seidler, Robert Schnüll)

volatiles for inter and intra tree and

interspecies communication

does communication imply intention?

mycelium networks

through sound? through light?

Room 1

(Adam Behlen, Ana Obara Takano, Karla und Cara, Linda Elsner, Maria Ladopoulos, Tanja Al Kayyali)

underneath the earth, roots and flow of nutrients

leaves - indicator for health of the tree

pollination via insects

diseases spread across trees via insects/animals

fruits / seeds

circle of life - dead tree parts are nutrients / fertilizer for next growing tree 🌲

filtration systems for humans/animals - clean air

intertwining of branches, growing together

communicating survival of the fittest, dense forrest situations, access to sunlight

touching through force of wind (crown)

Linden :: die Linde :: Tilia (cordata|platyphyllos)

Linden :: History & Mythology

Aphrodite, Freya, Maria

center of the village

tribunals took place under Linden trees (often with much more relaxed judgments than tribunals which took place under oaks)

Lindwurm ???

Linden :: Usage

pasture for bees

great for carving, Lignum sanctum, "the holy wood" (used, by Tilman Riemenschneider, Veit Stoss etc.)

since Stone Age, linden bast used for making of ropes, mats, child clothes etc.

Linden coal (good for teeth)

Linden tea (good for sleeping, eye relaxation etc.)