Emergence and Flocking - From the OSLIST Archives

Thu May 31 11:56:19 PDT 2007

  Amazing.

  But what I think is interesting is what can be done with 3 simple rules (or 4) concerning the relations among individuals (micro level) that allows for a group pattern (macro level) to emerge. (I suspect that at my next OST I will introduce a new ritual for the end based on Wendy suggestion... )

  So, answering to Chris, as far as I understand, at a micro level we have rules (or rituals) and patterns emerge at the macro level. 

  Back to OST, I continue to think that we impose rules to participants. Those rules are mostly tacit and nor the participants, neither the facilitators are consciously aware that they are there.

  Participants are invited; later they are received in a circle of chairs (not in an U with chairs and tables); later they are invited to post issues and still later to divide in many already prepared break out rooms, where they have the explicit possibility to exercise the law - and so they can fly, cross pollinate, etc. Each group is asked to write summaries, which can later be prioritized. Etc. Etc. All the "rules" are tacit and expressed like "OST rituals". Indeed, the fact that they are there is denied by the OST orthodoxy. And the Law - that is the only explicit rule - is stated in relation with some “principles” that are not rules because they are (if anything) a consequence that emerges from the OST design and from the Law.  (Sorry to insist on that, Harrison - but see also bellow ;-).

  With this formulation and the concepts that "less is more" and that "the facilitator must be invisible" (that are true, by the way) Harrison has covered up the fact that rules are imposed by the "OST design", and later he also covered up the fact that he has covered up the "rules" in the first place. This cover up is indeed one of the most interesting and important features of OST. It gives OST that magic that allows us to say (without lying) that participants have made everything! Or that they have self organized, which is also true (self organization does not mean that there are not rules. There are always rules everywhere, like gravity, as Harrison likes to remember
).

  (And now if some child looks and says "oh, but the king is not naked, he is covered by rules, or rituals – in he only seems to be naked because he has covered up those rules", probably, in a first thought, no one agrees with that. I find that natural and will not insist for a second though right now - at least not in the next two years or so ;-)

  So I think that I can return to the lurking state ;-)

  With all my respect and kind regards

  Artur

  PS: has anyone ever though why "The Four Principles and One Law" are in chapter VII of the User's guide and not in the beginning. It is because the previous 6 chapters have described the rules or rituals or foundations of OST in a way that everything seems natural and not designed... I am not criticizing; on the contrary - I am stating my admiration for this genial  solution!

Wendy Farmer-O'Neil <wendy at xe.net> wrote: 
        v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}                And it can be lots of fun if you have a big group to play with.  Give everybody the three rules and let ‘em go.  After a couple of minutes you see the flocking thing happening.  Then pull two folks aside and give them one more rule:  head slowly but steadily towards the door.  In a couple of minutes the place is empty

  Kind of gets the imp (small tricky spirit) going wondering what else we could do with it?

  Cheers,
  Wendy

---------------------------------

  From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Chris Corrigan
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:00 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Emergence and Flocking - From the OSLIST Archives

  Cool...that's one of my favourite links of all time actually, and it holds up even five years later.

I just killed five minutes staring at those little guys moving around.

Lovely.

Chris
    On 5/30/07, Artur Silva <arturfsilva at yahoo.com> wrote:
    And indeed it was there...

    An old post on flocking and self organization.

    Thanks Chris

    Artur

    ---------

    Date:         Thu, 11 Apr 2002 09:47:37 -0700
Reply-To:     OSLIST < OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sender:       OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU >
From:         Chris Corrigan <chris at chriscorrigan.com> Subject:      Web site on flocking, swarming and other adaptive behaviour
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

This -  http://www.red3d.com/cwr/boids/ - is amazing.  It's a site
maintained by Craig Reynolds who developed a computer model of bird 
flocks using three simple rules: avoid crowding flockmates, steer to the
centre of the flock and move towards the average position of flock
mates.  The results of these three rules can be seen in a little java
applet on the page, and then you can scroll down for a huge collection
of links on this phenomenon.

If nothing else, it helps me understand why OST participants never run
into each other.  Of course my own internal metaphor generation engine
is running full steam...

Chris

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