Anything Else

This page contains designs that I haven't begun (except for the parts of those designs that are listed on this page). A design usually starts with a list of the eight Types that define the spectrum of whatever I think I'm talking about. Creating that list of eight things is easier than creating a complete design, so I'm going to park my nascent meanderings here until I get around to fluffing them up.

Disclaimer:

These are fragments of skeletons of things that don't even exist yet. Trying to tell if they are fish or fowl (via ante-paleontology) is a bit presumptuous even for someone as bumptious as myself. They should eventually align with the trigrams of the I Ching, but for now they should be considered just unstructured lists of random words. Some of these lists may be less unfinished than others. If there is any structure to the order of the designs presented below, I am blissfully unaware of it.

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
                -- Wernher von Braun


Program Design

This may actually be a part of another design. These "eight Types" are actually consecutive steps in a process. Some of them don't exactly match the trigrams of the I Ching, which is really the whole point of this exercise. This may be because the Types don't always align in the order that I have selected. My order is based upon the 'value' of the 'Ordinal States', but that is not the only possible order of the Types.

In cases like this, I have to assume that I can make things fit if I just find the proper perspective ... so far, no joy.

One time functions

Repeating and Recursive functions

Glyphic Editor

Ideally this would be part of an "Integrated Development Environment" (IDE) which would be used to create documents, working procedures, knowledge bases, expert systems and programs using the Instrumentation (predicate) language. This is the block that I would prefer to use as the cornerstone of "Basic Command Mode" (BCM).

An important point here is that these functions cannot depend on the native language of the person using the editor. In order for this system to be truly universal it must manipulate glyphs as glyphs. Of course, this means that this editor won't be needed until people actually become fluent with the language, but I'm in no major hurry anyway.

Content Management

Content Maintenance

Map Directories

Instrumentation will include at least two active sixty-four kilo-glyph business directories. One directory would cover your home location and the other would cover the location of the area under discussion. The protocol for ensuring that the 'subject' directory is correctly shared is undefined at this time. 

Since each directory will occupy a complete Division of the Specialization Layer, We will need to redefine the Description Types as well as the Creation Types. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure which layer would be most appropriate for this design.

This design actually defines a secondary data store which would have to be maintained by local authorities, civic groups and businesses. Ideally these directories would also be approved by an external, neutral, trusted authority. Free directories could be provided by local tourist bureaus (or embassies) and commercial specialized directories could be made available by professional mapmakers. The Types listed here could be supplemented (or replaced) by other criterion for specific locations or purposes.

A separate "Global map Overview" Division (or even an entire Area) might be needed to help users find directories throughout the world. I would prefer using "The Dymaxion Map" (awarded U.S. Patent 2,393,676 in 1946) as the basis for this index because of its reduced spacial distortion (compared to Universal Transverse Mercator projection).

Interest related

Environment related

User Interface

This one may take a long time to really define properly. I don't want to blindly follow the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointer) pattern because I think Instrumentation can be a new way of connecting to the world around us. The desktop idiom is an established and powerful metaphor, but it isn't the only possible interface.

I believe that I have shown that Instrumentation can exist on a desktop or smart-phone, but I also believe that a wearable virtual interface would be the most powerful expression of Instrumentation's capabilities. Optimizing the usability of that interface will likely require a radically new and innovative design.

Meta-functions

Macro-functions

These last four are critical, but they can probably be combined under a single conceptual umbrella. I'm trying to meld the client-server n-tier architecture with the Circular Desk, so some initial spalding is inevitable.

Spherical Starship Layers

This design is predicated on putting the most pressurized, important and sensitive parts of the ship in the center where they would be best protected from the rigors of space. I am making the following assumptions:

Each layer would be smaller than the previous layer (like an onion). Unpressurized outer layers would limit the impact of any impacts. A 'layer' might consist of multiple decks. The starship would have the following eight layers:

Functional spaces

Human spaces

Community News Network

This is a design for a non-commercial informational system that would serve a local population of a few hundred thousand or less. An enlightened government would view this as a valuable unfiltered source of information about the wants, needs, problems and opinions of its citizens.

'Registration' should only be required once, but it is mentioned several times in the design below because it is important for various functions.

'Reputation' should be maintained separately for each applicable function (but visible in all functions). Pseudonyms should be allowed, but defamation, vandalism and perpetrating injurious hoaxes should be grounds for removal. Reputation should be earned slowly over a period of years to discourage irresponsibility.

Control should be based on reputation as much as possible. The system itself should compile reputation and remove vandalistic users based on a weighted voting system. The 'Trustees' should be the twelve people with the highest reputation and they should each be able to veto the removal of any user (including themselves). Trustees should be only have the ability to provide (provisional) amnesty, they should not have disciplinary powers except through their (heavily) weighted votes, just like everyone else (although a Trustee's stated opinion may be very powerful if used judiciously).

System Functions

Personal Functions

Technological Evolutionary levels

You should really read this from the bottom up. The levels beyond Instrumentation are speculative (surprise!), but they seem like a reasonable progression.

I have no time-line on this, but the time spent in each stage before the next stage can be invented seems to be decreasing. Older levels don't actually go away, they continue to underlie and support the higher levels like the brain stem, medulla oblongata, and cerebellum complement the cerebrum.

Of course I see Instrumentation as an important milestone on this journey (that is the reason that I created it), but I don't actually have the hubris to believe that my current version of it is the ultimate expression of the 'Universal Interface'. I'm still finding new aspects and applications and I expect that evolution to continue and expand long after I have handed the torch over to a generation who has actually grown up with the idea of a universal coherent environmental control.

Newfangled

Old Fashioned

Reasons for living

These are simple terms for complex things. I'm trying to express the simplest and most universal challenges and rewards available to the human race. Whether or not I have succeeded in this quixotic quest is a question for the ages. This is not a cry for help.

You might notice that none of these things necessarily involve personal power, status, acclaim or money. I know the attraction and utility of 'power related' activities, but they have never been a major part of my motivation for living (freedom from arbitrary control is the only power I value).

I believe that you should balance these things as best you can. Obsessive focus on any one aspect (even love, or possibly especially love) will create "diminishing returns" which will defeat the purpose of your original obsession.

Social reasons

Personal reasons

Types of Entertainment

This one is still very fuzzy. I'm sure that I'm not looking at it from the right perspective. The Types keep overlapping and trading places and I'm not sure where (or how, or if) I can restrict the medium. Quite possibly my definition of 'Entertainment' is too narrow or too broad or just doomed to failure. The difference between living on the edge and going over the edge is sometimes only obvious in hindsight.

House Party Rules

These are general rules and some of them might be slightly modified depending on the purpose of the party and your familiarity with other party goers. Just remember, "If it is not your birthday, it is everyone's party". Don't annoy strangers for the puerile amusement of your friends (or vice versa).

Crowd Control

Self Control

Programming Design Patterns

OK, I made this list a long time ago and I'm not sure exactly sure what some of these things are supposed to represent (so you aren't the only people that I confuse now and then). I can see how these things might line up with the Types of the I Ching trigrams, but I'm not sure how they would combine to describe every possible type of programming algorithm.

These Types are obviously allegorical, so "Market Analysis" refers to any exploration of potential need, but to what, pray tell, could "Existential Applications" possibly refer? It is in the 'fun and learning' slot so I would expect it to be more related to educational games than philosophical utilities.

I try to have skeptical faith in my own insight, but sometimes I do wonder about the aptness of my word choices.

External functions

Internal functions

Human needs

This doesn't cover human responsibilities or reasonable goals. Those are mostly covered (respectively) under "Party Rules" above and "Usefulness" below. These are things that should be available to everyone.

I'm definitely not trying to start a religion here, but these are questions that should be explored and the Specialized vocabulary should address these things in a structured way.

Social Needs

Personal Needs

Human Usefulness

Everyone wants to feel needed. These are the attributes that (I believe) one should attempt to emulate in order to be indispensable. The order of these things is based on the trigrams of the I-Ching and not necessarily on my personal assessment of their relative values.

Active Attributes

Passive Attributes

Information Theory

I had forgotten about this! This bit is part of the original design document. I was just reviewing the document to see if anything needed updating in light of my current 'understanding' of the language, and there sat this ready-made list of eight things that epitomize a field of Specialization.

This list suffers from being a 'taxonomy of a different ontology', but I believe that I can make it fit the 'trigrams of the I-Ching' hole if I hammer it properly.

Applied Information

Theoretical Information


Units of Control

This comes from "The Theory of General Specialism". It is a list of things that can be combined to create simple programs or procedures (hopefully by people who are not programmers).

The general idea is that these would be very high level objects and that they should require the minimum of 'logical glue' when using them in combination with one another. Communication would be handled using something like CORBA (or D-Bus or SOAP) and the objects themselves (or the expert system assembling them) would inform the user of mismatches or the need for buffers, wrappers or other interface adjustments.

Independent Objects

Interdependent Objects





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