Due 11th April
Know What. Know How.Philosophies of designThe case of modelling softwareManuel De LandaDe Landa is a professor of contemporary philosophy and science at theEuropean Graduate School in Switzerland. Hes mainly known for hisbooks and essays.‘As a philosopher I am interested in all kinds of phenomena ofself-organization, from the wind patterns that have regulated humanlife for a long time to the self-organizing patterns within ourbodies, to the self-organizing processes in the economy, to theself-organizing process that is the Internet.’In this paper he talks about two different types of approaches todesign. The first one is Conceptual. This is the where a person wouldthink up an idea, and then impose it on a material to create a form.The second approach is ‘active participation’ where somebody wouldwork with the properties of a material and allow the material itselfto help create the form.
The conceptual approach to design De Landa talks about ive interpreted as ‘know what.’ Whereas the active participation approach ive interpreted as ‘know how’.De Landa starts off this reading by giving some examples from ancienttimes. He talks about the philosopher verses the craftsman. (talkabout the handicraft reading here.) A philosopher or scientist thinksthrough a concept in their head and then turn the physical materialpart into a simple routine of properties. Like what Newton did withmass. Whereas a craftsman would argue that the properties of amaterial could not be reduced to a routine. All materials havedifferent properties. Craftsmen always took complexity of matter intoaccount especially a long time ago when material wasn’t garenteed tobe the same every week as they had different sources of where theygot their materials. In this time the know what approach was valued more than the know how, because the craftmen of the day couldn’t articulate what they KNEW into words or directions. Philosophers also saw God as a conceptual being. They imagined thatbefore creation God thought about the world and all that is in it,then simply commanded that it happen. Let there be light. And letthere be form. This is the ‘instant obedience’ idea from the ‘knowwhat’ type of people. Who see materials as something they cancontrol. Not all philosophers thought this way though. You heard Luketalking on Gilles Deleuze on Tuesday. Deleuze talked about materialsspontaneously changing at critical temperature changes. The idea thatmaterials have their own way of behaiving, you cant control them, butyou can learn how they work to work with them. Deleuze says.. Change in intensity change in structure. Intensity changes the form. like an intense temperature on water cause it either to solidify into ice or evaporate into steam.
De Landa then goes on to talk about digital software or artificialintelligence. He talks about computer assisted design (CAD). When CADprogrames first came out they worked on a ‘know what’ basis. That iswhere you have the idea in your mind before you start playing withthe material. This was because the old CAD programes were so simplethey were only one or so steps ahead of the human mind. Old CADprogrames worked with the simple ‘material’ rigid polygons. Using twomain functions. Both of which im sure you would have heard of. Firstis Revolving, and second is Extrusion. Pretty much all of industrialhave used both of these in the last month. If not everyone in firstyear. With these two functions there isnt much variety of shapes thatcan be made. The newer versions of CAD are more advanced and work ona ‘know how’ basis. They ‘demand a certain interaction betweendesigner and material.’ There are Three main functions used for theCAD version. First one everyone knows, and that’s the spline curve.The basic idea behind the spline curve is thawt the designer doesn’thave to specify all the points along the curve. The computer findsthe shape with the most streamlined shape. Second function is flow ofpixels. Flow of pixels is what is used to create the illusion offire, water, snow or smoke. There are guidelines the designer has tofollow when creating one of these illusions but once they areprogrammed the form takes on its own shape. The third function isbiological evolutionary strategies. Or genetic algorithms. Now thisis cool. If we had this on our computers at school design 104 the onewhere we had to create 81 different models would have been a piece ofcake! This function was created not for designers but for biologists,to help understand the evolutionsry process. The idea is that thedesigner chooses a DNA like structure for a couple of differentobjects/forms. And then he decides which of these forms to matetogether. The computer then generates the type of outcomes you wouldget from these two forms based on the DNA chosen (video here)The more advanced the CAD programes get the more we are going tohave to rely on a ‘know how’ approach. Because the more complicatedthe programes get, the less likely we are to be able to visualisethem first.
Designers who can negotiate the complexity of materials have the secret to nature. Not the scientist who set out to seek law.
So in the past the know what approach was valued over the know how. That’s talking about philosophers over craftsmen, due to the craftsmen not being able to articulate what they knew.
At present with artificial intelligence that because in the past philosophers and such could articulate their ideas through words or on paper, we find that most of what we valued then is not valued anymore. Anything that was able to be articulated then, the computer can replicate now.
So just to leave you now with a point that ive been mulling over since this reading. What does the future hold in terms of know what or know how? With the increase of cad software will know how become less valuable? What will replace it?
Know What. Know How.Philosophies of designThe case of modelling softwareManuel De LandaDe Landa is a professor of contemporary philosophy and science at theEuropean Graduate School in Switzerland. Hes mainly known for hisbooks and essays.‘As a philosopher I am interested in all kinds of phenomena ofself-organization, from the wind patterns that have regulated humanlife for a long time to the self-organizing patterns within ourbodies, to the self-organizing processes in the economy, to theself-organizing process that is the Internet.’In this paper he talks about two different types of approaches todesign. The first one is Conceptual. This is the where a person wouldthink up an idea, and then impose it on a material to create a form.The second approach is ‘active participation’ where somebody wouldwork with the properties of a material and allow the material itselfto help create the form.
The conceptual approach to design De Landa talks about ive interpreted as ‘know what.’ Whereas the active participation approach ive interpreted as ‘know how’.De Landa starts off this reading by giving some examples from ancienttimes. He talks about the philosopher verses the craftsman. (talkabout the handicraft reading here.) A philosopher or scientist thinksthrough a concept in their head and then turn the physical materialpart into a simple routine of properties. Like what Newton did withmass. Whereas a craftsman would argue that the properties of amaterial could not be reduced to a routine. All materials havedifferent properties. Craftsmen always took complexity of matter intoaccount especially a long time ago when material wasn’t garenteed tobe the same every week as they had different sources of where theygot their materials. In this time the know what approach was valued more than the know how, because the craftmen of the day couldn’t articulate what they KNEW into words or directions. Philosophers also saw God as a conceptual being. They imagined thatbefore creation God thought about the world and all that is in it,then simply commanded that it happen. Let there be light. And letthere be form. This is the ‘instant obedience’ idea from the ‘knowwhat’ type of people. Who see materials as something they cancontrol. Not all philosophers thought this way though. You heard Luketalking on Gilles Deleuze on Tuesday. Deleuze talked about materialsspontaneously changing at critical temperature changes. The idea thatmaterials have their own way of behaiving, you cant control them, butyou can learn how they work to work with them. Deleuze says.. Change in intensity change in structure. Intensity changes the form. like an intense temperature on water cause it either to solidify into ice or evaporate into steam.
De Landa then goes on to talk about digital software or artificialintelligence. He talks about computer assisted design (CAD). When CADprogrames first came out they worked on a ‘know what’ basis. That iswhere you have the idea in your mind before you start playing withthe material. This was because the old CAD programes were so simplethey were only one or so steps ahead of the human mind. Old CADprogrames worked with the simple ‘material’ rigid polygons. Using twomain functions. Both of which im sure you would have heard of. Firstis Revolving, and second is Extrusion. Pretty much all of industrialhave used both of these in the last month. If not everyone in firstyear. With these two functions there isnt much variety of shapes thatcan be made. The newer versions of CAD are more advanced and work ona ‘know how’ basis. They ‘demand a certain interaction betweendesigner and material.’ There are Three main functions used for theCAD version. First one everyone knows, and that’s the spline curve.The basic idea behind the spline curve is thawt the designer doesn’thave to specify all the points along the curve. The computer findsthe shape with the most streamlined shape. Second function is flow ofpixels. Flow of pixels is what is used to create the illusion offire, water, snow or smoke. There are guidelines the designer has tofollow when creating one of these illusions but once they areprogrammed the form takes on its own shape. The third function isbiological evolutionary strategies. Or genetic algorithms. Now thisis cool. If we had this on our computers at school design 104 the onewhere we had to create 81 different models would have been a piece ofcake! This function was created not for designers but for biologists,to help understand the evolutionsry process. The idea is that thedesigner chooses a DNA like structure for a couple of differentobjects/forms. And then he decides which of these forms to matetogether. The computer then generates the type of outcomes you wouldget from these two forms based on the DNA chosen (video here)The more advanced the CAD programes get the more we are going tohave to rely on a ‘know how’ approach. Because the more complicatedthe programes get, the less likely we are to be able to visualisethem first.
Designers who can negotiate the complexity of materials have the secret to nature. Not the scientist who set out to seek law.
So in the past the know what approach was valued over the know how. That’s talking about philosophers over craftsmen, due to the craftsmen not being able to articulate what they knew.
At present with artificial intelligence that because in the past philosophers and such could articulate their ideas through words or on paper, we find that most of what we valued then is not valued anymore. Anything that was able to be articulated then, the computer can replicate now.
So just to leave you now with a point that ive been mulling over since this reading. What does the future hold in terms of know what or know how? With the increase of cad software will know how become less valuable? What will replace it?
The slides that were used......
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