Self Portrait in Spacetime

Brian Greene in his book Fabric of the Cosmos argues Spacetime can be understood as resembling a loaf of bread. Like the loaf it can be cut into slices at different angles and different observers moving relative to each other will slice the spacetime loaf at slightly different angles and thus will have different conceptions of what happens at a given moment.

This reminded me of a project I had created some years back in which a volume of space time was created by compressing the 3 dimensions of space into 2, and depicting  time  in the 3rd (Z) dimension, using the type of technology used in medical imaging e.g. CT and MRI scans.

To do this I was filmed against a bluescreen background which was then keyed out. The individual frames were then layered as shown schematically in top figure. In actuality this was done using the Present 3D application of openscegraph ( www.openscenegraph.org). The sculpture was more than a surface and possessed an interior structure as can be seen in figure 4. It could also, potentially, be sliced at different angles with some help in programming. My own minute section of spacetime – or perhaps a currant in the entire spacetime loaf.

Crystallisation of a network

I have long been fascinated by the insights of Stuart Kauffman.  In his book At Home in the Universe he proposes a model system where buttons are connected by threads. 

“Imagine 10,000 buttons lying on the floor and randomly pick up 2 buttons and tie with thread. Now repeat the process with 2 more buttons.  As you continue you will notice after a while that one of the buttons is already connected and subsequently you will have tied 3 buttons together.

As you continue to pair the buttons they start becoming interconnected.  As the ratio of threads tied to buttons increases the complex grows. A phase transition occurs when the ration of threads to buttons passes 0.5.

An analogue of this model can be envisaged in the origin of life theory where molecules and reactions replace buttons and threads.    When a large enough number of reactions are catalysed in a chemical reaction system a vast web of reactions will suddenly crystallise. Such a web is almost certainly autocatalytic, almost certainly self-sustaining, alive.”*

I created the above images inspired by idea of crystalising autocatalytic networks. Of course networks can occur in many processes besides biochemical reactions.  A neural network is another example.

* Adapted from At home in the Universe  by Stuart Kauffman, Oxford University Press,1995

Pathogens: Polio

Polio (poliomyelitis), rather being the result of deprived living conditions was associated with the improved sanitation seen in developed countries in the 20^th century.  Prior to this time the disease was usually found in young children, who generally suffered only mild symptoms, resulting in permanent immunity to the disease.  With improved hygiene the average age of onset shifted to older children and adults, when it was much more likely to result in death or permanent paralysis. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s polio would paralyse or kill half a million people worldwide every year. During this time polio became the world’s most feared disease as it hit without warning, often in the most affluent communities.

The consequences of the disease left victims marked for life, with wheelchairs, breathing devices, braces and deformed limbs. However, the disease also affected profound cultural changes including the emergence of grassroots fund-raising campaigns that would revolutionise medical philanthropy. In 1938 Franklin D. Roosevelt, himself a paralysis sufferer, helped to found the ‘March of Dimes’ foundation to raise money for suffers of infantile paralysis. Rather than soliciting large contributions from wealthy individuals, as had been done in the past, the March of Dimes sought small donations from millions of individuals.  This hugely successful venture raised money for rehabilitation therapy and funded both Jonas Salk’s and Albert Sabin’s vaccine development, field trials and supplies of free vaccine for millions of children.

After survivors, with various degrees of paralysis, left the rehabilitation hospitals and returned to the community, many were frustrated by the lack of accessibility and discrimination from society.  These individuals began to demand the right to participate in mainstream society and polio suffers were at the forefront of the disability rights movement which successfully pushed for legislation to protect individuals from discrimination based on disability and for unrestricted access to public spaces.   

Ref: J.E. Drutz & B.L. Ligon, Polio: Its history and its eradication, Seminars in Pediatric Infectious diseases, vol. 11, no 4, 2000

Pathogens: the louse

The vast panoply of minute pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and parasites which can infect our bodies are often thought of as a scourge of humanity.  However, while some of these pathogens have highly unpleasant, or even deadly effects their interplay with the animal kingdom is a complex symbiosis which provides a huge evolutionary driving force, both in terms of genetic adaption and social change.

Louse

The history of lice in Glasgow has been cited as an index of social deprivation.  In the mid 19^th century the city was ravaged by a series of typhus epidemics.  This infection is carried by the clothing louse, an insect which thrives in conditions of severe human deprivation, especially during times of war, civil unrest, famine and overcrowding.  The later was the predominant cause in Glasgow with thousands of immigrants arriving every year and no housing facilities to accommodate them.  However, the association between squalid living conditions and disease was only realised in the later part of the century and gradually with changes in laws regarding housing, the building of hospitals and wash houses, the typhus epidemics ceased. The measures designed to prevent and control the disease formed the foundation of our health service.

Despite the declining population of the clothing louse, conditions were still ripe for the head louse (a more subtle indicator of social deprivation). The worse outbreaks coincided with periods of high unemployment due to inactivity in local shipbuilding.  Lice infection was prevalent in school children, especially girls. Boys were less susceptible probably due their adoption of the ‘Barlinnie crop’ the shaved hair style introduced by the Prussian army to reduce head lice. The major outbreak in 1939 was largely blamed on girls with expensive hairstyles, emulating Hollywood stars.

Since the 1940s the incidence of lice infestations in school children has declined, due to effective treatments, school inspections and slum clearances.  Today, this condition is still believed to be a problem, especially in more deprived areas.  However, with the demise of the nit nurses and their detailed records the situation is no longer monitored.

Ref: S.W. Lindsay, 200 years of lice in Glasgow: An index of social deprivation, Parasitology Today, vol. 9, no 11, 1993.

The Space we create

In this series we view the space on a turntable as it is filled in by the figures’ movement.

 

 

 

Karla Black at GoMA – workshop

Went to GoMA’s workshop where they had a mouth-watering selection of materials to play with in Karla Black styled way.  There was so much to choose from it was difficult to show restraint and not use every taste and colour.  Here is my sweet-shop ensemble.

The Space we create

The folks at GSA are really interested in the outer skin or ‘bubble’of the shape created.  On the other hand I am fascinated by the internal structure and how it relates to the whole.  I think this transpires from my previous biology experience.  Bisecting the surface with planes is akin tocreating sections from a tissue sample.  In the examples below I have created transverse sections (TS) across the sample and longitudinal sections (LS) up and down.

I have also looked at both at once -OK we cant do this with physical tissue samples although we would love to -but by using digital imaging such as CT scanning we can get similar results.