miffed

[Nick Thompson]

Like the spandrels of san Marcos, an armpit is not a thing but a place
between two things.  

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson
Professor of Psychology and Ethology
Clark University
nickthompson at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/
 nthompson at clarku.edu


> [Original Message]
> From: Dede Densmore <dede at backspaces.net>
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
<Friam at redfish.com>; <nickthompson at earthlink.net>

> Date: 9/27/2005 9:00:30 AM
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] miffed
>
> how come an armpit isn't a thing?
> Dede
> On Sep 26, 2005, at 7:34 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
>
> > All --
> >  
> > I am miffed that nobody rose to the bait of my question about when is
> > a something a something.  Now if I had raised that question with
> > respect to hurricanes and asserted, say, that a hurricane is "just" a
> > bunch of thunderstorms, you would have all been all over me about
> > "emergence".  A hurricane, you would say, is more than the sum of its
> > thunderstorm parts.  But if I assert that a hurricane is "just" a node
> > in the structure of pressure systems and air flows in the atmosphere, 
> > no more a thing in itself than is an armpit an anatomical thing, would
> > you have been all over me about "concretion"?   Or even
> > "precipitation"?  Is there a sense in which higher order systems can
> > precipitate an entity that is analogous to (but the reverse of ) the
> > way in which lower order systems can generate an emergent???
> >  
> > Inquiring people want to know.
> >   
> > Nick
> >   
> >  
> > Nicholas S. Thompson
> > Professor of Psychology and Ethology
> > Clark University
> > nickthompson at earthlink.net
> > http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/
> > nthompson at clarku.edu
> >  
> >
> > ============================================================
> > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> > Meets Fridays 9:30a-11:30 at ad hoc locations
> > Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, etc.:
> > http://www.friam.org

[Douglas Roberts-2]

Spandrel: Now that's a nice word.

Spandrel \Span"drel\, n. [From Span.]
1. (Arch.) The irregular triangular space between the curve
of an arch and the inclosing right angle; or the space
between the outer moldings of two contiguous arches and a
horizontal line above them, or another arch above and
inclosing them.
[1913 Webster]

2. A narrow mat or passe partout for a picture. [Cant]
[1913 Webster]



WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]


spandrel
n : an approximately triangular surface area between two
adjacent arches and the horizontal plane above them [syn:
spandril]


On 9/27/05, Nicholas Thompson <nickthompson at earthlink.net> wrote:

>
> Like the spandrels of san Marcos, an armpit is not a thing but a place
> between two things.
>
> Nick
>
> Nicholas S. Thompson
> Professor of Psychology and Ethology
> Clark University
> nickthompson at earthlink.net
> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/
> nthompson at clarku.edu
>
>
> > [Original Message]
> > From: Dede Densmore <dede at backspaces.net>
> > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> <Friam at redfish.com>; <nickthompson at earthlink.net>
> > Date: 9/27/2005 9:00:30 AM
> > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] miffed
> >
> > how come an armpit isn't a thing?
> > Dede
> > On Sep 26, 2005, at 7:34 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
> >
> > > All --
> > >
> > > I am miffed that nobody rose to the bait of my question about when is
> > > a something a something. Now if I had raised that question with
> > > respect to hurricanes and asserted, say, that a hurricane is "just" a
> > > bunch of thunderstorms, you would have all been all over me about
> > > "emergence". A hurricane, you would say, is more than the sum of its
> > > thunderstorm parts. But if I assert that a hurricane is "just" a node
> > > in the structure of pressure systems and air flows in the atmosphere,
> > > no more a thing in itself than is an armpit an anatomical thing, would
> > > you have been all over me about "concretion"? Or even
> > > "precipitation"? Is there a sense in which higher order systems can
> > > precipitate an entity that is analogous to (but the reverse of ) the
> > > way in which lower order systems can generate an emergent???
> > >
> > > Inquiring people want to know.
> > >
> > > Nick
> > >
> > >
> > > Nicholas S. Thompson
> > > Professor of Psychology and Ethology
> > > Clark University
> > > nickthompson at earthlink.net
> > > http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/
> > > nthompson at clarku.edu
> > >
> > >
> > > ============================================================
> > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> > > Meets Fridays 9:30a-11:30 at ad hoc locations
> > > Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, etc.:
> > > http://www.friam.org
>
>
>
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9:30a-11:30 at ad hoc locations
> Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, etc.:
> http://www.friam.org
>
>

--
===============================================================
"Never pick a fight with someone who buys his ink by the
barrel."

- Mark Twain
===============================================================
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