| Thursday, June 26, 2003 |  |
| Randomity |
 I really like randomity. In many programs and webpages I've made, there are some elements of randomity. Whenever you come by, there's a different quote, a list of names is sorted differently, a picture or a color is different. That's of course easy to do when there's a script that generates the page. A random number is generated and it is used to pick a record out of a database. Often it is a subtle or minor element I make random, but I always enjoy the result.
What I like isn't really the randomity. See, I don't even believe in randomity. I believe in emerging order. Sometimes you need to collide with a piece of chaos before you notice the pattern that is latent in it. Sometimes we need to shake things up before we start seeing new potential order. There's the old creativity trick of closing your eyes, opening the dictionary and picking out one or two words at random. And then pretending that it wasn't random, and seeing how these words might help you stimulate a solution to some problem you're working on now. Very often surprising insights will emerge. In part because you get out of your fixed mindset and start looking at a much wider sphere of possibilities. You can often get the picture of something much faster by throwing in some randomity than by examining it "systematically". If you're playing minesweeper, it is a bad strategy to start at one corner and move up one cell at a time. Better to try some random cells and see what picture forms. If you were trying to make out the topography of a piece of land, you might get the picture much faster by choosing a bunch of scattered random points to check than if you start at one end and go through it. It is an intelligence or investigation technique as well. You might often find out more about a person or group if you pick some random or incidental channel of communication and see what goes through it, or some random source of information. Looking through somebody's trashcan would tell you a whole lot about them. Possibly more than if you just listened to them. Divination works in a similar way, although it would look for more ethereal patterns. The idea is that life leaves traces and clues, and if one holds the view that everything in the world is inherently connected at a deeper level, it is quite natural to assume that the application of a little randomity might bring out some of the clues. Particularly if you know what patterns to look for. Shuffle your tarot cards and shake up some tea leaves, or listen to the itch in your left knee. They might be just the antenna you need to pick up some signals you might have missed otherwise. Particularly because, and not despite, that they use randomity. What I'm talking about here is in part synchronicity. The discovery of meaning in coincidences. Which is a horrible and insane thought to people who believe that everything in the universe is inherently random, separate, unrelated and meaningless. And it is a beautiful thought to people who believe that the universe and all life is connected, and who enjoy the emergence of previously hidden patterns. So, I'm looking forward to many more chance meetings, surprising coincidences, never-before-seen connections, cross-disciplinary discoveries, emerging patterns of synergetic order. And whenever there aren't enough of them, I think it is time to roll the dice and shake things up. [ Patterns | 2003-06-26 03:37 | 10 comments | PermaLink ] More > |