This is a follow-up post to “Greedy reductionism – know any zealots who need a wake-up call?” concerning the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. I received an email from Neil further supporting Tim’s POV, so I thought it would only be fair to post the details…

From: Neil P
Sent: Friday, 30 March 2007 4:03 PM
To: Cassandra Brisbane
Subject: Thought I’d just take umbrage with….

I noticed you had your own blog so I took a look.

Tim and I had an interesting discussion about the saying “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” over email. I originally said that I didn’t agree with the saying, that it wasn’t really feasible and was just bad maths. After thinking about it a while, I came up with this:

As a systems engineer, I can categorically (and beyond shadow of a doubt) state that the “whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts”. I use this quote (from Aristotle) to demonstrate this point in the systems engineering presentations I give.

Case in point. A car. A car is a complex system that relies on the integration of many components to realise its greater function. The engine, on its own, has no real purpose, i.e. without the surrounding infrastructure it has no real use. Similarly the gearbox, the chassis, the doors etc. Even down to the nuts and bolts that bolt it all together. Meaningless as an individual commodity, meaningful in the wider context.

All systems are the same and they do not have to be thought of in terms of cars, planes, trains. The legal system, for example, is the collection of disconnected meaningless things that take on meaning when assembled as a whole.

So in summary:

Don’t argue with Aristotle!

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From: Cassandra Brisbane
Sent: Friday, 30 March 2007 4:11 PM
To: Neil
Subject: RE: Thought I’d just take umbrage with….

I was just thinking… mathematically speaking, it doesn’t really work. 2+2 will never = 5. As each number has a specific value, the whole will always equal exactly the sum of its parts.

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From: Neil
Sent: Friday, 30 March 2007 4:30 PM
To: Cassandra Brisbane
Subject: RE: Thought I’d just take umbrage with….

Disagree:

1) 2 apples plus 2 apples is 4 apples. 4 apples constitute the same thing and don’t combine to make anything greater. When you add 1 egg, 1 quantity of flour and 1 quantity of pastry, you may have eight or nine physical items. As individual components, they exist in their own space with a limited meaning. Combined, the systemic meaning changes.

So mathematics does not come into it. It is the intangible nature of the interconnectivity/interrelationship between the components that serve to add the systemic meaning. While I can connect things together and express them mathematically, I can only ever express them as a complex function. Modelling does exactly this. All a model is, is a mathematical representation of a system. I have created mathematical models to show, for a given input, what the given output would be for a system. The systems I reduced to mathematical functions were relatively simple but the mathematics gets tricky. Did you know that 99% of integrals cannot be solved?

So mathematics cannot account for the intangible nature that is associated with the interconnection of independent components. It’s like the soul – tangibly, it weighs 13grams. We can reduce it to meaning. But most academics would agree that the soul itself cannot be expressed as a whole by the assignment of a man-made constant to it. It has an intangible quality that cannot be quantified in itself. Systems are the same.

So, i’ve given the whole thing pretty good coverage, and haven’t censored anything that would make me look uninformed. Because, y’all already knew that, right?

Anyway, I had a look at the usage stats for my blog, and at some of the search string referrers. I don’t know how “superted glasses” brings them to my site. In most cases (as with most searches that lead to blog posts) I don’t think that they found what they were looking for.

It’s totally the weekend right now! I’m totally going to go do some laundry and stuff!

There were two ants on my desk running around and playing and having fun. Gail said that she thinks the ants have come in because of the weather. Usually ants hanging around are an indication that wet weather is coming.

Tim and I had an interesting discussion about the saying “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” over email. I originally said that I didn’t agree with the saying, that it wasn’t really feasible and was just bad maths. After thinking about it a while, I came up with this:

I was thinking about that “greater than the sum of its parts” thing last night, and I have come to the conclusion that it does work in things where value is not entirely quantifiable. But then again, if you can’t find the value for something, how do you even know if the total is greater than the sum of the individual parts? A good example is voltron. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. But am I de-valuing the pilots and their goLions by saying that? The opinion of a group is worth more than an that of just one individual (or so history would prove), so that might be another example. Not that I actually believe that. I think that it’s more a case of that it’s difficult to get someone to listen to you unless you’ve got other people to back you up.

Tim responded with:

That’s an interesting take. I guess when I think of the saying ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ I would see it as relating to the parts relevant to that task rather than the overall value of the part. Physically you can’t get something from nothing but if something has a superfluous or redundant feature when in isolation but that feature can work when used together with other parts I think the saying can hold. Or I could just be full of it, take your pick!

I chose “full of it”, just because I was given the option. Actually just because I can be obnoxious sometimes.

When I searched wikipedia for any possible theories on it, I found the Bailey-Borwein-Plouffe formula, which made me amused by my own ignorance. There are so many things in the world that I have no idea exist. Look here:

The Bailey-Borwein-Plouffe formula (BBP formula) permits the computation of the nth binary digit of π. It is a π summation formula discovered in 1995 by Simon Plouffe. The formula is named after David H. Bailey, Peter Borwein, and Simon Plouffe.

The discovery of this formula came as a surprise. For centuries it had been assumed that there was no way to compute the nth digit of π without calculating all of the preceding n-1 digits.

Yes, I guess that I would be surprised too! You mean that nth DOES compute? I imagine a group of mathmagicians all crowded around a whiteboard with scribbled numbers and symbols on it, and suddenly they all go, “omg!” And it just blows their mind. Or they say, “gosh, what a surprise!” haha. I don’t know why I find that amusing.

I did find an actual reference to the saying, but it was only in ecological anthropology, whereas I was looking for a more blanket explanation/definition. Or just a blanket. One with hot air balloons on it (for Chris: Ballooens).

I had so many expense claim tetris games to play today. It was awesome. I know I’ll have at least one tomorrow. I think end of month time brings with it thoughts of reimbursement to all the little salespeople, and visions of dollar signs dance in their heads. That’s fine with me. I love being productive and having things to do that I know the process for. I also like being able to make up processes, but sometimes it can be quite tedious. I suppose I’d never thought about it before, because I’ve never been involved in this side of things (I’ve always only worked for companies already well established in their ways) but creating processes is hard work. Especially when you haven’t been trained in that area.

I have to play with Visio tomorrow, to try and figure it out. I’m self-taught in almost every computer program that I use, so I definitely have faith in my abilities. I think that computers are designed so that you can learn how to do things yourself, unless you’re part of the baby boomer generation. Mum says, “How do I get into my email? is it this big ‘E’ for Email?” (pointing at the icon for IE). I guess she was right, technically, but it wasn’t her flawed logic that made it so.

A picture of Cal in his job interview stuff. Go Cal! I miss you heaps When the animals at the zoo have babies, I’m so coming to visit. I recommend you purchase some animal pheromones and use a spray bottle to get them all going. Then they should have babies by Spring. Wait…. that’ll happen anyway, right? Scrap that, I don’t want the animal rights activists after me. I got kind of annoyed at J & the Doctor for spreading outrageous propaganda about the plight of honey bees. Do some research GOSH! I’m glad that the beekeeper rang up and talked about how much he loved his bees. It was very heartwarming.

How funny is this headboard? Worst headboard ever! (said in comic-book store guy voice) What is the point? I’m going to put a few random images on here just so people can randomly look at random things, like the random mattresses in the carpark of someone’s complex. No, I didn’t write about you in my blog. I bet you think this song is about you!

Ok, a quick story about this image. I simply don’t get this comic at all. It’s not funny. It doesn’t make sense. And yet, I have it stuck up on the wall at work and it makes me laugh almost every day. I can’t explain it. It’s inexplicable.

Chris has been sending me messages all afternoon, and they’ve been making me lol. It would be embarrassing, except that I’ve already done far more embarrassing things, without the help of nonsensical texts from Chris. I sometimes think that I’m not capable of being embarrassed, until I remember when I was younger and got angry at my mum for ignoring me when I asked if she could get me a book down off a shelf in a store, and then she turned around and it wasn’t mum. So I guess I was embarrassed then, but not so much any more. I think I’m more able to laugh at myself now. And I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing, or a bad thing. If I’m happy, then it’s good, right?

The news, as reported by Chris this afternoon via text messages:

4:32pm: Australian Snowboarder dies in all in Swiss Alps

4:33pm: Man eats buffit

4:35pm: Pea joins fight against curds, and way.

4:35pm: Sensodyne doesn’t work. Says man.

4:39pm: Squid sucks off womans toe in violent rage

4:40pm: Connect four does.

4:41pm: Hicks gets hooked on hickies and ham.

4:43pm: Alma fudd fucked by buggs in horror burrow rape.

4:43pm: Tree gives way under pressure from sky.

4:46pm: Metho accused of aboriginal deaths and arrested on murder charges.

4:47pm: Howard says workchoice legislation have delivered on liberal panties plan.

4:48pm: Bill evans from westpac reports on finance news and looks like stoned old Fuck.

4:49pm: Tom Cruise lies. Again.

4:50pm: Man lays egg and forgets where he puts it

4:53pm: Optus steals boat load of south african animals and puts them to work in call centre offering small pay and water.

4:54pm: Kochie shiTs out of mouth whilst talking under water and clapping hands like a seal.

4:55pm: Police on gold coast investigate japan-e-ze.

———–

I feel nice and fresh and clean. I was a bit tired today, not too much. I’m finding that I have more energy than I used to. I’m not sure why… I feel pretty happy right now. I’ve got sunshine in a bag. I felt this last week, but felt I couldn’t trust it. This sort of effortless soaring, this feeling of coasting over everything I used to stamp my feet in the dust bout… it’s a bit daunting because there’s so far to fall. I’m no longer so greatly affected by external influences. It was almost that… other people determined my mood. Right now I’m…. something

Play this game!!!!! invisibles-2.xls I kind of like these little distractions. However, it does seem like if you can’t get the exact phrasing/punctuation/etc right, it will tell you you’re wrong. Don’t take it personally, it told me too. I think it’s just a sociopath.

Ignorant people think it is the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain’t so; it is the sickening grammar that they use.
- Mark Twain

Sometimes you’ll think about something, something that seems far off in the future. You might think, “I can’t stand to wait that long! How am I ever going to be able to stay sane until then?!” When really, that’s beside the point. Life goes on, time passes, whether you’re watching the clock or not. And things will happen while you’re busy concentrating on that one thing that was so important a little while ago. When you finally sit up and look around you, everything’s changed. What you want might be completely different, and you won’t be able to recognise that unless you’re willing to stop concentrating on that one thing. You might think you want something, and while you’re pining away after it, the world spins again and everything changes. What if you get that thing that you’ve wasted so much time on hanging around for, and it turns out to be nothing much at all?

These are the things that are important: feeling respected. Feeling appreciated. Family & friends (and kittens). These are the things which are worth your time. Fun is also almost always worth your time

I don’t know what’s made me so philosophical lately. Maybe I should go stand in King George Square with a sash and a megaphone, praising jeebus (praise be!). Maybe I should go back into my corner. Either way, shut up.

I’m sorry. I can tend to be a drama queen quite often. I’m terrible at hiding my feelings, mostly because I don’t try.

Lauren, Nathan, Noelle & I went to see Hot Fuzz tonight. It was funny. I’m in a strange mood. See if you can guess what it is! I’ve been exasperated, impatient, obscene… Every single one of my muscles is spontaneously twitching. I just want to go DO something! I’ve wrapped myself up in a cocoon, and finally emerged to a stultifying, tedious existence. I want to FEEL something, mostly something good. I want to feel appreciated, admired, important, wanted…

I want to go out and test myself. I want to challenge myself and other people. I want to learn something new, meet someone who opens my mind to new possibilities, someone who really sees me.

Does that person even exist? I’m willing to give anything a try right now. This mood feels effortless. It feels like lifting your face to the warmest rays of sun on a cold morning, or like one of those amazing flying dreams, where you’re soaring far above everything and it’s the best feeling you’ve ever experienced. I am me. I am not going to compromise this any more. Whatever happens from here on in, it’s because I chose for it to happen. Because I want it to happen.

Some things:

About Overseas…

I don’t care if I have to fly in a hot air balloon, because once you’re over there it doesn’t matter! You’re just like “ye olde englande towne!” and standing in front of that fountain near that big screen wherever that is, and going to oxford circus and piccadilly circus and they’re not actually circuses, just places. And going on the Tube, which is a really good transport system because it’s fast and the trains come like every 2 mins, and if a train is delayed they actually tell you, AND they tell you why. And you can go to Carnaby Street and see all the people going to Carnaby Street to be at Carnaby Street, then when you walk past some random driveway maybe a soldier in a red uniform will march out on a horse and a police officer will tell you and the rest of the people walking to “move aside please, move aside!” and then you might get to go to grenwich and when you walk up to the mean time thing on top of the hill maybe some asian guy will be standing with crumbs on him and squirrels all around and on him and you can take funny photos!

Austria….

When we were in Austria, in Innsbruck, we went to a little coffee & cake shop and ordered strudel and sacher torte. Our friend pronounced it “sasha” and the waitress and some random guy sitting next to us laughed at us. Then we started saying all the german we knew, and Lauren said “arschloch”. They were shocked that we knew a swear word! The coffee shop was nice and warm, and we stayed there for a couple of hours drinking hot chocolate. When we left, it was dark, and we could see the lights from chalets on the mountains twinkling above the town. It was beautiful. The mountains rose like a painted backdrop, straight up into the sky above the rooftops.

We went to find a net café, and tried to follow the directions that the lady at the tourist information centre had given us. We ended up not finding the net café, but finding instead an ice skating rink surrounded on all sides by quaint little shops, and lit with old lampposts that cast a warm yellow glow over everything. We watched the people skating for a while, and then headed back.

Other places…

I’d love to be in England, in Greenwich park, sitting on a blanket on the grass in the sunshine and watching the squirrels running around through the dappled light from the autumnal trees scattered over the grounds.

Or…

I’d love to be wandering around the streets of Rome, with smartcars zooming past blaring their horns, nearly crashing into anything and everything. The smell of grass and dirt is in the air because it’s just rained, but the sun has come out and I’m watching it envelop the ancient, crumbling statues and buildings in a dreamy, afternoon haze of pale orange and fuchsia.

Or…

I’d love to be in Paris, in the Jardins Tulieres, sitting on one of the green wrought-iron chairs randomly placed around the fountains, watching people stroll past enjoying a warm afternoon in the park, and listening to the language of Romance being spoken all around me.

I think my new thing will be to try to be a real happy guy. I’ll just walk around being real happy until some jerk says something stupid to me.

- Jack Handey

i am in a good mood today. I’m not sure why. I’m trying not to question it.

I really need to clean my room, and I think I’ll do that tonight so that I can feel all “hey my room is clean and nice” and it’s good.

Yes. I’m cleaning my room tonight.

I’ve been absent-minded lately. Ashleigh called me out to reception and held the receiver of the phone out to me. Usually this means that I have a call (because I don’t have a phone at my desk since it’s only temporary). So, I said “hello?” and the person on the other end started talking, saying “oh hi Cassandra, I was just calling to let you know that so-and-so’s flights will need to be booked today…” and all the while I’m saying “ok, yeah, hmm” and then she said “well, I guess I’ll try get in contact with you later. If you get this before I’ve tried again, could you please give me a call back on blah blah blah…” and so I said “no, wait! I’m here!” I thought that she had been diverted through to voicemail, and Ashleigh was sitting there laughing at me. She said “it’s a message you freak!” And that was embarrassing. Because I didn’t know! But yeah, it is a bit funny I guess.

I’m trying to think of things that are making me feel either peaceful or happy at the moment. One thing that I like is when I have to remove staples from documents at work, and the staples stay on the staple remover. For some reason, it makes me feel like I’ve achieved something when I have a row of staples all stuck on the prongs of the staple remover.

Also, when I receive expense claims from people, I stick the receipts onto pieces of A4 paper so that I can photocopy lots of them at once, and they’re easier to keep together. It’s satisfying when I can fit a lot of receipts onto one piece of paper. It’s sort of like playing tetris or something. I’ll probably be over it in a while and I’ll be all “GOSH idiot!” but for now it’s good.

Noelle and I went out with a few other people last night for St. Paddy’s Day. Neither of us were wearing any green or orange, but we felt very patriotic and showed this by drinking lots of alcohol in true Irish style. At least, I did. I was home in bed by 11:30pm (successful night out! I’m so hardxxcore! not.) but I still had fun. I enjoyed meeting new people, and seeing others who I hadn’t seen in a while.

This is Noe and I doing our best Blue Steels. Or maybe they’re Magnums… I can’t remember. Anyway, I can’t tell you how much this means to me to be the first recipient of this beautiful award. With this ’slash’ award, it means that you consider me the best actor/model, and not the other way around. Speaking of Fabio, of all the people to get hit in the face with a seagull while on a rollercoaster, it happening to him was just so poetic. I remember American Liz laughing about it hysterically when we were at dinner in … Innsbruck maybe?

Oh and just so you know, I have now gone as blonde as I can go (for the moment. In another six/seven weeks, I can be even blonder). I’m thinking that I will go back to my natural colour, then exist in that for a while. Then, if I honestly feel that I want to go dark again, and I’m willing to live through the four – five month wait and $500.00 cost to get back to blonde again, at least I’ll be able to make a more informed decision. I’ve become informed by experience about a lot of things lately.

I’m still sad, but the pockets of happiness are growing. Here is a quote from Anna’s blog which describes the way that I have been feeling lately. I’m not really up to the end bit yet, but I can see the possibility which I think is the start:

It’s like a bushfire ravaging your insides… uncontrollable, searing heat and chaos. Finally the fire dies down, the embers turn from red to black and only the ashes remain. And everything inside is silent, the colour of charcoal and ashes… empty. It starts to rain and you are swamped with the drip drip drip of disappointment, not really knowing how to wade through it to drier land. Then slowly the runoff is soaked up, fades away, and small buds start to peek through the blackness … something new is growing. And then you see it and marvel at the wonder of it all, how new life could possibly find its way through all that devastation. And then you start to feel some pieces of happiness again. The hard part is the first part, the fire, the embers, the ashes. But the emergence of the seeds is truly an amazing thing! Just as good as the smell of spring.

What I have realised I can learn from this new environment, new situation, new life journey:
Whether I truly like the company I keep in the empty moments. If I can disappoint another to be true to myself. If I can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray my own soul. If I know what it is that sustains me, from the inside, when all else falls away. If I know what being true to myself looks like in daily practice.

I think, out of everything that I lost sight of from losing myself to something so strong, the hardest to get back was my sense of self, and the sense that me as me is okay. In fact, better than okay. Me being me, being true to myself, is the best it gets. Doing things that fulfill me, feeling strong and empowered… these are the things that I need to get back. Although I still feel the pain, I can feel it without regret. I can appreciate the time that we were together. I won’t lose myself to bitterness. I can be honest with myself about this, and concentrate on looking after myself for a while. These realisations can only happen when we are able to accept the situation. When we are able to learn the lessons, however painful they might be. Julia said, “you can step into the pain, but don’t immerse yourself in it.” This is true. I might need to cry sporadically, but crying purges a little of the pain at a time, and leaves room for new growth. What grows is a new part of me that is stronger, more self-sufficient, more aware.

It’s not about going out and finding a rebound. I can’t use people that way. And I don’t want meaningless encounters. I’m too inwardly-focussed for that to do anything for me at all, and I know that from past experience that it only makes me feel like I’ve devalued myself. I’m lucky to have so many people around who are looking out for me. You are all my angels.

I’m constantly thinking. I’m very introspective. I think I think too much. The cogs in my brain are constantly turning, and I come up with some strange ideas and theories on why things are the way they are.

I’m constantly trying to make sense out of everything that happens. I want to know everything about everything. I think this is not just a generation-y thing, and I think I should stop explaining it away as that.

I think this won’t be the last time I write something pointless.

I’m overwhelmed by the sensation of missing someone or something. The Shins new song “Phantom Limb” is such a perfect metaphor for this feeling. It happens to thousands/millions of people every single day, so why do I feel so alone? Why do I hate so much when people try to compare my heartache to what they were feeling at a time that they think was similar? That’s not even what they’re trying to do. I know that. They’re trying to make me feel less alone in my pain, but it doesn’t help at all. It makes me rail against their attempts at comforting me.

I don’t want to feel like this any more.

I don’t want to feel discarded, unwanted, like my best efforts are simply not good enough.

It’s very difficult to retain any self-esteem in a situation like this. I’m just not good enough, and I have nothing more to offer.

I thought that I was a fairly self-sufficient person. I thought that I was an introvert – recharging my energy by taking time out by myself to sit and deconstruct situations.

I think that I might have been wrong about all of these things. Or maybe personality is just too complicated a thing for these definitions.

I’m not too sure of anything at the moment. I’m sure of the pain, but that comes and goes. Nothing in my life is reliable right now. I feel like I can’t trust anything, or anyone.

I think that the reason I felt like I was self-sufficient was because I didn’t often let people in enough to be able to hurt me. The reason that I retreated was so that I could breathe and step back and remain at a distance that would allow me not to make any connections that would hurt me too much when they were broken.

I’ve always been a giving person. That seems to have magnified and taken over my personality now that I’m older. I give my time, energy, emotions, money, posessions… and perhaps it is a way of trying to make up for what I feel that I am lacking. I try to bridge the gap between my worth and someone else’s by giving more of myself. I also give in the hopes that this will prompt a return of the same from whoever I am giving to.

I don’t know myself enough to know what I really want. I know what I want in the heat of the moment, in conflicts that spring from feelings of worthlessness and taken-for-grantedness, but when I am happy, I generally just tend to want whatever I am getting. I don’t know what I want from others because I’m too busy concentrating on what I’m giving to them, in the hopes that they will be able to tell what I want and give that back to me.

I give to people what I think that they want from me. When a relationship affects me deeply, I give so much of myself that I lose all sense of what it means to be me. I lose my ability to think and function on my own. I base my self-worth on the way that other people treat me.

How can I learn from this? How can I comprehend anything, above the pain that I am feeling?

You really begin to understand what loneliness is when you’ve spent a great deal of time with someone. It’s a visceral thing. It eats away at you inside until you’re lying on your bed sobbing, wondering how you’re ever going to feel right again in your own life, how you’re ever going to enjoy anything that was a part of your life before this whole thing happened.

I keep getting the feeling that I’ve gone backward in the level of my maturity. I keep getting these flashes of who I was years ago, and feeling like I’m back there, at that stage in my life – an idiot, unaware of the way the world works. It was okay to be that clueless back then, but now… I should be more self-aware, more developed in my emotional and mental understandings of things. I feel like, if I go back to the things that occupied my time before I was in this relationship, then that means that I’m the same person. I’ve started to resent the person I used to be, and I resent the person that I was while I was in the relationship even more, because that person led to the end of something so important. So who is there left for me to like? How can I ever feel of value again?

I can’t keep basing my value on other people’s opinions and perceptions of me. If the only pride I feel is when others recognise me for something I’ve done or am, how am I ever going to feel okay just with myself?

I guess I don’t trust myself, because through my own actions, thoughts, insecurities, I have let myself down time and time again, more than anyone else could ever let me down. I have hurt myself more than anyone else could. I’ve done stupid things, and it doesn’t help to beat myself up over it, but if you don’t learn from your mistakes then there was no point in them being made in the first place.

I never knew that anything could hurt this much.