Mindmap #10: Seeking Homeostasis (Popplet visualization)

The ecology of my mind map seeks homeostasis, a natural balance among its many theories. My mind map has become, in Charles Darwin’s words, a “web of complex relations” (cited in Spellman, 2007, p. 4).  Well, maybe not as complex as all of nature, but if we follow the formula for the value of a network from Castells (2000) — “the value of a network increases as the square if the number of nodes in the net” (p. 71), expressed as V=n^(n-1), where n is the number of nodes in the network — then we’re looking at a pretty significant number of potential connectivities among all these theories. That’s pretty complex. (I had to check: the number of nodes related specifically to theories in the mind map is around 75 right now, so V=75⁷⁴. That’s higher than any calculator I have access to can count.)

I linked the three ecologies from Guattari to my ecology node. I used Spellman’s (2007) focus on homeostasis (p.15) as a node as well, connecting it to the both the relationship between the organism and the environment (an important aspect of the definition of ecology) and the relationship between Guatarri’s three ecologies. Both Spellman and Guattari invoke the importance of seeking an equilibrium within ecologies or biosphere. Since “it is people through their complex activities who tend to disrupt natural controls” (Spellman 2007, p. 15), achieving homeostasis in ecosystems in which humans are active participants is incredibly difficult.

I focused specifically on the relationship between environment and organism as the focus of homeostasis, but I also added distributed intelligence as a node related to all aspects of the network of ecology. Distributed intelligence, cognition, value — whatever the term we wish to use — is becoming an important, common theme among several theorists. Our theorists are no longer willing to propose meaning be found in a single aspect of a networked environment; on the contrary, value has been placed in the interrelationships among network nodes. If I had to define what I consider a network right now, I’d probably focus on distributed value among actively connected nodes. Individual nodes may be valuable, but in the network system, the value of an individual node is found in its contributions to the distributed meaning or value of the network itself. And that distributed meaning gains value only in its active state; in a passive state in which connections are theorized but not activated, the nodes provide only a framework for potential connectivity, distribution, and meaning or value.

I’m not sure how to convey all this in a mind map yet, but I expect I may center and enlarge “Distributed Intelligence” and start connecting many different mind map nodes to that important concept as I move forward. Castells shows so signs of moving away from this model of distributed meaning and value. And maybe it’s in emphasizing this distribution that my mind map will find the homeostatic condition it seeks (or maybe I’m on the one seeking it).

References

Guattari, F. (2012/1989). The three ecologies. Trans. Ian Pindar & Paul Sutton. London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Spellman, F. R. (2007). Ecology for nonecologists. Lanham, MD: Government Institutes, 3-23; 61-84.

[Top image – Narrative Ecology Framework flashcards: CC licensed image from Flickr user Crystal Campbell]