Conference Programme
Day 1: Monday, 10 August
Registration & Coffee
14:00–14:30
Graham Ellsbury
Introduction & Welcome
Graham was George Spencer-Brown’s closest friend and confidant from 1983 to his death in 2016 and is the leading authority on the primary algebra presented in Laws of Form, GSB's pioneering work in the foundations of mathematics. Graham is compiling more than four decades of his research in formal algebras into book form. Graham chairs the Spencer-Brown Society which organizes the Laws of Form series of conferences.
Graham was George Spencer-Brown’s closest friend and confidant from 1983 to his death in 2016 and is the leading authority on the primary algebra presented in Laws of Form, GSB's pioneering work in the foundations of mathematics. Graham is compiling more than four decades of his research in formal algebras into book form. Graham chairs the Spencer-Brown Society which organizes the Laws of Form series of conferences.
14:30–15:00
Andrew Crompton
Life and What Lies behind It
If we look at life as a distinction, cells appear as chemical machines that use a semi-permeable membrane to sustain a difference between inside and outside. Since this distinction is preserved by cell division, relations between descendant cells can be seen as this primordial distinction interacting with itself.
In multicellular creatures, the distinction shifts to the skin, or to the group, or into an extended phenotype. In humans, it passes through tools and clothes. We become aware of ourselves by differential movements in the distinction, for instance, as tools go from being ready to present at hand; or by coming in and out of communion with other people through sharing space, objects or actions. We are the same insofar as we are both not some shared thing.
The deepest form of communion that preserves our immunological self occurs when the shared medium becomes transparent and both parties participate in the same form. One example is written exchange, where the primordial distinction passes between glyphs and is reconstituted as meaning in another mind. Self-awareness emerges when the ancient distinction comes into communion with another instance of its own form.
Andrew Crompton is a retired university researcher interested in interface design.
More info: www.cromp.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9206-8341
If we look at life as a distinction, cells appear as chemical machines that use a semi-permeable membrane to sustain a difference between inside and outside. Since this distinction is preserved by cell division, relations between descendant cells can be seen as this primordial distinction interacting with itself.
In multicellular creatures, the distinction shifts to the skin, or to the group, or into an extended phenotype. In humans, it passes through tools and clothes. We become aware of ourselves by differential movements in the distinction, for instance, as tools go from being ready to present at hand; or by coming in and out of communion with other people through sharing space, objects or actions. We are the same insofar as we are both not some shared thing.
The deepest form of communion that preserves our immunological self occurs when the shared medium becomes transparent and both parties participate in the same form. One example is written exchange, where the primordial distinction passes between glyphs and is reconstituted as meaning in another mind. Self-awareness emerges when the ancient distinction comes into communion with another instance of its own form.
Andrew Crompton is a retired university researcher interested in interface design.
More info: www.cromp.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9206-8341
15:00–15:30
Rachel Anne Moore
The Oriented Distinction Operator (ODO):
Formalizing the Quaternionic Pivot and the Observer-Participant Stack in Laws of Form
Awaiting final abstract
Bio
More info:
Formalizing the Quaternionic Pivot and the Observer-Participant Stack in Laws of Form
Awaiting final abstract
Bio
More info:
15:30–16:00
"Jack" John S. Engstrom
Institute for the Study of Consciousness
The Emergence of Forms and Properties from Void and Unmarked per Laws of Form
Awaiting final abstract
Jack Engstrom bio (2024):
• b. 1951;
• 1972 B.A. chemistry U.California Santa Cruz;
• seeking and finding 1.&2.: 1. deep-connections bridging/integrating math&science-knowledge with consciousness(“inside”), and 2. (re)generative ontology and epistemology;
• since 1973 doing Transcendental Meditation;
• since 1976 Arthur M. Young’s ‘Institute for the Study of Consciousness’, now president (“theory of process” and ‘Geometry of Meaning’, arthuryoung.com/organizations/institute-for-the-study-of-consciousness)
• 1994 math M.S. Maharishi International University Fairfield IA: thesis on 'numbers from Laws.of.Form'.
More info: https://arthuryoung.com/encounters/jack-engstrom/
Awaiting final abstract
Jack Engstrom bio (2024):
• b. 1951;
• 1972 B.A. chemistry U.California Santa Cruz;
• seeking and finding 1.&2.: 1. deep-connections bridging/integrating math&science-knowledge with consciousness(“inside”), and 2. (re)generative ontology and epistemology;
• since 1973 doing Transcendental Meditation;
• since 1976 Arthur M. Young’s ‘Institute for the Study of Consciousness’, now president (“theory of process” and ‘Geometry of Meaning’, arthuryoung.com/organizations/institute-for-the-study-of-consciousness)
• 1994 math M.S. Maharishi International University Fairfield IA: thesis on 'numbers from Laws.of.Form'.
More info: https://arthuryoung.com/encounters/jack-engstrom/
16:00–16:30
Kevin German
Heidelberg University
Between Shapes and Forms:
Shape Grammar and Laws of Form
In the 20th century, the search for formal generative systems produced two fundamental frameworks for understanding complexity: George Spencer-Brown's Laws of Form (1969) and George Stiny and James Gips' Shape Grammars (1971). Although both systems demonstrate how emergence arises from a sparse set of rules and are essentially based on how a new form can be calculated from an existing one, their conceptual connection has remained largely unexplored. By comparing these frameworks side-by-side, this analysis explores the inherent tension between the pure logic of distinctions and the spatial mechanics of visual calculation.
Kevin German studied Computer Engineering and Design & Future Making and has been working as a software engineer for several years. His interest lies in how one can calculate intuitively and practically with distinctions. While continuing his work in software, he is currently a medical student at Heidelberg University.
More info: https://kevingerman.de/about/
Shape Grammar and Laws of Form
In the 20th century, the search for formal generative systems produced two fundamental frameworks for understanding complexity: George Spencer-Brown's Laws of Form (1969) and George Stiny and James Gips' Shape Grammars (1971). Although both systems demonstrate how emergence arises from a sparse set of rules and are essentially based on how a new form can be calculated from an existing one, their conceptual connection has remained largely unexplored. By comparing these frameworks side-by-side, this analysis explores the inherent tension between the pure logic of distinctions and the spatial mechanics of visual calculation.
Kevin German studied Computer Engineering and Design & Future Making and has been working as a software engineer for several years. His interest lies in how one can calculate intuitively and practically with distinctions. While continuing his work in software, he is currently a medical student at Heidelberg University.
More info: https://kevingerman.de/about/
16:30–17:00
