757
of “metaphysical fallacies,” and applied that “each new generation, every new human
being as he becomes conscious of being inserted between an infinite past and an infinite future, must discover and ploddingly pave anew the path of thought”
6
.
84.2 The Ants and the Humans
The ants plod forward no less than humans; our cognitions give to no correlation.
One is not superior or inferior to the other, precisely because there can be no intelligence quotient that is relevant to any but the self-important species enacting the
fallacious calculations. Who is a better poet, Einstein or a giraffe? And are we to
suppose that Cartesian coordinates are sufficient to define the space and equations
of their ruminations (Einstein’s and the giraffe’s)? x
2
+ y
2
= 4? Do their spatial
hyperplanes devolve into equal trihedral, or octants? Are their X, Y, and Z axes to be
taken literally? We should be as apt to ponder the geometrical insights of the precocious Bernhard Riemann (1826–1866) and his “exterior calculus” and “topological manifolds” as we are the imagery of the Hoefnagels. Riemann’s
transition maps to higher dimensionality within geometry, said to have made
Einstein’s general theory of relativity possible, with its minimal, ruled, and multidimensional surfaces inside and outside Euclidean spaces, must rely, ultimately,
upon space we ourselves can relate to. Otherwise, abstract dimensionality has no
specific-enough relevancy to either quantification or qualification. Yet, there
is always going to be birth out of empty correlates.
Such mathematical orders presuppose some aspect of systematics, but none coming from the inner and outer worlds of other beings, whose seismic sentience necessarily undermines any theory of certainty. And that would include absolute
confidence in the genetics or storylines concerning primates, and H. sapiens in particular. James Grier Miller forcefully acknowledges a kind of biosemiotics preamble when he writes, “…one cannot measure comparable processes at different levels
of systems, to confirm or disconfirm cross-level hypotheses…”
7
. And he concludes,
“Any cell in a given location at a given time, any ruler of a given nation in a given
period, receives comparable matter-energy and information inputs. But they may
act quite differently”
8
.
These intimations, artistic and mathematical coefficients of self-compliance and
absorption, will necessarily disrupt any given moment of consciousness. As if, waking from a dream to discover that we are veering, half-asleep, into oncoming traffic
that is the earth (Fig. 84.2).
6 The Life Of The Mind, Volume One, Thinking, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York and
London, 1978, p. 210.
7 See James Grier Miller, “Living Systems – The Basic Concepts,” 1978, https://www.panarchy.
org/miller/livingsystems.html, no pages numbered, Accessed January 29, 2020. Miller, Panarchy,
no pages numbered,1978. See also, Immanuel Wallerstein’s four-volume The Modern WorldSystem 1974-2011, Academic Press, New York, and University of California Press-Berkeley, CA.
8 ibid, Panarchy, no pages numbered.
84.2 The Ants and the Humans
of “metaphysical fallacies,” and applied that “each new generation, every new human
being as he becomes conscious of being inserted between an infinite past and an infinite future, must discover and ploddingly pave anew the path of thought”
6
.
84.2 The Ants and the Humans
The ants plod forward no less than humans; our cognitions give to no correlation.
One is not superior or inferior to the other, precisely because there can be no intelligence quotient that is relevant to any but the self-important species enacting the
fallacious calculations. Who is a better poet, Einstein or a giraffe? And are we to
suppose that Cartesian coordinates are sufficient to define the space and equations
of their ruminations (Einstein’s and the giraffe’s)? x
2
+ y
2
= 4? Do their spatial
hyperplanes devolve into equal trihedral, or octants? Are their X, Y, and Z axes to be
taken literally? We should be as apt to ponder the geometrical insights of the precocious Bernhard Riemann (1826–1866) and his “exterior calculus” and “topological manifolds” as we are the imagery of the Hoefnagels. Riemann’s
transition maps to higher dimensionality within geometry, said to have made
Einstein’s general theory of relativity possible, with its minimal, ruled, and multidimensional surfaces inside and outside Euclidean spaces, must rely, ultimately,
upon space we ourselves can relate to. Otherwise, abstract dimensionality has no
specific-enough relevancy to either quantification or qualification. Yet, there
is always going to be birth out of empty correlates.
Such mathematical orders presuppose some aspect of systematics, but none coming from the inner and outer worlds of other beings, whose seismic sentience necessarily undermines any theory of certainty. And that would include absolute
confidence in the genetics or storylines concerning primates, and H. sapiens in particular. James Grier Miller forcefully acknowledges a kind of biosemiotics preamble when he writes, “…one cannot measure comparable processes at different levels
of systems, to confirm or disconfirm cross-level hypotheses…”
7
. And he concludes,
“Any cell in a given location at a given time, any ruler of a given nation in a given
period, receives comparable matter-energy and information inputs. But they may
act quite differently”
8
.
These intimations, artistic and mathematical coefficients of self-compliance and
absorption, will necessarily disrupt any given moment of consciousness. As if, waking from a dream to discover that we are veering, half-asleep, into oncoming traffic
that is the earth (Fig. 84.2).
6 The Life Of The Mind, Volume One, Thinking, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York and
London, 1978, p. 210.
7 See James Grier Miller, “Living Systems – The Basic Concepts,” 1978, https://www.panarchy.
org/miller/livingsystems.html, no pages numbered, Accessed January 29, 2020. Miller, Panarchy,
no pages numbered,1978. See also, Immanuel Wallerstein’s four-volume The Modern WorldSystem 1974-2011, Academic Press, New York, and University of California Press-Berkeley, CA.
8 ibid, Panarchy, no pages numbered.
84.2 The Ants and the Humans