Source: Netherlandish (possibly Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen) Laughing Fool ca. 1500 - Oil on panel, 13 13/16 x 9 in Davis Museum at Wellesley College

Welcome to the inaugural post of NERVOUSystems.

You're all new here, but if you like what you read make sure to use the RSS above and keep up to date via my various social media silos (I will be sure to add a list on the info found by clicking on the globe menu above). If any of these ideas resonate or even irk you get in contact.

In this debut post, we'll delve into a broader overview, serving as an introduction to the first series of discussions: API—Application Programming Interfacing / A Planetary Interior and an ongoing review series on the process of founding a start up that I'll call 'Constructing Sense'.

As the ice melts, the planet's memory falters and is lost.

– Anne McClintock

I have rewritten this introduction numerous times, in two different mediums. Firstly, fragments found within the posts for API will be found within the Architectural Associations archive of my final fifth year, a commitment of 10,000 words that act as the catalyst for NERVOUSystems (although they do not share the same name). Secondly, on numerous note taking interfaces (physical and digital). Trying to frame the reasoning to commit to write and draw upon my ongoing personal and inter-personal archive of reflection and observation seems absolutist. Questioning its use and how it may contribute as mode or model of reflection may be more worthwhile...  

Really, there is no answer to this question of why. I’m rather keen to avoid finding one. This is partly due to my relationship to the subject matter of the blog, and a circumstantial condition. The reason I struggle to commit to writing and contributing to a particular field, is because of the very second-nature of the epoch we are experiencing together- the Anthropocene.

API is certainly an attempt to articulate an intricate terrain where our imaginaries collide and converge with Earth's communication systems. The forming of a vast and mutable synthetic technological apparatus and knowledge framework that can be sensed and gathered within is the playground of the ideas that will be committed to this series. But rather than constructing simplistic pathways to define knowledge and meaning, I will try to present an array of tools (from observation, design and strategy) aimed at actively engaging with the pursuit of a tethered / reframed alternative schema of how we can organise life and our lives to this new / old form.

Contained within NERVOUSystems are writings that function as an interfacing technology—a continuous inter-archive defining and then shifting focus to reveal both connections and end-of-maze concepts in process or motion. This approach welcomes spatial conflicts and slippages within its evolving form. It's an endeavour to navigate the interplay between archiving, systems theory, complexity science, cybernetics, urbanism, architecture, design, computation, AI, tech and a sprinkling of magic matter.

At first glance, each series might appear unfocused, peripheral, or even esoteric.

This is a reflection of the contexts in which they were written, influenced by my ongoing experiences as I navigate the path of evaluating and reshaping an approach to design.

This is a journey. Directed towards asynchronous planetary technology development amidst the shadows of modernities uncertain future. It involves all forms of media and constructed sense making machinery.

I've held onto these texts for quite some time now...

So why present them now?

Why write into an ever expansive noise machine? Honestly I am not so sure. I feel compelled to document ideas, actions, and failures as they unfold—starting with clearing a backlog of past events. This is an act that I hope begins to make a clear connection between two areas of interest for me: my ongoing startup efforts with Interfacing Research Laboratory, and my attempts to begin to negotiate a relativity between world-systems: logistics/ brands/ products/ architectures/ plans and planetary processes: Earth systems/ spheres through the irreversible technological shifts.

NERVOUSystems as a sum of its parts, seeks to contextualise my ongoing collaborations with friends and colleagues, fostering complexity in design and narratability that gives shape to our connection with our planet and it's multiple expanding and contracting worlds.

World Building is a new buzzword, and an old villain.

Why am I so invested in world building? It may start from a personal series of intuitive moves which act as a prelude to my current trajectory. I trained as an actor, worked in film production and in fashion, before studying and working professionally in architecture, giving me a strangely diagonal insight into multiple highly technical world-building practices. Ultimately I am broadly experienced in organisation and design of the realised imaginary, utilising the most powerful apparatus and technology: The stories we tell.

This still does not fully explain why I have decided to commit myself to build a startup, write this blog, and delve into research... I will summarise in a few words why I am searching for synthetic, intelligent, and conscious systems that do not articulate an attitude to whether they are physical or digital (exploring the inter-operable potential of both):

I want to negotiate a future...

In real time...

In real life.

To organise a relatability between species and all matter.

A democratic project for the planet.

Amidst the Unperceptive

In the midst of carbon / climate omnicide as well as a declining sensitivity towards both the science of climate and the impossibility of an alternative to growth, I want to begin the process of carving out a design strategy that could negotiate an alternative. To some this may seem pompous or obnoxious, to others– naive, and to even more still– completely impossible. But it is what I am setting out to do.

I feel like I have no alternative as I do not want to be stranded in a peculiar negotiation between shifting conflicts and professional arrangements. Nor do I want to believe, like a lot of developers and founders I have encountered, that it is unprofitable to act against what they wrongly believe to be the main narratives of progress (often learnt from varying feeds).

Again, to reiterate, the current narratives that evoke change—carbon/nuclear omnicide and market uncertainty: a plan for open hostility, a data war fuelled by misinformation, and an inflated set of tickers with an entrenched apparatus that endangers us all (as we rely on it) are failing us. They do not allow for a process of liberation from the current myths and market dynamics. Nor do they actually fully function as strong enough imaginaries to fully act as world creators— the techno-sludge optimism/ accelerated role-play/ lifestyle larp of a logistical life creates psychological and environment vulnerability.

Processing

NERVOUSystems is a process that involves creating diagonal connections between seemingly disparate schemas through an adapted method of archiving inspired by Niklas Luhmann's Zettelkasten slip-boxing system. This method relies on evolving reference points that gain significance over time and acts in opposition to instant fulfilment.

I want to add a little detail to the process of writing the thesis at the Architectural Association in London. The thesis was officially overseen by John Palmesino, Ann-Sofi Ronnskog, and Mark Campbell, although I was very much left to walk around inside my own head and space. My fourth and fifth years were spent as a student under John and Ann-Sofi's guidance, deepening an almost lifelong fascination with computation, technology, and complex systems dynamics. Strangely, despite my initial interest in the AA due to its association with cybernetics and AI, I had momentarily set aside these interests architecturally prior to studying with John and Ann-Sofi, instead pursuing an interest in architecture as an elegant design solution for the framing of everyday life. My focus was intensely on the process of design, materials, and planning. The criticality much on the formal output of the process rather than the process itself and its relations to what is considered to be peripheral. I must also acknowledge another mentor and friend, Manolis Stavrakakis, who has been a constant presence throughout my architectural education, starting from my first-year induction. Our discussions, pub outings, and London strolls have been enriching and enlightening. During one of our meetings to discuss my thesis, our conversation veered toward the archiving system I used to create API. Built on the proximity of notation elements, this operational logic has remained a consistent thread in my work. Manolis, familiar with my seemingly elusive tendencies that would previously edge on the brink of failure (I like the challenge), remained unperturbed, comprehending my approach. When I encounter difficulty in articulating or materialising my idea, I become increasingly intrigued and driven. I gravitate towards agility, alternatives, proximity, and association, favouring these over immediate answers.

In that conversation with Manolis, I conveyed an argument in favour of what i was then referring to as "a cosmo-political state for the city and innovation, achievable through interplay—navigating within embedded memory, real-time storage formation, and preexisting organisational dynamics that underpin the construction and maintenance of world systems". I expected Manolis to dismiss this as another abstract monologue, as he had often borne witness to my rants, sometimes akin to word salad (external manifestations of my inner struggle with architecture) at a bar / pub. Yet, he could tell that I was serious. He took a sip of his coffee, seemingly distracted, before inquiring if I had read Italo Calvino's lectures, 'Six Memos for the Next Millennium.'

Consistency

Calvino's Notebook

Calvino dedicated the latter part of his life to crafting six lectures: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity. These lectures represented a tireless exploration through his writing and presentations. Calvino had started shaping his sixth lecture, "Consistency," intending to complete it in Cambridge. Unfortunately, he passed away before its delivery. Esther Calvino discovered his work—meticulously organised, in its original Italian—on his writing desk, ready to be packed into his suitcase.

Is proximity synonymous with consistency? Why hadn't I fully recognised the importance of consistency in communication and form construction? Is consistency the same as a pattern?

My interest aligns with the operative value of the 'memo,' distinct from literary or historical reviews. However, unlike Calvino's six memos, conceived in 1984 "for the next millennium," I assert that NERVOUSystems and its subsequent endeavours are for the present millennium. It must provide a space for immediate action with planetary intelligence and consciousness in real time.

As Anne McClintock asserts, we've designed satellites as robotic eyes, hurtling at 17,000 miles per hour, capturing memories of a planet we're unintentionally dismantling.

NERVOUSystems and my overarching practice have shifted away from logics that prioritise recognition and certainty. Instead, they realign the city's aspirations to uncertainty, confronting the certainties that lie before us:

My proposition introduces an evolving imaginary for the architects of cities, buildings, products, software, experiences and ideas. Re-channeling our world-building efforts, our technologies and gathering cultures through strategy and intelligence (I am of the persuasion that there is nothing artificial about intelligence, a deceptively simple observation by Gordon Pask in his Introduction to Cybernetics) for a collective consciousness. This approach contrasts with adhering to current market-driven timelines that construct familiar worlds to merely seize attention and value. Building such worlds lacks interplay, carrying only inevitable planetary consequences.

I hope you enjoy the posts that follow.

There is no lonesome project in the Anthroposcene. You can get in contact with me by clicking 'get in contact' here.