The painting Les Deux Carrosses by Claude Gillot presents a scene of street-level conflict where two carts pulled by servants are blocking each other. The characters in the painting, arranged around the binary opposition of the cart pullers (who are almost touching) gesticulate grotesquely. One of them is masked, and all are dressed in rich … Continue reading Les Deux Carrosses by Claude Gillot (circa 1707)

In  “Recent Contributions to the Mathematical Theory of Communication”  (University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1964) Warren Weaver summarised the paradoxical character of Information Theory (as formulated by C. Shannon): “2.2 Information “The word information, in this theory, is used in a special sense that must not be confused with its ordinary usage. In particular, information … Continue reading Information Theory

In these  pages I frequently refer to and build upon a structure with four “modes” or “terms” – namely those of Person, Subject, Agent and Object. At its core, this model is not original, and stems from the work of many disparate authors, in different areas of knowledge. For the sake of rigour and completeness, … Continue reading Quadratures: Person, Subject, Agent and Object

More support for the logical basis of the geometry of cognition comes from the American mathematician W.H. Gottschalk (a fact noted by Alessio Moretti in his PhD thesis published in 2009. Gottschalk writes: “It is well-known that every involution in a logical or mathematical system gives rise to a theory of duality; for example, negation … Continue reading The Theory of Quaternality

George Spencer-Brown –the creator of a very original “logic of distinctions”—wrote an interesting statement about the Law of Complementarity: “There is no stronger mathematical law than the law of complementarity. A thing is defined by its complement, i.e by what it is not. Ant its complement is defined by its uncomplement, i.e. by the thing … Continue reading The Law of Complementarity

The correlated terms of intensive and extensive abstraction have another antecedent in the reflections of G.W.F Hegel on intensive and extensive “magnitude.”  The following fragments can be found in Hegel’s “Science of Logic- Identity of Intensive and Extensive Magnitude” – sections 480, 481 and 483: “480. The determinateness of intensive magnitude is, therefore, to be … Continue reading Hegel: Intensive And Extensive Magnitude

One of the most important insights made in the realm of Systems Theory was due to Kent D. Palmer in a paper published in  2010. (Source: http://holonomic.net/sd01V04.pdf ). The key paper, under the title “Advanced Meta-Systems Theory For MetaSystems Engineers,” presents a radical reformulation of the relations between the concepts of “system” and “meta-system.” Palmer … Continue reading K. Palmer: “The Inverse Dual Of a System”

Careless discussion tends to ignore important philosophical criteria, as noted in previous notes and articles in this blog. One of these is the distinction between two basic types of negative statements: true negations, and complements of the predicate. Daniel J. Castellano, a mathematician and historian from MIT and Boston University covers these points in his … Continue reading Distinctions: Two Kinds of Negative Statements

In his “A Preface to Metaphysics,” (Fourth Lecture, section 10) Jacques Maritain writes: “I have already spoken of the most important distinction which the ancient drew between abstractio totalis, which I will call extensive visualisation, and abstractio formalis, which I will call intensive or characterising and typifying visualisation. At first intellectual visualisation is as yet … Continue reading J. Maritain on Extensive and Intensive Visualisation

Discontinuity  is manifest in language in the sense that there is a complete separation between the signifier and the signified, between the symbolic and that for which the symbol stands for. This is also called the “arbitrariness of the signifier” (see the work of Ferdinand de Saussure - http://www.revue-texto.net/Saussure/Saussure.html ) The term “arbitrariness” means here … Continue reading Discontinuity in Language

“When reflection, turning to the comprehension of chaotic experience, busies itself about recurrences, when it seeks to normalise in some way things coming and going, and to straighten out the causes of events, that reflection is inevitably turned toward something dynamic and independent, and can have no successful issue except in mechanical science. When on … Continue reading Intensive and Extensive Abstraction

When reading the Bhagavad Gita, among the teachings on human action we find a lesson which could not be more contrary to “common sense” as it is conceived today: “The world is imprisoned in its own activity, except when actions are performed as worship of God. Therefore you must perform every action sacramentally, and be … Continue reading Complete and Incomplete Action

To what extent is human life natural? To what extent is it natural life? This is the fundamental un-answered question of anthropology. On all sides, on all related sciences there is an assumption that human life is different –either superior or inferior—but essentially different to nature. The presumption is that human life is either extraordinary … Continue reading Human Life And Natural Life

In the Monadologie (1714), G. W. Leibniz writes: “And there must be simple substances, since there are compounds; for a compound is nothing but a collection or aggregatum of simple things.” -  tr. Robert Latta.  (“Einfache Substanzen muß es geben, weil es zusammengesetzte gibt; denn das Zusammengesetzte ist nichts, als eine Anhäufung oder ein aggregatum … Continue reading A Logical Argument

In “Against Philosophical Appeasement” ( http://www.reocities.com/Athens/Thebes/dcs11.htm ) Anthony and Mary Mansueto write a magnificent indictment of nihilism, which starts as follows: “Nothing is harder for this sceptical age than to believe that the universe ultimately has meaning –except, perhaps, the idea that such a belief is not only warranted, but is in fact commanded, by … Continue reading Nihilism and Meaning Come Together

Anthony Mansueto has done original and very valuable work on the philosophy of religion, and he has done this while linking his reflection to social and historical questions normally avoided by academics. In the essay “Once Again on the Religious Question” ( www.reocities.com/Athens/Thebes/1593 ) Mansueto restates and explains the essence of his theses also published … Continue reading Theories of Abstraction

It would be naïve to expect a dispassionate stance regarding the matters of the so-called Second Cold War, or even about its reality or the motivations of the crisis. Nevertheless, careful observers of the current debates may be able to see that --to a very large extent—many participants and actors are characterized by something I … Continue reading On Individual and Collective Empathy

Only a philosophical study of history may reach to its deeper secrets. In particular, if we seek a meaning, it is essential to look for completeness. Schlegel may be wrong in assuming an original unity of “nations,” but his diagnosis of the status of the mind in the modern world seems right. The following text … Continue reading The broken “moral unity of man” according to F. Schlegel

“Interactivity is all there is to write about: it is the paradox and the horizon of realization.” (R. Kaehr)

“Turning to Yen Yu, [Confucius] said, “Ch’iu, what are your wishes?” Ch’iu replied, “Suppose a state of sixty or seventy li square, or one of fifty or sixty, and let me have the government of it;-in three years’ time, I could make plenty to abound among the people. As to teaching them the principles of … Continue reading Regional Development

A transition to “complete” Security (in the sense described in the previous sections) requires a rediscovery of the context, this complex mesh of relationships through which we live and operate. This change must leverage a recognition of the personal, psychological, organisational and technical aspects. In following this path we need to base the IT disciplines … Continue reading Security Lost and Recovered (and 4)

A “complete Security” approach –in the sense I introduced in the previous article (https://carlos-trigoso.com/2014/04/28/security-lost-and-recovered-2/ ) applies a modal logic to grasp the fundamental aspects of any Security arrangement. This is a “deontic logic,” i.e. a logic of obligation, prohibition, interdiction and permission, which is able to represent the various moments of a Security model. In … Continue reading Security Lost and Recovered (3)

A “complete” security strategy can be understood if we adopt an “information-theoretical” point of view. To do so, it is useful to describe the approach in the same way as we would consider a business model. A high level model of a business architecture shows the relationships between the participants, and the different functions and … Continue reading Security Lost and Recovered (2)

What have I learned in the 15 years I have been active in the Security profession? One thing, centrally: that Security must be complete or it will be meaningless. I need to explain what the term “complete” means in this context, first to avoid misunderstandings, but also to introduce a qualitative approach to Security. In … Continue reading Security Lost and Recovered (1)

For many years, the following text from Christopher Alexander (A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, 1977) has been a fundamental reference for my understanding of the problems of human development.   “INDEPENDENT REGIONS “Metropolitan regions will not come to balance until each one is small and autonomous enough to be an independent sphere of culture. Therefore: … Continue reading Alexander: Independent Regions

Many times in conversation or debate it is useful to “step back” from the immediate matters at hand and look at the context. Having written that, I am even inclined to say that this is always the case, especially when addressing technology strategy. If we do so we will notice there are obvious problems with … Continue reading Duality of the IT Function

L. Klages describes the "progress philistine" as follows: "Listen to him chattering about how far "we" have come, how wonderful is the time in which "we" live, and how delightful are the gadgets that are available to "us"... Everything that he says sounds like the babbling of a carnival conjuror, everything that he says reveals … Continue reading The Progress-Philistine

A story told by Zhuang Zhou (Zhuangzi, 369 BC-286 BC): A traveler sees a gardener irrigating a plot of vegetables using a bucket; the traveler advises the gardener to use a machine that will do this work for him. The gardener says: "I have heard from my teacher that those who have cunning implements are cunning in their dealings, and … Continue reading The Traveler and the Gardener

A consequence of "progress" in Internet business models is that words adopt new meanings. Today the "consumer" is not only a client, but also a producer of "information." And the service provider is also a data consumer. In the model led by Google-Facebook the service provider consumes user data in exchange for *extremely* low cost … Continue reading Prehistory of Privacy

There is no Security consulting intervention that does not require organisational transformation. It is not only unsatisfactory, but definitely damaging to think otherwise. Security problems appear precisely then when the technology pretends to "automate" processes and safeguards that never existed or are weak in the organisation. Nevertheless the mirage of technology is still presented as … Continue reading Mirage of “Technology”

There is a philosophical sense in which all entities (beings) should be comprehended (not only re-presented) as bundles of actions or “activities.” In turn, every action should be understood as a perception. To that end, Carl Hewitt’s Actor Model has been the obligatory point of reference for any discussion of concurrent computation and concurrent hardware … Continue reading The Hewitt Actor Model and the Labyrinth of Metaphysics

"God is so far removed from us that we are incapable of deciding whether it is moving toward us or away from us." M. Heidegger, "Contributions to Philosophy," translated by Parvis Emad and Kenneth Maly, 1999.

"The whole world dies and is born in a long night of error and darkness. The gate of sentiment is closed tight, the lock of consciousness is hard to open. those who can shatter them with a blow, those who can throw back their shoulders and advance alone, cannot easily succeed unless they are bold … Continue reading The Night of Error

Carl Hewitt clarified the relationship between his formulation of the Actor Model and one particular version of it (Karmani & Agha, 2011). The following is a message from Hewitt sent to Lambda The Ultimate in 2013 (http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/4853 ). This is a good reference to better understand the Actor Model and how it can be “implemented.” … Continue reading On the Actor Model and “mailboxes”

“Men do not know how to make themselves important and make themselves great. Thus there are no lengths (of evil) they don’t go to. Since they do not make themselves important, things become important and their own state of being becomes unimportant. Since they do not make themselves great, things become great and their own … Continue reading “A Swindle”

"But how does the thinker shelter the truth of be-ing, if not in the pondering steadiness of the path of his questioning steps and their resulting consequences? Unpretentiously, as in a solitary field, under the big sky, the sower paces off the furrows with a heavy, faltering step, checking at very moment, and with the swing … Continue reading Sheltering

In his book “Infanza e Storia” – 1978  (“Infancia e Historia - Destruccion De La Experiencia Y Origen De La Historia” , translated by Silvio Mattoni into Spanish and published by Adriana Hidalgo in 2004), Giorgio Agamben writes: “ “En la  actualidad,  cualquier discurso sobre la  experiencia debe  partir  de la  constatación de  que  ya  … Continue reading Hubo Historia, pero ya no la hay

A fragment from “Contributions to Philosophy” – M. Heidegger, translated by Parvis Emad and Kenneth Maly, Indiana University Press, 1999. “5. For the Few and the Rare “For the few who from time to time again ask the question, i.e., who put up anew the essential sway of truth for decision. “For the rare who … Continue reading For the Few and the Rare

From the beginning of the Information “era” the Security disciplines already had the hierarchical imprint that is now current, centring it around the protection of “informational assets.” Although not directly relevant to the subject of Erlang Security, I want to quote here a paper by Bhavani Thuraisingham (MITRE Corporation) published in 1993 by the ACM. … Continue reading Security and “Information Flow”

“Besinnung ist der Mut, die Wahrheit der eigenen Voraussetzungen und den Raum der eigenen Ziele zum Fragwürdigsten zu machen.” - (M. Heidegger, "Die Zeit des Weltbildes" - 1938 - Holzwege, page 75)

"Stagnation of an organization occurs when the punishment for success is as large as for failure." (Page 147)

  In Heidegger’s Postscript to “What is Metaphysics?” (1943) we find a foundational critique of calculative politics (and by extension any praxeology--including business management). The highlights are mine – CT: “All calculation lets what is countable be resolved into something counted that can then be used for subsequent counting. Calculation refuses to let anything appear … Continue reading Managing, calculating and missing the point

In Information Security as in all other areas of IT, the order of the day is how to overcome the metaphysics of the object, in other words, the view that “everything is an object” (or that everything is representable as an object). In reading Heidegger we can find not only excellent avenues of thought, but … Continue reading Overcoming Metaphysics (of the Object)

The opening chant of the Aitareya Upanishad contains two verses that sum up the essential commitment of any honest, sincere, complete teacher, writer, consultant, professional or --for that matter-- any person: May my speech be one with my mind, and may my mind be one with my speech. Why would it be necessary to return in … Continue reading Invocation

From "The Anaximander Fragment", by Martin Heidegger, translated by D.F. Krell. "As it reveals itself in beings, Being withdraws. "In this way, by illuminating them, Being sends being adrift in errancy. Beings come to pass in that errancy by which they circumvent Being and establish the realm of error (in the sense of a prince's … Continue reading Error and History according to Heidegger

  "Fate, that brinks all things to an end, not thus Apportioneth my lot: ten thousand pangs Must bow, ten thousand miseries afflict me Ere from these bonds I freedom find, for Art Is by much weaker than Necessity." Aeschylus - Prometheus Bound  

"It is easy for him who keeps his foot free from harm to counsel and admonish him who is in misery" (Aeschylus, "Prometheus Bound") If there is any succinct way of expressing the reality of corporate life is that is is a permanent, pervasive state of hostile cooperation. This state is present -with very rare … Continue reading “Hostile Cooperation”

It is not a recent revelation that modernity comes with a peculiar form of loss of humanity. We are lost in fear, subject to anomic and anonymous forces claiming for themselves the name of Society. In this context: "Anxiety  can  mount authentically only in  a Dasein which is  resolute.  He who is  resolute knows no … Continue reading Anxiety and Authenticity

Programming languages are part and expression of the Western logo-centric context. The 'logos' here, not anymore understood as thought or rationality, but only as symbolic production. A given that apparently needs not explanation because it perfectly reflects the social substrate and complements it. Let's be guarded: We have seen that, like all texts in the … Continue reading The Logocentric Context

6.4311    Der Tod ist kein Ereignis des Lebens. Den Tod erlebt man nicht.    Wenn man unter Ewigkeit nicht unendliche Zeitdauer, sondern Unzeitlichkeit versteht, dann lebt der ewig, der in der Gegenwart lebt. Unser Leben ist  ebenso endlos, wie unser Gesichtsfeld grenzenlos ist.   (Ludwig Wittgenstein, "Tractatus Logico - Philosophicus" )