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Re: Non-linear full-2d writing (again)

From:Sai Emrys <sai@...>
Date:Tuesday, January 31, 2006, 18:55
Yikes. So this is what happens when I don't pay attention for a couple days.

I'll come back & respond later, but in short - IMO Jefferson had
possibly interesting ideas (and I have no objection at all to theory
discussions, mathematical in origin or not), but I think basically
misunderstood what I was trying to do.

He may well have been right for systems where all symbols are
structurally identical and arranged in a grid or equivalent fashion
(something more within the usual domain of 'space-filling' as he
described it), but that's not something you can or should assume for
language. After all, symbols can be directional, can have 'nodes' to
which other symbols connect (and would prevent false connections
between peripheral symbols, since they're not mutually compatible),
and can have long-range connection by various means.

Over-constraining the problem is excellent for math, but leads to a
bit of 'possibility blindness' for other systems. :-/

I think it would be useful to point to (what I think is his) Glyphica
Arcana as an example of the sort of system he was probably envisioning
- one related to but differing in some fundamental ways from what I am
trying to get at. Not that I have anything against it of course - as
I've said multiple times, I claim no dominion over the idea of
nonlinear writing - just that IMO *this* particular thread is about
/my/ version of it. If that assumption isn't being shared, then I
think we have a setup for some major misunderstandings.

 - Sai

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Sai Emrys <sai@...>