Jim Andrews
Since the beginning
Works in Victoria Canada

ARTBASE (2)
BIO
Jim Andrews does http://vispo.com . He is a poet-programmer and audio guy. His work explores the new media possibilities of poetry, and seeks to synthesize the poetical with other arts and media.
Discussions (847) Opportunities (2) Events (14) Jobs (0)
DISCUSSION

re: The Universal Computer


I got a little email from Martin Davis, the author of 'The Universal
Computer'. He says

"The marketing people at Norton decided that the paperback version would
benefit from a different title: "Engines of Logic: Mathematicians and the
Origin of the Computer". It's the same book (with some errors corrected)."

This may be why you were having problems finding the book, Geert.

I asked Dr. Davis if he had any recommendations concerning writings by
people who have attempted to meditate on the consequences for poetry of the
theory of computation? He replied: "Not really."

There are some writings by Martin Davis at his site: http://www.eipye.com .
Interesting to note the degree to which these concentrate on refuting Roger
Penrose's very popular claims in such books as 'The Emperor's New Clothes'
that mathematical reasoning is not algorithmic. Davis does not assert the
contrary; only that Penrose's proofs are "deeply fallacious". I have been
somewhat mystified by the popularity of Penrose's 'proofs' that there are
thought processes of which humans are capable but computers are not. I
suspect that their popularity is an indication of the strength of the
desire, in many people, to believe that humans are, fundamentally, different
from machines.

My own feeling is that the notion that human thought is algorithmic is no
more demeaning of humanity than the Darwinian notion of human (and other
species') evolution from lower life forms. The truth of the matter is much
to be desired. And it is always preferable to falsehood, however supportive
the falsehood is of religious or other doctrine.

ja
http://vispo.com

DISCUSSION

Xul Solar


Forwarded: Charles Bernstein on Xul Solar:

There is an excellent article on Xul Solar in today's NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/25/arts/design/25sola.html

Solar (1887- 1963) is one of the greatest modernist painters & poets
of the Americas and it was thrilling to see his major retrospective
show at MALBA with Ernesto Grosman and Susan Bee, when we were all in
Buenos Aires last month.

An excellent introduction to his work by Cecilia Vicuna is available
on-line in English :
http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article.php?lab=XulSolar

While the MALBA show is mainly of his great watercolors, and indeed
he is known primarily as a visual artist, Solar was also one of the
most significant practitioners of ideolectical modernism, along with
Khlebnikov, Schwitters, and others. One of this two invented
languages, "Pan Criollo" is a synthesis of Portuguese and Spanish,
you might say the esperanto for South America. He also invented a
"Pan Lingua," more along the lines of zaum, with its VVV base
inflected by mathematics and astrology.

Grosman -- who is now teaching at Boston College -- edited a Roof
Books anthology of the Argentine poetry magazine, XUL, edited by
Jorge Perednik (among others). The magazine, from the 1980s, took its
name and inspiration from Xul Solar. Both the Roof Book English as
well as all the original issues of the magazine are now on line at
http://www.bc.edu/research/xul/

For more information about Xul Solar:
http://www.xulsolar.org.ar/

Charles Bernstein

DISCUSSION

Re: 'the universal computer' by martin davis


> Could you post the isbn no. of this book?? Can't seem to find it on
> amazon.com using ISBN 0-393-04785-7 I found on http://
> www.wwnorton.com/catalog/fall00/004785.htm

The Universal Computer
Martin Davis
ISBN 0-393-04785-7
published by W.W. Norton

DISCUSSION

dbcinema v0.2


dbcinema v0.2:
http://vispo.com/dbcinema

new stuff:
image size choice (nice when set to xxlarge only)
image color/grayscale/b&w choice (good for masking in later versions)
domain search (google does not support subdirectory search)
fullscreen option (*no* browser chrome in some browsers such as IE for PC)
language choice not working yet (would be nice to know the visual diff.
between 'sex' in arabic and english, for instance). not sure language
support exists in the google image database?
download status window
a bit of history
etc

to see the google-indexed images on your site, type your site into the
'domain search' box, press Enter, click in the query box at far left, and
press Enter.

ja

DISCUSSION

browser app limitation?


Has anyone looked into the issue of browsers limiting the number of
simultaneous network operations that apps running in browsers may perform?

For instance, I gather that different browsers put different limits on the
number of simultaneous downloads an app may perform. I presume (though am
not sure) that the notion generalizes to simply limiting the number of
network info requests, whether the request is to get an image or an html
page or whatever.

Anybody know of any good docs on this issue?

ja
http://vispo.com