#beyondtheageofmachines
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yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
After a nightmarish few weeks frantically writing on an EU-grant (which proposes an excellent concept, but won't get funded anyway...), I'm finally free and will be writing on the books again.

#beyondtheageofmachines #thetroublewithagency
September 21, 2026 at 12:38 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
A new short video is out: "Church-Turing-Deutsch," an examination of the strange view that the universe *is* literally (like) a computer.

https://youtu.be/KqlXfLpmHgs?si=7uge5scP-K9yT-QO

This is the contemporary version of the view of the world as a machine.

#beyondtheageofmachines
January 15, 2025 at 10:49 AM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
*** UPDATE: #beyondtheageofmachines

I'll be getting back to writing book chapters more regularly this fall and into the spring of 2026, with the aim of finishing the book by next summer.

Also: we've finally added links to the shorts & full lecture videos on the book website […]
Original post on spore.social
spore.social
September 14, 2025 at 3:50 PM
perspectivestudio.bsky.social
High time to point you, dear reader, to our book project: #BeyondTheAgeOfMachines, a vision for a science in the 21st century that no longer considers the world, and everything in it, a mechanism.

Read the chapters we've already written/designed here:
www.expandingpossibilities.org/an-emerging-...
June 14, 2026 at 12:59 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
or those interested in our research on the "Pushing the Boundaries" grant, and progress on the #beyondtheageofmachines book, check out the "Quick Thoughts" section of our project website. It gives you a nice timeline of what's going on: https://www.expandingpossibilities.org/quick-thoughts.
QUICK THOUGHTS
(Yogi)
www.expandingpossibilities.org
February 1, 2025 at 11:32 AM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
William Wimsatt is the best philosopher of science of recent times. And the most underrated. I'll be posting more quotes as I'm going through the book for my ch13 of #beyondtheageofmachines, and a paper that I'm writing.

And another one that's bleedingly obvious, but apparently not to some […]
Original post on spore.social
spore.social
October 15, 2025 at 9:58 AM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
William Wimsatt is the best philosopher of science of recent times. And the most underrated. I'll be posting more quotes as I'm going through the book for my ch13 of #beyondtheageofmachines, and a paper that I'm writing.

Today's quote is kind of obvious. But most philosophers still ignore it […]
Original post on spore.social
spore.social
October 14, 2025 at 9:34 AM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
William Wimsatt is the best philosopher of science of recent times. And the most underrated.

I'll be posting more quotes of his in this thread as I'm going through the book for my chapter 13 of #beyondtheageofmachines, and a paper that I'm writing.

Our daily Wimsatt quote gives useful advice […]
Original post on spore.social
spore.social
October 27, 2025 at 1:38 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
Chapter 12 of #beyondtheageofmachines is out!

"Was lange währt, wird endlich gut"
we'd say in German.

It's called "The World is Not a Set."

https://www.expandingpossibilities.org/12-the-world-is-not-a-set.html
Diagram showing two processes co-constructing each other's states S by the output Y of one entering as input X into the other.
September 11, 2025 at 2:08 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
#beyondtheageofmachines: 11 chapters, 3 appendices into the book, and we've come to this:
Formula for a set that contains all sets that do not contain themselves.
January 5, 2025 at 11:29 AM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
A little teaser from the new book chapter: "The World is Not a Set."

Working hard to get it published before the end of the month...

#beyondtheageofmachines
If you learn only one thing from our book, let it be this: our large world is not formalisable. More precisely, it is not formalisable in its entirety. If you take this on board, then it is evident that the aim of science cannot be to generate some kind of ultimate theory of everything. Not only is it unlikely that this is possible, but it is also not what we want. A completely formalised world is small and thus hostile to life and freedom. As an alternative, our kind of science is concerned with making maps of the territory: more maps, more trustworthy maps, and also more useful maps. The ultimate aim of science is not to unify all of these maps into one big super-map. That would not be useful. Instead, it is to provide us limited beings with robust tools for an actionable understanding of our large world: allowing us to find our way around, to act in coherent and meaningful ways, to recognise our situation, to be truly at home in the universe.
February 14, 2025 at 8:47 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
Boosting my essay on #metamodern #science once more on here: how to reconstruct after postmodern deconstruction

https://www.whatisemerging.com/opinions/toward-a-metamodern-science

#beyondtheageofmachines
Title / image of the author: Johannes Jaeger Toward a Metamodern Science The Machine View is Blocking our Vision Quote: "Metamodern science promises a way forward and out: an awe-inspiring and never-ending journey of discovery through experience that leads us into harmony with what is real and what is truly valuable to us. What are we waiting for? There are new windmills to be chased. Let’s be on our way!"
March 8, 2025 at 12:25 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
"The art of modeling is to match formalism and target system such that the model is congruent for our given purposes and captures all the possible system behaviors that are relevant in our specific situation."

#beyondtheageofmachines
May 29, 2025 at 6:48 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
Giving a little boost to this appendix to #beyondtheageofmachines:

"Limitations of Mathematical Modeling"

https://expandingpossibilities.org/a4-limitations-of-mathematical-modelling.html

It starts with static network models, then shows how to include dynamics […]

[Original post on spore.social]
Quote from the appendix: "But this is not the main insight we gain from our survey of methods. Its central message, instead, is this: we do not have any modelling formalism able to capture the full behavioural and evolutionary potential of any living system. Life always goes beyond formalisation. This is not to say that we cannot model aspects of living systems and their evolution. In fact, the above modelling formalisms give us a powerful toolkit to do just that. Rather, we are saying that none of these formalisms are able to capture the future behaviour and evolution of a living system completely. We said it before: life, and the large world it exists in, will always surprise us! Every once in a while, at least. And this fact really matters: a machine world can be formalised in its entirety. There is no surprise, but also no relevance or meaning in such a world. The machine kills life. That is why we must move beyond it. This does not mean that we should no longer be using the tools we’ve introduced above. Quite the contrary: we use them more wisely, and more effectively, if we are aware of their nature and limitations as tools. Our models are means to a better understanding. But they are not our world. The world, after all, is not a set."
September 17, 2025 at 10:42 AM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
Artwork added to chapter 9 of #beyondtheageofmachines: https://www.expandingpossibilities.org/9-what-it-is-like-to-be-a-scientist.html

Go check it out! It's different (yet again) than any of the previous chapters...

Credit: Marcus Neustetter
Abstact tangle of black and blue paintbrush strokes.
December 5, 2024 at 9:32 AM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
Re-reading "Re-Engineering" for chapter 13 of #beyondtheageofmachines and a paper I'm writing.

"Why is it that academics who claim to seek the truth want to pretend that they have always had it? What are they paid for, anyway?" Wimsatt, 2007, p3.

Fabulous way to start a book!
September 30, 2025 at 1:35 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
We are now adding PDF versions of the chapters of #beyondtheageofmachines to the website, so you can read them offline:

https://www.expandingpossibilities.org/an-emerging-book.html

Chapters 0-2 are done already. The others will follow over the next few weeks […]

[Original post on spore.social]
Page 1 of our 12 Thesis (chapter 2 of "Beyond the Age of Machines"): Shows a bacterium with machine parts inside. Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Machines 1. The age of machines, modernity, is coming to an end. 2. The world is not a machine; not even like a machine. 3. The world is large, far exceeding anyone’s grasp. 4. We are not machines. No living organism is a machine. 5. The world is not a set: there are strict limits to formalisation. 6. Organisms constantly create meaning by engaging the world. 7. To engage the world is to solve the problem of relevance. 8. To solve the problem of relevance is to formalise the world. 9. Everything that makes sense, makes sense to someone. 10. There is no meaning without life, without self-preservation. 11. There is no meaning without death, without suffering. 12. To be a true realist means to acknowledge all of the above. Page 2 of our 12 Theses (chapter 2 of "Beyond the Age of Machines"): Instructions: Print out and nail to any university door near you. Plus: an image of a door with a paper pinned to it.
November 21, 2025 at 3:23 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
Just in time for the holidays!

Chapter 11 of #beyondtheageofmachines is here!

A centerpiece of the book called "The Art of Modelling:"
https://www.expandingpossibilities.org/11-the-art-of-modelling.html

Including a number of illustrations by @mneustetter […]

[Original post on spore.social]
An artistic drawing showing Robert Rosen's modeling relation in front of a background that depicts his distinction between self and ambience. A formal system is encoded from a natural system to which it, in turn, decodes. For it to be a proper model, inferential entailment in the formal system must be congruent to causal entailment in the natural system.
December 21, 2024 at 2:54 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
The opening of our #artscience exhibition "Intangible" at Gallerie rauminhalt in Vienna (on Thu), & the walkabout (yesterday) were a great success!

Here is a beautiful picture gallery of the show, by our curator Basak Senova: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjC74jE.

#beyondtheageofmachines
Intangible
An exhibition by The ZoNE Artists: Bronwyn Lace & Marcus Neustetter Philosopher: Johannes Jaeger Curator: Basak Senova As a collaboration with nexus_art + science, ‘Intangible’ exhibition is dedicated to the tension between art and science beyond common models of knowledge. The focus is on the question of how life organizes itself and what power of action organisms develop from within themselves. Galerie rauminhalt | Schleifmühlgasse 13 | 1040 Vienna (March 28 - May 3, 2025) Accompanying events: • 29 March 2025 | 14:00 - Walkabout with the artists & scientist: An interactive tour with discussions about the processes behind the works. • 12 April 2025 | 14:00 ‘Philosophers’ Day": A reflection on the philosophical foundations of art and science. • 26 April 2025 | 17:00 - art∘SALON∘science: The premiere of a new art and science salon with a panel discussion and artistic interventions. #thezone #basaksenova #bronwynlace #marcusneustetter #johannesjaeger #nexus #Wien #vienna #rauminhalt #nexus_art+science
www.flickr.com
March 30, 2025 at 4:07 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
Bill Wimsatt is the best philosopher of science of recent times. And the most underrated. I'll be posting quotes as I'm going through the book for my ch13 of #beyondtheageofmachines, and a paper that I'm writing.

This one is so long that I'm posting it as a […]

[Original post on spore.social]
Quote from Wimsatt (2007), Re-Engineering Philosophy for Limited Beings, p.12: "The roots of the views offered here are diverse. The rich backwoods of evolution (Darwin's 'tangled bank') is a heterogeneous, multi-level tropical rainforest, with converging overlapping branches, and patterns of intersecting order, residents, and connections at a variety of levels, but no single stable foundational bedrock that anchors everything else. Yet this multiple rootedness need not lead to 'anything goes' perspectival relativism, or an anti-naturalist worship of common sense, experience, or language. It yields a kind of multi-perspectival realism anchored in the heterogeneity of 'piecewise' complementary approaches common in biology and the study of complex systems."
October 21, 2025 at 4:33 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
Bill Wimsatt is the best philosopher of science of recent times. And the most underrated. I'll be posting quotes as I'm going through the book for my ch13 of #beyondtheageofmachines, & a paper that I'm writing.

This one simply says: science isn't perfect, but it adapts like nothing else.

"A […]
Original post on spore.social
spore.social
October 20, 2025 at 1:45 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
See also:

https://spore.social/@yoginho/115293504537925149
Yogi Jaeger (@yoginho@spore.social)
Re-reading "Re-Engineering Philosophy for Limited Beings" by Bill Wimsatt for chapter 13 of #BeyondTheAgeOfMachines and a paper I'm writing. "Why is it that academics who claim to seek the truth want to pretend that they have always had it? What are they paid for, anyway?" Wimsatt, 2007, p3. Fabulous way to start a book!
spore.social
October 14, 2025 at 9:34 AM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
In search of weekend reading, anyone?

Chapter 12 of #beyondtheageofmachines is out!

It's called "The World is Not a Set."

https://www.expandingpossibilities.org/12-the-world-is-not-a-set.html

With two appendices:

Limitations of Mathematical Modeling […]
Original post on spore.social
spore.social
September 19, 2025 at 12:25 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
A little quote from #beyondtheageofmachines
(ch4: "Death to the Demon")

https://www.expandingpossibilities.org/4-death-to-the-demon.html

Hubris will be our downfall.
Quote from chapter 4 ("Death to the Demon") of "Beyond the Age of Machines": This is the simple crux of the matter: if you want certain knowledge, then science is not your best choice. Instead, go to church! Join a cult. Have a revelation. Although much less obviously murderous than your average religious fanatic, believers in absolute scientific truth and technological solutions for everything may ultimately be as bad for the future of humanity as any fundamentalist reactionary. It will likely be an overestimation of our own capacities that brings about humanity’s downfall.
February 28, 2025 at 2:29 PM
yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy
The age of machines is coming to an end.

It's not politics, its physics.

Animated short: https://youtu.be/j8KlhAMtJ4A

Full-length video lecture: https://youtu.be/Bznl9e9uftU

Full-text chapter:
https://www.expandingpossibilities.org/3-the-age-of-machines.html

#beyondtheageofmachines
It should be plain and simple: we won’t be able to continue at this level of reckless consumption for much longer. That’s not a political opinion. It’s physics. Don’t be fooled by any overly optimistic narrative. Technology won’t save us. There is no miracle breakthrough in sight that will allow us to replace the sources of cheap and effective materials and energy that we are currently depleting. Even if we did somehow manage to overcome this obstacle, we would likely continue on our path of planetary (self-)destruction. We are burning through our local entropy gradient like there is no tomorrow. This means that extracting more materials and energy will take an increasing amount of effort in the coming years (both in terms of work and energy invested).
February 16, 2025 at 2:08 PM