I came across this piece earlier today on the ever fabulous BoingBoing
which was originally posted on the site by Cory Doctorow who got it
from a site called Imagining the Tenth Dimension. Phew that's the link
bit sorted. The actual site has even more thought provoking stuff on
it about quantum mechanics and string theory and all that really
good stuff to support a book written by a guy called Rob Bryanton.
Bowloftoast on the site sez:
"This is a short animation that takes the viewer
through a progressive
description of all (and all possible) dimensions,
up to and including
the 10th. It is an elegant introduction to the
fundamentals of string
theory and a mind-blowing toe-dip into the pool
of the metaphysical."
Yep just about sums it up. It seems appropriate to look at this stuff now
as we seem to be increasingly able to handle more complex notions
about the world around us than we ever could previously - a sort of
collective intelligence thing and perhaps the beginning of a new
Enlightenment that seems to be doing the rounds currently.
And with all science faction (see what I did there?) it may be right -
or it might not be - no-one can really prove it, but it does force us
to re-examine our notions of reality and how things really are.
Marketing Geometry and Scenario Planning:
One thing for me that it throws up is (although the book was actually
written in 2006!) is that it paves the way for new ways to look at everything
- advertising and marketing in particular.
I have been thinking a lot about what will come next with the cult of the
individual being supplanted with the cult of the crowd and the Herd etc.
and I believe that we will stop thinking about trying to change behavior
at the individual level and more about how to influence positive emotional
responses through the creation of shared interactions. Some work has
already begun in this space currently as we know but very little and usually
and unfortunately in the hands of Social Media Experts - 'Enthusiasts' in my
book not 'Experts' as too few have any classic marketing theory to back it up.
Another post another time.
The implication is that we will need to strategically reconfigure planning's
role to include the creation of multiple parallel and simultaneous effects in
the same way military planners do when considering strategic offensive
operations. But unlike that kind of scenario planning with its military jargon
(target, impact etc) I see the structure that pops out being more akin to
geometry with ratio's, rates, proportions, polarities, ordered pairs, mapping,
isometry and the like to capture the narrative as it plays out.
I shall post more about Marketing Geometry and Scenario Planning later
as it is a separate thought but not unconnected.
In the meantime, pull up a seat, get the popcorn in and watch the video.
It is truly wonderful :)