Frontiers of Architectural Research >

2014 , Vol. 3 >Issue 4: 368 - 375

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2014.06.003

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Circular causality and indeterminism in machines for design

  • Thomas Fischer
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  • Department of Architecture, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China

Received date: 29 Sep 2014

Accepted date: 16 Jun 2014

Published date: 07 Jan 2015

Copyright

2014 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Abstract

Presenting a hard-to-predict typography-varying system predicated on Nazi-era cryptography, the Enigma cipher machine, this paper illustrates conditions under which unrepeatable phenomena can arise, even from straight-forward mechanisms. Such conditions arise where systems are observed from outside of boundaries that arise through their observation, and where such systems refer to themselves in a circular fashion. It argues that the Enigma cipher machine is isomorphous with Heinz von Foersters portrayals of non-triviality in his non-trivial machine (NTM), but not with surprising human behaviour, and it demonstrates that the NTM does not account for spontaneity as it is observed in humans in general.

Key words： System boundaries; Design; Predictability; Enigma

Cite this article

Thomas Fischer . Circular causality and indeterminism in machines for design[J]. Frontiers of Architectural Research, 2014 , 3(4) : 368 -375 . DOI: 10.1016/j.foar.2014.06.003

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