Another Test

This last diagram can be understood as two extremely thin cones joined base to base. It is our optimistic ending model, the needle, and a metaphor for a well-conceived design procedure. The needle goes on ahead and crisply supplies the cleavage through which a thread of goodly intelligence is passed. Without the needle, the course of the thread is hopeless. Yet, once the thread is through, the presence of a messenger is nowhere evidenced in the final work. The needle is therefore a catalyst—it remains unchanged by its contribution. Still, the whole cloth is in some manner reconfigured. The resulting threads of information (as long as they remain structurally intact) will forever bind that which they drew together. Sub-problems are non-occurring or dispersed through a contained system. link text

A Sharp Resolution

This last diagram can be understood as two extremely thin cones joined base to base. It is our optimistic ending model, the needle, and a metaphor for a well-conceived design procedure. The needle goes on ahead and crisply supplies the cleavage through which a thread of goodly intelligence is passed. Without the needle, the course of the thread is hopeless. Yet, once the thread is through, the presence of a messenger is nowhere evidenced in the final work. The needle is therefore a catalyst—it remains unchanged by its contribution. Still, the whole cloth is in some manner reconfigured. The resulting threads of information (as long as they remain structurally intact) will forever bind that which they drew together. Sub-problems are non-occurring or dispersed through a contained system. link text

I am not familiar with the exact constitution of the Tarot pack of cards, from which I have obviously departed to suit my own convenience. The Hanged Man, a member of the traditional pack, fits my purpose in two ways: because he is associated in my mind with the Hanged God of Frazer, and because I associate him with the hooded figure in the passage of the disciples to Emmaus in Part V. The Phoenician Sailor and the Merchant appear later; also the 'crowds of people', and Death by Water is executed in Part IV. The Man with Three Staves (an authentic member of the Tarot pack) I associate, quite arbitrarily, with the Fisher King himself.

A Disaster Called Bowling

For the bowl model, one must imagine that the base of the cone is “maxed-out.” The number of resulting problems exceeds the system’s capacity (the points or lines in the circle hypothetically exceed the infinite) and the circle forms a “bowl.” The problem is now at the base of the diagram and becomes inaccessible by virtue of new difficulties. These unforeseen and unwelcome guests obfuscate the initial intent. The problem is no longer solvable since the subset of problems has overwhelmed the allowable limits.

The initial objective is no longer viable, and comparatively no longer very important! The quaint verbal illustration about swamps and alligators presents this idea eloquently: “It is hard to recall that the initial objective was to drain the swamp water when you are waist-deep in alligators.” No matter how serious the problems associated with the initial task—draining the swamp—the new danger—alligators—is more pressing.