What if triangles aren't always strong via compression, or don't need to
be in the same way, in larger structures?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity
...though I think you were thinking of Space Frames -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_frame
Triangles are 'strong' in the sense they provide a structure for
transferring compression AND tension vis-a-vis some more complex and/or
regular structure. As Freud might famously have said, sometimes a
triangle is just a triangle.
Carl
Nicholas Thompson wrote:
On a recent friday, as part of my worrying about emergence, I was
trying to find out what sort of language wise people use when they
explain the greater resistance of triangles to compression. it
seemed to me that that example provided all the complexity we needed
for a thorough-going discussion of emergence. So if I could learn
how wise people talked about it, perhaps I could learn how to talk
about emergence in general.
In what field, I wonder, do they discuss the greater strength of some
configurations of members vis -a vis others. SOMEBODY offered me the
answer to that question, but I have forgotten what the answer was.
Some sort of mechanics .... elementary? Can anybody remember or
provide the information again? Why are triangles strong?
Nick
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
Clark University ([email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>)
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
<http://home.earthlink.net/%7Enickthompson/naturaldesigns/>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
