permacomputing

balance_of_opposites.mdwn (3934B)

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 **Balance of opposites** is important in many permacomputing contexts. 
 
 Many people have a tendency to form dichotomies where one side is somehow
 "the good one" whereas the other is the "bad" or even "evil" one. Sometimes,
 the good side is considered so good that it becomes a [[silver bullet]],
 something that is supposed to be universally good in all cases.
 
 Balance of opposites can be used to eliminating this kind of black-and-white
 oversimplification. There are very few things or ideas that are either
 "good" or "evil" in all possible contexts. Instead of bluntly stating that
 an idea or a piece of technology is "the best" or "just evil", one should
 try to delineate the contexts where it works and where it does not.
 
 ## Yin and yang
 
 **Yin and Yang** (陰陽) are concepts from Chinese philosophy. Yang is
 active, controlling and expanding, while Yin is passive, yielding and
 contracting. They are not "good and evil" but complementary opposites that
 should have a balance, often via cyclic changes.
 
 In permacomputing contexts, the Yin-Yang dichotomy is sometimes used to
 contrast different computing cultures. Modern technological civilization is
 disproportionally yang, and this yangness extends to the cultures of
 computer hacking: total control over systems (natural or technological) is
 praised, which easily leads to impoverished [[monoculture]]s where a lot of
 energy is wasted on forcing things into narrow standards.
 
 Too much yin, on the other hand, may lead to an excessive acceptance of the
 way how things are and "have always been". It likewise easily leads to
 narrow norms, via traditionalism. The norms may be hostile to innovation,
 experimentation and reappropriation. It may also lead to intellectual
 laziness, where rational analysis is not even attempted.
 
 ## Yin and yang hacking
 
 These concepts were introduced in the [[Permacomputing 2020]] text.
 
 In **Yang hacking**, a total understanding and control of the target system
 is valued. Changing a system's behavior is often an end in itself. There are
 predefined goals the system is pushed towards. Optimization tends to focus
 on a single measurable parameter. Finding a system's absolute limits is more
 important than finding its individual strengths or essence.
 
 In contrast, **Yin hacking** accepts the aspects that are beyond rational
 control and comprehension. Rationality gets supported by intuition. The
 relationship with the system is more bidirectional, emphasizing
 experimentation and observation. The "personality" that stems from
 system-specific peculiarities gets more attention than the measurable specs.
 It is also increasingly important to understand when to hack and when just
 to observe without hacking.
 
 Yang hacking is quite essential to computing. After all, computers are based
 on comprehensible and deterministic models that tiny pieces of nature are
 "forced" to follow. However, there are many kinds of systems where the yin
 way makes more sense (e.g. the behavior of neural networks is often very
 difficult to analyze rationally).
 
 ## Transgression and immersion
 
 **Transgression** and **immersion** are two oppositional ways to creatively
 relate to constraints, especially in the kind of digital art forms that
 appreciate constraints ([[chip music]], [[demoscene]], [[pixel art]]).
 
 Transgression is yang: it attempts to "break" or "push" the boundaries; to
 get a system to do something it is not supposed to be able to do; to find
 new things by exploring the unexplored possibilities of a given platform.
 The characteristic sounds and looks of a system (such as the 1:1 square wave
 in chip music, or clearly visible pixel boundaries) are often considered
 unrefined and unwanted.
 
 Immersion is yin: instead of breaking away from the typical and unrefined,
 it takes it as the basis to build on. The 1:1 square wave is now very much
 wanted. The individual characteristics of a system are appreciated and
 explored ever deeper.