Discerning Relational Data in Breath Patterns. Gilbert Simondon’s Philosophy in the Context of Sequence Transduction

• Autores: Lisa Müller Trede
• Localización: MATTER: journal of new materialist research, ISSN-e 2604-7551, Vol. 3, Nº. 1, 2022 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Prospects for a New Materialist Informatics), págs. 82-107
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article discusses Gilbert Simondon’s philosophies of the technical object, information, and individuation to frame the potential inherent in a practical application of his notions of intensity, amplification, and transduction of relational processes, which have been largely neglected in the traditions of substantialist and hylomorphic thought. Specifically, the study introduces a method to discern relational information by amplifying audible breath patterns of a collective via a wearable digital stethoscope (WDS). The non-lexical modality of the breath grants insights into non-verbal phases of communication during which multiple points of view may exist simultaneously. These points of view can be understood as a subject’s sense of orientation within phases prior to signification, i.e., before affect becomes a specific emotion and before perception becomes a concrete action—using the terms as they are defined by Simondon. Bodily movement is audible within the breath and can be further transcribed into preliminary signs with the help of a sequence transduction machine learning (ML) model. Discerning semiosis within audible breath patterns exemplifies a logic of computation which is not concerned with quantitative and qualitative information but, instead, computes intense data to grasp relational dynamics.