visualization

This section discusses variation, among other things. There’s this idea of conceptual spheres somewhere in variation that, I think, does a great job of modeling variation if tracked from a source. Distance from the center of any particular sphere indicates deviation, and distance towards something may stand for variation with another sphere in mind. This is… variation with respect to another idea. Hofstadter kind of illustrates this in the text by bringing one of his number sequences full-circle, ending up with something similar to one of the initial squares and triangles derivations.

Some other ideas that come to mind with the idea of conceptual spheres is the abstract space they reside in. The term itself got me to think of three dimensional space (If this relation wasn’t intended from the start.). Visualize some different conceptual “spheres”. How far apart are they? What does the distance represent? Do they overlap? When does something, when moving from one sphere to another by way of variation, start appearing more like one thing than another? Do the spheres have boundaries? ( … in reference to Hofstadter’s blurry line between ideas.) Think of bringing new ideas into this space. One concept can overlap an infinite amount of others and connect previously unrelated things. (Maybe change other places between spheres or concepts permanently. Does this describe a large change in perspective for the individual?) If you can add spheres, can you take them away?

Maybe I’m too far off topic or have taken a simple term far too literally. Its fun stuff to think about in any case. :)