In a strictly naturalistic work the detail is there because it is natural to life, not because it is natural to the work. In a work of art we can be extremely literal, without being in the least naturalistic. Art is selective, and its truthfulness is the truthfulness of the esential that creates movement. – Flannery O’Connor
Institutions are information processing systems created to promote specific values. Once they exist , these systems (club, company, government, or church) become values in and of themselves. Then new systems are created to support them in turn. We call this cycling of systems “history”. from the Founding Declaration of the Narratives, 2124 – Karl Schroeder, Lady of Mazes
“Whenever we have threshold phenomena, whether in physical, biological, or social systems, the configuration of the system at the moment when the threshold is reached becomes unstable and the slightest, even infinitesimal, displacement of the configuration in a proper direction leads eventually to a finite change in the configuration of the system. Therefore a change in the behaviour of a single individual, no matter how small, may precipitate in an unstable social configuration, a process that leads to a finite, sometimes radical, change.” – Nicolas Rashevsky, mathematician, 1805-1964
“I believe that action, if it is to be planned at all, must always be planned upon an aesthetic base.” – Gregory Bateson