Equilibria and Non-Equilibria in Design

这项拨款为研究设计过程的复杂性提供资金。数据以离散指令序列的形式获得；它们在多维设计空间中形成“曲线”，近似于潜在的设计“表面”。因此，给定曲面上的两个点（初始设计和最终设计），理论上存在测地线（或最短路径）。然而，从最短的意义上来说，实际的设计序列很少是最优的。个人偏好和群体实践都会导致设计偏离理想的最短路径。这种现象通过类比拉格朗日量来研究；路径的优化是维持动能（来自个人，表现为“创造力”或“偏好”）超过势能（来自环境，表现为“外部影响”或“群体实践”）的过剩。如果成功，这项研究将引导我们理解创造的“机制”，即受设计师所处环境的限制。它允许对“假设”场景进行明确的实验，例如：当“同伴压力”超过某个临界点时会发生什么；如果“同伴压力”被“自我驱动”所取代呢？这项工作有望有助于解释社会经济学、生物系统和非平衡化学动力学中出现的模式或结构。

This grant provides funding for research on the complexity of the design process. Data are obtained as discrete sequences of instructions; they form `curves` in a multi-dimensional design space, approximating an underlying design `surface`. Thus, given two points on such a surface (an initial design and a final design), there exists a geodesic (or shortest path) in theory. Yet, practical design sequences are rarely optimal in the sense of being the shortest. There are personal preferences and there are group practices which cause a design to deviate from the ideal, shortest path. Such a phenomenon is studied by analogy to a Lagrangian; the optimization of a path as the maintenance of the excess of the kinetic energy (from an individual, manifested as `creativity` or `preference`) over the potential energy (from the environment, as `outside influence` or `group practice`). If successful, this research will lead to the understanding of the `mechanics` of creation, as constrained by the environment in which the designer is in. It permits explicit experimentation with `what-if` scenarios such as: what happens when `peer pressure` exceeds a certain critical point; what if `peer pressure` is replaced by `self-drive`? The work is expected to be useful in explaining the emergence of patterns or structures exhibited in socio-economics, biological systems, and non-equilibrium chemo-dynamics.