Abstract:
Sequences shape the foundations of life, culture, and technology. DNA sequences guide biological processes, sequences of speech and writing structure human culture, and sequences of code govern our technological systems. Despite their different domains, these one-dimensional patterns share a common operative logic. Central to this logic is their relationship to affordancespossibilities for action that can be perceived across biological, cultural, and technological contexts. Framing cognition through this sequenceaffordance relationship offers a novel perspective: sequences extend affordances indefinitely through space and time, enabling the emergence of literacy, complex culture, and technological civilization.
Bio: Dr. Dennis Waters
Dennis P. Waters received his Ph.D. in 1990 from the Watson College of Engineering at Binghamton University, where his advisor was Howard H. Pattee. Rather than travel the academic road, Waters became a serial entrepreneur, founding and selling several technical publishing businesses. After retiring from business, Waters returned to the research project that inspired his Ph.D., how one-dimensional patterns of DNA, language, and computer code orchestrate the complex behavior of the three-dimensional world in which we live. This resulted in his book Behavior and Culture in One Dimension (Routledge, 2021).