Surfacing is a state of becoming. A continuum.
In this scenario, the theremin can be considered a “surfacing tool”. It is an electronic musical instrument controlled without contact from the player, usually consisting of two metal antennas which sense the position of the player’s hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude with the other.
Instead of manipulating strings or keys, the theremin creates a surface field in the space surrounding it, which is tuned and manipulated through interaction the the player’s hands. In other words, the music is not composed, but rather surfaces from a continuum of electronic signals.
By analogy, emrgence is as an organization that surfaces from a continuum of randomly assembled components or signals. Electronic Social Media is an example of a surfacing continuum. Its emergent organization is the antithesis to master-planning.
The primary activity of an emergent organization is a frantic, random sampling of possible affiliations, resulting in infinitely variable, overlapping zones of fabrication that are defined and immediately re-defined. In such a system boundaries are fragmented, permeable and elastic.
(to be continued…)
