Questions of size...

[Tim May]

At 5:56 PM -0500 12/11/00, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
>At 9:48 PM +0000 on 12/11/00, Ben Laurie wrote:
>
>
>>  Chambers defines geodesic as "the shortest line on a surface between two
>>  points on it"
>
>Thank you. It works in all dimensions, and, thus it's topological, right?
>

Topology is typically not concerned with distance metrics. Doughnuts 
and coffee cups and all.

Geometry is what you're thinking of, presumably.

Not as sexy as saying something is "a topologically-invariant 
geodesic fractally-cleared auction space," but that's what happens 
when buzzwords are used carelessly.

By the way, one topological aspect of a geodesic dome, to go back to 
that, is that each node is surrounded by some number of neighbors. 
Applied to a "geodesic economy," this image/metaphor would strongly 
suggest that economic agents are trading with their neighbors, who 
then trade with other neighbors, and so on.

Tribes deep in the Amazon, who deal only with their neighbors, are 
then the canonical "geodesic economy."

This is precisely the _opposite_ of the mulitiply-connected trading 
situation which modern systems make possible.

So, aside from the cuteness of suggesting a connection with geodesic 
domes, with buckybits as the currency perhaps?, this all creates 
confusion rather than clarity.


--Tim May
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