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title = "Difference"
glassblowers = ["cristobalsciutto.md"]
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Lack of information is uniformity. All objects are identical to each other, and hence indistinguishable. White noise—artifacts shimmering without difference that makes a difference. The introduction of difference gives us a bit of information. This is not like that; there are characteristics that separate. The blob of white noise has an edge, and hence some elements are internal and others form the boundary.


Exuberance is an overflowing of information. A book inside a chest in the last floor of an abandoned home is difference, but it is not difference that makes a difference. A librarian, professional or amateur, must distribute the book for it to resonate in the world.


The transmission of information through time or space is the mirroring of difference through time or space. A picture captures the difference apparent through color and location on the projective plane so that it can be re-transmitted in a different place. Hence, the medium of photography is a form of transmission of a set of differences legible to its technical mechanism of capture. Analogously, the phonograph is a means of transmission of sound waves—differences in distribution of particles in the air. The technical means of capturing some difference determines what difference is legible to be transmitted.


Preservation is transmission through an indeterminate amount of space and time. At these scales, the second law of thermodynamics begins to take effect—entropy increases in an isolated system. As such, information is erased. To preserve information is to counteract the law and maintain difference. A path is kept by walking along it, stifling the growth of weeds. Technology imitates this process: a lawnmower to trim the weeds, or pesticide to avoid their growth. Alternatively, a social system can lead to preservation: park rangers can prepare trails, which are then navigated by visitors, propelled by the tourism industry.


These practices establish ecologies of preservation. The lawn trimmings must be reused or disposed and the pesticides’ side effects must be accounted for. Similarly, tourist economies generate income to finance maintenance, while also producing waste and even over-consumption. These second-order effects must be folded into the practices, in order to continue to maintain difference.
