Multiplicity
Multiplicity is a cool way of saying “lots and lots and lots of things” As human beings, we just aren’t very good when it comes to dealing with large numbers. We all have the ability to look up in the night sky and say “Oh look, there’s the moon” or take a trip to the movies and say “there were probably ‘about’ 50 people in the line to see Star Trek. But we all reach a point where things go from having a definable amount to just being ‘lots’. For example I could say to my son “look up in the sky, that’s the moon’ and both he and I could clearly count the number of moons, but when he turns and says “Coooooool, but Dad, the stars looks amazing, how many are there” my answer would be “lots”. As a mere flesh bag I just cant fathom how many stars there are in the sky, I just know there are more than I can count. Another thing that occurs to me is the fact that there are so many stars in the night sky is something more than just ‘mind boggling’ its also very pretty.
You see, multiplicity has some kind of aesthetic appeal to it! Where one thing like a fish or a bird can seem mundane in isolation, suddenly to see a school of fish or a flock of birds makes them amazing.
People are just simply blown away by the most simple things when they are grouped together. Show somebody an M&M and its somewhat underwhelming but show them a giant glass bowl filled with M&M and all of the sudden people get all excited and start jumping around (Hmm, THAT could just be sugar?) On the other hand, ask that same person to count the number of M&Ms and all of the sudden they wish they had the one lonely M&M again.
This is not the case when it comes to computers. Computers are good at the mundane. Computers are good at mathematics. There is a fantastic video called the 1K project which shows 1000 cars all racing around a track at the same time and once again it has this really amazing aesthetic to it. If they had shown each car race by itself 1000 times it would be a very boring experience. The same could be said for having someone guide this car through the same track 1000 times. But give a computer a task like “Hey Computer, take this one car, race it through the track 1000 times and then put it all together to show all the cars racing at the same time” and the computer will just go ahead with the task wit no complaints (unless of course it gives you a “I’m afraid I can’t do that Dave” answer and then, well you have bigger problems than producing a cool looking video for Vimeo :)
We can also experience Multiplicity when we go shopping online for Domo-Kun dolls. Sure, you might be able to walk into your local Ma and Pa store and they might have one or two sitting on the shelf, but you go to Amazon and BAM, you have a whole choice of Domo-Kun dolls to choose from. You see, Amazon aren’t limited to shelf space. A better example of this would be music, as we have very quickly moved away from a physical object when it comes to purchasing our choice of tunes. While I can still go into JB Hi-Fi and search for a copy of Angels And Airwaves (and ultimately not finding it on one of the many shelves) iTunes is a different story. I can simply type Angels and Airwaves into the search function and within seconds I have iTunes feeding the virtual album to me! iTunes doesn’t have to worry about having enough copies of an album to go around to all the people that want it, they simply replicate something as many times as required.
As a side note, I find this kind of interesting. In the ‘old days’ something was released in a limited number. Things become ‘rare’ due to this and became sough after items, there is something cool about having an old LP with its cover art work, fold out jacket with goodies inside like a calendar etc. Where does this leave us today where music only exists as a digital file with a screen shot showing on our iPod?
Just food for thought…..
