Res Extensa

Progress, technology, design, systems. Written by @colemanm.

[Res Extensa @res3xtensa]

Visualizing the Power of Limitation

"Constraints — either self-imposed or not — oddly free us from having too much freedom. They're a forcing function to just get started."

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

https://t.co/R6ami48kcw

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

Read a number of excellent books in 2024, from the likes of @stewartbrand, @p_millerd, @eliotpeper, @DavidDeutschOxf, @tedgioia, and many more not on X

(unless you know if Homer, CS Lewis, or Chesterton have active accounts) ⬇️

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

Kind of Blue was recorded in 7 hours, with almost no rehearsal

Could your team generate that much cultural impact in 1 work day?

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

"But bad implementation is endemic. It’s everywhere. State capacity is anaemic. And until it can be fixed, there can be no party of competence."

@krishnanrohit on lack of competence in government

this insight on the delta between policy and implementation is an important one:

[Res Extensa @res3xtensa]

Remembering what matters

https://t.co/6YuNDhe1so

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

I love this image

We have a tendency to define “order” visually: a system feels more organized when we can see, count, and classify its parts

But order and chaos are in the eye of the beholder

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

Building 20 at @MIT, built for low cost at lightning speed during the war in 1943 was supposed to be torn down right after

But it lasted until 1998

Functional buildings are in high demand!

[Res Extensa @res3xtensa]

@colemanm @MIT more on this masterwork of functional architecture

https://t.co/6cghsktZCg

[Res Extensa @res3xtensa]

https://t.co/dRWEVmDOvM

[Res Extensa @res3xtensa]

Visualizing the Power of Limitation

"Constraints — either self-imposed or not — oddly free us from having too much freedom. They're a forcing function to just get started."

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

the importance of gratitude – it's how we maintain the systems and networks that make us resilient

[Stewart Brand @stewartbrand]

A rather splendid essay on my Pace Layers.

“ It's a fundamental characteristic of how systems work and adapt to change.”

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

Pace layering has such profound reach, I decided to go deep on it in the latest issue of @res3xtensa

Thanks to @stewartbrand for the inspiration & the staying power of this idea — one of those ideas that once you know, you see everywhere

https://t.co/X58ZFkOIXY

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

One of the most powerful models for explaining behavior of complex systems is @stewartbrand's pace layering

It gives us an image of how systems function: in layers of activity moving at different rates – the fast generates activity & ideas, the slow keeps the system stable

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

Monthly links on @res3xtensa:

• @danwilliamsphil on explanatory inversion
• @krishnanrohit asks why companies can't last like cities?
• @stewartbrand on the rich culture of maintenance
• @henryfarrell revisits James Scott & high modernism

https://t.co/GLfA9DVlks

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

How Buildings Learn isn't just a book about architecture — it's full of far-reaching ideas about the nature of complex systems and how we create lasting, adaptive things

My detailed breakdown of @stewartbrand's rich, visual work of genius:

https://t.co/JBjSEO4R9M

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

Many species have evolved to use tools, but humans take it to an exceptional level

We use tools, we create tools, and even make tools for making other tools – we've created so much technology that we can diagram a network, a "tree of life" for innovations

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

My latest post — on the evolution of tool use, @kevin2kelly's What Technology Wants, and why human innovation is special

https://t.co/ivR3FTHFgV

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

We can do better at conveying to children an appreciation for trade-offs — sometimes one ideal requires compromise of another, that not all good things go together

Riffing on @JonahDispatch's idea of a "comfort with contradiction"

https://t.co/aTK5TlM8n2

[Coleman McCormick @colemanm]

Evolution Has No Goal

Because we're pattern-seeking animals, we tend to think evolution is a purposeful hunt for complexity — but it's an undirected process of guesswork, failure, & accidental success

Distilling thoughts provoked by @DavidDeutschOxf's Beginning of Infinity