The Science
Cells and tissues are in cooperative relationship, worlds sustaining each other’s orbits in solar systems are interdependent, all in symbioses as components of a universal symbiosis. The art piece illustrates a singularity of discovery conjoined with these symbioses by exploring the symbiosis of numbers in the poem A Statistic of One. Each number, a singularity, is dependent on the others, a symbiosis, forming data sets that are the raw materials of truths, each set with variation that represents the breadth of its verity. The art piece and poem are companions, a symbiosis, representing our search for truth.
A Statistic of One
To the nearest hundred, or to any usable percentage, my single figure is indifferent, but it is the only relevant figure: without it, the change [of substance] can’t be measured at all. Border Country, Raymond Williams (1960)
I
These are hard materials
sharp edged, inflexible
to a degree,
that unfold the truth
and one truth
leads to the next
In linear sequence.
Each from the other, truths isolated
yet dependent
on what has gone before,
and what follows for the confirmation of truth’s verity.
Various truths are the data set of probability,
flexible to a degree
because of the uncertainty of absolute verity
that only singularity allows.
‘A statistic of one’,
that even when wrong,
its absoluteness is unquestionable,
because to question is not to know
what has gone before.
Knowing is singular in its effect,
its purpose sustained by the uncertainty of data sets
from which truth derives.
The metaphysics of it all
betrays the conceit of knowledge,
and those that claim knowledge
such that they impose their understanding
on others that do not know,
and care even less,
except when their ignorance
results in what’s cared for is lost,
Suppressed by the singularity of knowing
by those who acknowledge a statistic of one
and who prefer the comfort of its certainty,
rather than the uncertainty
arising from the truth of data sets.
II
Data sets determine league tables,
positions of football clubs
and universities,
where those learning to know,
know what they are learning,
and rate it accordingly.
Because, as customers
it is said that
they are entitled to know,
even if still learning of
the data sets that allow them to understand
what it is they, the customer, are attempting to know.
Perhaps without conscious thought of
the void of ignorance that learning attempts to fill.
Yet in unknowing, the certainty of customers’ learning
determines the positions of institutions in league tables,
in turn compiled from data sets
Of incomplete knowledge,
asserted with the conviction
that establishes what is said, to be true
in ignorance of sound foundations.
I wish that I had the conviction of others
to be certain of what I know
without doubt,
without hesitation
untrammeled by thoughts of the uncertainty of data sets
collected by the compilation of singularities.
Which itself compels another thought
that we all derive from a single small point,
infinitesimally small but infinitely massive,
exploding once or perhaps in series,
like the popping of a two-stroke petrol engine
that propelled motorbikes and lawn mowers
In yesteryear.
And yet we are saying the same thing
in different ways,
unrelenting in the stream of thought.
And consciousness
but …
please allow the words’ meanings to breath.
Where is the pause
to allow the assimilation of meaning?
The punctuation of time and space,
the meaning of words
arises from their spacing,
and timing.
III
Yet the certainty of data sets
give us comfort.
Those who await the miracle of birth,
calculate the probability of delivery
from statistics derived from the accumulation
of data.
To give the certainty of a happy outcome,
‘A statistic of one’…. or at most two or three,
to which we cling in hope, and which data
collected in sets allows to be certain…
or at least the hope to be certain
that the outcome will be happy.
And reinforce our faith in belief,
itself knowledge in the absence of evidence.
Truth itself uncurled by those hard materials,
derived from numbers,
each a singularity
which hard materials do not uncurl.
Only their interpretation
can reveal the truth of data sets,
each consisting of the singular truth
that interpretation cannot uncurl.
Because to do so would give us a statistic of one
which cannot be questioned
since it stands alone
inflexible, somewhat obtuse without the context
of the other singularities that make up the data set.
Befriended of one another, the collective now represents a version of truth,
because each singularity gives context to its companions
so, that collectively, their truth is revealed
as a statistic … one as a statistic cannot be,
because it lacks the context of its companions.
David Applin
The Artist
The art piece illustrates the serendipity of imaging a neurosecretory cell and its axon in the brain of a sheep blowfly, stained and counterstained to highlight the cell and its axonal thread in uninterrupted association with its cell body. The cell is in association with other cells … its companions. The contrast is the singularity of the unlikely chance of obtaining the image of the neurosecretory cell with the continuous length of its axon and the cell’s likely symbiosis with its companions. Working together, the symbiosis of the cells enables the production of eggs and the continuity of life, and the singularity of life within the context of the poem A Statistic of One which accompanies this art piece.
Copyright statement. This work is published under the CC BY-NC-SA license