Pinecones, Phyllotaxis, and the Computation of Form
How local growth rules, mechanical constraints, and packing objectives produce the spiral order seen in pinecones.
A connected research notebook
How do simple rules become living worlds?
I study the recurring architectures behind computation, evolution, morphogenesis, intelligence, and collective behavior—then turn the connections into essays, simulations, and research.
rules
form
adaptation
mind
society
one question,
many scales
Research program
Four paths grounded in current work
Each path links directly to notes already in the notebook. New paths appear only when there is real writing behind them.
01
Information and representation
When does a change of coordinates reveal structure rather than merely rename it?
Fourier analysis · information geometry · learning 02Embodied problem solving
What does a physical system compute through its dynamics?
graph search · slime molds · nature-inspired computing 03Growth and biological form
How do local growth rules produce reliable global geometry?
phyllotaxis · morphogenesis · mechanical constraints 04Institutions as adaptive systems
Which feedback loops make social metaphors into testable mechanisms?
institutions · selection · complex adaptive systemsOpen notebook
Work currently moving
Maze Solving as Search, Memory, and Embodied Computation
From graph search to slime molds: what changes when a maze solver is an algorithm, a body, or a distributed physical process?
Statistical Manifolds: What Kind of Space Is a Model?
A route from probability distributions to information geometry—and from representing a world to learning within it.
The working method
Observe → formalize → simulate → connect.
01Begin with an anomaly. A pinecone, a regenerating organism, a cellular automaton, or a strange social equilibrium.
02Find the transferable mechanism. Identify constraints, information flows, selection pressures, and state transitions.
03Build something falsifiable. A model, simulation, visual argument, or set of competing predictions.
04Publish the trail. Notes become essays; essays become reproducible experiments; the strongest experiments become papers.