felicidad and the theory of everything
DESCRIPTION
This is a little publication with the science behind my installation of the degree show at Central Saint Martins Art and Design SchoolTRANSCRIPT
Felicidad & The Theory of
EverythingMarta Pinilla
Metaphor is to the human mind what folding is to science.
Some scientists use origami as a metaphor for under-standing the complexity of the cosmos. The amount of complexity in a structure such as a galaxy or filament of galaxies increases with the amount of “origami pa-per” that gets folded up to construct the structure.The team will use this definition for the first all-inclu-sive quantitative measurement of the complexity, or entropy, in the cosmic web. In modern theories of grav-ity, entropy is a subtle concept, but it seems to be of crucial importance. Fully understanding gravitational entropy may provide the key to the mystery of “dark energy,” the accelerated expansion of the universe.
In the current, observationally successful picture of how the Universe developed, there is an origami anal-
ogy that is helpful in understanding the formation of the “cosmic web” arrangement of galaxies. The cos-
mic web is the cellular, foam-like arrangement of galaxies in the Universe; they line the edges of vast voids.
The analogy to origami only goes so far, though. First, the cosmological origami sheet
is stretchy, unlike in paper origami. Second, the cosmological sheet is three-dimen-
sional, folding up in six dimensions, unlike 2D paper-origami sheets that fold up in 3D.
The analogy to origami only goes so far, though. First, the cosmological origami sheet
is stretchy, unlike in paper origami. Second, the cosmological sheet is three-dimen-
sional, folding up in six dimensions, unlike 2D paper-origami sheets that fold up in 3D.
In Einstein’s theory of gen-
eral relativity, gravity comes
about through the distortion
that matter and energy pro-
duce in a four-dimensional
spacetime “sheet.” Gravity
also causes another kind of
sheet that pervades space to
distort and fold: the three-di-
mensional cosmological “ori-
gami” sheet of dark matter.
OU
R
univ
erse
w
as
shap
ed
by
orig
ami.
Gra
vity
to
ok
a pr
imor
dial
pa
per
shee
t
and
fold
ed
it to
fo
rm
gala
xies
, th
us
brin
ging
lig
ht
and
life
to
the
cosm
os.
This
orig
inal
take
on
the
crea
tion
myt
h is
mor
e th
an ju
st e
mpt
y m
etap
hor.
One
ast
roph
ysic
ist i
s
disc
over
ing
how
orig
ami c
an te
ll us
a fe
w th
ings
abo
ut h
ow g
alax
ies
are
crea
ted,
why
they
tend
to
spin
in u
niso
n – a
nd h
ow in
thei
r ear
ly d
ays t
hey m
ay h
ave b
een
nest
ed w
ithin
vast
, dar
k pol
ygon
s.
UN
IV
ER
SE
Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....
Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....
Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....
Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....
Art im
itates nature as tissue paper patterns the shape of living tissue. The fine wrinkles and frag-
ile creases of some artist’s m
odel depict the brain’s intricate ordering and delicate construction.
Nature also im
itates art. The development of the nervous system
begins with a tiny lay-
er of cells, and as they grow, they undergo an elaborate sequence of foldings that cul-
minate
in the
structure of
the brain.
The resem
blance to
origami
is evident
as ear-
ly as the beginning of the third week of hum
an life. Like a crease in a piece of paper, a
narrow groove know
n as the primitive streak appears on the surface of the em
bryonic ectoderm.
BR
AI
N
Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....
Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....
Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....
Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....
Myriads of paper folds would be needed to model the microscopic interior of the brain. Replicat-
ing the manifold twists and turns of 100 billion neurons sharing 160 trillion synapses would chal-
lenge the most nimble-fingered origamist. This level of structural intricacy, though impressive,
is less remarkable than the brain’s functional capacity. From a folded sheet of neurons emerge
such high-level cognitive faculties as perception, language, abstract reasoning, and creative
expression. From this grey matter also comes the skill to guide hands to fold paper into pre-
cise geometric shapes that transform ideas into visual metaphors and delight the imagination.
Myriads of paper folds would be needed to model the microscopic interior of the brain. Replicat-
ing the manifold twists and turns of 100 billion neurons sharing 160 trillion synapses would chal-
lenge the most nimble-fingered origamist. This level of structural intricacy, though impressive,
is less remarkable than the brain’s functional capacity. From a folded sheet of neurons emerge
such high-level cognitive faculties as perception, language, abstract reasoning, and creative
expression. From this grey matter also comes the skill to guide hands to fold paper into pre-
cise geometric shapes that transform ideas into visual metaphors and delight the imagination.
The Baroque does not refer to an essence,
but rather to an operative function, to a
characteristic. It endlessly creates folds. It
does not invent the thing: there are all the
folds that come from the Orient – Greek,
Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, classical
folds… But it twists and turns the folds,
takes them to infinity, fold upon fold, fold
after fold. The characteristic of the Baroque
is the fold that goes on to infinity. And from
the beginning it differentiates them along
two lines, according to two infinites, as if
the infinite had two levels: the coils of mat-
ter, and the folds in the soul. Below, matter
is amassed according to an initial type of
fold, then organized according to a second
type, insofar as its parts constitute organs
“differently folded and more or less devel-
oped”. Above, the soul sing the glory of
God by running along its own folds, though
without succeeding in entirely develop-
ing them, “for they reach into the infinite”
The Baroque does not refer to an essence,
but rather to an operative function, to a
characteristic. It endlessly creates folds. It
does not invent the thing: there are all the
folds that come from the Orient – Greek,
Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, classical
folds… But it twists and turns the folds,
takes them to infinity, fold upon fold, fold
after fold. The characteristic of the Baroque
is the fold that goes on to infinity. And from
the beginning it differentiates them along
two lines, according to two infinites, as if
the infinite had two levels: the coils of mat-
ter, and the folds in the soul. Below, matter
is amassed according to an initial type of
fold, then organized according to a second
type, insofar as its parts constitute organs
“differently folded and more or less devel-
oped”. Above, the soul sing the glory of
God by running along its own folds, though
without succeeding in entirely develop-
ing them, “for they reach into the infinite”
Binaries such as inside/outside and
surface/depth operate with an either/
or logic: it’s one or the other. The
fold, however, allows for the oper-
ation of and: it’s both this and that.
There’s a distinction between what
I feel and what I say, sure. But they
are intimately bound up and rarely
opposed. They are different planes
of a common event: the event of me.
I am a series of folds within an ori-
gami universe. Of course, this is
not to say that there aren’t tears
in the surface of things. But there
is no nothing nor is there an out-
side. The universe is a plenum, full
of itself. A tear is a kind of fold, too.
Texts from
The Huffington Post. N.p., 2012. Web. 7 May 2016.
Battersby, Stephen. “How To Make An Origami Universe”. New Scientist. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 May 2016.
Deleuze, Gilles. The Fold. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993. Print.
“Grey Matters: The Origami Brain: From Neural Folds To Neuroethics”. The center for Bioethics. N.p., 2016. Print.
“JHU Cosmologists Touted For Work On ‘Origami Universe’”. The Hub. N.p., 2012. Web. 7 May 2016.
Images from the author. Photographs has been taken over Twin Peaks, Misfits and Breaking Bad photo-grams.