- Author: [[luhmann.surge.sh]] - Full Title: Communicating With Slip Boxes by Niklas Luhmann - URL: http://luhmann.surge.sh/communicating-with-slip-boxes - ### Highlights first synced by [[Readwise]] [[2020-09-16]] > It is impossible to think without writing; at least it is impossible in any sophisticated or networked (anschlußfähig) fashion. ^f2d98a > Somehow we must mark differences, and capture distinctions which are either implicitly or explicitly contained in concepts. Only if we have secured in this way the constancy of the schema that produces information, can the consistency of the subsequent processes of processing information be guaranteed. And if one has to write anyway, it is useful to take advantage of this activity in order to create in the system of notes a competent partner of communication. - 1. The possibility of arbitrary internal branching - Fixed numbers, abstracted from any content-based order relying on the entire structure has a number of advantages which, taken together, enable us to reach a higher type of order. These advantages are: - We do not need to add notes at the end, but we can connect them anywhere—even to a particular word in the middle of a continuous text. - 2. Possibility of linking (Verweisungsmöglichkeiten). Since all papers have fixed numbers, you can add as many references to them as you may want. - 3. Register. - Therefore we need a register of keywords that we constantly update. - The slip box needs a number of years in order to reach critical mass. Until then, it functions as a mere container from which we can retrieve what we put in. This changes with its growth in size and complexity. > If, however, we seek communication with the slip box, we must seek internal possibilities for linkings which result in the unexpected (i.e. information). We could try to generalize the experiences of Paris, Florence, New York under general concepts like “art” or “exhibitions,” or “crowding” (inter-actionistic), or “mass,” or “freedom” or “education,” in order to see how the slip box reacts. Usually it is more fruitful to look for formulations of problems that relate heterogeneous things with each other. ^bae75d