SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
How, after 25 Years, the Superformula Is Changing Everything In the World
GIELIS Transformations are just the beginning…
Dr. Johan Gielis is a nice Flemish man. He sat at my table in the Dutch village of Geldrop, before we left for our ESG projects in Greece
We talked about bamboo and science. About strong bamboo roots for agroforestry. About healthy buildings. And about immersive VR and metaverses
We talked about computers being helpers instead of hinderers
We talked about imagination. Only if you can imagine something, you can create it. We discussed this brilliant video interview with Nobel-prize-winning quantum physicist Richard Feynman
“How can such a brilliant person be so normal?”, went through my mind
Would Einstein have been like this? I smiled my own little polymath smile. My hair had not grown back yet from the chemo
I’m an older, beautiful woman now with little hair… but my brain… is clearer than ever…
Polymath? Polu = Greek for much. Mathanein = Greek for learn. And in the early 17th century, polymath became a word…
Johan is my personal Einstein and I have learned so much from him on personal, philosophical, and scientific levels, I can only be grateful to the universe. Serendipity brought him on my path…
Einstein and Gielis both have a liking for generalizations…
And those will change our human understandings forever…
The Superformula
But this article is not about me. Or about him. Or about knowing people who are famous. This article is about the emergence of radically important shifts in human knowledge about processes and systems
About healthy environments for people. Healthy cities. Healthy villages. Mitigation and adaptation to climate change
The Superformula is what Prof. Johan Gielis gave to the world 25 years ago. And it’s changing the scene of complexity, entropy, quantum physics, engineering, astrophysics, neuroscience, and what else…
“In 2003, he was invited to submit a Special Paper to the American Journal of Botany; ‘A generic geometric transformation that unifies a wide range of natural and abstract shapes’ now lies in the top 2% of most cited scientific papers of all time”
If you want to understand what the Superformula does, can do, and will do more and more and more, read this article. It gives a peek into science and the huge transformations of our currently shifting times
Biomimicry is the #1 innovation method right now worldwide. Why? Because we have done strange things when we made physics the lead of engineering instead of biology, ecology, and quantum physics
We are learning now… And trying to do it better as humanity…
It’s about time because there’s much to redesign…
Not least because we have to mitigate and adapt to climate change…
Some Highlights of Superformula
Shall I give you a bit of explanation in my own words? The Superformula is so groundbreaking because it is the ONE formula for ALL shapes of nature
And it makes the merging of shapes possible. There are not many circles and spirals in nature. But there are many superellipses. They merge. A flower is not different from a stem or a leaf or a root or a fungi
They come from a hole. A vortex
And they return to a hole. A vortex
And in the meantime, they are in spatial relationship with each other
“This single equation, a generalization of circles and the Pythagorean Theorem, unifies an extensive range of both natural and abstract shapes”
Nature is made up of dynamic forms that change in space and time. And function follows form and flow. We all know that!
Do you remember Newton? And his colors? He put walls between his color scheme and had to spin the wheel to make the colors merge in our vision.
Do you then also remember Goethe and his color science?
Newton was about physics
Goethe was about quantum physics with the observer
And Goethe realized all too well that he could only see things with his human eyes. That limits us, my friends! It limits us big time!
Do we hear colors? No, we don’t! But they are light vibrations! Do we smell colors? No, we don’t. But insects do!
We just look with the wrong eyes! Limiting ourselves big time!
Shortest explanation
What is the shortest explanation I could come up with so far?
Take a hole. Blow air into this hole. The outer ring will expand. Come loose and become elastic. An elastic band that can take all shapes. 2D, 3D, and merging with other shapes through informed air, water, or the atmosphere. Whatever you call it. I like the word ETHER
We have 5 elements in the world: earth, water, air, fire, and ether
The Superformula proves that we are all antennas. All of us! All species! And all complex flow systems such as mountains, seas, and oceans
We observe and listen with our 5 senses and our skin, our aura
Some say we even have 32 senses
For me, it’s just 5 senses, skin, and aura. I’m a practical girl. Logical, critical thinking is my trade. However, energy expert Nikola Tesla said it clearly:
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration”
— Nikola Tesla in My Inventions
One more remark about the Superformula. It is NOT the theory of everything as Stephan Hawking made us believe
Nature works in patterns. And we can only map a fuller picture of patterns
Johan Gielis is now busy with a broad team of math experts and other scientists to define new generalized, dynamic formulas
The formula of music through the air
The formula of ALL=1 & 1=ALL
I can give you a little hint here. It has to do with new biomimicry insights into the helical heart. Twisting and untwisting. After 400 years of thinking the heart was an expanding and contracting pump, cardiologists recently found out about helical. Twisting and untwisting
Fascinating if you hear their explanations!
ALL = 1 & 1 =ALL also has to do with the Moebius tube. Here’s an Escher picture of so inside, so outside. And how ants can walk infinitely. When the tube is a closed loop and twisting and untwisting…
I’m observing, my friends… And oh, how lovely life is when we know more about nature…
When the time is right, we will share more about all these formulas in our think-and-do-tank Abundanism. Abundance 4 ALL…
The presentation about the Superformula Johan gave for our Abundanism tribe last November can be downloaded here
Before we come too excited and arrogant as humans, though, let’s be clear about one thing. We can never map the full picture of our planet. But we can try our best. And make it work in practical, healthy human applications
There’s always more to know because emergence is true too. Surprise happenings. Serendipity. Our planet is a dynamic, ever-growing organism of actions and reactions of all species
Chaos Theory and Gaia Theory give us some details
But now, since 2018, new insights into entropy will be changing the scene of physics and engineering soon. This insight also comes from bio-inspired math. Entropy appears to be full regeneration instead of degradation as we long thought in physics and engineering
Quantum Recurrence is the new kid on the block when it comes to entropy
Kepler Waiting for His Newton
And that opens the door for quantum gravity, dynamics, and flow to do more magic for our human world of economies, societies, and healthy cities and villages
Quantum is the smallest. Gravity is the biggest. And if we realize that we are spinning with 1,670 km (1,038 miles) per hour through the universe, we know that we are tiny humans with a huge potential
Why don’t we feel that spinning? Well, we are glued to the earth with gravity, remember? But this spinning might be the main cause of our spiritual experiences. We invent religious stories
We are one big tribe of storytellers, remember?
Stories are what we hold onto as humans. And that is good. Stories are also our biggest hindrances when we believe we are not good enough
There’s so much more to know than we have found out so far in science. But at least, now YOU know about GIELIS transformations. Geometric (or Generalized) Intrinsic and Extrinsic Lengths In Submanifolds
And you know that Johan Gielis is a modern-day Kepler waiting for his Newton. Remember the story of Kepler?
“In May 2003, after publication of the original paper, the American Mathematical Society Math in the media section reviewed some of the many responses to Gielis’ work. They concluded he was ‘A botanical Kepler awaiting his Newton’ — Kepler had found a uniform description for the motion of planets using ellipses and this was the inspiration for Newton to develop his laws of motion, three quarters of a century later
The comparison implies the high expectation that arose from the publication of the Gielis Transformations. Gielis himself comments that, twenty years on, he has not found his Newton yet: but revolutions in science take time
Are you that Newton? Are you going to be the scientist who finds for us the dynamic, flow solutions in a few quantum physics generalizations?
Forget the math now. And let’s move on to some stuff that we ‘normal’ people understand better
Modern-day applications of the Superformula…
Applications in Real Life
Let me first say that if you are overwhelmed by the information above, I was too when I first heard it. But my intuition told me there was something important here I needed to know
So, I started asking questions. And luckily, Johan is a good explainer
My advice to YOU: go for the generalizations. Look at the videos I presented here. And then start to connect the information to what you already know. What YOU think to be true so far
Keep an open mind. That’s when we start learning faster…
After 25 years, the applications of the dynamic Superformula are numerous now. And I’ll give you a few that fascinate me and give me hope for a good future
1- Healthy buildings
For years, I already work on this subject. Healthy buildings with healthy indoor climates. We spend 90% of our time indoors, you know. And the concentration of pollutants is 2–5 times worse than outdoor
How can our grandchildren’s brains learn when they are clouded by an excess of CO2 and VOCs that build up in their classrooms?
So, I’ve always been a sucker for healthy school buildings. And I’ll be working on the subject again from April onward in Croatia…
Have a look at what the LAVA Architects in Germany are doing with existing buildings to make them healthy buildings
With just 2 indoor and outdoor membranes!
Biomimicry Systemic Design of the highest order!
In all my time working on this subject, we always struggled with existing buildings. New buildings are easy if the architect understands some ground rules and the owner has a wish for a healthy building.
But how to transform an existing building? Of course, in designing healthy human environments, Mike and I always use what we already have around us. That’s what everyone should do. Have a good look around and use what’s there…
And voila, along came Chris Bosse…
Modern CAD systems use more dimensions than before. 3D gives many more options than 2D. And what to think of 4D and 5D? Then it becomes really dynamic in time and spacetime…
2- Neurosciences
During my past year of aggressive breast cancer and nearly dying, I had some help from neuroscientists to find my personal survival strength
Health is not the absence of illness, you know, it’s the stamina to deal with whatever we have to deal with in life. Life is never a walk in the park. Life is wilderness…
The work of Dr. Jean-Luc Mommaerts and the Aurelis App is based on the Superformula
Modern neurosciences are based on the deep void inside. A core. A hole
We go to the deep void inside during deep meditation or during sleep. And this deep void inside is where the connection is. The connection to the planet’s collective intelligence and your own personal strength
I found my strength in my core during sleep and deep meditation
And you can find your strength in your core too
I’m also convinced that going deep helped me prevent a chemo brain. And have a super-intuitive, clear logical brain instead…
3–4–5- VR, Gaming, Metaverses & Immersive Art
This story is getting too long, Desiree… Stop now…
A few quickies then. The Superformula helps save millions of data transfers. So it saves bucket-loads of energy consumption
GIELIS Transformations are the basis of many VR, light, and sound applications. Here is Changing the Game. And also Mathematica, Matlab, and Maple use it…
Dataverses and Metaverses are the future. Let’s design AI Songlines…
Always Ask…
STOP! Enough = enough! I won’t bore my readers with more goodies that make my heart race and my brain go spinning with joy
In the next stories, I’ll tell you more
If you have questions, just put them in the comments and I’ll answer them. I love to be connected, my friends!
Love to be talking to you (again)!
And please, never be afraid to ask… We give Masterclasses Systemic Design and Cluster Economies at Abundance 4 ALL
And on our YouTube channel you find all the films we showed you here and many more goodies… Plus a Spanish video explaining the Superformula for math and engineering geeks…
I’m a systemic designer. A (digital) nomad. A social & environmental change-maker. Mentor to powerful leaders. And to students of life. Stay tuned via our website Abundanism.com
Thank you, Gaia, for giving me Wild Writing © Désirée Driesenaar, 2023
