Isomorphism
In his books and lectures, Douglas Hofstadter repeatedly talks about the word “isomorphism”—from the Greek “iso” (equal) and “morphosis” (to form or to shape). In Surfaces and Essences:Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking, Hofstadter defines an “isomorphism” as “the fact of having the same underlying structure.” In essence, an isomorphism is when there is a common essence between two things. Since learning the word, I’ve been seeing isomorphisms everywhere. So that’s this week’s theme.
Film Industry and Synergy
In his “Film Industry and Synergy” class, film teacher Bertrom Badger uses the picture below to illustrate the fact that many great movies have the same underlying structure.
The Unified Theory of Deliciousness
The world-famous chef David Chang has written about his “Unified Theory of Deliciousness.” Chang has created many hit dishes—dishes people travel from around the world to eat. “And recently,” he wrote, “I started seeing patterns in our most successful that suggested our hits weren’t entirely random; there’s a set of underlying laws that links them together.” Essentially, Chang realized that just about all of the best dishes (not just his) from around the world have the same underlying base elements. For instance, one of Chang’s famous hits, The Momofuku Pork Bun is an Asian isomorphism of an American classic: the BLT. And his “Spicy Pork Sausage & Rice Cakes” is a Korean isomorphism of an Italian classic: Bolognese. “Different cultures may use different media to express those base patterns,” Change writes. “But…they are fundamentally playing the same music.”
The Same Story Told Over and Over
Speaking of “playing the same music,” in the scene just after Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) dies by suicide in A Star is Born, Jackson’s brother Bobby (Sam Elliott) consoles his widow Ally (Lady Gaga). “Jack talked about how music is essentially 12 notes between any octave,” Bobby tells her. “12 notes and the octave repeats. It’s the same story told over and over, forever. All any artist can offer the world is how they see those 12 notes. That’s it. He loved how you see them. He just kept saying, ‘I love how she sees them, Bobby.’” All any artist can do is form or shape those notes into a new isomorphism.
Here, You Play It!
The jazz musician Gene Quill was heavily influenced by the jazz musician Charlie Parker. At a jazz club in New York, Quill was walking off the stage when he heard a person in the audience shouting something at him. “Hey, all you’re doing is playing just like Charlie Parker.” Quill replied, “What?” “All you’re doing is playing like Charlie Parker.” Essentially, the person in the audience was saying, you’re just an isomorphism of Charlie Parker. Quill held out his instrument and said, “Here. You play just like Charlie Parker!” The prolific writer Haruki Murakami told this story to say that it’s okay to be an isomorphism of those you admire. “If someone is hard on me [for that],” Murakami said, “I hold out my instrument and say, ‘Here, you play it!’”
A Significant Advance in Knowledge
In Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Hofstadter writes, “the perception of an isomorphism between two known structures is a significant advance in knowledge—and I claim that it is such perceptions of isomorphism which create meanings in the minds of people.” Which reminded me of this illustration from Gaping Void:
