Mutable Plastic

Plastic is a transformational material. Its degradability aside, it has been a true revolution in manufacture - that is our ability to make pretty much anything. Why should this be?

Without trying to come up with a historically accurate analysis, we look to the properties of plastic as it compares to software and wiki in particular.

Ward states: > The internal link leaves it to the wiki to find a suitable resolution resolution.

We can refer to this behaviour of wiki links as computational plasticity in that we use the computer to sense the environment and provides some minimal intelligence to the seeking of a suitable link. We have some reservations with the use of the word computational in this context.

__Mutability__ is important here in the context of the struggle and increasing importance of immutability in computer science. Strong typing and append only databases combine with the power of compilers to produce amazing and novel results. Artificial intelligence looks to add the requisite learning capabilities. In this nexus the __mutable__ is nothing but a human frailty to be removed from our more perfect future.

Wiki takes a different stance. We use biological metaphors, and examine how life-like structures evolve. We find promise in the resilience and creative potential afforded by exploring a dialogue between the computer and the human in which __mutability__ can better be understood as a dynamic dance between the freezing and thawing of evolving koans of knowledge. We note that water and life appear uniquely to have these properties.