Stochastic Emergence Surfacing
“Stochastic Emergence Surfacing” (SES) is a method of surfacing that does not attempt to prove or directly describe a thesis. Instead, it places surfaces in and around a thesis. The shape of the thesis continues to emerge as additional surfaces accumulate. Stochastic surfacing around a theme may illuminate the positive space of a thesis, the negative space of a thesis, and the conceptual ecosystem in which the thesis participates. The true thesis may never be explicitly stated; it may instead be discovered to occupy a barycenter—a semantic center of mass—arising between the surfaces as they are added.
SES can serve as a method of exploratory analysis around a thesis, revealing the surrounding conceptual ecosystem or conceptual landscape. It may also function as an exploratory method that uncovers previously unseen patterns and conceptual relations.
For an observer, stochastic emergence surfacing can create cognitive spaces that arise as surfaces are placed around the concept, opening a landscape of possible positions from which the thesis may be approached. A landscape of conceptual affordances—where none was expected.
This suggests a calculus of surfacing in which the full shape of the thesis is approached (partially filled) but never fully filled in or described. The thesis becomes the limit of a function that fills in around it. The full meaning is approached but never reached or directly articulated.
If the thesis is “real”—that is, if the concept exists within a genuine semantic space of relations—then SES is likely to reveal “real” landscape around it. Thus, when applied to real concepts, SES opens conceptual terrain features that are themselves likely to be real, even if previously undiscovered.
SES differs geometrically from point‑fill methods: instead of points, it uses surfaces. Any given surface may be a plane or a manifold. These manifolds may have n dimensions (they may have depth, for instance) or a topology that supports n‑dimensional forms.
If you would like to reference this page, here is an APA Style citation:
Smith, T. (2026). Stochastic Emergence Surfacing. Small-Infinities. https://small-infinities.com/surfaces/stochastic-emergence-surfacing