ways to be imperfect

All representations are imperfect by virtue of the fact that the representation is not the thing being represented. "The map is not the territory." 

Interacting systems of imperfect representations are engines of randomness, generating combinations and re-combinations of imperfections. Mixed by the vicissitudes of the representations themselves. Mixed by the vicissitudes of the processes of representation. The processes of representing are lossy, error prone, generating random mis-representations, random confabulations, random pattern making, random meaning making. Imperfection multiplied by imperfection multiplied by imperfection. 

Systems of memories imperfectly rendering internal traces of external life.  

The representations are in their most complex forms, in their richest blends and hues of imperfections, when they represent persons. Systems of imperfect memories of persons. Systems of imperfect understandings of persons. Systems of imperfect encoding of persons. Systems of imperfect decoding of persons. Systems of imperfect internal surrogates, standing in for persons. 

The representations vary in their degree and kinds of imperfection. How imperfect? Imperfect how? And this variance is different for each imperfect representation.  

An infinitude of ways to be imperfect. 

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Do the internal representations interact with and ramify against each other? Are there representations of interactions between representations? Dynamic internal societies of imperfect representations? A theater troupe of imperfect representations of persons, acting out relationships between themselves? The performances between them are mixing stages. The scenes, the stories, the trajectory of the drama unfolding randomly. 

[concept field: functions on systems, self (data structure), personhood, All Models Are Wrong, person (data structure), representation systems, internal theater, Map–territory relation, indeterminacy due to randomization, mental model, stochastic process, incompleteness, internal external universe theory, combinatorics, All Models Are Wrong, theater as metaphor, ramification, map, unfolding, combinatorics]

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Smith, T. (2026). ways to be imperfect. Small-Infinities. https://small-infinities.com/surfaces/ways-to-be-imperfect