Landscapes as Execution Logs: Abductive Computational Rule Discovery from Time-lapsed Observations
Geospatial agent-based modeling (ABM) is built on three primitive agent types mapping to geospatial data structures: fields (rasters of cells/patches), particles (vector points as mobile entities), and links (vector polylines and polygons). Each agent operates according to local rules, making decisions based on its own state and neighboring agents.
## Abductive Reasoning Abduction is reasoning that infers the best explanation for observed phenomena, working backward from outcomes to discover the rules that generated them. Charles Sanders Peirce described it as reasoning that generates explanatory hypotheses when confronted with facts requiring interpretation: - **Deduction**: applies known rules to predict outcomes (if A then B) - **Induction**: generalizes patterns from repeated observations - **Abduction**: starts with observations and seeks the simplest rules that could have produced them
## Landscapes as Execution Logs Abductive rule discovery treats the landscape as an active computational process where observed forms serve as execution logs. The designer uses time-lapse data from physical systems (like the Emriver stream table) to observe real-world trajectories through phase space. The resulting agent-based models are themselves abducted explanations—hypothetical generative mechanisms inferred from observed landscape dynamics rather than derived from theoretical first principles.
## The Abductive Workflow 1. **Empirical Observation**: Multispectral time-lapse videos capture extensive evolution of forms 2. **Phase Space Mapping**: Video treated as dataset revealing system state transitions 3. **Rule Discovery**: AI pattern inference to identify interaction rules of primitives Transformer-based models can generate Lattice Boltzmann simulations, translating observed hydrological patterns into computational fluid dynamics.
## Intensive Asymmetries as Control Parameters Intensive gradients are expressed as asymmetries within fields, particles, or link topology. These asymmetries function as control parameters determining behavior and shape. When they reach critical thresholds, they drive the system through phase transitions. The resulting emergent structures are order parameters—extensive forms representing the material registration of underlying forces.
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