Abacus: The Pale

[Alan Sondheim]

Abacus: The Pale


The abacus is generally divided into two sections - above and below the line. 
Below, each bead or token represents one unit. above, each token represents 
five units. Consider the units above indexical: the _position_ of the token 
represents either naught or five. But the units below are doubly coded: as 
ikonic, they not only represent one; they _are_ one. But in terms of position, 
the one is counted and accountable, or uncounted and unaccountable. Think on 
that.


found this older bookmark file - most of the links are gone - there's a lot of 
net history here - might be of interest - alan

http://www.asondheim.org/cic3.html