Mazes and labyrinths; a general account of their history and developments

Matthews, William H.

doi:10.5962/bhl.title.51744

Cited by 9 publications

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“…He cites the story of Theseus as an example of how mazes and labyrinths are considered powerful sites of ''wayfaring in a world of the dead'' (Ingold 2007, 53). In his Mazes and Labyrinths, Matthews (1922) features a sketch of Crete's Caverns of Gortyna, which some had suggested was the Labyrinth of Knossos (Ingold 2007, 54). The sketcher was traveller F.W.…”

Section: Vision and Perspective Of Underground Mappingsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Lines Underground: Exploring and Mapping Venezuela's Cave Environment

Pérez

2013

Cartographica

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How do the lines on a map come into being? What stories do they tell? These questions are examined in the context of cave exploration and mapping in Venezuela. Ethnographic analysis focuses on mapping in the field, the translation of notes into final maps, and discourses surrounding these practices. The lines that cave surveyors sketch in field books while traversing underground passages reveal a dialectic between cartographic and exploratory practices. Two key factors shape this dynamic: first, the experience of probing humans ''pushing passages'' with no obvious end in sight, and second, the coordinated and skilled use of tools by explorers working in teams. Here, humans define both the scale and perspective of cartographic representations. But bodies slithering along passages make lines, too. This paper simultaneously considers lines of lead on paper and traces of bodies in the earth as a way to think of exploration and mapping as emergent engagements. This case powerfully illustrates the ontogenic nature of maps, highlighting the (re)production of social relations that continually brings them into being along with the environment that engenders these engagements. Finally, cave exploration and mapping illustrate the limits of our vision and technologies to grasp and order nature. RÉSUMÉComment les lignes sur une carte voient-elles le jour? Quelles histoires racontent-elles? Dans l'article, on examinera ces questions dans le contexte de l'exploration spéléologique et de la représentation cartographique du Venezuela. Cette analyse ethnographique sera axée sur la cartographie sur le terrain, la transposition des notes sur les cartes finales et les discours entourant ces pratiques. Les lignes que les géomètres experts en spéléologie dessinent dans leurs carnets d'observations dans les passages souterrains révèlent une dialectique entre la cartographie et les pratiques d'exploration qui est formée par deux facteurs clés : premièrement, l'expérience des humains qui sondent les « passages » sans en voir la fin; et, deuxièmement, l'utilisation coordonnée d'outils spécialisés par les explorateurs qui travaillent en équipes. Ici, le mot humain définit à la fois l'échelle de grandeur et le point de vue des représentations cartographiques. Toutefois, les corps qui se faufilent dans les passages forment eux aussi des lignes. Dans l'article, on considère à la fois les lignes tracées au crayon sur du papier et les traces laissées par les corps dans la terre afin d'envisager l'exploration et la représentation cartographique comme des engagements naissants. Ce cas illustre superbement la nature ontogénique des cartes et met en relief la (re)production des relations sociales qui les font constamment naître, ainsi que l'environnement qui crée ces engagements. Enfin, l'exploration spéléologique et la cartographie illustrent les limites de notre vision et des technologies permettant de comprendre et d'ordonner la nature.

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Section: Vision and Perspective Of Underground Mappingsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Lines Underground: Exploring and Mapping Venezuela's Cave Environment

Pérez

2013

Cartographica

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“…Often MDPs are depicted as a state transition graph (see Figure 3.4 for an example) where the nodes correspond to states and (directed) edges denote transitions. A typical domain that is frequently used in the MDP literature is the maze (Matthews, 1922), in which the reward function assigns a positive reward for reaching the exit state.…”

Section: Definition 221mentioning

confidence: 99%

Logic of Adaptive Behavior

Otterlo¹

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PrefaceOne the central themes of this book is the interplay between representation and behavior. Representation is about the way we look at our world, about how we see the things around us, and about how we think about and evaluate the concepts and knowledge that shape our surroundings.Behavior is about what we do, about our actions in the world or the mental actions in our head, and about the consequences of a wide variety of activities we engage in every day. Our representation of the world determines our behavior, but at the same time, our behavior influences what we see, and with that, it changes our representation of the world. This strange, mutually modifying loop is a fascinating phenomenon and it is the core object of study in both psychology and artificial intelligence. Indeed, much of the material in this book is about formal models and algorithms that characterize how computer-based, intelligent systems can represent their mathematical worlds and how they can behave rationally in such worlds. However, the pattern of this loop is much more general, and can be observed almost anywhere. For example, every paper I read changes my representation of my own scientific world, but at the same time, my research activities determine my choices for further study.Out of the many possible things that may be present in your representation of your world, and that may be part of your behavioral pattern, are people. Most of our representations of our world, our thinking, our talking, and our behavioral patterns, involve people. Especially in the path leading to this book, my representation of the world, and my course of action, have been influenced by so many people. For starters, in the writing of this book I have been influenced by many great scientists. There are many of them who I know personally and with whom I had the privilege to engage in interesting interactions, but there are many others that have influenced me without them knowing, for example when I attended their talks or read their books and papers. At this place, I want to express my gratitude to a number of specific people that have influenced me, helped me, supported me and made my life so much more interesting and enjoyable.First of all, I would like to thank my promotor Anton Nijholt for giving me the opportunity to do a PhD in his research group, and for the complete freedom and support he has given me to pursue my own interests, even when my path led me to new topics, to Utrecht and even to Freiburg. I thank Mannes Poel for all his support, his open-door policy that made it possible to just drop by with a coffee and start a discussion on any topic that was on my mind at those specific moments, for all the fun lunch walks, the stimulating educational activities we did together and all the other things that made our interactions fun and interesting.Many thanks go to my promotor John-Jules Meyer. His endless kindness, support and expertise have had great influence on my journey through my PhD period. I vividly remember our productive discussions, alwa...

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“…Bewilderment is inevitable, and the confusion is compounded yet further by those authors (Matthews, 1922;Doob, 1990) who use the terms maze and labyrinth interchangeably as if they were synonymous. 1…”

Section: Labyrinths As Designs and Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%