Santa Fe Institute

May 29, 2026 ·

New Orleans used to be my favorite city back in the day because it had this mystic energy. I’m visiting Santa Fe right now as part of my road trip detour, which also has tons of mystic energy; and writing today from Santa Fe Institute, a big hub for complexity; the subject I’ve been into for the last few years, but similar to New Orleans am mostly over. Complexity as a subject is the study of simple rules that create complex patterns and behavior. I used to think I’ll never understand, grasp, or master it. But like in Kung Fu Panda, I got it once I stopped caring for it that much.

Space is discrete.

My main mind-blowing realization from studying complexity theory all these years can be boiled down to one simple sentence; that space is discrete. This simple rule makes quantum science easy to understand, makes daily life, people’s emotions about borders and frustration with technology and the like make more sense. That space is discrete is one realization that gave me mental peace because from it everything else adds up. I like to think that ੴ is also essentially trying to encompass this simple idea. But more on that some other time. Time for lunch in Santa Fe. What an exotic place.

Evening update: best quesadilla I have ever had by a long shot. And it occurred to me to mention Billy the Kid, whose museum I drove by earlier today. The whole thing was so western even today, in 2026, that I can only imagine how western it must have been in its time.

Wikipedia

Billy the Kid

Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who was linked to nine murders. He was solely responsible for four of them, and he may have played a role in five, alongside other men. He is also noted for his involvement in…