Dan Lockton
Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Gregory Bateson’s syllogism in grass expresses a form of abductive reasoning which can be used to generate and discuss metaphors, particularly in living systems and humans’ interrelations with them. This paper tentatively explores the possibilities of the syllogism in grass in a systemic design context as a creative method of provocation and reframing.
Keywords: systemic design, metaphors, syllogism in grass
This paper is illustrated throughout with examples of an AI image generator’s interpretations of the prompts “men are grass” and “people are grass” and related phrases in various permutations.