Scale

In its size and complexity, the universe we inhabit exists at a scale that is fundamentally ungraspable by humans. We have therefore developed tools of perception and abstraction in the attempt to better comprehend it and our position within it. With each revolution in thought or scientific innovation—from Copernicus’s heliocentric model to the invention of the microscope to the detonation of the first nuclear bomb—comes the need to dramatically reconfigure our sense of scale and place. In today’s world, the digital storage of the touchstones of our daily lives (documents, messages, books, music, movies, etc.) evades our ability to fathom its volume through visual or embodied perception. Scale is no longer just a function of size but rather more so now of complexity, thereby evading the scope of our current tools. Though the Eameses’ dream is now literally at our fingertips with our ability to zoom with abandon, what new tools for understanding are necessary to invent in order to address our contemporary issues of scale?

These are some of the questions we will ask: How has our perception of scale changed over time? How have scientific milestones contributed to that shift? What shifts will come next? What is our place in the universe? How can we fully come to terms with its scale? Are we in a crisis of perception? With the ever-increasing complexity of our world, will we ever be able to fully comprehend it? Do we even need to? Should our actions depend upon this comprehension? How can we grapple with phenomena such as the climate crisis? In what ways has scale become an issue of complexity over size? How do we understand scale in terms of both time and space?

This Salon took place on January 29, 2024