Scale Theory: Contemplating Everything-At-Onceness with Joshua DiCaglio

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Apr 5, 2025

Join Joshua DiCaglio, Associate Professor of English at Texas A&M University and author of 'Scale Theory: A Nondisciplinary Inquiry,' as he dives into the profound implications of contemplating scale. He discusses the interconnectedness of micro and macrocosmic realities and how this understanding challenges our perception of separateness. Joshua explores the relationship between AI and human agency, emphasizing the necessity of recognizing our interdependence with both small and vast scales. Prepare for a thought-provoking journey through complexity and existential necessity!

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ANECDOTE

Scale Theory's Origin

Joshua DiCaglio's interest in scale began with nanotechnology and observing scientists' claims about nanoscale interventions.
He noticed similar rhetoric used by nanoscientists and those discussing Wall Street's impact on individuals, revealing a disconnect in agency.

ANECDOTE

Early Influences

DiCaglio's father, a chemical engineer, influenced his initial interest in science and engineering.
Early experiences in computer science classes sparked questions about information and scale that his peers couldn't grasp.

INSIGHT

Rhetoric and Philosophy

DiCaglio's pursuit of rhetoric and philosophy helped him explore questions about information and scale.
He realized that language's power to intoxicate can hinder inquiries into the nature of reality and these abstract concepts.

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Scale Theory

A Nondisciplinary Inquiry

Joshua DiCaglio

In 'Scale Theory', Joshua DiCaglio presents a nondisciplinary approach to understanding scale, which challenges traditional nonscalar interpretations. The book uses six thought experiments to clarify and redefine scale, discussing how it transforms objects, subjects, and relations. It integrates various disciplines from nanoscience to ecology and humanities, including philosophy and rhetoric. DiCaglio examines the transformative power of scale, its cognitive dimensions, and its implications on our worldview, also exploring the connection between scale and mysticism. The book addresses the complexities of scale in communication, rhetoric, and representation, drawing on both Western and non-Western concepts.

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This week’s guest my friend Joshua DiCaglio, Associate Professor of English at Texas A&M University and author of the fabulous Scale Theory: A Nondisciplinary Inquiry.

It’s a book bout how contemplating scale can transform us — how it’s one thing to understand the microcosm and macrocosm through our maps and another thing entirely to really sit with the mystery of how all of this is happening at once. We can conceptually differentiate ourselves from the rest of the cosmos, but scale makes it clear that at no point do we ever truly stand outside it all.

And this has enormous implications: contemplating scale is not merely an idle curiosity but an existential necessity. In an age of exponential AI, our future hinges on whether we can learn to overcome the tendency to colonize other scales with our abstractions and cultivate the capacity to recognize interdependency with the unthinkably small and large. How does truly understanding this change the way we live? Bewilderment is a rich place to start. Let’s simmer in it for a while…

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Chapters

0:00:00 - Teaser0:01:12 - Intro Essay: Scale & AI Safety0:13:25 - You Can’t Paint Fractals0:21:29 - We Can Only Act on The Scale at Which We Exist0:23:10 - The Story of Scale Theory0:27:49 - Discovering Scale through Computer Science & Nanotech0:38:37 - Being One & Feeling Many0:44:29 - The Embodiment of Mind & Information0:59:55 - The Scalar Synecdoche: Are Organizations Really Organisms?1:18:32 - Why Does It Matter Where We Draw The Lines Around Individuals?1:33:49 - Responsibility in A World Out of Control1:53:51 - Closing

Announcements

Check out my new single and music video “The Big Machine” — along with an essay on songwriting as evolution and a list of my favorite sci-fi ballads. Switch it up from this week’s news by diving in for a trip into the scalar reconfigurations of selfhood:

Starting next week I’m hosting a members-only reading and discussion of Federico Campagna’s Prophetic Culture: Recreation for Adolescents with a live call on Sat May 3rd:

Josh’s Links

Joshua DiCaglio’s Website + Google Scholar + X + LinkedIn Scale Theory Part 1 PDF (almost half the book!)Microbes as Machines: Life, Control, and the Problem of Scale in the Emergence of Nanotechnology Language and the Logic of Subjectivity: Whitehead and Burke in Crisis (unfortunately not open-access)

Project Links

Contact me if you have questions or want to work togetherHumans On The Loop’s living pitch & planning documentJoin the Future Fossils Discord Server for both public and members-only threadsMeet collaborators on the open online commons Wisdom x Technology Discord server Full episode and essay archives

Podcasts

Humans On The Loop 01 – Richard DoyleHumans On The Loop 06 – K. Allado McDowellHumans On The Loop 10 – J.F. MartelHumans On The Loop 12 – Matt SegallHumans On The Loop 14 – Jim O’ShaughnessyWeird Studies 36 — On HyperstitionFuture Thinkers Podcast – Daniel Schmachtenberger

Talks

Michael Garfield — AI-Assisted Transformations of ConsciousnessJacob Foster — Toward A Cultural Ecology of The Noosphere

Books

Chaim Gingold – Building Sim CityValerie Hanson – Haptic VisionsAndrew Pilsch – TranshumanismPlato – PhaedrusGilbert Ryle – The Concept of MindThomas Hobbes – LeviathanGeoffrey West – ScaleAnonymous – The Cloud of UnknowingDouglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

Articles

Marc Andreessen – Why Software Is Eating The WorldDavid Krakauer et al. — The Information Theory of IndividualityWilliam Gibson – Google’s Earth

People

Carl SaganEric DrexlerRichard FeynmanNeal StephensonRay KurzweilPlotinusPseudodionysusStuart DavisRina NicolaeN. Katherine HaylesStuart KauffmanVannevar BushGregory BatesonNorbert WienerHeinz Von FoersterKurt GödelJill NephewHumberto MaturanaFrancisco VarelaWilliam BurroughsDorion SaganLynn MargulisPierre Teilhard De ChardinLuigi MangioneIlya PrigogineDavid BohmRamana MaharshiNisargadatta Maharaj

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