Deleuze, Diagrams, and the Genesis of Form Author(s): Manuel De Landa Reviewed work(s): Source: Amerikastudien / American Studies,

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and the Genesisof Form Deleuze, Diagrams,

Manuel De Landa

ABSTRACT
In contrast in the current revivalof diagrams and diagramto the visualapproachdisplayed in variousdisciplines, the Frenchphilosopher Gilles Deleuze sees no intrinsic maticthinking cabetween and visualrepresentation. Deleuze stresses themorphogenetic connection diagrams form on its own and arguesthatthe role of virtual of matter to generate singularities pability theprocand of thediagrammatic and problematic nature of reality can onlybe graspedduring Deleuze focuseson far-fromess of morphogenesis; thatis,beforethe finalformis actualized. conditions sinceit is onlyin these"phase spaces" (as he calls themin his 1994book equilibrium comes into its own,and that and Repetition) thatdifference-driven Difference morphogenesis ontoit from becomesan activematerial does notneed form to imposeitself matter agentwhich the outside. is a double movement of sorting and consolidaThe processbehindthisformation described tion.The essaymaps thisdiagrammatic operation by Deleuze onto the fieldsof sociand evolution. ety, geology

in is currently a revival The study of diagrams and of diagrammatic thinking enjoying there historians of severaldifferent On the one are who, hand, technology disciplines. from its statusas a minorbranchof apto rescueengineering knowledge attempting the relative of its goals and,moreimportantly, have stressed autonomy plied science, its means.In thiscontext, whatis emphasizedis the existenceof a peculiartypeof of and the role thatit has playedin the development (visualknowledge), knowledge scientists On the otherhand,thereare cognitive the engineering sciences(Ferguson). of who have recently and Artificial researchers expanded the reservoir Intelligence resources whichtheyuse to givetheir models(or their robots)probrepresentational thatis visual aspect of diagrams abilities. Here, too, it is the specifically lem-solving to conveyto of geometric forexample, the ability representations rapidly emphasized, and hence, a problem-solver some of thecrucialaspectsdefining a particular problem, to suggest possiblesolutions.1 betweentheseapproachesto thequestionof diagrams Thereare severaldifferences of whichbeingthatfor and the one advocatedby Gilles Deleuze, the least important The truly connection withvisualrepresentations. Deleuze diagrams have no intrinsic activon the other is that for Deleuze the difference, hand, problem-solving significant humans or in which are involved is not robots, necessarily performed by ity diagrams To take an exin even simplematerial and energetic but maybe instantiated systems. suchas themolecules a population of interacting entities, physical amplefrom physics, whichminito in a thinlayerof soap, maybe constrained energetically adopt a form
1See, for ed. Glasgow, the essaysincludedin Diagrammatic Narayanan, Reasoning, example, and Chandrasekaran.

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De Landa Manuel

this of molecules)is to find Here the"problem" mizesfreeenergy. (forthepopulation in bubthe molecules solved of a minimal soap differently by point energy, problem minimize surface bles (whichcollectively tension)and by the moleculesin crystalline minimize structures energy). collectively bonding (which is of problems existence The questionof theobjective diagrams) (and their defining whichata philosophy of matter and form, a crucialissue in Deleuze's philosophy a conception viewsof the genesisof form to replaceessentialist (whichimply tempts thatcome fromthe outside)withone in as an inertreceptacleforforms of matter therefore withmorphogenetic is alreadypregnant whichmatter capable capabilities, thespherical form to our previous form on itsown.To return of generating examples, moleculesas of a soap bubble emergesout of the interactions amongits constituent to "seek" the point at whichsurfacetensionis these are constrained energetically someIn thiscase,thereis no questionof an essenceof "soap-bubbleness" minimized. an ideal geometric form(a sphere)shapingan itself from the outside, how imposing form an endogenoustopological of molecules. inert collection Rather, (a pointin the the collective forthismolecularassemblage)governs possibilities space of energetic in theemergence of a spherical and results behavior of theindividual soap molecules, the same minimal the same topological form, point,can guide the shape. Moreover, forms. For other example,if instead of geometrical processesthat generatemany salt crystal, the of an ordinary moleculesof soap we have the atomiccomponents in is a cube. this formthatemergesfromminimizing case) energy(bondingenergy in turn, Othermaterials, yieldyetotherforms. inhabit thesediagrammatic forms which A similar pointappliesto othertopological contain closed loops these For of spaces may possibilities. example, spaces energetic in which case the several or called "limit cycles" "periodicattractors"), (technically an will all of this instantiations behavior, displayisomorphic space possiblephysical Whether one is in a stable to oscillate dealing way. tendency endogenously generated a or a radarmachine), structure witha socio-technological (suchas a radiotransmitter in the atmoscell or a one convection one (a metabolism), physical (a cyclic biological osin their different resource thatis involved phere),it is one and thesame immanent incarnated or actualwere if machine" As an "abstract behavior. oscillating cillating ized in all thesephysical assemblages:
it is in itself is notphysical or corporeal, An abstract machine anymorethanit is semiotic; and the natural betweenthe artificial of the distinctions (it knowsnothing diagrammatic notbyform The abstract notbysubstance; It operatesbymatter, byfunction, either). exoftheforms and substances, is pureMatter-Functiona diagram machine independent and Repetition andcontents itwilldistribute. 141) (Deleuze,Difference pressions

to give of topological forms Deleuze calls thisability machines) (and otherabstract of a rise to manydifferent actualization," instantiations,process "divergent physical Henri Bergsonwho,at the turnof the cenFrenchphilosopher the idea from taking of the scienceof his time criticized the inability texts where he wrote a series of tury, a meto Bergson, obstaclewas,according the new,the truly novel.The first to think thatit implied. determinism and therigid chanicaland linearviewof causality Clearly, of thatmodality is merely if all the future is alreadygivenin the past,if the future thentrueinnovation become realized, determined timewherepreviously possibilities

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and theGenesisof Form Deleuze, Diagrams,

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is impossible. To avoid this mistake,he thought,we must struggleto model the future as trulyopen-ended, and the past and the present as pregnant not only with possibilities which become real, but withvirtualities which become actual. The distinctionbetween the possible and the real assumes a set of predefinedforms (or essences) which acquire physicalrealityas material formsthat resemble them.From to a prethe morphogeneticpoint of view,realizing a possibilitydoes not add anything The distinctionbetween the virtualand the actual, on the defined form,except reality. other hand, does not involve resemblance of any kind (e. g., our example above, in the which a topological point becomes a geometrical sphere), and far fromconstituting a virtual formsubvertsthis identity, since strucessential identityof a given structure, as spheres and cubes emerge from the same topological point. To tures as different and Repetition: from what is quote probably his most importantbook, Difference as a as a processno less thanit does withidentity Actualization breakswithresemblance In thissense,actualization or differentiation is alwaysa genuinecreation principle. lineswhich correFor a potential or virtual objectto be actualizedis to createdivergent The virtual of a a virtual possessthe reality resemblingmultiplicity. spondto- without and Repetition or a problem to be solved.(Deleuze, Difference taskto be performed 212) And Deleuze goes on to discuss processes of actualization more complex than bubbles or crystals, processes such as embryogenesis,the development of a fullydifferentiated organism startingfroma single cell. In this case, the space of energetic possibilities is more elaborate, involving many virtual topological forms governing complex spatio-temporaldynamisms: . . . Beneaththe actualqualitiesand themselves? How does actualization occurin things thereare spatio-temporal extensities Theymustbe surdynamisms. themselves] [ofthings hiddenby the constituted even though qualitheyare ordinarily veyedin everydomain, in relaof the egg is secondary showsthatthe division ties and extensities. Embryology of freesurfaces, movements: the augmentation tion to more significant morphogenetic A of groups. of cellularlayers, by folding, regionaldisplacement invagination stretching and of the egg appearswhichimpliesa dynamic. whole kinematics (Deleuze, Difference 214) Repetition

makesuse of these"spaces of energetic In thisbook,Deleuze repeatedly possibilireferred to as "statespaces" or "phase spaces"),and of thetopologities"(technically cal forms thatshape thesespaces.(Phase diagrams are,indeed,the (or "singularities") will that more complex used Deleuze. We see below first of by very type diagram and in his later these ideas are discussed in his later Since work, work). reappear types to mathematsinceboththeconceptof "phase space" and thatof "singularity" belong of Deleuzian thought comes fromthe ics,it is safe to say thata crucialcomponent is a and Repetition fourof Difference of mathematics. And,indeed,chapter philosophy and integral calculus.On the other on the metaphysics of the differential meditation become physically hand,giventhat"phase spaces" and "singularities" only significant in relationto materialsystemswhich are traversedby a strongflow of energy, whichdeals relatedto thatbranchof physics Deleuze's philosophy is also intimately thatis,withthermodynamics. withmaterial and energetic And,indeed,chapter flows, therof nineteenth-century is a philosophical fiveof Difference and Repetition critique some of the to recover from that an key concepts discipline modynamics, attempt neededfora theory of immanent morphogenesis.

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Manuel De Landa

At thebeginning of thatchapter, Deleuze introduces some keydistinctions thatwill in his later work the of but figure prominently (specifically, concept "intensity"), more he reveals on the first commitments. Since Kant, importantly, very page hisontological it has been traditional to distinguish betweenthe worldas it appears to us humans, thatis,theworldof phenomena or appearances, and theworldas it exists rebyitself, of there is whether a human observer interact to with it. This world "in itself" gardless is referred to as "noumena."A large number of contemporary thinkers, particularly thosewho call themselves in do not believe noumena. For them, the "postmodernists," worldis socially all it contains is linguistically-defined constructed, hence, phenomena. Noticethateven though declarethemselves "anti-essentialist," manyof thesethinkers a viewof matter as an inert their case material; however, theysharewithessentialism form does not come from a Platonicheaven,or from the mindof God, but from the mindsof humans(or from cultural conventions The worldis expressed linguistically). and we cut it out into forms could be further amorphous, usinglanguage.Nothing from Deleuzian thought thanthispostmodern relativism. Deleuze is indeed linguistic a realistphilosopher, who not only believes in the autonomousexistenceof actual forms of rocks, animalsand so on) but in the existence of virtual (the forms plants, forms. In the firstfew lines of chapterfive of Difference and Repetition, where Deleuze introduces the notionof "intensity" as a keyto understand the actualization of virtual he writes: forms, Difference is notdiversity. is given, butdifference is that thegiven is Diversity bywhich is notphenomenon butthenoumenon closest tothephenomenon given Difference refers to an inequality it is conditioned Everything Every phenomenon by which which andeverything which is correlated with orders ofdifferences: difhappens appears ferences of level,temperature, difference of intensity. tension, pressure, potential,
and Repetition (Deleuze,Difference 222)

Let me illustrate thisidea witha familiar If one creexamplefrom thermodynamics. ates a container into two and one fills one separated compartments, compartment withcold air and the otherwithhot air,one thereby createsa system a embodying difference in intensity, theintensity in thiscase beingtemperature. If one thenopens a smallhole in the wall dividing the compartments, the intensity difference causes the onsetof a spontaneous flowof air from one side to the other.It is in thissense that differences are morphogenetic, even if in thiscase the form thatemerges is intensity too simple. The examplesabove,of thesoap bubbleand thesaltcrystal, as well as the more complexfoldings and stretchings are generatedby undergone by an embryo, similar the quote above, Deleuze argues However,in the page following principles. cannotprothat,despitethisimportant insight, nineteenth-century thermodynamics vide the foundation he needs fora philosophy of matter. Why?Because thatbranch of physics becameobsessedwiththefinal at theexpenseof thedifforms, equilibrium ference-driven which rise to those forms. But as Deleuze morphogenetic process gives the role of virtual and of the and naargues, singularities, diagrammatic problematic tureof reality, can onlybe graspedduring the processof morphogenesis, thatis,beforethefinal form is actualized, before thedifference disappears. This shortcoming of nineteenth-century to overlookthe role of thermodynamicsin morphogenesis, differences to concentrate on the equilibrium formthat intensity

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has been canceled- has today been reemergesonly once the originaldifference in the of this branch of latest version labeled "far-frompaired physics, appropriately Deleuze does not refer to thisnew equilibrium thermodynamics." Although explicitly all the branchof science, it is clear thatfar-from-equilibrium meets thermodynamics In the which he raises its objections against nineteenth-century counterpart. particular, in flow of studied this new are traversed a by strong systems discipline continuously in to be canand a flow which does not allow the differences matter, intensity energy themselves. thesedifferences and keeps themfrom celed,thatis,it maintains canceling of immanent It is onlyin these far-from-equilibrium conditions thatthe fullvariety forms It is onlyin this topological cyclicor chaoticattractors). appears (steadystate, into its comes zone of intensity thatdifference-driven own,and that morphogenesis not form to come and becomesan activematerial one which does need matter agent, more to the of the itself from the outside. To return once developing example impose as it was once believed, the DNA thatgoverns the processdoes not contain, embryo, of the organism, an idea thatimplies a blueprint forthe generation of the finalform from theoutside. The modern an inert matter to which understanding genesgiveform out a form out of an acof theprocesses, on theotherhand,pictures genesas teasing is now seen as merely of genes and theirproducts tive matter, thatis, the function in thatfar-froma variety of material and channeling processes, occurring constraining form zone,in which emerges spontaneously. equilibrium, diagrammatic between of "diagram," Deleuze distinguishes in his definition We saw above that, charWe can now givea better and form. matter and substance, and betweenfunction that thematter Whilesubstance is a formed of thesedistinctions. acterization material, is a "matter-content enters intoa diagram resistance, havingonlydegreesof intensity, A Thou(Deleuze and Guattari, stretching, speed,or tardiness" conductivity, heating, access to sand Plateaus141),in otherwords, having anymaterial far-from-equilibrium, resources. On the otherhand,the of immanent, the same reservoir morphogenetic sinand the topological a phase space diagram, vectoror tensorfieldthatconstitutes without a function a for a that structure are useful it, diagrammatic image gularities as in a of mathemati"a definite form, function-expression system having onlytensors, cal,or musical, language"(141). role and of their of Deleuze's theory of diagrams, To complete mycharacterization work I wouldlike to explorethewayin whichhis morerecent in thegenesisof form, in withFelix Guattari)has extendedthesebasic ideas. In particular, (in collaboration theirjoint book A ThousandPlateaus,theydevelop theoriesof the genesisof two to whichtheyreferwiththe terms"strata"and veryimportant typesof structures, strata "trees"and "rhizomes"). "self-consistent Basically, (or alternatively aggregates" whereasself-consistent of homogeneous thearticulation elements, aggreemergefrom elements as such. of heterogeneous from thearticulation gatesemerge the actualization" whichcharacterized Both processesdisplaythe same "divergent In other of soap bubbles and salt crystals. simplerprocessesbehindthe formation the form in bothprocesseswe have a virtual words, machine)underlying (or abstract the actual forms. Let us of theresultant describing procbeginbybriefly isomorphism of sedimentary or more specifically, ess behindthe genesisof geologicalstrata, rock, Whenone looks closelyat thelayersof rockin an exor limestone. suchas sandstone further is thateach layercontains characteristic side,one striking layposed mountain

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Manuel De Landa

withrespectto ers,each composedof smallpebbles whichare nearlyhomogeneous and chemical It is these that are referred to as "strata." size,shape composition. layers that in nature in do not come standard sizes and Now,given pebbles shapes,some kindof sorting mechanism seemsto be needed to explainthishighly disimprobable some device which takes a of of tribution, specific multiplicity pebbles heterogeneous themintomoreor less uniform One possibility uncovqualitiesand distributes layers. ered by geologists involvesrivers as machines. Rivers acting sorting transport rocky materials from theirpointof originto the place in the ocean wherethesematerials willaccumulate. In thisprocess, and shape tendto repebblesof variablesize,weight act differently to the watertransporting them.These different reactions to moving waterare whatsortsout the pebbles,withthe smallones reaching the ocean sooner thanthe largeones. This processis called "sedimentation." Besides sedimentation, a second operationis necessary to transform these loose collections of pebbles into a scale entity: a sedimentary rock.Thisoperation in cementing consists thesorted larger an operation carriedout by certain substances dissolvedin waterwhich components, the sediment the pores betweenpebbles.As thispercolating solupenetrate through tioncrystallizes, it consolidates thepebble'stemporary intoa moreor spatialrelations less permanent "architectonic" structure. This double articulation, and consolidation, can also be foundin biological sorting the slow accumulation of geneticmaterials. Genes,of species.Species formthrough do not merely of selection course, depositat randombut are sortedout by a variety which include theactionofpredators and parasites and theeffects of climate, pressures maleor female choiceduring in a very realsense, materials "sediThus, mating. genetic ment" theseloose collections of genescan (like sedijust as pebblesdo. Furthermore, mented be lost under some conditions pebbles) drastically changed (such as theonset ofan Ice Age) unlessthey becomeconsolidated This second is pertogether. operation formed that the closure of a which occurs isolation," is,by by "reproductive gene pool whena givensubsetof a reproductive becomesincapableof mating with community therest. selective accumulation and isolative a of consolidation,population inThrough dividual comes to form a scale a newindividual organisms larger entity: species. We can also findthesetwo operations thisvirtual hence, (and diagram)in the formation of social classes.Roughly, we speak of "social strata" whenever a givensociety a variety of differentiated rolesto whichnot everyone has equal access,and presents whena subsetof thoseroles (i. e., thoseto whicha ruling elite alone has access) involves the controlof key energetic and materialresources. In most societies, roles tendto "sediment" a variety of sorting or ranking mechanisms, through yetnot in all of themdo ranksbecome an autonomous dimension of social organization. In many differentiation of the elitesis not extensive a center while societies, (theydo notform therestof thepopulation forms an excludedperiphery), do not accumulate surpluses in ritual and primordial relations (theymaybe destroyed feasts), (of kinand local allitend to Hence a second is the criances) prevail. operation necessary: informal sorting terianeed to be givena theological and a In definition. to short, interpretation legal transform a looselyrankedaccumulation of traditional rolesintoa socialclass,thesocial sediment needsto becomeconsolidated via theological and legalcodification.2 Is therealso a virtual behindthegenesisof meshworks? In themodelprodiagram thereare threeelements in thisothervirtual posed byDeleuze and Guattari, diagram,

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of whichtwo are particularly elementsis First,a set of heterogeneous important. via an articulation of that an of diinterconnection brought together superpositions, is, versebut overlapping elements. And second,a special class of operators, or intercalis needed to effect thisinterlock via local connections. Is it possibleto laryelements, findinstances of thisdiagram in geology, and biology, sociology? Perhapstheclearest is that of an While a be a strucexample ecosystem. species may veryhomogeneous an ecosystem linkstogether a wide variety of heterogeneous elements(animals ture, and plantsof different that is, by interlock, species) whichare articulated through their functional Since one of the is the main features of complementarities. ecosystems in the form circulation of energy and matter of food,the complementarities in questionare alimentary: or parasite-host In prey-predator beingtwoof the mostcommon. thissituation, relations can act as intercallary elements symbiotic aidingtheprocessof foodwebs by establishing local couplings. building Examplesincludethebacteriathat live in the gutsof manyanimalsallowing and themto digesttheirfood,or the fungi othermicroorganisms whichformthe "rhizosphere," the underground food chains which interconnect plantrootsand soil. a good exThe worldof geologyalso has actualizations of thesevirtual operations, are Unlikesandstone, igneousrockssuchas granite amplebeingthatof igneousrocks. of a verydifferent not the resultof sedimentation and cementation, but the product construction out of coolingmagma.As magmacools down, directly processforming in sequence,thosethatsoits different elements to begin separateas theycrystallize which formlater.In earlier as containers for those acquire a crystal lidify serving whichinterthesecircumstances, the result is a complexset of heterogeneous crystals theinitssuperior Here lock withone another, and thisis whatgivesgranite strength. from which about local articulations elements include tercallary anything brings dislocawithin nucleation centers and certain line defects called thecrystals, including at the inbetweencrystals, such as eventsoccurring as well as local articulation tions, be an instance of a be said to terface betweenliquidsand solids.Thus,granite may mesh work. In thesocio-economic markets maybe considered examplesof sphere, pre-capitalist been the In many culturesweeklymarketshave traditionally culturalmeshworks. needs and offers. Marketsconnectpeomeeting place forpeople withheterogeneous thatis,by interlocking themon thebasis of demands, ple by matching complementary theirneeds and offers. Money (even primitive moneysuch as salt blocks or cowry whilewithpure thefunction of an intercallary element: shells)maybe said to perform of twoexactly demandsmeeting barter thepossibility by chanceis verylow, matching and complewhen moneyis presentthose chance encounters become unnecessary, each otherat a distance, so to speak (De Landa 62-66). demandsmayfind mentary animalspeciesand social classesmaybe said to be diverThus,muchas sandstone, whichbrings actualizations of a virtual homogegent processof "double articulation" of a and markets are actualizations neous components together, granite, ecosystems interlock and invirtual which links elements as such through process heterogeneous behindthegenesisof meshworks is directly related tercalation. thediagram Moreover, 2See more inDe Landa59-62. discussion andreferences detailed

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by Deleuze and Guattari to the simpler abstractmachines animatingintense,far-fromequilibriummatter.As theywrite: It is no longer a question of imposing a form butof elaborating an increasupona matter the betterto tap increasingly intenseforces. What material, inglyrich and consistent makes a materialincreasingly richis the same as what holds heterogeneities together without their (329) ceasingto be heterogeneous. Thus, given the close connection between intense matterand the concept of the diawe may seem to have here an opposition between stratified and diagramgrammatic, Yet, as Deleuze and Guattari argue, it is importantnot to treat embodying structures. the dichotomyof strata and self-consistent aggregates as embodying a static typology. Neither meshworksnor strataoccur in pure form, and more oftenthan not we are confrontedwith mixturesand hybridsof the two. Beyond that,self-organizing, diagrammatic processes participate in the creation of strata (e. g., the riversthat sort the pebbles or the crystallizations of the percolatingsolution that cements them together),and sorted, homogenized elements can sometimes functionas intercallaryelements (here one can offerthe Internetas an example, a true meshworkof networks, yet made possible by the existence of homogeneous standards,such as those forthe HTML language). Hence, it is betterto picturethisdichotomyas a continuum, having at one end the most stratified and at the other end pure,intense matterat its limitof hierarchical, structures, thatis,the plane of consistency. As theyput it: destratification, We cannot, content ourselves witha dualismbetweenthe plane of consistency however, and its diagrams and abstract machines on the one hand,and the strataand theirproand concrete on theother. Abstract machines do notexistonlyon the grams assemblages envelplane of consistency, upon which theydevelopdiagrams; theyare alreadypresent, moveoped or 'encasted'in the stratain general Thus thereare twocomplementary one by whichabstract machines workthe strataand are constantly ments, setting things loose,another stratified, by whichtheyare effectively effectively captured by the strata. On theone hand,strata couldneverorganize themselves ifthey did notharness diagrammaticmatters or functions, and formalize them On theotherhand,abstract machines wouldneverbe present, even on thestrata, iftheydid nothave thepoweror potentiality to extract and accelerate destratified (thepassageto theabsolute).(144) particle-signs It should be clear by now that talk of "stratification" of abstract machines is simply another way of discussing the actualization of the virtual,or in other words, that the theory of diagrams developed in A Thousand Plateaus was already present in Deleuze's early work. Indeed, I would go as far as saying that this theorywas developed in much more detail in Differenceand Repetition,and that it is this book that constitutesthe main reservoir of conceptual resources needed to approach diagrammatic thinking.In the preface to the English edition, Deleuze calls Differenceand book where he speaks in his own voice and asserts that everything Repetitionthe first else he wrote (including his collaborations with Guattari) leads back to this volume. Indeed, chapter 3 of this book (where he presents his own "image of thought") is called "the most necessary and the most concrete,and which serves to introduce subsequent books" (xvii). In this chapter,Deleuze proposes that thinkingconsists not in problem-solving(as most treatmentsof diagrams and diagrammatic reasoning sugthat given the real (though virtual) existence of problems in gest) but, on the contrary, the world itself, true thinkingconsists in problem-posing,that is, in framingthe right

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them.It is onlythrough skillful thatwe rather thansolving problems problem-posing can beginto think diagrammatically. WorksCited New York:Zone Books, De Landa, Manuel.A ThousandYearsof Nonlinear History. 1997. and Repetition. New York:ColumbiaUP, 1994. Deleuze, Gilles.Difference A ThousandPlateaus.Minneapolis: U of MinnesoDeleuze, Gilles,and FelixGuattari. ta P,1987. MA: MIT Press, and the Mind's Eye. Cambridge, Ferguson, Eugene S. Engineering 1993. Glasgow, Janice,Hari Narayanan, and B. Chandrasekaran,eds. Diagrammatic Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Perspectives. Reasoning:Cognitiveand Computational 1995. Press,

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