Density and the Evolution of Semiotic Possibility: 6 Innovation as Stabilised Thinning

In the previous post, we saw how repeated actualisation thickens certain regions of systemic potential, producing tradition as sedimented probability. Yet semiotic systems are not frozen. Novelty emerges from regions of low or thinning density, where the system is underdetermined. This is innovation as stabilised thinning.

1. Low-Density Regions as Creative Space

Thin regions of density are less frequently actualised, which makes them:

• Flexible and open to reinterpretation

• Less constrained by entrenched conventions

• Potentially rich grounds for novelty

Innovation occurs when these low-density regions are explored, selectively actualised, and gradually stabilised. Over time, some innovations accumulate density, becoming new traditions, while others remain marginal.

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2. Visualising Innovation

Systemic potential (density landscape)

███████         ← established tradition

███                          ← emerging innovations

█                                   ← rarely explored, potential novelty

The middle layer represents innovations in the process of stabilisation: repeated actualisation thickens them, but they remain dynamically flexible.

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3. Key Features of Innovation

1. Relational: Innovation depends on the interaction of individuals with the existing density landscape.

2. Cumulative: Each new actualisation of a low-density region gradually increases its probability, contributing to system evolution.

3. Structured potential: Even novelty is not arbitrary; it emerges within the constraints of systemic potential, guided by patterns of previous density and accessibility.

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4. Innovation and the Evolutionary Cycle

Innovation, in this framework, is inseparable from tradition:

• Thickened regions guide typical usage and provide stability

• Thin regions provide opportunity and flexibility

• Development, evolution, sedimentation, and thinning together form a continuous density-driven cycle

This completes our full account of density dynamics within semiotic systems: vertical and lateral clines, development over time, collective evolution, sedimentation, and innovation.

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5. Preparing for the Final Post

The next and final post of this series will synthesise these dynamics into a topology of semiotic possibility, showing how vertical and lateral clines, density redistribution, tradition, and innovation interact to produce a coherent, patterned field of semiotic potential.