The Glove Model of Metalevel Recursion

I think perhaps it's the ubiquitous and inherent informational logistics of nature which, by means of nonlinear, nonlocal causality, might elicit unexpected consequences from 'ordinary' natural processes. Such processes (including 'life as we know it') seem to 'surf chaos' in Rudy Rucker's phrase; maybe the surfboard is simply nature's behind-the-scenes informational infrastructure.

To examine this unorthodox notion (with thanks to Bucky Fuller) try a thought experiment. Visualize, if you will, an ordinary knit, woolen glove, with fitted thumb and fingers, a cable-knit pattern on the back, and a rib-knit cuff at the wrist. An interesting thing about it is that the glove is not the knit, the knit is not the knot, the knot is not the yarn, and the yarn is not the wool; each of these elements is, in fact, a successive addition of information input to the basic raw material, the fleece. And the knitting process itself is accomplished by means of two simple recursive steps: knit (knot) and purl (negative knot); in a binary system.

So the simplest knitting pattern is that expressed as 'knit one, purl one'; a recursive algorithm, repeated sequentially (recursively iterated) through variations as required to comprise the fabric of the glove. Note here that the successive steps of manufacture follow the historical stages of technological development of the process. Thus ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, indeed!

Finally, reflect that the chirality (right/left-handedness) of a glove is in this case determined by turning one piece of a pair inside-out, to achieve the correct offset for the thumb. So one glove is in fact the reverse mirror-image of the other.

Now, all of the levels of information involved in the existence of the gloves are metalevel-recursive; feedback ensures that each level entails the unfolding of the next, as each in turn comprises all those preceding it; wheels within wheels. And the process and product alike are encoded memes; I can explain the process of making the glove, describe it, or simply mention it as an item among others, with written or spoken words, or even digital computer data, quite apart from the actual glove as a 'real' physical object.