> On Mar 5, 2017, at 11:25 PM, Anna <origa...@gmail.com> wrote: > > 2017-03-05 23:10 GMT+01:00 Zack Brown <zacha...@gmail.com>: >> >> Given that scientists can use x-rays and other techniques to fathom >> things like the antikythera device from a mashed up hunk of ocean >> debris, couldn't similar techniques be used to deconstruct Yoshizawa's >> unpublished models? > > The first question here is, is it worth it? Are the models interesting > enough that a wider audience would like to fold them? > The second question is, why so complicated? There are people like me in > this community who basically have this x-ray view without needing special > equipment to decipher a model. In the end it comes down to experience and 3 > dimensional thinking. If I see an Origami model, I've got a pretty good > idea how to fold it and I know I'm not alone, but here we come back to > question one, is it worthwhile? > > Nice Greetings > > Anna from Vienna, Austria
When I first met Yoshizawa at his house in the early 1980s, he pulled dozens and dozens of models from boxes, one at a time, and only let me see them for a few seconds each. When I asked if he could leave them out longer, he said that he didn’t want me to figure out how to fold them. I doubt that I could have. The question is whether today we have a right to unfold (even if by X-ray) the designs of someone who may not have wanted us to do so. Just because Yoshizawa published instructions to some of his models doesn’t mean he would have wanted to publish instructions to all of them. It’s akin to publishing a manuscript or musical score that a writer or composer might not have wanted to see the light of day, which is why some of those drafts ended up in the fireplace. I don’t think there’s an obvious answer to this question, but it’s worth pondering. Best, Peter Engel
