Fernspan

A workshop for the next revolution · Est. MMXXVI

Fig. 01 A random walk, drawing a fern

Ferns became the fire of the first revolution. We build for the next.

Fernspan is an independent workshop for the next industrial revolution, by Xiaoxiao. Its first instrument is Fernspan One.

Open Fernspan One Why “Fernspan”
  1. 1712Newcomen engine
  2. 1769Watt’s condenser
  3. 1879Edison’s lamp
  4. 1947The transistor
  5. 2026Fernspan

01The name

Fernspan

/ˈfɜːn·spæn/ Two syllables, one idea: something that grows, and something that carries.

Fern a rule, repeated at random.

Pick one of four maps at random. Move the point. Repeat. A single point, hopping by chance, draws a fern: Barnsley’s fern, the shape a random walk settles into.

Points fall like rain and settle into structure. Chance, held by a simple rule, becomes form. That is how we think about building with AI.

f₂ f₃ f₄ f₁ p* tip
Fig. 02 Four maps, one fern. Each map shrinks the whole fern into one of its parts. A point that hops between them at random draws the fern, and settles at the tip p*, the fixed point of f₂.
f₁
stem
p = .01
f₂
frond
p = .85
f₃
left pinna
p = .07
f₄
right pinna
p = .07

Span what a bridge, or a set of vectors, can reach.

A span is how far a bridge carries you. In Bristol, Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge has crossed the Avon Gorge since 1864.

In linear algebra, the span of a set of vectors is everything they can reach. The span we care about runs from a thought to a finished thing.

span R. Avon
Fig. 03 Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol. Opened 1864. Schematic, not to scale.
v₁ v₂ span{v₁, v₂}
Fig. 04 Every point you can reach by stretching and adding v₁ and v₂.

Grown like a fern. Built like a bridge.

Fernspan One app icon
Web Computer Phone
Fig. 05 One instrument, three stations.

02The first instrument

Fernspan One

From thought to done.

One AI workspace across the web, your computer and your phone. Bring a question; leave with something built. One account and one allowance, everywhere.

Invite-only for now. Sign in with the invitation you received.

Open Fernspan One Download
  1. 01

    Web

    Any modern browser. Nothing to install.

    chat.fernspan.ai
  2. 02

    Computer

    A desktop app for macOS and Windows that can work with your local files and tools.

    macOS · Windows
  3. 03

    Phone

    Add it to the home screen on iPhone or Android, and it opens like an app.

    iPhone · Android

木上有火

火 fire 木 wood
Fig. 06 鼎, the fiftieth figure of the Book of Changes. Fire above wood.

03The hidden layer

Fire above wood.

  1. Read it closely and there is a second story.
  2. In the Book of Changes, 周易, the fiftieth figure is 鼎: the cauldron, the vessel of a civilisation.
  3. Its image is 「木上有火」, fire above wood.
  4. Ferns became coal. Coal became fire. Fire drove the first revolution.
  5. 鼎 follows 革, revolution. 革 clears away the old; 鼎 founds the new. Together they make 革故鼎新.

革故鼎新Clear away the old. Found the new.

Every revolution is a first passage: the moment a wandering path first crosses the line. We build for the next.

周易潇潇, the maker’s name: the Book of Changes, and the sound of rain.