Difference

The concern is with heterogeneity and its distributions, in centering and singularity, and the ways in which this is achieved in slippage. It is about overlap, difference, deferral, and singularity. It is about co­ordination and interference. The tools derive once again from semi­otics. And indeed it is easy to apply semiotics to a formalism such as equation 1, for this is the distribution of a visible set of relations, a set of differences. And it is a set of differences that helps to deter­mine the significance or role of the terms that are linked together. For instance, it establishes the difference between gust response and ve­locity. There are, as they say, ‘‘variables’’ that intervene between these, such as lift slope and wing loading. If everything else were equal, if these variables were not to intervene, then gust response and velocity would vary together—but they don’t because it is rare for everything to be equal.

But is everything there? To pose the question is to suggest the an­swer. Something is missing. Indeed, much is missing. This is obvious. For the distributions made by formalisms don’t stand alone. But what is missing?