Ben,
Have you read Koestler's The Ghost in the Machine? You seem to be reaching in your post for what he sets out there - albeit v. loosely - namely the hierarchical principle as the organizing principle of life, both of organisms and of societies (and perhaps one can add machines). You talk of representation being organized in terms of a key linking to - or you could say, "opening" - a map - a very simple unit opening up a complex set of units; he talks in terms of triggers.- simple commands or signals releasing complex action patterns. This underlies not just knowledge representation and movement and all goal-directed action but also socially organized action. Your social example confused me. It seems easier to me to think in terms of how, in social units, the simple, typically symbolic commands of one individual set off extremely complex action patterns by the whole social unit or organization. A president says "invade Iraq" and a little later a vast army of 150,000 with all its machinery is elaborating his command.
Our machines also are designed in terms of simple switches, or key mechanisms, setting off whole elaborate complexes of action.
. Ben:
A semi-technical essay on the global/local (aka glocal) nature of memory is linked to from here http://multiverseaccordingtoben.blogspot.com/ I wrote this a long while ago but just got around to posting it now...
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