Nick, Hi. Yea, thinking about the difference between instrumental (physical) and abstract (theoretical) causes of even perfectly well behaved things is a tough climb. I'm glad if anyone is willing to put the two on the table at the same time at all.
No I haven't read those, but I'm always interested in the new angles people try. The usual place I find the Darwinian models to break down is in assuming the environment somehow has the future shapes of things built in and a mold pressing process of random variation and atrition is how those shapes are transfered to organisms. To me that leaves the question as to where the shapes come from unanswered. I also haven't found anyone who has connected the fact that evolution is a sequential extension of a growth process, with any particular mechanism of growth. Can you give me a snapshot of what you found satisfying in either one of them? What's different with my approach is that the main players in the game are the evolving internal loops of the growth systems, the organisms themselves, animated by the feedbacks they 'discover'. Using the interface between a loop network's 'inside and outside' as a boundary between internal and external forces opens a whole lot of interesting new questions. The rudimentary question is, since loop systems exist, what do they add? They do appear to adapt and invent, by many mechanisms, and I think the key to exploring how is thinking about how the 'fringe' of their structures could vary independent of their 'core', so as to set up a kind of phase space exploring machine that is animated by feedbacks it finds. Phil > Phil, > > I have kept out of the most recent War of the PolyMaths because i just > don't have the firepower these days to keep up. > > But your last communication poked my fire a bit. > > Have you seen either THE PLAUSIBILITY OF LIFE or CATCHING OURSELVES IN THE > ACT. > > The f irst is a must read, because the gain/pain ratio is so high. As for > the second, the pain is pretty high, so I have been unable as yet whether > the gain is worth it, but I am pretty sure. > > Nick > > > > [Original Message] > > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <friam@redfish.com> > > Date: 1/13/2007 12:00:41 PM > > Subject: Friam Digest, Vol 43, Issue 24 > > > > Send Friam mailing list submissions to > > friam@redfish.com > > > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > You can reach the person managing the list at > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > > than "Re: Contents of Friam digest..." > > > > > > Today's Topics: > > > > 1. Re: fun and sandpiles (Phil Henshaw) > > ......... ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
