Nicholas Thompson wrote circa 11-09-17 01:09 PM:
> We would never wonder why a better transistor would make the
> computing better; why would we wonder why a better stomach would make
> the mind work better.
I'm a bit amazed at this statement. 8^) So much is packed into the word
"better" that it makes the statement incomprehensible to me. Sure,
under one understanding of "better", a better transistor makes for
better computing (or a better stomach makes a better mind). But there
are so many other understandings of "better" where that may not be the
case that they completely swamp the smaller set.
My point being that systemic organization is not as simple as that. Not
only are complex systems nonlinear in the way their components'
behaviors generate the systemic behavior, but they are also nonlinear in
the way the components' purposes/requirements compose the system's
purpose/requirements.
We _can_ do this with transistors and computers because we _designed_
("engineered" is probably a better word) the damned things. It's like
my knowledge of the Android phones vs. my knowledge of the iPhone. The
fact that I can root around inside an Android phone makes hypotheses
about its inner workings easier to triage. The iPhone ... not so much.
Take that reasoning to another layer and we have the _lack_ of ability
to triage hypotheses about the human body vs. the very competent ability
to triage hypotheses about the workings of a computer.
--
glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://tempusdictum.com
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