Re: [Fis] The Information Flow
Good point, Stan. I think that it can be used to create a notion of 'knowing that', but it will require at least another level. I review some ways to do this in Explaining Biological Functionality: Is Control Theory Enough? South African Journal of Philosophy. 2011, 30(4): 53-62. The main references are more directly related to 'knowing that', but I would see 'knowing that' as fulfilling a particular functional role,. and requiring something like explicit representations, both of which I deal with in the paper. I can see that there is a further paper to be written that takes the step to the specific case of 'knowing that'. Cheers, John At 03:38 PM 2012/10/15, Stanley N Salthe wrote: On that curious definition of knowledge, it looks like 'knowing how' rather than 'knowing that'. STAN On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Pedro C. Marijuan pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es wrote: Dear FIS Colleagues, Thanks to Zhao Chuan for the Computer Poem/Song. It is a soft way to retake our discussions. These weeks there have been a couple of important achievements in the bio-information field. On the one side, the first 'complete' model of a prokaryotic cell (A Whole-Cell Computational Model Predicts Phenotype from Genotype, by Karr et al., Cell, 150, 389-401, 2012). On the other, there was the report of another 'complete' scheme, that of the C. elegans nervous system, now at the level of individual synaptic contacts, which was able to explain the mating behavior of the worm (The Connectome of a Decision-Making Neural Network, by Jarrell et al., Science, 337, 437-444, 2012). It contained several references to the information flow through interneurons and sensorimotor circuits, and a very curious definition of knowledge (as the set of activity weights in an adjacency matrix of a neural network, upon which the network's input-output function in part depends...). Both papers are very interesting, relatively consistent with each other, and I think both represent symbolic milestones in the bio-information field. The point on information flows left me thinking on the larger perspective beyond single information items that we rarely focus on. Actually the first Shannonian information metaphor was about sources and channels --wasn't it? Particularly thinking on social information matters, how many aspects of contemporary life relate to the maintenance of the information flows intertwining and directing the economic flows. No doubt that the forces of communication have definitely won the upper hand upon the forces of production . Somehow, Zhao Chuan's poem is but a celebration of the central role that computers have come to play in the gigantic information flows of our time. best wishes --Pedro -- - Pedro C. Marijuán Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Aragón (CIBA) Avda. San Juan Bosco, 13, planta X 50009 Zaragoza, Spain Tfno. +34 976 71 3526 ( 6818) pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/ - ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis Professor John Collier colli...@ukzn.ac.za Philosophy and Ethics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041 South Africa T: +27 (31) 260 3248 / 260 2292 F: +27 (31) 260 3031 http ://web.ncf.ca/collier ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
Re: [Fis] The Information Flow
How about Knowing Through… How can we embody a neural network/learning system through multi-modal sensing? b Bill Seaman Professor, Department of Art, Art History Visual Studies DUKE UNIVERSITY 114 b East Duke Building Box 90764 Durham, NC 27708, USA +1-919-684-2499 http://billseaman.com/ http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/AAH/faculty/william.seaman http://www.dibs.duke.edu/research/profiles/98-william-seaman On Oct 15, 2012, at 2:38 PM, Stanley N Salthe ssal...@binghamton.edu wrote: On that curious definition of knowledge, it looks like 'knowing how' rather than 'knowing that'. STAN On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Pedro C. Marijuan pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es wrote: Dear FIS Colleagues, Thanks to Zhao Chuan for the Computer Poem/Song. It is a soft way to retake our discussions. These weeks there have been a couple of important achievements in the bio-information field. On the one side, the first 'complete' model of a prokaryotic cell (A Whole-Cell Computational Model Predicts Phenotype from Genotype, by Karr et al., Cell, 150, 389-401, 2012). On the other, there was the report of another 'complete' scheme, that of the C. elegans nervous system, now at the level of individual synaptic contacts, which was able to explain the mating behavior of the worm (The Connectome of a Decision-Making Neural Network, by Jarrell et al., Science, 337, 437-444, 2012). It contained several references to the information flow through interneurons and sensorimotor circuits, and a very curious definition of knowledge (as the set of activity weights in an adjacency matrix of a neural network, upon which the network's input-output function in part depends...). Both papers are very interesting, relatively consistent with each other, and I think both represent symbolic milestones in the bio-information field. The point on information flows left me thinking on the larger perspective beyond single information items that we rarely focus on. Actually the first Shannonian information metaphor was about sources and channels --wasn't it? Particularly thinking on social information matters, how many aspects of contemporary life relate to the maintenance of the information flows intertwining and directing the economic flows. No doubt that the forces of communication have definitely won the upper hand upon the forces of production . Somehow, Zhao Chuan's poem is but a celebration of the central role that computers have come to play in the gigantic information flows of our time. best wishes --Pedro -- - Pedro C. Marijuán Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Aragón (CIBA) Avda. San Juan Bosco, 13, planta X 50009 Zaragoza, Spain Tfno. +34 976 71 3526 ( 6818) pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/ - ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
Re: [Fis] The Information Flow (From Bob Ulanowicz)
(From Bob Ulanowicz) * Dear Pedro, I am not familiar with either model. I am made uneasy, however, by the deterministic nature of the model descriptions. My concern is that networks in general are metaphors for the amalgamation of constraint and indeterminacy. There are, of course, degenerate forms of networks that are deterministic, or almost so. Ontogeny in general is almost deterministic and that would be reflected in their corresponding network descriptors. My worry is that by focusing upon these degenerate cases we lose sight of the fact that in living systems considered more broadly (e.g., ecological, social and economic systems), the indeterminate plays a larger and *obligatory* role in the persistence of the system. The best, Bob - End forwarded message - ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
Re: [Fis] fis Digest, Vol 564, Issue 3
For a Whole-Cell Computational Model this paper, an interesting pulling together of the pieces as it is, says precious little about the membrane behavior and dynamic structure of the cell - something that I expect from a paper that claims to be a whole-cell model. The title of the paper appears to be missing the word Toward … Steven -- Dr Steven Ericsson-Zenith Institute for Advanced Science Engineering http://iase.info On Oct 16, 2012, at 1:19 PM, Kevin Clark kbclark...@yahoo.com wrote: A Whole-Cell Computational Model Predicts Phenotype from Genotype ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
