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
You know, I read that book 25 years ago ... maybe I should look at it again...
However, my point was definitely not the hierarchical principle as
the organizing principle of life... that is a rather different point.
If any example conveys my point clearly, it would be the glocal
Hopfield net,
Ben,
Yeah, I'd heavily recommend it. I don't know anything like Koestler for
setting out the general importance of the hierarchical principle. And I
didn't do it justice, because it *is* two-way. It's not just about triggers
(or your keys) acting downwards, through a whole holarchy of holons
yeah, it's coming back to me now .. I remember holons and holarchies
and all that stuff ;-)
However, Koestler was writing before complex dynamics and attractors
and such were well-understood and well-known ... and all this gives a
quite different flavor to the web of ideas he was exploring, I
On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 11:48 AM, Ben Goertzel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
yeah, it's coming back to me now .. I remember holons and holarchies
and all that stuff ;-)
However, Koestler was writing before complex dynamics and attractors
and such were well-understood and well-known ... and all
Ben:
yeah, it's coming back to me now .. I remember holons and holarchies
and all that stuff ;-)
However, Koestler was writing before complex dynamics and attractors
and such were well-understood and well-known ... and all this gives a
quite different flavor to the web of ideas he was
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...
ben
--
Ben Goertzel, PhD
CEO, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC
Director of
