DOCSLIB.ORG

THE PAST of a DELUSION by Warren Sturgis Mcculloch

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE PAST of a DELUSION by Warren Sturgis Mcculloch Winter-Edition 2007 THE PAST OF A DELUSION by Warren Sturgis McCulloch Englisch Deutsch Editorial Editorial By Joachim Paul, editor of von Joachim Paul, Hrsg.: www.vordenker.de www.vordenker.de To make Warren McCulloch's essay Den aus dem Jahr 1953 stammenden Aufsatz "THE PAST OF A DELUSION" from the "THE PAST OF A DELUSION" von Warren year 1953 now available in a German McCulloch als Arbeitstext auch in deutscher translation is in need to be explained. Sprache zugänglich zu machen, bedarf einer erläuternden Anmerkung. Undoubtedly Warren Sturgis McCulloch Warren Sturgis McCulloch ist unbestritten is one of the leading scientists of the einer der wichtigsten Wissenschaftler des 20. 20th century. His influence ranges from Jahrhunderts. Sein Einfluß reicht von den the early days of the Macy-Conferences frühen Tagen der Macy-Konferenzen über das over MIT and Biological Computer Lab in MIT und das Biological Computer Lab in Urbana, Illinois to the foundation of the Urbana, Illinois, bis hin zur Gründung des renowned "Santa Fe Institute for renommierten "Santa Fe Institute for Sciences Sciences of Complexity", where one of of Complexity", zu dessen bekannteren Mitar- the more prominent collaborators was beitern der Mediziner, Biochemiker und Biophy- the physician, biochemist and biophysi- siker Stuart Kauffman gehörte, zeitweilig ein cist Stuart Kauffman, a temporary Schüler McCullochs. 1927 bis 1934, bevor disciple of McCulloch. Before McCulloch McCulloch, einer der Väter von Kybernetik und returned to the academic world and Neuroinformatik, in die akademische Welt together with the mathematician Walter zurückkehrte und in seiner wohl bekanntesten Pitts introduced in his most widely Arbeit zusammen mit dem Mathematiker Walter known work the theoretical concept of Pitts das theoretische Konzept des McCulloch- the MCCulloch-Pitts-neuron and verified, Pitts-Neurons einführte und nachwies, dass that Turing-computable problems are in turing-berechenbare Probleme sich allgemein general computable with a network mit einem endlichen Netz von McCulloch-Pitts- composed of a finite number of McCul- Neuronen berechnen lassen, arbeitete er als loch-Pitts-neurons, from 1927 to 1934 Arzt im Bellevue-Hospital in New York. Wir he worked at Bellevue-Hospital in New erwähnen das, weil der hier bereitgestellte York. We mention this, because the Aufsatz über weite Strecken von einem essay available here is coined by a self- Selbstverständnis als Wissenschaftler und Arzt concept of a scientist and a physician. getragen ist. The essay was written for the Chicago Der Aufsatz wurde erstellt für den Chicagoer Literary Club and is part of the Literaturverein und ist Bestandteil der Mono- monograph "Embodiments of Mind", an graphie "Embodiments of Mind", einer Gesamt- overall view of McCulloch's works. The schau der McCulloch'schen Arbeiten. Die German edition of the monograph "Ver- deutsche Ausgabe der Monographie "Verkörpe- körperungen des Geistes" contains only rungen des Geistes" enthält nur 13 der insge- 13 of the 21 articles of the English samt 21 Arbeiten der englischen Original- original edition, amongst others, also ausgabe, u.a. fehlt auch dieser Aufsatz. this essay is missing. It can be read as a document of the Er ist als Dokument der Wissenschaftsge- history of science, at least as a source schichte, wenigstens jedoch als Quellentext zu text, which gives information about the lesen, der Aufschluß um die Auseinandersetz- debates concerning the reception of ungen im Zuge der Rezeption der Psycho- psychonanalysis within USA. analyse in den USA gibt. In his article McCulloch frequently McCulloch wendet sich – eher in Form einer addresses the audience directly, rather Rede – häufig direkt an das Publikum, wohl in the form of a speech, arguably com- bestehend aus den Mitgliedern des Chicagoer posed of the members of the Chicago Literaturvereins. Daher wurde das allgemein Literacy Club. Therefore the commonly als 'man' übersetzte 'you' im Text immer dort, as German 'man' translated 'you' is wo auch eine Übersetzung als direkte Anrede translated with 'Sie' as direct address in sinnhaft scheint, mit 'Sie' übersetzt. Als places where it makes sense. As a Psychiater kritisiert McCulloch in deutlicher psychiatrist McCulloch criticizes psycho- Schärfe die Psychoanalyse und insbesondere analysis in clear acrimony and particu- einen ihrer Väter, Sigmund Freud. Dabei bringt larly one of her fathers, Sigmund Freud. er rhetorisch ein sich in späteren Jahren nach In doing so he brings a structural ele- 1953 immer mehr herausschälendes Struktur- ment of cybernetics which crystallized element der Kybernetik, die Selbstreferenz, more and more after 1953 rhetorical in gegen die Psychoanalyse in Anschlag. Sie sei aiming position against psycho-analysis, das eigentliche Leiden, dessen Therapie sie self-reference. She – psycho-nanalysis - darstelle. Psychoanalyse, das ist heute is the actual pain, whose therapy she is. unbestritten, kommt um das Eingeständnis Today it is beyond controversy that ihrer Selbstreferenz nicht herum, im Gegenteil, psychoanalysis has to confess its self- der Selbstbezug ist wesentliches strukturelles reference, on the contrary self-reference Element der 'Be-Gründung' von Psychoanalyse. is a basic element of the foundation of Unter der Lupe der sog. harten Naturwissen- psycho-analysis. Under the magnifying schaften betrachtet diagnostiziert McCulloch glass of the so-called hard sciences der Psychoanalyse eine unauflösliche McCulloch diagnoses an undissolvable Verschränkung von Daten und Methode, die entangle-ment of data and method for nach seinem strengen wissenschaftlichen psychoanalysis which is unallowable Verständnis unzulässig ist. following his sternly scientific under- standing. The orignal title of the article, "The Der Originaltitel des Aufsatzes "The Past of a Past of a Delusion", is a wordplay and Delusion" ist ein Wortspiel und bezieht sich auf alludes to a religion-critical article of einen religionskritischen Aufsatz Freuds "Die Freud "The Future of an Illusion", in Zukunft einer Illusion", engl. "The Future of an German "Die Zukunft einer Illusion". Illusion". A German translation of the title is a Eine deutsche Übersetzung des Titels stellt problem insofar, as the wordplay is not insofern ein Problem dar, da das Wortspiel translatable. In German 'Delusion' deli- nicht übertragbar ist. 'Delusion' liefert von vers several possible translations from 'Irrtum' und 'Täuschung' bis hin zu 'Wahn', 'Irrtum' (error, mistake) and 'Täu- 'Wahnvorstellung' mehrere mögliche Überset- schung' (beguilement, camouflage, zungen. Da schon der Text in einem scharfen deception) to 'Wahnvorstellung' (delu- Ton gehalten ist, wurde für 'Delusion' die sion, hallucination). Because of the fact abgemilderte Variante 'Täuschung' als deutsche that the tone color of the text is already Entsprechung gewählt. edged the moderated variant 'Täu- schung' was chosen as the German cor- respondent. Furthermore McCullochs anger expres- Die Wut McCullochs drückt sich desweiteren in ses in the fact, that he throws their der Tatsache aus, dass er Freud und der religion-critical arguments back to Freud psychoanalytischen Bewegung ihre religions- and the psychoanalytical movement to kritischen Argumente als Spiegel vorhält, um reproach the movement itself with their der Bewegung selbst ihre religiösen Züge religious trait. Insofar 'Täuschung' vorzuhalten. Insofern ist die Täuschung im (beguilement) in the German title has to deutschen Titel immer als beides zu verstehen, be understood as both, beguilement of als Täuschung anderer und als Selbsttäu- others and self-beguilement. schung. With this position McCulloch is and was McCulloch ist und war mit dieser Haltung nie not alone. The psychologist Julian allein. Der Psychologe Julian Jaynes, einem Jaynes who became familiar to a greater größeren Publikum bekannt geworden durch audience with his history of develop- seine Entwicklungsgeschichte des Bewusst- ment of consciousness writes in even seins, schreibt in eben jenem seinem Magnum those his magnum opus in the last Opus im letzten Kapitel, das mit "Die Augurien chapter entitled "The Auguries of der Wissenschaft" betitelt ist: "Der hervorste- Science": "In the medical sciences, the chendste Szientismus im medizinischen Bereich most prominent scientism, I think, has ist nach meiner Einschätzung die Psychoana- been psychoanalysis. Its central super- lyse. Ihr zentraler Aberglaube liegt in der Idee stition is repressed childhood sexuality. von der unterdrückten kindlichen Sexualität. The handful of early cases of hysteria Eine Handvoll Fälle von Hysterie aus der which could be so interpreted become Pionierzeit der Bewegung, die sich in diesem the metaphiers by which to understand Sinne interpretieren ließen, avancierten zu all personality and art, all civilizations Metaphoratoren, kraft deren nun das Wesen and its discontents. And it too, like aller Persönlichkeit und Kunst, aller Kultur und Marxism, demands total commitment, allen Unbehagens in der Kultur verständlich initiation procedures, a whorshipful rela- gemacht wurde. Und wie der Marxismus fordert tion to its canonical texts and gives in die Psychoanalyse von ihren Anhängern unein- return that same assistance in decision geschränkte Gefolgschaft, ein andächtiges Ver- and direction which a few centuries ago hältnis zu ihren kanonischen Texten und das was the province of religion."1 Absolvieren einer Initiationsprozedur; als Gegengabe spendet sie die gleichen Entschei- dungshilfen und Handreichungen in Fragen der
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Cybernetic Brain
    THE CYBERNETIC BRAIN THE CYBERNETIC BRAIN SKETCHES OF ANOTHER FUTURE Andrew Pickering THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO AND LONDON ANDREW PICKERING IS PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER. HIS BOOKS INCLUDE CONSTRUCTING QUARKS: A SO- CIOLOGICAL HISTORY OF PARTICLE PHYSICS, THE MANGLE OF PRACTICE: TIME, AGENCY, AND SCIENCE, AND SCIENCE AS PRACTICE AND CULTURE, A L L PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, AND THE MANGLE IN PRAC- TICE: SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND BECOMING (COEDITED WITH KEITH GUZIK). THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, LTD., LONDON © 2010 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED 2010 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-66789-8 (CLOTH) ISBN-10: 0-226-66789-8 (CLOTH) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pickering, Andrew. The cybernetic brain : sketches of another future / Andrew Pickering. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-226-66789-8 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-226-66789-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Cybernetics. 2. Cybernetics—History. 3. Brain. 4. Self-organizing systems. I. Title. Q310.P53 2010 003’.5—dc22 2009023367 a THE PAPER USED IN THIS PUBLICATION MEETS THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD FOR INFORMATION SCIENCES—PERMA- NENCE OF PAPER FOR PRINTED LIBRARY MATERIALS, ANSI Z39.48-1992. DEDICATION For Jane F. CONTENTS Acknowledgments / ix 1. The Adaptive Brain / 1 2. Ontological Theater / 17 PART 1: PSYCHIATRY TO CYBERNETICS 3.
    [Show full text]
  • 42 LS08 Abstracts
    42 LS08 Abstracts IP0 plasticity, whereas a breakdown in trafficking appears to be Public Lecture: Reinventing the Sacred: Science, a contributory factor to a number of neurodegenerative dis- Faith and Complexity eases associated with memory loss including Alzheimer’s. I propose to discuss three topics. Several alternative the- ories and experimental work bear on the origin of molecu- Paul C. Bressloff lar reproduction (here we at least think we know what we University of Utah are talking about). Second, we discuss agency, the capac- Department of Mathematics ity of organisms to act on their own behalf, hence doing bressloff@math.utah.edu (here molecular reproduction causes value to enter the bio- sphere). Third, I discuss the evolution of the biosphere by Darwinian preadaptations, which, I believe, is partially IP2 beyond natural law. On the first topic I will discuss the Magnetic Resonance Elastography classical view that life must be based on template repli- cated DNA, RNA or their cousins, the RNA world, the Many disease processes such as cancer cause profound membrane-cell first world, my own work on the emergence changes in the mechanical properties of tissues, yet none of collectively autocatalytic sets of organic molecules and of the conventional medical imaging techniques such as polymers, experimental evidence for collectively autocat- CT, MRI, and ultrasound are capable of delineating this alytic sets of DNA and peptide sequences, and our own and property. Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) is an other workers’ evidence that random peptides fold, at least emerging diagnostic imaging technology that uses a special to molten globules, hence may well have catalytic activity.
    [Show full text]
  • Against Biopoetics
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2004 Against biopoetics: on the use and misuse of the concept of evolution in contemporary literary theory Bradley Bankston Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Bankston, Bradley, "Against biopoetics: on the use and misuse of the concept of evolution in contemporary literary theory" (2004). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1703. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1703 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. AGAINST BIOPOETICS: ON THE USE AND MISUSE OF THE CONCEPT OF EVOLUTION IN CONTEMPORARY LITERARY THEORY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English By Bradley Bankston B.A., New College, 1990 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1999 May 2004 Table of Contents Abstract................................................iii Introduction..............................................1 Part I: Evolutionary Psychology
    [Show full text]
  • A Review of Stuart Kauffman's a World Beyond Physics and Its Parallel
    Available online at https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/nexj Visit our blog at newexplorations.net Vol 1 № 1 (Spring 2020) A Review of Stuart Kauffman’s A World Beyond Physics and Its Parallel with McLuhan’s Reversal of Cause and Effect. Robert K. Logan University of Toronto ABSTRACT A review of Stuart Kauffman’s A World Beyond Physics is made and its parallels with McLuhan’s reversal of cause and effect is made. KEYWORDS: McLuhan; physics; enablement; general systems; extensions of man; media; technology; tool Robert K. Logan [email protected] 2 New Explorations: Studies in Culture & Communication In A World Beyond Physics, Stuart Kauffman (2019, 10) critiques the “physics-based view of the world” and the notion that physics can ultimately explain all phenomena of the universe including biology and cognition. He wrote, Brilliant physicist Steven Weinberg voiced the physicist thoughts: (1) the explanatory arrow always points downwards from social systems to people to organs to cells, to biochemistry to chemistry and finally physics; (2) the more we know of the universe, he wrote, the more meaningless it appears (ibid.). Kauffman (2019, 12-13) states that Weinberg is categorically wrong and points out, “One thing missing in the world according to physics is the crucial idea of agency… Given agency, meaning exists in the universe.” He then asks "How did the universe get from matter to mattering? In the meaningless, numb universe of Weinberg, where does mattering come from?” Mattering, in Kauffman’s play on words, is simply meaning or information and information is about the informing of a living agent that is able to propagate its organization.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring the Science of Complexity: Ideas and Implications for Development and Humanitarian Efforts
    Overseas Development Institute Exploring the science of complexity: Ideas and implications for development and humanitarian efforts Ben Ramalingam and Harry Jones with Toussaint Reba and John Young Foreword by Robert Chambers Working Paper 285 Results of ODI research presented in preliminary form for discussion and critical comment Working Paper 285 Exploring the science of complexity Ideas and implications for development and humanitarian efforts Second Edition Ben Ramalingam and Harry Jones with Toussainte Reba and John Young Foreword by Robert Chambers October 2008 Overseas Development Institute 111 Westminster Bridge Road London SE7 1JD ISBN 978 0 85003 864 4 © Overseas Development Institute 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. ii Contents Foreword by Robert Chambers vii Executive summary viii Introduction viii Key concepts of complexity science viii Conclusions viii 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Aims and overview of the paper 1 1.2 Background: The RAPID programme and the focus on change 2 2. Putting complexity sciences into context 4 2.1 Origins 4 2.2 Applications in the social, political and economic realms 5 3. Concepts used in complexity sciences and their implications for development and humanitarian policy and practice 8 3.1 Unpacking complexity science: Key concepts and implications for international aid 8 3.2
    [Show full text]
  • Multilevel Ensemble Explanations: a Case from Theoretical Biology
    Multilevel Ensemble Explanations: A Case from Theoretical Biology Luca Rivelli University of Padua, Philosophy Department (FISPPA) I analyze a well-known argument by Stuart Kauffman about complex sys- tems and evolution to show it contains a hierarchy of non-mechanistic, non- causal explanations—which I would call, following Kauffman, “ensemble explanations”—quite closely resembling the explanations of the structural kind proposed in Huneman (2017), but lacking their absolute mathemat- ical certainty, being based on results of non-exhaustive computer simulations. In Kauffman’s core argument ensemble explanations form an explanatory chain along a hierarchy of levels, where each explanans at one level gets itself recursively explained at the lower level. Explanations at adjacent levels turn out to be related not by mereological containment as in a multi- level mechanistic explanation, but by an analog to the relationship between two specifications at different levels of a specification/implementation hierar- chy as understood by computer science. A mechanistic explanation grounds the whole hierarchy enabling the explanatory chain. Interestingly, the pre- liminary production of ensemble explanations enables the multilevel mecha- nistic explanations of systems manifesting what Bedau (1997) defines as weak emergence. 1. Introduction In this paper I will reconstruct and analyze a famous argument by Stuart Kauffman about complex systems and evolution, in order to highlight the use in theoretical biology of a kind of non-mechanistic and non-causal explanation which I propose to call, following Kauffman, ensemble expla- nation. The aim is to contribute to the ongoing philosophical debate about non-causal explanations in the special sciences, kinds of explanation apparently extraneous to the received causal-mechanistic view.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unfinished Project of Theoretical Biology from a Schellingian Perspective
    Swinburne Research Bank http://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au Author: Gare, A. Title: Overcoming the Newtonian paradigm: the unfinished project of theoretical biology from a Schellingian perspective Year: 2013 Journal: Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology Volume: 113 Issue: 1 Pages: 5-24 URL: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2013.03.002 Copyright: Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. This is the author’s version of the work, posted here with the permission of the publisher for your personal use. No further distribution is permitted. You may also be able to access the published version from your library. The definitive version is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Swinburne University of Technology | CRICOS Provider 00111D | swinburne.edu.au Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 1 Overcoming the Newtonian paradigm: The unfinished project of theoretical biology from a Schellingian perspective Arran Gare* Philosophy, Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia Keywords: Reductionism; Emergence; Epigenesis; Biosemiotics; Relational biology; Teleology; Biomathics ABSTRACT: Defending Robert Rosen’s claim that in every confrontation between physics and biology it is physics that has always had to give ground, it is shown that many of the most important advances in mathematics and physics over the last two centuries have followed from Schelling’s demand for a new physics that could make the emergence of life intelligible. Consequently, while reductionism prevails in biology, many biophysicists are resolutely anti-reductionist. This history is used to identify and defend a fragmented but progressive tradition of anti-reductionist biomathematics. It is shown that the mathematico-physico-chemico morphology research program, the biosemiotics movement, and the relational biology of Rosen, although they have developed independently of each other, are built on and advance this anti-reductionist tradition of thought.
    [Show full text]
  • Comments to “Investigations” by Stuart Kauffman
    Comments to “Investigations” by Stuart Kauffman Carlos Gershenson Warning: This is not a review of Kauffman’s book (read it!), only sparse informal comments. “Investigations” is a great book. It is a huge step in bringing closer biology and physics, the so called “soft” and “hard” sciences. Not because it is able to reduce biology to physics. Quite the opposite. It argues for the need of new laws for understanding biospheres, but nevertheless related to the physical laws. It is just that living organisms have properties that systems which can be studied with classical physics lack. Mainly the fact that living organisms change their environment. Therefore it is difficult (tending to silly) to study them as isolated systems... Moreover, the classic way of studying systems (initial conditions, boundary conditions, laws, and compute away1) falls too short when studying systems which change their own boundaries and environment. Classical physics always assumes “anything else being equal”... but with living organisms, not anything keeps being equal! Once we begin to observe living systems as open, we see that they affect each other’s fitness. As Kauffman notes, living organisms co-construct each other, their niches, and their search procedures (e.g. sexual reproduction as a way of exploring new genetic combinations). Not only organisms and species are selected according to their fitness, since the fitness landscapes of different species affect each other. But probably also we can speak about selection of fitness landscapes, since those which are more easily searchable by a particular method (mutation, recombination) will have an advantage. But then, the search methods will be selected accordingly to the current fitness landscapes.
    [Show full text]
  • Deconstruction, Theoretical Biology, and the Creative Universe As We H
    Chapter Three--1 Chapter Three “There Is No World”: Deconstruction, Theoretical Biology, and the Creative Universe As we have noted in the previous two chapters, much ink has been spilled on questions of “epistemology” and “phenomenology” in relation to Stevens’ poetry and poetics. In the next two chapters—and in this one in particular--I want to lay the foundations for what would be, in a different context, an extensive undertaking: to show how the epistemological and phenomenological questions in Stevens’ poetry are actually better understood if they are reframed in terms of a reconceptualization of ecological poetics that is available to us by means of a cross-conjugation of theoretical biology and post- structuralist thought (my example will be deconstruction, though it need not be limited to that in the larger project to which I have just gestured). The emphasis here, as I have already insisted, is a non- representationalist understanding of poeisis: whether we are talking about the poiesis of “life” and the evolution of the biosphere in theoretical biology, or the poiesis of worlding and world-making in deconstruction, or the poiesis of Stevens’ poetic practice. Part of my motivation is that deconstruction has been considered less relevant than other approaches to the kinds of questions around “life” and ecology that I will be pursuing. Martin Hägglund has noted, for example, that “the revival of `life’ as a central category during the last decade of continental philosophy” has led to the downgrading of deconstruction “in the name
    [Show full text]
  • Emergence, Intelligent Design, and Artificial Intelligence
    Emergence, Intelligent Design, and Artificial Intelligence Eric Scott, Andrews University 23 February, 2011 Abstract We consider the implications of emergent complexity and compu- tational simulations for the Intelligent Design movement. We discuss genetic variation and natural selection as an optimization process, and equate irreducible complexity as defined by William Dembski with the problem of local optima. We disregard the argument that method- ological naturalism bars science from investigating design hypotheses in nature a priori, but conclude that systems with low Kolmogorov complexity but a high apparent complexity, such as the Mandelbrot set, require that such hypotheses be approached with an high degree of skepticism. Finally, we suggest that computer simulations of evolu- tionary processes may be considered a laboratory to test our detailed, mechanistic understandings of evolution. 1 Introduction \Die allgemeine Form des Satzes ist: Es verh¨altsich so und so." { Das ist ein Satz von jener Art, die man sich unz¨ahlige Male wiederholt. Man glaubt, wieder and wieder der Natur nachz- ufahren, und f¨ahrtnur der Form entlang, durch die wir sie betra- chten. \The general form of propositions is: This is how things are." { That is the kind of proposition one repeats to himself countless times. One thinks that one is tracing nature over and over again, and one is merely tracing round the frame through which we look at it. { Ludwig Wittgenstein1 The origin of life's immense complexity and adaptability is tantalizing in at least two respects: 1) We want to understand where we and our world came from, and 2) We want to imitate nature in our engineering projects.
    [Show full text]
  • System Science D
    System Science D. L. Hysell Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Cornell University June, 2011 definition There is no universal definition of \system science." People seem to have trouble defining \system science" without using the term \system." Is \system science" whatever people say it is? What do we say? 2 / 20 practice The Department of at invites applications for an Assistant Professor in the area of extreme weather under climate change. ... The incumbent could take an Earth system approach to the subject, emphasizing the interactions of atmospheric, oceanic, and land-surface processes in responding to forcing from the climate system ... 1 1An actual position announcement 3 / 20 Earth System Science \Given the concerns that humankind is impacting the earth's physical climate system, a broader concept of the earth as a system is emerging. Within this concept, knowledge from the traditional earth science disciplines of geology, meteorology and oceanography along with biology is being gleaned and integrated to form a physical basis for Earth System Science. The broader concept of Earth System Science has also come to include societal dimensions and the recognition that humanity plays an ever increasing role in global change." \The Earth System Science concept fosters synthesis and the development of a holistic model in which disciplinary process and action lead to synergistic interdisciplinary relevance." 2 2Johnson, D. R., et al., What is Earth System Science?, Proceedings of the 1997 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Singapore, August 4 - 8, 1997, pp 688 - 691 4 / 20 science education \The Earth system is often represented by interlinking and interacting \spheres" of processes and phenomena.
    [Show full text]
  • Propagating Organization: an Enquiry
    1 Propagating Organization: An Enquiry May 3 , 2006 - Toronto draft 36BLSK Stuart Kauffman Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics, University of Calgary Robert K. Logan Department of Physics, University of Toronto Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics, University of Calgary Robert Este, Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics, University of Calgary Randy Goebel Department of Computer Science, University of Alberta David Hobill Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary Ilya Shmulevich Institute of Systems Biology, Seattle Washington Abstract It is obvious that information is both created and communicated within the process comprising biological evolution, and that the systematic reductionist analysis of component parts has provided much scientific insight about Darwin's grand theory. For example, the combined work of biologists, physicists, and chemists has provided our understanding of DNA as a 2 significant foundation for the "gemmules" that Darwin and his contemporaries sought as the explanation for the evolution of the biotic universe. Here we seek a non-reductionist explanation for the synthesis, accumulation, and propagation of information, which we hope will provide some insight into both the biotic and abiotic universe, in terms of the basic work cycle energy, work, information creation and the propagation of organization. The idea is to combine ideas from biology, physics, and computer science, to formulate explanatory hypotheses on how information can be captured and rendered in the expected physical manifestation, which can then propagate the organization of process in the expected biological work cycle to create the diversity in our observable biosphere. Our study is far from complete, but our progress places fundamental perspectives on information in context, to help focus the challenge of possible explanatory hypotheses and possibly the first steps to developing a theory of the organization of process.
    [Show full text]