Heh. Sorry. I don't think I misunderstood you (and Lipton) at all. 8^) When I use "recursion", I don't mean it in specifically a "computer sense". I mean it in the more general logical or perhaps mathematical sense. Your filter explanations do fit that definition. The part "2 There is a process which distinguishes X's that are Y from X's which are not Y and selects the former" on page 221 argues that this is recursion, not iteration, quite clearly. The subsequent several paragraphs and sections talk directly about how these recursive explanations "exclude" causes. This also directly addresses how much more specific the operands for recursion are than for the more general iteration.
But I _disagree_ with the paper in the sense that I think _explanations_, at least in the hands of normal people, including evolutionists, who don't think too much about this sort of thing, do not use recursive explanation so much as iterative explanation. If you allow for multiple or evolving filters, then you escape from the more specific recursion into the more general iteration. I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me why/how you think I've misunderstood. On 04/10/2013 03:49 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > Wow. This is one of those wonderful cases where a body doesn't know what he > means until he has learned all the ways in which he can be mis understood. > When Peter and I wrote that, I don't think either of us had much of a notion > of recursion in the computer sense. We just meant that the explanation > refers back to the question that demands it. We wanted to distinguish that > sort of explanation from explanations which were fully circular .... i.e., > those that refer ONLY to that which they explain. You know, the kind of > thing you say to a three year old after the 33rd why-question. "Because > that's how many horns unicorns have, Dear. Now go to sleep." -- glen e. p. ropella http://tempusdictum.com 971-255-2847 ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
