Glen, 

 

You see, this conversation just confirms me in my belief that you-guys have 
lost touch with just how remarkable your craft is.  

 

As I think Lee would say (dammit, Lee, where are you?), don't ask a fish about 
water; he knows nothing of it.  

 

What's the miracle of epigenesis?  E uno pluris.  We start with one thing, we 
make a few exact copies of it, and then, all of a sudden, we are making 
different things, tissues, organs, etc.  We are surprised when uniformity 
generates variety.  What’s the miracle  of organisms?  E pluribus unum.  When 
the lion charges us on the Veldt, we face a huge collection of cells that 
somehow manages to act as a very concerted whole.  We are surprised when 
variety coalesces into uniformity.  

 

Both phenomena are amply presented in the pages of Wolfram.  Every day you go 
to work, you make both of these things happen on your screen.  And yet you are 
not amazed by it?  

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Friam [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of u?l? ?
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2019 11:55 AM
To: FriAM <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] words RE: words

 

I would talk about analog computers, not digital ones. But I don't intend to 
rely on any persnickety concept of "computing". So, it might be better to talk 
about any physical system that produces counter-intuitive results. I suppose 
the question is what type of physical system would help target "emergence" best?

 

I don't know... I built a Lorenz wheel that behaved in unexpected ways. Jigsaw 
puzzles are interesting tools for getting close to the idea that the parts and 
their arrangements both do and don't contribute to the final product. 
Spiro-graph is interesting:  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirograph> 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirograph You can buy sets of aperiodic tiles. 
Etc.

 

It all depends on what it is you think you're trying to understand, I guess.

 

On 5/7/19 10:38 AM, Nick Thompson wrote:

> Given that my question about programming and emergence is a lifeless, 
> flatulent piece of crap ... conceding ALL of that .. how would you breathe 
> life into it?

 

 

--

☣ uǝlƃ

 

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