Dave,
Ontology, schmontology. As others have pointed out, mine is just a trivial logical point. Let the self (Sx) be any kind of thing (Tx) at all. Let assembly be a process of putting things together to make a new thing. S1 + T1 = S2 + T2 = etc. At each point the self that is assembled is not the self that is assembling, no? I think, on the whole, it would be better if we spoke not of self assembly, but of scaffolding where something external to the structure being formed, facilitates the formation of the structure. So at each stage in the assembly, the previous stage "scaffolds" the next. White smokers scaffolded the formation of life. Life scaffolded the further evolution of life. The genome is a scaffold for natural selection. Nicholas Thompson Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Prof David West Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2020 8:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Getting You Libertarians' Goats Nick, " I am always troubled by the notion of "self-assembly" since the self that is assembling is never, by definition, the self that is assembled." By what definition? Your monist view that the self lacks ontological status in the first place? davew On Wed, Oct 28, 2020, at 5:48 PM, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> wrote: > Jon, > > Is a steam governor a case of downward causation? > > This question will reveal, no doubt, that I don't understand your previous > answer, but perhaps others will explain it to me. > > I am always troubled by the notion of "self-assembly" since the self that is > assembling is never, by definition, the self that is assembled. > > Perhaps I am getting tangled up in words again. > > n > > Nicholas Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > Clark University > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Friam <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On Behalf Of jon zingale > Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2020 2:01 PM > To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Getting You Libertarians' Goats > > Nick, > > Let's say I have a language designed to work with sticks, where for > instance, it makes sense to name certain relations *Triangle*. Additionally, > let's assume that the language is detailed enough to include less obvious > relations such as those which relate sticks to trees to soil and water. > Would it be cheap to narrowly define *downward causation* as the > manipulation of the world in accordance with this language to produce new > sticks? > > Consider as another example when one manipulates charge in bulk using analog > filters. Here, a circuit designer may not need to know about spin or > superposition or a lot of other details about the universe. In fact, the > designer may not know how to write a "mid-frequency ranged filter" if they > were only given a quantum mechanical view of the world. They may, however, > know how to build such a filter if they are given appropriately shaped > conductive surfaces and coils. > > My apologies in advance if this characterization (that of reducing *downward > causation* to manipulation of a domain-specific language) is horribly > flawed, but I spent this much time writing a response. So, there. > > > > -- > Sent from: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam <http://bit.ly/virtualfriam> un/subscribe > http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam <http://bit.ly/virtualfriam> > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >
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