Excellent! Ignoring your vTAO for a second, I distinguish culture from a
psychogenic delusion by its exogenous inputs. Culture, as I imagine it, is
*definitely* derived from the actual world, whereas a psychogenic delusion
*may* not be.
On to your vTAO, I like the construction. But to pursue it as a mechanism, I'd
want it to talk a bit about the coupling between the layers. E.g. between the
core and culture, it seems clear that biological evolution is slower than
cultural evolution. (Though with all the new data about microbiomes in our gut,
on our skin, etc, as well as epigentics, it's not *that* clear.) That relative
rate difference implies a loose coupling. *If* we can say/show that the
coupling is *very* loose, such that one layer can have more or fewer degrees of
freedom, *then* we might get to psychogenesis. We could also use error or
randomness to do that.
On 12/24/20 9:05 AM, Prof David West wrote:
This is not about populism per se, but about your formulations.
The very first post made we wonder how you would differentiate between a mass
delusion and culture — other than put them on some kind of continuum or making
the first a subset of the latter. None of your subsequent posts dealing with
'mechanisms/formulations' clarified this question.
An alternative mechanism/formulation you might consider: the vTAO or virtual
Adaptive Topographic Organism.
You have never heard of this before because it was a model I proposed in my
doctoral dissertation and I never had the chance to followup or operationalize
the model because I was hired to teach software development.
My problem was how culture affected cognition. The model starts with the
Hopfield metaphor of a neural net: raindrops (inputs) falling on a topography
(established by connection weights) and being channeled to low points
(outputs). The topography was shaped by learning and adjustment of the weights.
I extended this metaphor/model but making connection weights a function of the
"constancy" of the inputs; with constancy being a combination of frequency and
consistency. A feedback loop was established with the outputs altering the environment
and altering the constancy of the inputs.
Trivial example: you paint the inside of your house red (output) and that
increases the constancy of receiving 'red' inputs.
The metaphor/model was extended with seven 'layers' of topography: e.g. a core
layer where the constancy is established simply by being carbon=based
lifeforms, to culture shaping the gross geographic features, the penultimate
layer of habit being akin to watershed, and the final layer being more or less
intentional thought / free will / decision making etc.
In my mind's eye I can see how the vTAO is consistent with, supportive of, the
mechanisms/formulations in your posts, but that might just be misplaced pride
in authorship.
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