Dear Jerry,
Thank you for the kind words.
On 06/04/15 06:39, Jerry LR Chandler wrote:
I am still working on your extensive narrative and its numerous
logical assertions about the nature of the unities of the sciences.
It is a very stimulating read, and like all good research projects, it
raises more questions than it answers.
Your usage of two terms leaves me pondering about your intended meanings.
1. Cybernetics? Does your usage of this term include dynamic
descriptions of chemical events, such as ion transport across
membranes? Or, are your using the term is a more restrictive sense?
Does your usage have any mathematical implications or inferences?
Cybernetics, as a theory, can be argued to rest on two fundamental
theorems, the requisite variety theorem and the good regulator theorem.
These theorems are also fundamental to practopoiesis. Also, these
theorems are mathematically formulated. Hence, yes, one can derive
mathematical implications. I am using this fact now as I am currently
working on calculating the total cybernetic variety of the human brain
to compare the results obtained from different presumptions of brain's
adaptive organization (T1 vs. T2 vs. T3).
Ion transport across membranes by the means of opening and closing ion
channels should be surely covered by the term cybernetics. Ion channels
on a membrane can close a feedback loop with their "environment" and can
be seen as regulators that control some variables whereby the ion
transport is a part of the regulation machinery.
Likely, the same holds for ion pumps. They should also regulate ion
concentration in intra and extracellular spaces. Those also can be
viewed as cybernetic devices.
2. Traverse? This is a verb. Who / what is the subject of this verb?
Is your usage of the term "traverse" synonymous with the term
"transitions to" or not?
The subject is "cybernetic knowledge". Within the structure of any
cybernetic device, by operating and hence, by interacting with the
surrounding world, cybernetic knowledge traverses from more general to
more specific.
Important is that during a traverse general knowledge is used to extract
specific knowledge such that, after the traverse, the original general
knowledge is not lost or replaced or in any other way gone. As the
knowledge traverses within the organizational structure of an agent, the
agent continues to posses both the general and the specific knowledge.
For example, you don't loose your genes after expressing them and
producing some proteins. This is why I think that the term "transition
to" would be misleading as it usually implies "transformation" i.e.,
that the system has changed from one state to the other such that the
previous state is now gone. "Traverse" refers to a different property of
an adaptive agent, namely the relationship between its mechanisms laying
on different levels of the adaptive hierarchy (i.e., poietic hierarchy).
Thus, I would not find it precise enough to say that "Information stored
in genes transitions into the capability of riding a bicycle." It seems
clearer to define a new term that does not carry this transformational
implication and say: "General cybernetic knowledge stored in genes (+
gene expression mechanisms) traverses through adaptive interactions with
the environment into a more specific knowledge on how to ride a bicycle."
Note that for similar reasons the term "cybernetic knowledge" is used
rather than "information". Information carries the implication that
there should be at least a separate mechanism for decoding the
information if not also a mechanism for coding it in the first place,
before entering the communication channel. Cybernetic knowledge covers
the whole regulation machinery: the sensory, the decisions device, the
effectors. In other words, it covers the knowledge on what signals to
observe, what to do for which values of those signals and how to execute
the needed actions.
Please tell me how much this helps. I would like to know how successful
I was in clarifying your questions.
Danko
--
Prof. Dr. Danko Nikolić
Web:
http://www.danko-nikolic.com
Mail address 1:
Department of Neurophysiology
Max Planck Institut for Brain Research
Deutschordenstr. 46
60528 Frankfurt am Main
GERMANY
Mail address 2:
Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
Wolfgang Goethe University
Ruth-Moufang-Str. 1
60433 Frankfurt am Main
GERMANY
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Office: (..49-69) 96769-736
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Fax: (..49-69) 96769-327
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