warren_bergerson
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Member # 262
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posted 15. November 2002 09:23
THE PROPOSITIONS
I present here for discussion the propositions that:
1. A type of abstract logic machine called an information generating machine(IGM) can be used to model, simulate, and/or explain ‘self organizing principles’. And
2. Examples of self organizing principles in biological systems can be identified and reverse engineered using IGM’s.
As I understand it, ‘self organizing principles’ have been proposed as the forces or causal processes which account for teleological or purposeful nature of biological systems or life forms. Self organizing principles have essentially been proposed as the phenomena which differentiates living matter or life forms from non-living matter. The propositions offered above are compatible with this view of self organizing principles.
Much of the discussion of self organizing principles has been based on the premise that self organizing principles are a basic or elementary form of causation different from simple deterministic causal relationships. The propositions offered here suggest that self organizing principles represent complex causal relationships or processes which can be reduced to or defined in terms of simple deterministic causal relationships.
The propositions offered here have three useful features. First, the propositions offered here define self organizing principles as standard deterministic/materialistic processes subject to traditional deterministic/materialistic scientific analysis. Second, the propositions make it possible/feasible to identify specific instances of self organizing principles. Finally, the propositions offered provide a systematic/progressive approach for analyzing, understanding, and explaining self organizing principles.
The proposals presented here involve a variety of technical, mathematical, scientific, and philosophical issues. The comments below are intended simply as a starting point for anyone interested in discussing some of these issues in greater depth.
WHAT IS A SELF ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE
I suggest that, as a starting point, self organizing principle be defined as a process or force 1)capable of making a causal relationship purposeful or teleological, and 2)capable of maintaining the teleological nature of a causal relationship. As an added requirement, self organizing principles might be defined as having the ability to create or evolve new teleological causal relationships.
This definition is compatible with the concept of complexity. The complexity of a teleological causal relationship can as (the total number of possible forms)/(the number of purposeful or teleological forms). A self organizing principle is the process or force which finds, creates and maintains the teleological form from the set of possible forms.
WHAT IS AN INFORMATION GENERATING MACHINE
The concept of information generating machines was introduced in the thread "The Mathematics of Intelligent Causation
IDENTIFYING SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF SELF ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES
There are, I propose, at least three readily identifiable examples of self organizing principles operating in biological systems. These are:
1. The processes that keeps individual cells in the appropriate teleological genetic state at each point in time.
2. The processes that generate and maintain the appropriate teleological state in individual neurons at each point in time.
3. The processes the generate and maintain the appropriate teleological state for each human decision process.
REVERSE ENGINEERING PROCEDURES
I suggest, that once you know the basic type of machine or process involved, and once you can identify the applicable input and output, then it is a relatively straight forward step by step process to reverse engineer the machine or process. Once you recognize self organizing principles as information generating machines, and once you identify a specific example of a self organizing principle, it should be a relatively straight forward step by step process to reverse engineer the self organizing principle.
SUMMARY
The material presented here obviously does not address all the issues raised. The purpose here is to offer for discussion a couple of potentially interesting propositions.
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