Self-Modifying Systems in Biology and Cognitive Science (eBook)

A New Framework for Dynamics, Information and Complexity

G. Kampis (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2013 | 1. Auflage
564 Seiten
Elsevier Science (Verlag)
978-0-08-091239-4 (ISBN)

Infos

The theme of this book is the self-generation of information by the self-modification of systems. The author explains why biological and cognitive processes exhibit identity changes in the mathematical and logical sense. This concept is the basis of a new organizational principle which utilizes shifts of the internal semantic relations in systems. There are mathematical discussions of various classes of systems (Turing machines, input-output systems, synergetic systems, non-linear dynamics etc), which are contrasted with the author's new principle. The most important implications of this include a new conception on the nature of information and which also provides a new and coherent conceptual view of a wide class of natural systems. This book merits the attention of all philosophers and scientists concerned with the way we create reality in our mathematical representations of the world and the connection those representations have with the way things really are.

Inhalt

Front Cover 1
Self-Modifying Systems in Biology and Cognitive Science: A New Framework for Dynamics, Information and Complexity 4
Copyright Page 5
Table of Contents 14
Foreword 8
Preface 8
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 22
1.1. MODELS OF LIFE AND MIND 24
1.2. PITFALLS OF DYNAMICAL MODELS 30
1.3. AN ANSWER: TECHNICAL TOUR DE FORCE 42
1.4. ANOTHER ANSWER: FUNDAMENTALS 46
CHAPTER 
48 
2.1. FOUNDATIONS 48
2.2. MODELS AND THE IDEA OF MATHEMATICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM 55
2.3. CAUSALITY AND DETERMINISM: 'WHY'-S AND 'HOW'-S 58
2.4. ENTITIES 63
2.5. TIME AND INFORMATION 69
2.6. OBSERVABLES 73
2.7. THE CONCEPT OF INFORMATION SET 78
2.8. ENCODINGS OF OBSERVABLES INTO VARIABLES 87
2.9. THE MODELLING RELATION 91
2.10. IMPLICATIONS 96
CHAPTER 
104 
3.1. THE ZENO PARADOXES AND THE SHUTTLE PRINCIPLE 104
3.2. ON THE NOTION OF STATE 123
3.3. ANTICIPATION AND THE EXISTENCE PROOF FOR STATES 138
3.4. MATERIAL AND FORMAL IMPLICATIONS 156
3.5. CONSTRUCTION OF DYNAMICS AS A TRANSITION FROM MATERIAL TO FORMAL IMPLICATIONS 167
3.6. STATES AND DYNAMICS BROUGHT TOGETHER 174
CHAPTER 
178 
4.1. AN ALTERNATE VIEW OF MECHANICS 180
4.2. DYNAMICS AS STATICS: THE WALLED-IN UNIVERSE 188
4.3. THE ATOMISTIC PERSPECTIVE 197
4.4. THE NATURE OF MECHANISTIC SYSTEMS 205
CHAPTER 
218 
5.1. THE CONCEPT OF COMPONENT-SYSTEM 219
5.2. ORIGINS OF THE CONCEPT 226
5.3. PROBLEM PROPERTIES 232
5.4. COMPONENTS AS DYNAMIC OBSERVABLES: THE HERMENEUTICS OF LIFE 244
5.5. THE CONCEPT OF IMMENSITY 246
5.6. GENIDENTITY' AND DYNAMICS 252
5.7. THE MAIN THEOREM 255
5.8. UNIVERSAL LIBRARIES 262
5.9. FALSE DYNAMICS 267
5.10. CREATION AND NON-ALGORITHMIC SELF-MODIFICATION 275
5.11. A HIDDEN ASSUMPTION ELIMINATED 298
CHAPTER 
299 
6.1. THE CONCEPT OF COMPLEXITY 300
6.2. THE MATHEMATICAL NOTION OF COMPLEXITY 303
6.3. MATHEMATICAL COMPLEXITY THEORY 307
6.4. RELATIVE COMPLEXITY 314
6.5. 'COMPLEX SYSTEMS' IN PHYSICS 327
6.6. DYNAMIC COMPLEXITY 342
6.7. THE INCREASE OF COMPLEXITY 351
6.8. A COMPLEXITY HIERARCHY 363
CHAPTER 
366 
7.1. SELF-REPLICATION AS A MEANS FOR EXISTENCE 366
7.2. SELF-MAINTENANCE 372
7.3. SELF-REPRODUCING AUTOMATA 376
7.4. SELF-REPRODUCING AUTOMATA ARE TRIVIAL 393
7.5. CONSTRUCTION, REPRODUCTION AND COMPUTATION 396
7.6. SELF-REFERENCE AND AUTOPOIESIS 404
7.7. A MODEL OF SELF-REPRODUCTION 414
7.8. THE WIGNER PARADOX 416
7.9. TOWARDS THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE 421
CHAPTER 
426 
8.1. EXPOSITION 426
8.2. SYNTACTIC INFORMATION CONCEPTS 427
8.3. SEMANTIC CONCEPTS 434
8.4. 'INFORMATION' AS A SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: AN INTERLUDE 438
8.5. TOWARDS A CAUSAL THEORY 444
8.6. TWO TYPES OF INFORMATION: KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION 457
8.7. A NEW CONCEPT 461
CHAPTER 
468 
9.1. LAW, FORM, AND MEANING: THREE VISTAS OF CAUSALITY 468
9.2. THE CHURCH-TURING HYPOTHESIS 493
REFERENCES 512
INDEX 539
AUTHORS INDEX 556

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.10.2013
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Informatik ► Theorie / Studium ► Algorithmen
• Themenwelt: Informatik ► Theorie / Studium ► Künstliche Intelligenz / Robotik
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Logik / Mengenlehre
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management
• ISBN-10: 0-08-091239-7 / 0080912397
• ISBN-13: 978-0-08-091239-4 / 9780080912394