[Synapse elist] short response

[Vicki Sowry]

Re: Erika's comment..

On 20/6/08 9:42 AM, "Erika Lincoln" <fur_princess at yahoo.ca> wrote:

> Hi Gordana,
I think you are talking about.....how do I say...organisms in a
> natural state, or biology, or wet life, (so many different terms). It seems to
> be the way biologists talk about the emergence of new things. My question is
> can you transfer this idea to AI when to my mind the things (for the lack of a
> better word) do not emerge on their own, or maybe they do?

It is not just biologists who talk this way! In the most recent Leonardo
issue, Ricard Sole has written a piece entitled 'On Networks and Monsters:
the Possible and the Actual in Complex Systems'. In the article he refers to
the adage "the whole is more than the sum of it's parts" and says it is
actually more appropriate to say "the whole is different from the sum of
it's parts" - suggesting that, from his point of view at least, things only
ever "emerge on their own"... Which would also answer your question - " how
can one conceive of the new when all one
knows is what lies before
them........???²


Vicki