Re: Anticipatory behavior

["Tim Gwinn" <***>]

In AS, he did discuss parasitism to some extent - I just happened to be
reading about it last nite, actually.

"Speaking in purely biological terms, the generation of maladaptive behavior
in subsystems, created by a fast-acting local selection mechanism [as
opposed to a global selection mechanism - TG] of the kind we have described,
results in the establishment of a *parasitic* relation between the
subsystems and the total system.Such a relation is characterized precisely
by the fact that what appears to be an adaptive response by the subsystem,
according to its own local selection criterion, actually decreases the
fitness of the total system to which the subsystem belongs." (AS p. 394)

So, a parasitic relation in some sense is about adaptation occurring on a
different timescale than the adaptation timescale of the overal (global)
system. Cancerous cells or some viruses may be adaptive in ways that promote
their rapid success, but with disregard to long-term (global) effects on the
(host + parasite). I suppose one could say that parasites are
"short-sighted", but that is an opinion only from the perspective of the
global timeframe.

He goes on to note that there must be some kind of balance between local and
global adaptation abilities. Otherwise, a complete lack of local
adaptiveness (i.e., a fixed predictive model) may lead to an inability for
the subsystem (e.g., a symbiote) to be flexible enough to maintain itself as
the overall system changes.

Many of the ideas in 'Cooperation and Chimera' in EL could also be used to
study parasitism too, I suppose. It would just mean altering some of the
equations to reflect a one-sided preferential relationship between
organisms, rather than a mutually beneficial one.

Regards,
Tim


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ROSEN Forum [mailto:*** Behalf Of Judith
> Rosen
> Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2003 11:18 PM
> To: ***
> Subject: Anticipatory behavior
>
>
> I don't really know what my father would say about social
> systems, we didn't
> discuss them in that vein so I only have his written work to go on , the
> same as everyone. He spent a year in the early 80's in Santa
> Barbara working
> at Robert Hutchins' "Center for the Study of Democratic Systems" or some
> title close to that. He said that he compared cities to organisms in that
> their structure and organization  are based on function, they need raw
> materials in order to continue in good working order, they create waste,
> they have what compares to a metabolism, etc. But he didn't say they were
> "alive". It's hard to separate out what humans do based on their thought
> process-- very sticky! I suspect that way lies innumerable booby-traps. I
> don't envy anyone trying to scientifically analyze such things
> according to
> my father's ideas of complexity.
>
> I think Tim's comments about social systems are probably sound, with some
> exhibiting what seems like anticipatory behavior (whether they really do
> exhibit it or not is another matter) and the "mob" certainly doesn't.
> Ecosystems and social systems alike, generally don't have the kind of
> coherent organization that is the "womb"  for anticipatory behavior.
> Anticipatory behavior is the hallmark of living systems, not just complex
> systems. Studying such things becomes very difficult-- It's sometimes very
> hard to sort out where one system's organization leaves off and another's
> begins, or what happens when two systems share parts but are distinctly
> different systems in spite of being connected. And then there is
> the pickle
> of parasitic creatures whose environment or ecosystem is a living
> organism.
> It's way too mind-boggling for me!  I don't know if my father
> wrote out any
> suggestions on how to study them as opposed to the old,
> reductionist method.
> That's not an area I had asked him about. I was too invested in getting my
> mind around the basic core concepts. But if he did, you will be
> able to find
> it.
>
> Judith
> Website address: http://www.rosen-enterprises.com/