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Jerry Zhu wrote: "I predict five thousand years or more later no men has
hair."
What about women? (Sorry, I couldn't resist!!!)
Seriously; I have to say that I think there's more to living
interaction with self and environment for any organism than just the inner and
outer, as you described in your post. Anticipatory Systems Theory posits that
living systems possess and utilize encoded information (models) of themselves
and their environment that includes aspects of time such that the models
generate predictive conditions for what they model, based on
present conditions, and this collective capability acts as an
anticipatory control system within the organism as a whole. If that's so, then
what's "inner" and what's "outer" depends entirely on context.
For example, if something were to shift configuration, the way
proteins fold or a developing embryo changes its configuration from a hollow
ball of cells to the stage that begins main differentiation... what's inner and
what's outer will not be a constant. It will also depend on where you're
looking at it from. Each has aspects of the other because it's another one of
those "they entail each other" scenarios. In other words, there is no "inner"
unless there's "outer".
However, I agree that humanity has become far more dependent on
technological systems of systems of systems which we originally created to
augment our natural capabilities, but which are now eroding those natural
abilities. (There's a "side-effect" for you!) If the trend were to continue
at the same rate, we may end up replacing our natural abilities with mechanical
substitutes. What a scary thought! Luckily, very little in this world goes as
planned or expected. So, while that's a pain in the ___ and
we usually complain about it... it may end up saving
us.
Judith
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