Re: Rosen, Kauffman and compatibility

[Tim Gwinn <***>]

HP: But in any case, the model appears to me to be closed to efficient causation as I understand it.

TG: We definitely see it entirely differently. Oh well.

 

Regards,

Tim

 

-----Original Message-----
From: ROSEN Forum [mailto:***On Behalf Of Howard Pattee
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 7:50 PM
To: ***
Subject: Re: Rosen, Kauffman and compatibility

Tim,
Kauffman interprets his NK model many ways. His first interpretation was a genetic net with the nodes representing enzymatic Boolean switches turning on and off other genes that make other enzymes, etc. The state transition rule is determined by the Boolean functions of all the nodes and all their connections (enzyme specificities) to other nodes, so I would say the efficient cause arises entirely within the action and configuration of the "closed" network.

The size of the state space and the number of possible state transition rules is enormous (transcomputational in practice). What the model shows is that starting from random states, random connections, and randomly chosen Boolean functions, a network with low connectivity eventually settles down to a relatively few, short, stable limit cycles. As connectivity increases the behavior becomes pseudo-chaotic (not really chaotic because it is a finite discrete system).

It could be claimed that the state transition rule does not arise as an explicit part of the model, but that is only because all the initial conditions are random. I find the the model is really a long way from real genes and molecules. That is one reason it is controversial. But in any case, the model appears to me to be closed to efficient causation as I understand it.

Howard