Re: Reactive vs. Anticipatory in adaptation/evolution

[Judith Rosen <***>]

Jamie Rose wrote:
> So..... the important aspect of dynamic entities within
> dynamic extended environments .. it their ability to
> encounter and cope with .. options & options spaces.
> More so than it is for entities to be behaviorally
> consistent

Yes, with one nitpick: "Dynamic" entities... I'm not sure how you mean it. My experience of that word is that it can refer to any changing systems, including simple ones. In his published work, my father used the phrases; "dynamical systems," "dynamical equations," and "classical dynamics" when describing simple systems and the approach of contemporary physics for dealing with them. So, I see a need to clarify a bit. The thing is, adaptation is not purely a reactive-- or even interactive-- behavior. Environments don't adapt to organisms, although environments do interact with organisms, organisms have more options: they can react or interact, but they can also adapt to environments and they can also actively change the environment to suit their own requirements. In either case, the agent of change is coming from the organismal side. This is partly why the explanation for evolution as developed post-darwin is not explaining the evidence adequately: it's all developed within "a reactive paradigm" where all systems are only capable of reacting. In order to adapt, either physically or behaviorally, to a changing environment, a system would have to be capable of something more than merely reacting to change. Adaptation has to do with optimality and the only systems capable of adaptation are systems with an internally generated value for "optimality"-- anticipatory systems. Organisms.

Judith



Web address: http://www.rosen-enterprises.com
BioTheory: An electronic journal of general science based on the Relational (Rosennean) Complexity Paradigm
On Nov 8, 2005, at 12:36 AM, James N Rose wrote:

> Judith Rosen wrote:
>
> > "Negative" and "Positive" are in the eye of the beholder;
> > it's all relational and it's context dependent.
> >
> > [snipped] 
> >
> > I think it's all part of the capability that being organized as an
> > anticipatory system can achieve in an interactive, relational universe.
> >
> > Judith
>
> So..... the important aspect of dynamic entities within
> dynamic extended environments .. it their ability to
> encounter and cope with .. options & options spaces.
>
> More so than it is for entities to be behaviorally
> consistent - or as modern science would prefer it
> - perfectly 'repetitive' and free of 'alternate
> performances' (which are define by current science as "errors"). 
>
>
> How many children have there been born with 6 fingers per hand?
> chopped off in the delivery room as an anomaly.
>
> Can you image the side species of 12 fingered humans ..
> and how they would play piano or any fingered instrument??!   Wow!
>
> J2