Changes

This point has a bearing on the capacity that one has to recognize one's own character as an objective form of being and to realize it within an active pattern of conduct.

This point has a bearing on the capacity that one has to recognize one's own character as an objective form of being and to realize it within an active pattern of conduct.

'''Point 10.'''     At this point, the circumstances bearing on the previous few points interact in such a way as to produce a series of further points.

'''Point 10.'''     At this point, the circumstances bearing on the previous few points interact in such a way as to produce a series of further points.

Expressed in abstract fashion, the injunction of a reflective capacity and the injunction of a capacity limitation are recognized to impinge on each other in a way that brings to light a number of additional issues.  Expressed in more concrete detail, the experiential instances that lead to the formation of these two points in the first place, as organizing poles of topics explicitly noticed, and that continue to surround their particular arrangements, …

Expressed in abstract fashion, the injunction of a reflective capacity and the injunction of a capacity limitation are recognized to impinge on each other in a way that brings to light a number of additional issues.  Expressed in more concrete detail, the experiential instances that lead to the formation of these two points in the first place, as organizing poles of topics explicitly noticed, and that continue to surround their particular arrangements, …

'''Point 11.'''     Computational models of intelligent agents are limited to the consideration of “finitely informed constructions and computations”, or as I more affectionately call them, “finitely informed creatures” (FICs).

Point 11. Computational models of intelligent agents are limited to the consideration of "finitely informed constructions and computations", or as I more affectionately call them, "finitely informed creatures" (FIC's).

This point arises as a specialization of the point about capacity limits, where the discussion is restricted to the kinds of interpretive agents and the models of interpretive faculties that are available in a computational framework.

This point arises as a specialization of the point about capacity limits, where the discussion is restricted to the kinds of interpretive agents and the models of interpretive faculties that are available in a computational framework.

Something is a FIC to the extent that it falls into any of the following sorts: (1) anything that exists in the form of a finite number of bits, (2) anything whose objective being can be described in terms of a finite number of bits, or (3) anything whose moment to moment activity can be specified by means of a finite number of bits.

Something is a FIC to the extent that it falls into any of the following sorts:

# Anything that exists in the form of a finite number of bits,

# Anything whose objective being can be described in terms of a finite number of bits,

# Anything whose moment to moment activity can be specified by means of a finite number of bits.

Notice that this depiction makes being a FIC a term of description, and thus of possible approximation, not of necessity an exact definition of the thing's essential substance.  An objective being or a real activity, even one that escapes all bounds of finite description, can be usefully represented "as" or "by means of" a FIC precisely to the extent that a particular description of it in this form succeeds in helping the agent concerned to orient toward its underlying reality and to deal with its ultimate consequences.

Notice that this depiction makes being a FIC a term of description, and thus of possible approximation, not of necessity an exact definition of the thing's essential substance.  An objective being or a real activity, even one that escapes all bounds of finite description, can be usefully represented “as” or “by means of” a FIC precisely to the extent that a particular description of it in this form succeeds in helping the agent concerned to orient toward its underlying reality and to deal with its ultimate consequences.

Point 12. Reflection involves higher orders of sign relations.

Point 12. Reflection involves higher orders of sign relations.