Changes

====1.2.4.  Simple Minded Systems====

====1.2.4.  Simple Minded Systems====

Of course, not every total manifold need have a nice factorization.  It might be thought to dispense with such spaces immediately, to put them aside as not being reasonable.  But it may not be possible to dismiss them quite so easily and summarily.  Intelligent systems of this sort may end up being refractory to routine analysis and will have to be regarded as simple minded.  That is, they may turn out to be simple in the way that algebraic objects are usually called simple, having no interesting proper factors of the same sort.  Suppose there are such simple minded systems, otherwise deserving to be called intelligent but which have no proper factorization into the kind of gross dynamics and subtle dynamics that might correspond to the distinction ordinarily made between somatic and mental behavior.  That is, they do not have their activity sorted into separate scenes of action:  one for ordinary physical and thermal dynamics, another for information processing dynamics, symbolic operations, knowledge transformations, and so on up the scale.  In the event that this idea of simplicity can be found to make sense, it is likely that simple minded systems would be deeply involved in or place extreme bounds on the structures of all intelligent systems.

Of course, not every total manifold need have a nice factorization.  It might be  

thought to dispense with such spaces immediately, to put them aside as not being  

reasonable.  But it may not be possible to dismiss them quite so easily and  

summarily.  Intelligent systems of this sort may end up being refractory to  

routine analysis and will have to be regarded as simple minded.  That is, they  

may turn out to be simple in the way that algebraic objects are usually called  

simple, having no interesting proper factors of the same sort.  Suppose there  

are such simple minded systems, otherwise deserving to be called intelligent but  

which have no proper factorization into the kind of gross dynamics and subtle  

dynamics that might correspond to the distinction ordinarily made between  

somatic and mental behavior.  That is, they do not have their activity sorted  

into separate scenes of action:  one for ordinary physical and thermal dynamics,  

another for information processing dynamics, symbolic operations, knowledge  

transformations, and so on up the scale.  In the event that this idea of  

simplicity can be found to make sense, it is likely that simple minded systems  

would be deeply involved in or place extreme bounds on the structures of all  

intelligent systems.

A realm of understanding subject to a certain rule of analysis may have a  

A realm of understanding subject to a certain rule of analysis may have a boundary marked by simple but adamant exceptions to its further reign.  Or it may not have a boundary, but that seems to verge on an order of understanding beyond the competence of computational systems.  Whether the human form of finitude abides or infringes this limitation is something much discussed but not likely to be settled any time soon.  In order to pursue the question of simplicity the form of analysis must be examined more carefully.  The type of factorization that system-theoretic analogies suggested was gotten by locating a convenient stage at which to truncate or abridge the typical datum.  This amounts to a projection of the data space onto a stage set by this process of critical evaluation.  The fibers of this projection are the data sets that form the inverse images of points in its range.

boundary marked by simple but adamant exceptions to its further reign.  Or it  

may not have a boundary, but that seems to verge on an order of understanding  

beyond the competence of computational systems.  Whether the human form of  

finitude abides or infringes this limitation is something much discussed but not  

likely to be settled any time soon.  In order to pursue the question of  

simplicity the form of analysis must be examined more carefully.  The type of  

factorization that system-theoretic analogies suggested was gotten by locating a  

convenient stage at which to truncate or abridge the typical datum.  This  

amounts to a projection of the data space onto a stage set by this process of  

critical evaluation.  The fibers of this projection are the data sets that form  

the inverse images of points in its range.

In reflecting on the form of analysis that has naturally arisen at this point it  

In reflecting on the form of analysis that has naturally arisen at this point it appears to display the following character.  An object is presented to contemplation in the light of a finite collection of features.  If the object is found to possess every one of the listed features, this incurs the existence of another object, simpler in some sense, to which analytic attention is then  

appears to display the following character.  An object is presented to  

shifted.  It may be figuratively expressed that the analysis descends to a situation closer to the initial conditions or bounds to a site nearer the boundary conditions.

contemplation in the light of a finite collection of features.  If the object is  

found to possess every one of the listed features, this incurs the existence of  

another object, simpler in some sense, to which analytic attention is then  

shifted.  It may be figuratively expressed that the analysis descends to a  

situation closer to the initial conditions or bounds to a site nearer the  

boundary conditions.

The cases of simple minded systems appear to contain at least the following two  

The cases of simple minded systems appear to contain at least the following two possibilities.  First, a simple minded system may come into being already knowing itself perfectly, in which case all the irony of a Socrates would be lost on it, in terms of bringing it a wit closer to knowledge.  The system already knows its whole manifold of possible states, that is, its knowledge component is in some sense complete, containing an answer to every possible dynamic puzzle that might be posed to it.  Rather than an overwhelming richness of theory, this is more likely to arise from a structural poverty of the total space and a lack of capacity for the reception of questions that can be posed to it, as opposed to those posed about it.  Second, a simple minded system might be born into an initial condition of ignorance, with the potential of reaching states of knowledge within its space, but these states may be discretely distributed in a continuous manifold.  This means that states of knowledge could be achieved only by jumping directly to them, without the benefit of an error-controlled feedback process that allows a  system to converge gradually upon the goals of knowledge.

possibilities.  First, a simple minded system may come into being already  

knowing itself perfectly, in which case all the irony of a Socrates would be  

lost on it, in terms of bringing it a wit closer to knowledge.  The system  

already knows its whole manifold of possible states, that is, its knowledge  

component is in some sense complete, containing an answer to every possible  

dynamic puzzle that might be posed to it.  Rather than an overwhelming richness  

of theory, this is more likely to arise from a structural poverty of the total  

space and a lack of capacity for the reception of questions that can be posed to  

it, as opposed to those posed about it.  Second, a simple minded system might be  

born into an initial condition of ignorance, with the potential of reaching  

states of knowledge within its space, but these states may be discretely  

distributed in a continuous manifold.  This means that states of knowledge could  

be achieved only by jumping directly to them, without the benefit of an  

error-controlled feedback process that allows a  system to converge gradually  

upon the goals of knowledge.

===1.3.  Telos : Horizons and Further Applications===

===1.3.  Telos : Horizons and Further Applications===