NEW ARTICLES
Joslyn, Cliff (2001): "The Semiotics of Control and Modeling
Relations in Complex Systems", Prepared for a special issue of
Biosystems, a festschrift for Howard Pattee.
ftp://wwwc3.lanl.gov/pub/users/joslyn/biosystems.pdf
Howard Pattee's concept of semantic or semiotic closure has been
foundational for a school of theoretical biology derived from systems
theory and cybernetics. This paper proposes a conceptual analysis of
some of the ideas and principles from systems theory which underlie
semiotic closure, and which are fundamental to the philosophy of
Principia Cybernetica. In particular, atomic control systems and
models are described as the canonical forms of semiotic systems in
relation to their environments. While they share measurement
relations, they differ topologically in that control systems are
circularly and models linearly related related to their environments.
Heylighen F. & Joslyn C. (2001): "Cybernetics and Second Order
Cybernetics", in: R.A. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Physical Science
& Technology (3rd ed.), (Academic Press, New York). [in press]
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/Cybernetics-EPST.pdf
Although it is obviously very difficult to summarize all the main
ideas of cybernetics in a single paper without remaining very
superficial, we believe we have managed to do a quite decent job of
it, especially since several colleagues told us they would recommend
it to their students. The paper provides an introduction to and
overview of the main concepts (e.g. variety, feedback, closure,
control, constructivism, ...) and principles (e.g. law of requisite
variety, requisite hierarchy, self-organization, ...) of cybernetics.
Where possible, the ideas have been made explicit using simple
formulas and diagrams.
ANOTHER ACCOLADE FOR PCP WEB
The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), a long standing
organization publishing such prestigious volumes as the Science
Citation Index and Current Contents, has selected PCP web for
inclusion in its new Current Web Contents:
"You are publishing important, high-quality material on the Web. For
this reason, ISI has selected your site
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/DEFAULT.html for inclusion in Current Web
Contents (http://www.isinet.com/isi/products/cc/cwc/webselect.html),
a new section of Current Contents Connect TM.
CC Connect
(http://www.isinet.com/isi/products/cc/ccconnect/cccind.html) offers
Web access to Current Contents, the ISI premier current awareness
database that provides information in the fields of science, social
science, technology, and the arts & humanities. For more than 40
years, ISI has delivered this multidisciplinary table-of-contents
database to researchers, scientists and information professionals
around the world. Since its inception, this journal-based resource
has reflected the strict guidelines for selection developed by the
ISI Editorial Development Staff. The result is the most prestigious
database available internationally.
High standards of selection -- and data quality -- have made ISI a
leader in the information industry. ISI has now applied similarly
high selection standards
(http://www.isinet.com/isi/hot/essays/23.html), specialized to the
medium, in the creation of Current Web Contents, an ever-growing
collection of high-quality, scholarly Web sites. ISI editors have
visited your site, reviewed it, developed a standardized descriptive
record, written an abstract and created a link from CC Connect to
your site."
IN MEMORIAM
Two of the most important thinkers in the cybernetics and systems
field have passed away during the last month: Herbert A. Simon (on
=46eb. 9) and Claude E. Shannon (on Feb. 24).
Nobel laureate Herbert Simon was a truly universal mind, with
contributions ranging from economics, psychology, management,
evolutionary theory, and philosophy to artificial intelligence, a
domain he helped to found. His focus was on the problem solving
techniques that adaptive systems (people, organizations, computers,
=2E..) use to cope with complexity. His book "The Sciences of the
Artificial" provides a good introduction to his ideas. It includes
his classic essay on "The Architecture of Complexity", where he
proposed an evolutionary explanation for hierarchical organization,
thus formulating one of the basic principles that came to underly our
PCP philosophy.
Claude Shannon is the creator of the mathematical theory of
information (or communication), and one of the founding members of
the cybernetics group at MIT in the 1940's. A classic paper of his,
"A mathematical theory of communication" (1948) had just been added
the month before to our Principia Cybernetica Library. It is
available at: http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/books/Shannon-TheoryComm.pdf
More info:
http://news.altavista.com/scripts/editorial.dll?ei=3D2402814&ern=3Dy
(Shannon obituary)
http://www.cmu.edu/home/news/herb_simon.html (Simon obituary)
GLOBAL BRAIN
The plans to organize a conference on the Global Brain are starting
to get a more concrete shape. An organizing committee has been
formed, together with some mailing lists for the members. At present,
the plan is to hold a small-scale preparatory workshop this summer
(probably hosted by the PCP office at the Free University of
Brussel), and a large conference next year (probably at San Jose
State University) in Silicon Valley. Several prominent people are
being invited to participate, including Bill Gates and computer
pioneer Douglas Engelbart. A conference website and MUD are also
being prepared.
WHAT'S NEW IN PCP WEB
The following nodes in Principia Cybernetica Web have undergone substantive
editing, or have been newly added during the last two months.
All documents are available via http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/RECENT.html
* Feb 23: Cybernetics and Second-Order Cybernetics, a review paper
for an encyclopedia by Heylighen and Joslyn
* Feb 16, 2001: Cybernetics and Systems Societies (links added)
* Feb 6, 2001: Subscription to the Global Brain mailing list (updated)
* Feb 2, 2001: Alphabetical Index (updated)
* Jan 31, 2001: Collaborative Filtering (links added)
* Jan 16, 2001: Overview of Principia Cybernetica (updated)
* Jan 11, 2001: Reviews of Principia Cybernetica Web by others (links added)
* Jan 9, 2001: References on the Global Brain / Superorganism (added
Rossman book)
* Jan 8, 2001: Principia Cybernetica Electronic Library (Shannon paper added=
)
* Jan 4, 2001: New paper: F. Heylighen: Mining Associative Meanings
from the Web: from word disambiguation to the global brain
TOPICS ON PCP-DISCUSS
The following topics were announced or discussed on the PCP-discuss mailing
list (see http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MAIL.html) during the last two
months. The full text of all original messages and replies is
available via the new PCP-discuss archive:
http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/~bruce/pcp-discuss/2000/thread.html
* Fwd: 2nd SEE (semiosis.evolution.energy) Conference - Francis Heylighen
* New member: Rex Bennett - Cliff Joslyn
* Researcher/PhD student/sci.programmer available - Menno RUBINGH
* Two new papers on context - Bruce Edmonds
* Recent review publications on cybernetics? - Francis Heylighen
* Fwd: Study shows rats dream about running mazes - Francis Heylighen
* Fwd: Homeotropy - Francis Heylighen
* Fwd: Criticisms of Bateson - Francis Heylighen
* [Fwd: Announcement: Special Issue "Imitation in Natural
andArtificial Systems"] - Bruce Edmonds
* Fwd: Reality Engineers: Seminar Announcement - Cliff Joslyn
* Fwd: PSI'01: Final Call for Papers - Cliff Joslyn
* Fwd: [CFP] 2nd Int. Conference on Systems Biology - Francis Heylighen
* New book - Lars Skyttner
USER ANNOTATIONS
User comments to PCP web continue to pour in at a high rate, though
not all of them are that interesting ... Here is a selection of
topics for the last two months.
All annotations are available via http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/USANNOT.html
* From finite to infinite--you can go there, ca'nt you?, Illustration
(to INFINITY) by Marcial C. Sarmiento
* Subtle, precise, original!, Confirmation by Muriel Guid=E9e
* Determination of Indistinguishables, Comment (to IDENINDI) by
Steven Finkelman
* "Artificial Intelligence and Nanotechnology in Context of Russian
Idea", Comment by Vladimir Astachine
* Systemic Model of Evolution?, Comment by Michael Lazenby
* Popular Evolution by Joseph L. Popp, Comment (to MEMEEVOL) by
Christine A. Ryan
* REPLY: "Time is a piece of wax sitting on a termite that is choking
on it's splinters", Confirmation by Karl Manteuffel
(k_manteuf@hotmail.com)
* A violation of the first law of thermodynamics, Correction (to
PANTHEISM) by Pete Berton
* REPLY: Types of infinity, Comment by BruTohuu (brutohuu@hotmail.com)
* Reply to "Infinity in concept of evolution" by George Soslovsky,
Comment (to infinity) by BruTohuu
* Collaborative Filtering Research Links, Comment (to COLLFILT) by
James Thornton
* Good synopsis, Comment (to PANTHEISM) by Naturyl
* Infinity in concept of evolution., Comment (to infinity) by Georgy=
Soslovsky
* If you accept increasing fitness as the meaning of life..., Comment
(to MEANLIFE) by paul scott
* Our Replacements Are Coming: Assembler Based Nanotechnology,
Comment by Doug Snedden
* Engelbart's Collective IQ, Comment (to GBRAINREF) by Linda Kemp
* Problems as Discontinuities., Comment (to PROBSOLV) by Michael Pilling
* Go ahead, Comment (to MASTHEAD) by Moennig, Paul-Hubert
* Causality, Comment (to FREEDOM) by Michael Katter
* Socioeconomic Impact of 3rd World Population Growth on the
Developed Nations, Comment (to POPEXPL) by Nicholas Previsich
* Breakdown of Values, Refutation (to BREAKVAL) by dirk neethling
* REPLY: Explanations of events give power to those who
understand.Light is neither moral nor immoral., Comment by KATHERINE
MACLEAN (katherinemaclean@hotmail.com)
* Infinity is an experience., Comment (to INFINITY) by Daan Dijkstra
* How can we be happy?, Correction (to ETERQUES) by Mirco Sanguineti
* Entropy and God, Comment (to EVOLUT) by John Salvis
* REPLY: ethic is respect, Comment by sabine peters (sabinepeters@usa.net)
* Change of Paradigm, Comment (to EMERGE) by Tony Rosqvist
* Time Measures Change, Comment (to TIME) by Kenneth Ives
* Animal Thinking, Comment (to THINKING) by Roger Heslop Jr.
* REPLY: Why not a superorganism from the Internet? , Comment by
Alberto Cid (alberto@InterSAINT.org)
* Can Will be properly defined? Or desire?, Comment (to ^KNOWILL) by
Kenneth Ives
* Universal Genesis, Illustration (to SUPORGLI) by Levan Gvelesiani
* Ontology and Metaphysics, Comment (to ONTOLI) by Raul Corazzon
* Is infinity a prime number?, Refutation (to INFINITY) by Michael Lewis
* Question on cause and effect (effort and results), Illustration (to
TECACCEL) by Jason Dilg
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_________________________________________________________________________
Francis Heylighen <fheyligh@vub.ac.be> -- Center "Leo Apostel"
Free University of Brussels, Krijgskundestr. 33, 1160 Brussels, Belgium
tel +32-2-6442677; fax +32-2-6440744; http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html