[FRIAM] Any non-biological complex systems?

[glen ☣]

On 05/29/2017 09:02 AM, Steven A Smith wrote:
> I appreciate your stating it this way.  I did hear Nick ask if a system could (somehow?) choose it's own boundaries and dismissed it as (yet another) distraction but would now like to hear more.   It felt like an anthropomorphism to suggest a system could "choose" it's own boundaries, but I'm open to having that explored if anyone can/will.

Well, I think it's a core part of the original post.  I'd be happy to see Russ disagree with me and object to the idea that a boundary is necessary for being a symbol machine.  With regard to "choosing", that was the entire gist behind Rosen's considerable side-track.  I'm not a scholar, or even a serious person in any way.  But I think all of Rosen's other yaddayadda was an outgrowth of his conception of agency.  E.g. what is the minimal construct that can be said to have agency?  He came up with M,R-Systems.  And it eventually lead him to his "anticipatory systems".  Our modern arguments about free will and choice could be enlightened quite a bit by that thread.

Please note that I disagree with most of what Rosen argued.  But to see it ignored (or attributed to others) is much worse than disagreeing with it. 8^)

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☣ glen