<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="auto">The idea of "autonomous causation" reminds me of our recent discussions about "free will". A red traffic light causes cars to stop but drivers can refuse to stop if they do not want to stop. They have the autonomy to break the chain of causality. If you want to go in this direction you can cite Daniel Dennett's new book "Just Deserts: Debating Free Will"<br>https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Just+Deserts%3A+Debating+Free+Will-p-9781509545759<br><br>For stigmergy in general I would recommend the work of Guy Theraulaz. His book "Swarm Intelligence: From Natural to Artificial Systems" is a classic. Do you know the books from Mark Moffett: "The human swarm" and "Adventures among ants" ? He is a scholar of E.O. Wilson and argues that symbols and markers are important to identify a social group.<br>https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2020/01/of-ants-and-humans-some-principles-of-social-organization.html<br><br>Symbols can also be used to identify a product. They have causal effects for example if they represent a brand. Brands increase the probability that a consumer recognizes and buys products of a certain brand. They distort perceptions by leaving invisible traces in our brains (for instance by linking certain products to certain attributes or emotions). Given the hype about AI and deep learning, one could ask if such adaptive systems can be manipulated by marketing techniques just like we are seduced by them. </div><div dir="auto"><br>Good luck for your paper! </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">-J.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div><br></div><div align="left" dir="auto" style="font-size:100%;color:#000000"><div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Russ Abbott <russ.abbott@gmail.com> </div><div>Date: 3/20/21 19:51 (GMT+01:00) </div><div>To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> </div><div>Subject: [FRIAM] Draft abstract </div><div><br></div></div><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000" class="gmail_default">Hi all,</div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000" class="gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000" class="gmail_default">I'm planning to submit an abstract to <a href="http://www.hapoc.org/node/329">this conference</a>. All they want is (a) a short abstract (< 200 words) and a long abstract (< 1000 words including references). Here's my <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vqio0TpUHfeDeqBWpr5KSJAW4h7u2YBD/view?usp=sharing">draft</a>. Comments/suggested improvements would be appreciated.</div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000" class="gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000" class="gmail_default">Thanks.</div><div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" class="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><font><u style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16.5px;line-height:20px"><br></u></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font><u style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16.5px;line-height:20px"> </u></font><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16.5px;line-height:24.75px"> </span>-- Russ Abbott <br>Professor, Computer Science<br>California State University, Los Angeles<br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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