The main difference between "man-made" machines and other simple physical #structures (#products) and #autonomous, living #systems is in the way they are "produced".
Machines are #built from the #outside by an #allopoietic process similar to #sedimentation of placing layer upon layer of "things" and connecting them to "inform" a unified single structure.
Organisms, on the other side, are single unified and integrated entities from the moment of their inception, and all their "components" #grow from the #inside out in parallel and at the same time in a closed circular #autopoietic process.
Another one in a series of Noema articles promoting the return to ancient civilizations as a recipe for a brighter (more democratic?) future. If they were so great I wonder why they all fell for Western #liberalism. This one at least correctly identifies #civilization as means of #colonization.
> #Civilization began with the idea that the “*civilized*” had to confront the “*barbaric*.” ***Men of vision*** set out to find meaning in life beyond their own borders. They ranged from prophets and teachers who inspired those with wealth and power to spread their message to everyone. ***Their vision could help a powerful state shape a borderless worldview and define the values of a new civilization***.
https://www.noemamag.com/modernizing-ancient-civilizations-for-todays-planetary-challenges/
In this propaganda article "#civilization" is used as a synonym for #religion. Chinese ethnicity is not necessary as long as you
>"use the inherited resources, such as Confucian classics, to fashion your practices and thoughts" ...
To what end? Confront and "civilize" the barbaric liberals?
https://www.noemamag.com/a-non-liberal-foundation-for-robust-democracy
Identity #politics does not care about your personal #identity and #uniqueness.
>"#Identity_politics, which derives often from civilizational and cultural factors, remains opposed to #liberalism. Bruno (Maçães) says “States might have a territory and a people, but their center of gravity lies in the way of life embodied in the state."
https://www.noemamag.com/civilization-states-are-profoundly-illiberal
A rare short and clearheaded analysis of the **real** risks associated with the use of #AI tools in contrast and response to the general overwhelming "doomsday" hype such as that presented in the recent *6 months moratorium* letter.
https://aisnakeoil.substack.com/p/a-misleading-open-letter-about-sci
I wonder if those two are concerned at all with what happened with the last emperors and czars they are trying to emulate. 😀
https://www.noemamag.com/reviving-the-realm-of-czars-and-emperors/
>"As Chang proclaimed: “Globalization is almost dead. Free trade is almost dead. And a lot of people still wish they would come back, but I really don’t think they will be back for a while.” "
With the world becoming more and more of a "global village" where people, capital, and ideas move freely and instantaneously there is no turning back on #globalization.
People are just becoming more aware of the fact that it is not very clever to have all of your eggs put in one basket, particularly if that basket is far away from your immediate reach.
What is happening now is not #deglobalization, it is #diversification.
I think Maturana may have "jumped the gun" here by succumbing to the cybernetic #control vs. #controlled type of thinking and using a gun (a mere passive #product or #structure) as a metaphor for an active, living #system.
In my mind, the notion of ***external control*** so pervasive in #cybernetics does not fit well with the notions of #autopoiesis and #constructivism.
Unlike a (living) system, the gun has no other #choice but to react to the trigger, except, as Maturana notes, in case of malfunction (which is not equivalent to choice).
If #AI by some chance gets in a position with the power to "wipe out" humanity, it will be not because of its superior intelligence but because of humanity itself.
The truth is that intelligence neither craves power nor it is a precondition to raise into a position of power. Quite the opposite.
Some wise words from John Dewey about the difference between #Intelligence and #Power written back in 1934.
https://newrepublic.com/article/100340/intelligence-and-power
Humberto #Maturana Romesin on ***structural determinism***
*Our Genome Does Not Determine Us*
Presentation made at the Remaining Human Forum
Vancouver, B.C., May 22, 2001
https://asc-cybernetics.org/2001/RH-Maturana.htm
1943 - The year when it all started:
#Cybernetics, #Computationalism, #ANN
From: *Brains, Machines, and Mathematics*
by: *Michael A. Arbib*
Didn't know Google can also do translations:
https://www.google.com/search?q=translate+cybernetics+greek
> Unlike the Cartesian argument that living beings are like man-made machines, Kant was the first author who defended the view that organisms are deeply different from machines because their parts and activities are non-separable, and the functions of these parts are not externally imposed, but rather intrinsically determined.
*Moreno & Mossio*
Biological Autonomy - A Philosophical and Theoretical Enquiry
They might **behave** (function) similarly to machines, but the real difference is how they are **produced** and maintained.
Control in #Cybernetics always has to come from the outside or is exerted, not internally onto the elements that make the system but onto something else outside of the "control" system.
Even such brilliant thinkers as #FJ_Varela, one of the "fathers" of #autopoiesis could not escape this profoundly ingrained "cybernetic" assumption:
>"#Autonomy means, literally, self-law. To see what this entails, it is easier to contrast it with its mirror image, #allonomy or **external law**. This is, of course, what we call #control. These two images, autonomy and control, do a continuous dance."
**Francisco J. Varela** - *Principles Of Biological Autonomy*
Control theories such as #PCT (Perceptual Control Theory), which are based on #Cybernetics, are primarily focused on the #negative_feedback control loop closed through the system's #environment and have little or no concern for the more important, internal #positive_feedback motor loop controlling the system's #growth and #learning cycles.
>The natural history of systems which exhibit #autonomy as a characteristic phenomenology shows that they share one universal feature suggested by #autopoiesis: organizational closure, i.e. indefinite recursion of component interaction.
(ibid. p79)
>#Autonomy - the assertion of the system's #identity through its internal functioning and self-regulation.
#FJ_Varela - *On Being Autonomous: The Lessons of Natural History for Systems Theory*
in:
*Applied General Systems Research* - 1978 - #GJ_Klir (ed.)
p. 77
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4757-0555-3
>In hierarchical societies, mockery is often associated with bullies whose power exceeds their moral authority. But it is also a tool of the weak, a means to pillory those in power and hold them to account. In the Ju/’hoan case this is best reflected in the traditional practice of ***“insulting the hunter’s meat.”***
Suzman, James. Work (p. 162). Penguin Publishing Group
With Musk, Biden is here just using an old, proven, hunter-gatherers' method to get booming young hunters in line 😎:
https://news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-said-voted-biden-110900121.html
“Yes, when a young man kills much meat he comes to think of himself as a chief or a big man, and he thinks of the rest of us as his servants or inferiors,” one Kalahari hunter told the anthropologist Richard B Lee in 1968. “We can’t accept this. We refuse one who boasts, for someday his pride will make him kill somebody. So we always speak of his meat as worthless."
Some authors consider the #TuringTest not a good test for finding out if an #AI is really “intelligent” because the test is "*purely behavioral*" and looks only at responses without investigating the mechanisms that produced them.
I think that asking for the "mechanisms" would in fact introduce unnecessary bias and invalidate the test. The test is solid in principle, it is just that we have to come up with some better test cases (scenarios).
#Kihbernetics is the study of #Complex #Dynamical #Systems with #Memory which is very different from all other #SystemsThinking approaches. Kihbernetic theory and principles are derived primarily from these three sources:
1️⃣ #CE_Shannon's theory of #Information and his description of a #Transducer,
2️⃣ #WR_Ashby's #Cybernetics and his concept of #Transformation, and
3️⃣ #HR_Maturana's theory of #Autopoiesis and the resulting #Constructivism
Although applicable to any dynamical system with memory (mechanisms, organisms, or organizations) we developed our Kihbernetic worldview mostly to help people navigate their #organization through times of #change.
We define* an organization as:
"An integrated composite of people, products, and processes that provide a capability to satisfy a stated need or objective."
*Definition of the word "system" in MIL_STD_499B
#People are at the forefront of our thinking (the #who and #why are we doing this for and/or with?).
We then focus our efforts on understanding all the functions or #Processes in your organization (#how and #when something happens or has to happen?).
Finally, we get to analyze the #Products and/or services that you put on the market but are mostly interested in the tools that you use or may need to buy or develop in order to fully integrate your production system (the plan for #what and #where things will happen?).
Our goal is to make the people of your organization self-reliant to the point that they shouldn't need our assistance with the continuous maintenance and adaptation of the system.
In any case, we've got your back while you do the heavy lifting of establishing a better future for your organization!