Yes, Eric, you are right on. The book goes into the neural mechanism (which
is a bootstrapper's delight). As for your second post, I just bought the
book off the shelf. The hardcover edition was first published in 1999, the
paperback in 2000.
As said, I am still reading the book, but I kind of sense that it may
influence your thinking or presentation of your thesis, which precipitated
the post. An additional objective for recommending the book is that it
brings together some good insights into fundamental differences between
electronic and neural computing. If we are to augment the human mind, we
probably will learn to do so better the better we understand that mind.
(Yes, I was looking at your post with glasses colored by my interest.)
Let me go on a bit more, besides addressing the particulars of your post. I
believe that our site ought be due attention to both the human and the tool
side of things. And this ought include other tools for augmentation besides
augment/OHS. I am discussing this with Doug. Among our obstacles, as I see
them, are that the permanence of the site is not assured, and that we are
awfully thin on personnel. Also, me going on to 74, we must look at
succession, which, it seems to me, ought be a managed team of diverse
competences (subjects, communications, dkr building).
Doug's objective is to boost mankind's collective capability for coping with
complex, urgent problems. Some of these may come with a "frame problem"
attached. I am personally inclined to move back a bit from the objective of
humans surviving toward the objective of a better informed (computent)
citizenship, which would improve the democratic functioning of our society.
The ideal democracy would be a pinnacle reachable by many. many small steps,
all doable. Just hope that the bomb of your thought experiments does not put
a stop to this.
Henry
Eric Armstrong wrote:
> Thanks, Henry. I'll take a look at the book you
> mentioned.
>
> But note that "using clues" to "beat the time
> dimension" -- i.e. to *anticipate* and act
> *in advance*, so that one's reaction time
> overlaps the initiation of the opposing action,
> rather following it, is precisely a result of
> learning and self-organizing.
>
> In other words, athletes *program* themselves
> to "react in advance", which totally supports
> the central thesis of the paper.
>
> As an example: In my volleyball career, I found
> I was much more comfortable at the AA level than
> at the B level. Physically, I was never fast
> enough to compensate for all the weird places
> the ball might go at the C level -- from my own
> team, as well as others. But at the AA level, I
> could "read" the players. I knew what they
> intended to do as they did it, and they had the
> skills to carry out their intentions -- so I was
> always "comfortable" in a way that I never could
> be at at the B level, much less the C level.
>
> Henry van Eyken wrote:
> >
> > Eric:
> >
> > Just a few quick notes.
> >
> > In the process of paying due regard to the larger purpose of Doug's
> > technical work, i.e. the solving of large-scale societal conundrums, I
> > feel
> > a need to hastely travel along various byways. Currently that is
> > reading a
> > 1999 book by John McCrone called "Going Iside" and which provides an
> > insight
> > in neuroscience. I haven't quite gotten halfway yet, but I recognize
> > a
> > pattern in your argument that corresponds to some of the stuff in the
> > book.
> >
> > The neural system, it appears, has a way of ducking the crucial
> > element of
> > time. I am just in a part where the author discusses athletic
> > achievements.
> > By their training athletes have unconsciously come to rely on clues
> > that
> > beat the "critical dimension of time" mentioned in your Conclusion.
> > (Ref.
> > the chapter, "A moment of anticipation.".) I haven't sunk deep enough
> > into
> > the subject yet to provide a decent summary, but it looks to me that
> > Minsky's "Society of Mind" (1985) and Dennett's "Consciousness
> > Explained"
> > (1991) are rather dated sources in the fast-moving world neuroscience
> > with
> > its ongoing upheaval of ideas.
> >
> > I kind of suspect that Dennis Hamilton is informed about some of this
> > stuff.
> > And referring to his post "Collective Intelligence," I was going to
> > contact
> > you to find out from what post of yours he quoted. At any rate, I can
> > see
> > now where you are coming from.
> >
> > My guess is that you may find quite a bit of inspiration in McCrone's
> > book
> > for a fruitful review of your article. Hope I am not leading you down
> > the
> > garden path.
> >
> > Henry
> >
> > Eric Armstrong wrote:
> >
> > > I had planned to work on the KRNL library this
> > > weekend, to clean it up some. I didn't get to that.
> > > But as a consolation prize, I have a solution to
> > > the A/I "frame" problem.
> > >
> > > Write up at:
> > > http://www.treelight.com/essays/darwinframe.html
> > >
> > > I'm thinking this might be appropriate for Scientific
> > > American, or Discovery, or some such layman's guide
> > > to science. Anyone have any editorial contacts?
> > >
> > >
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