Re: The Cybernetic Hypothesis

Re: Louis H Kauffman
At: https://hermes.gwu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1010&L=cybcom&F=&S=&P=17975

A recursive process would have to be something like a transformation of state,
T : X -> X whose elemental transitions (x_1, x_2) are computable in some sense,
either "recursive" in the strict sense or recursively enumerable.  When we talk
about "patterns produced by a process" we could be talking about phase portraits,
the shapes of trajectories through X, or we could be implying that the elements
of X have structures of their own, for example, sentences in a formal language.
Either way, it's true that these are very special critters, not your average
random patterns, since computable things are countable overall.  And some
would say that organisms themselves are creatures of merely finite means,
however infinite their uses of them, so of course they are "geared" to
recognize very special forms, to the extent they recognize anything.

Jon Awbrey

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