Constraints and Indications

JA: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.science.philosophy.peirce/9167
GR: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.science.philosophy.peirce/9177
CM: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.science.philosophy.peirce/9181
JA: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.science.philosophy.peirce/9240
CM: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.science.philosophy.peirce/9241
CM: http://cogprints.org/6818/1/cogsys2010_0057.pdf

Christophe & All,

Here I am thinking of the concept of constraint that constitutes one of the
fundamental ideas of classical cybernetics and mathematical systems theory.

For example, here is the way Ashby introduces the concept of constraint
in his ''Introduction to Cybernetics'' (1956):

| A most important concept, with which we shall be much concerned later,
| is that of '''constraint'''.  It is a ''relation'' between two sets,
| and occurs when the variety that exists under one condition is less
| than the variety that exists under another.  Thus, the variety of
| the human sexes is 1 bit;  if a certain school takes only boys,
| the variety in the sexes within the school is zero;  so as 0
| is less than 1, constraint exists. (Ashby, 1964 ed., 127).

At its simplest, then, constraint is just an aspect of the subset relation.

I did not understand all the phrases you used on your slide,
but I felt like I could relate a few pieces of it to this
classical cybernetic picture.  The objective of an agent,
organism, whatever, is to keep within its viable region,
a particular subset of its possible state space.  That
is the constraint of primary interest to the agent.

Have to break here ...

Regards,

Jon

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