Comments on: Stuart Kauffman: Reinventing the Sacred http://smashingtelly.com/2009/01/19/stuart-kauffman-reinventing-the-sacred/ A hand picked TV channel Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:10:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Paul Baclace http://smashingtelly.com/2009/01/19/stuart-kauffman-reinventing-the-sacred/comment-page-1/#comment-2247 Paul Baclace Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:21:47 +0000 http://smashingtelly.com/?p=705#comment-2247 Stu Kauffman has outdone himself in this empirically grounded metaphysics of the phenomenon of emergence that turns the centuries-old mind/body dualism versus reductionism debate into a moot point. The upshot is emergent phenomenon, which lose meaning and are computationally impractical in the reductionist conception, become the new soul. The idea is not free. Reductionists must concede that mathematical Platonic perfection has practical limits. Dualists gain a concession from Reductionists, but must concede that emergent phenomenon are not other-worldly and immutable. The study of emergence (complexity theory) has been going on for decades and this idea has been in the air. The brilliant interdisciplinary Stuart Kauffman is the right guy to get these santafe.edu ideas discussed in the broader scientific world. (If you naturally think in terms of systems, like I do, then all of this seems rather obvious. Interestingly, Nassim Taleb's The Black Swan fits into the anti-Platonic picture at the statistical level.) Stu Kauffman has outdone himself in this empirically grounded metaphysics of the phenomenon of emergence that turns the centuries-old mind/body dualism versus reductionism debate into a moot point. The upshot is emergent phenomenon, which lose meaning and are computationally impractical in the reductionist conception, become the new soul.

The idea is not free. Reductionists must concede that mathematical Platonic perfection has practical limits. Dualists gain a concession from Reductionists, but must concede that emergent phenomenon are not other-worldly and immutable.

The study of emergence (complexity theory) has been going on for decades and this idea has been in the air. The brilliant interdisciplinary Stuart Kauffman is the right guy to get these santafe.edu ideas discussed in the broader scientific world.

(If you naturally think in terms of systems, like I do, then all of this seems rather obvious. Interestingly, Nassim Taleb’s The Black Swan fits into the anti-Platonic picture at the statistical level.)

]]> By: admin http://smashingtelly.com/2009/01/19/stuart-kauffman-reinventing-the-sacred/comment-page-1/#comment-1758 admin Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:13:24 +0000 http://smashingtelly.com/?p=705#comment-1758 Yeah he is - and he is onto something with his notion of systems self configuring to maximize the adjacent possible. The only problem is that his writing style is somewhat opaque, and its sometimes easier to read commentary. Yeah he is – and he is onto something with his notion of systems self configuring to maximize the adjacent possible.

The only problem is that his writing style is somewhat opaque, and its sometimes easier to read commentary.

]]> By: Ashley Johnston http://smashingtelly.com/2009/01/19/stuart-kauffman-reinventing-the-sacred/comment-page-1/#comment-1757 Ashley Johnston Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:37:47 +0000 http://smashingtelly.com/?p=705#comment-1757 Wow, what a brilliant man! http://www.edge.org/video/dsl/kauffman.html Wow, what a brilliant man!

http://www.edge.org/video/dsl/kauffman.html

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