The biological frontier of pattern formation

Morphogenetic patterns are highly sophisticated dissipative structures. Are they governed by the same general mechanisms as chemical and hydrodynamic patterns? Turing's symmetry breaking and Wolpert's signalling provide alternative mechanisms. The current evidence points out that the latter is more relevant but reality is still far more complicated.Comment: 9 pages, 0 figure

François Perroux et Ilya Prigogine: Systèmes complexes et science économique

Perroux s'intéressait aux travaux de Prigogine, un des fondateurs de la pensée complexe. Ce dernier avait introduit la notion de structure dissipative auto-organisatrice dans les systèmes thermodynamiques irréversibles loin de l'équilibre. Un système est complexe s'il peut être compris au moyen de la pensée complexe telle que définie par Morin et, à condition d'être représentable mathématiquement, s'il est doté d'une dynamique complexe au sens mathématique du mot. Cette dynamique complexe correspond aux propriétés asymptotiques (par application de la loi des grands nombres et existence de points fixes) d'un système d'équations différentielles déterministes auquel est donnée une interprétation stochastique tant par Prigogine en thermodynamique que par Arthur en science économique. Tout comme Perroux, Arthur examine des situations de rendements croissants sujettes à effets de rétroaction positive et à effets de réseau. Ces situations permettent de rendre compte de l'évolution de la technologie et de la localisation de l'activité économique parmi d'autres phénomènes. Dans le cadre de l'économie évolutive, Kaufman étudie la connectivité du tissu mouvant des relations économiques par le truchement des paysages d'aptitudes tandis que Holland étudie ces relations par le truchement d'algorithmes génétiques. Ces situations permettent de rendre compte de la multiplicité des usages de nouveaux produits et de leur combinaison avec des produits déjà existants ainsi que des stratégies adaptatives à leur égard.Perroux was interested in the contributions of Prigogine who was one of the founders of complex System thinking. Prigogine introduced the concept of self organizing dissipative structure for irreversible thermodynamic Systems far from equilibrium. A System is complex if it can be understood by complex thinking as defined by Morin and, at the condition of being representable mathematically, if it is endowed with a complex dynamics as defined in Mathematics. This complex dynamics corresponds to the asymptotic properties (according to the law of large numbers and fixed points) of a deterministic system to which one assigns a stochastic interpretation whether in Thermodynamics (Prigogine) or in Economies (Arthur). As much as Perroux, Arthur examines increasing returns situations subject to positive feed-backs and network effects. These situations allow to interpret the evolution of technology and the localisation of economic activity among others. In the framework of evolutionary economies, Kaufman studies the connectivity of the moving tissue of economic relations through the use of fitness landscapes while Holland studies them through the use of genetic algorithms. These situations allow for the interpretation of the multiplicity of uses of new products and of their combinations with existing products as much as the adaptive strategies towards them

Foucault’s New Materialism: An Extended Review Essay of Thomas Lemke’s The Government of Things

This article constitutes an extended review essay of Thomas Lemke’s book Foucault and the Government of Things: Foucault and the New Materialisms published by New York University Press in 2021. A shorter version of this article was published as a book review in Social Forces (http://doi.org/10.1093/soac037, 22nd April 2022). This longer extended version is being published here with the permission of Oxford University Press, who publish Social Forces. In performing this review, the article seeks to outline and assess Lemke’s thesis to incorporate Foucault as a part of the new materialist approach to the social and physical sciences. As my own work has located Foucault as a materialist since the 1990s, I relate Lemke’s endeavour to my own and conclude that my approach has distinct advantages that his lacks. At the same time, however, his account presents some novel and insightful dimensions which can profitably be added to mine, strengthening the case for Foucault’s materialism overall

Readings in the 'New Science': a selective annotated bilbiography

Die vorliegende kommentierte Bibliographie will hauptsächlich Historikern eine Orientierungshilfe für die Literaturfülle zum Thema 'New Science' geben. Die knapp besprochenen Arbeiten sind nach folgenden Themenkomplexen gruppiert: Unentscheidbarkeit, Ungewißheit und Komplexität; Makrostrukturen: Systeme und die humane Dimension; Dynamische Systeme (Spieltheorie, Katastrophentheorie, Chaos, Fraktale Geometrie, Antizipatorische Systeme, Lebende Systeme); Computer (Informationstheorie, Kognitionswisssenschaft und Künstliche Intelligenz); Die Mikro- und die Makrodimensionen; Zeit; Kultur und Erkenntnistheorie. (pmb

Probability as a physical motive

Recent theoretical progress in nonequilibrium thermodynamics, linking the physical principle of Maximum Entropy Production ("MEP") to the information-theoretical "MaxEnt" principle of scientific inference, together with conjectures from theoretical physics that there may be no fundamental causal laws but only probabilities for physical processes, and from evolutionary theory that biological systems expand "the adjacent possible" as rapidly as possible, all lend credence to the proposition that probability should be recognized as a fundamental physical motive. It is further proposed that spatial order and temporal order are two aspects of the same thing, and that this is the essence of the second law of thermodynamics.Comment: Replaced at the request of the publisher. Minor corrections to references and to Equation 1 added

Artificial Identity: Representations of Robots and Cyborgs in Contemporary Anglo-American Science Fiction Films

The ‘human condition’ has traditionally been an area of study addressed primarily by philosophers concerned with the mind/body problem, rather than studied as a neuroscientific conundrum. However, contemporary developments in science and technology that afford us a greater knowledge of the human brain have resulted in an increased scientific focus on consciousness, emotion and personhood. This thesis argues that such explorations into consciousness and emotion as prerequisites of ‘artificial identity’ have entered the domain of contemporary cinema through the representations of robots and cyborgs. Despite the capacity for transhumanist practice and the creation of artificially intelligent automata that these developments have made possible, blurring the line between organic human and mechanical robots, it remains common for no distinctions to be made between the terms ‘human’ and ‘person’, which are used interchangeably to describe a member of the human race. Philosopher Daniel C. Dennett, though, has proposed a series of criteria for personhood that challenge the assumption that only humans can be considered persons. The application of his criteria to a series of key texts that highlight the relationships between humans and representations of automata - I, Robot (2004, Dir. Alex Proyas), Terminator Salvation (2009, Dir. McG) and Bicentennial Man (1999, Dir. Chris Columbus) – is central to this thesis. It explores the extent to which the representations of robots and cyborgs can be considered persons within utopian and dystopian narratives that have, at their core, a view of artificial identity as desirable or as nightmare. In conjunction with Dennett, the theories of neurologist and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio are applied, which explore both the biological means by which emotional (rather than solely physical) feelings are generated in humans, and the capacity of humans to simulate emotion. As Damasio argues that many of the central operations of the human central nervous and visceral systems are reducible to fundamental physics, the suggestion is that robots, too, could also ‘experience’ consciousness and emotion, being as they are very simplistic versions of humans. As such, the application of these theories suggests that the representations of robots and cyborgs in the key texts could be considered persons

The order/disorder binary in Stephen Marlowe’s fiction: from neurotic subjects to narrative chaos

El presente artículo se centra en el análisis de la noción de "desorden" en dos novelas del autor estadounidense stephen marlowe (1928-2008), publicadas en 1972 y 1987, e intenta demostrar que existe una clara continuidad en el tratamiento del tema, si biThe main goal of this essay is to analyze the notion of disorder in two novels by us author stephen marlowe (1928-2008), published in 1972 and 1987 respectively. It intends to show there is a high degree of continuity in the way the binary order/disorde

The city of future: biourbanism and constructural law

Nowadays dynamic elements in urban fabric are often concealed by the insertion of stylish new architecture; real patterns of social life (‘bios’), have been replaced by rigid geometric grids and compact building blocks. New Urbanism and Biourbanism affirm that cities are now risking to be unstable and deprived of healthy social interactions. As an expansion of older historical urban fabric patterns, harmonious architecture can have a positive impact on the fitness of both human body and mind. Not only Biourbanism attempts to reinstate balance and lost values in the urban fabric, but also reinforces human-oriented design emergences in micro and macro scales. As a multifaceted discipline, it embraces laws of physics, such as Constructal Law and acknowledges its noticeable and unremitting influence to urban human behaviours. Urban life and behaviours are based upon systems of human communication formed by dynamic patterns; we are now talking about negotiating boundaries between human activities, changes in geographic mapping and mainly about sustainable systems to support uninterrupted growth of communities worldwide. Therefore, as a vital shift in architectural education, not only Biourbanism offers the opportunity to explore patterns and linguistics deeply imbedded into the built environment, but also enables scholars and communities to come together and participate actively into fast and innovative urban interventions. Projects developed during educational and professional training aim at reinstating memorable and preferential paths of communication, favouring everyday life rituals of the body and mind. Hence, by following everlasting laws of physics and formulas inherited from nature, architectural forms can be considered as the real innovation in urban design and planning of the City of the Future.Conference presentation funded by Department of Engineering

A conceptual framework for the autopoietic transformation of societies

The world is in a transient period of development. The term transient in this occasion means that a more or less stable world state or development stage prevailing is been destabilized and fluctuating relatively rapidly in a seemingly irregular fashion. The concept of development is thus composed of successive stages following each other and of a transient period between them. From a human point of view every transient period bears a twin message, a negative one of threats to be met and a positive one of new options and potentialities for proactive and visionary renewal to be challenged. Both of them may become self-amplifying and autopoietic. At first glance, an attempt to find a common pattern to development of different human societies might thus appear more readily uninteresting than interesting and something commanding to over-stress minor similarities among people and neglect important dissimilarities between them. A good example of this fear would be the most problematized area of the world society, Sub-Saharan Africa with its artificial political divisions between nations, ethnic and tribal diversities, colonial heritage, political unrest and so on, differ in many ways from societal orders elsewhere. However, when we regard development as a pattern of a general complex framework it allows to separate the logical forms of the entities from the context laden contents of different societies, and the above mentioned fallacy may be removed. The theory of complex systems with dissipative structures serves for that purpose in this article