3,070 research outputs found
What Can We Say about Information? Agreeing a Narrative
The nature of information remains contested. This paper proposes a set of principles for a narrative of information, and explores the consequences of taking these principles as normative in the present rhetoric of the information society
Complexity and Action: Reflections on Decision Making and Cybernetics.
This paper highlights some theoretical and epistemological reflections about the relevance of action for managerial studies. These reflections show how the cybernetic paradigm of complexity management can be used for better decision making that unites knowledge and action in a comprising, dynamic, and evolving approach. Cybernetics can help to overcome the fear of decision making in the face of uncertainty in complex scenarios, and can be an effective tool for improving the viability and competitiveness of firms in the twenty-first century
MER Model of Integral Management: Culture as Enterpriseâs Key Success Factor
Enterprise culture is judged by many acknowledged scientists and researchers now as a major determinant of any enterpriseâs success. The present article shows the research cognitions on the impact of enterprise culture to the success of the enterprises observed.
Reductionism ad absurdum: Attneave and Dennett cannot reduce Homunculus (and hence the mind)
Purpose â Neuroscientists act as proxies for implied anthropomorphic signal- processing beings within the brain, Homunculi. The latter examine the arriving neuronal spike-trains to infer internal and external states. But a Homunculus needs a brain of its own, to coordinate its capabilities â a brain that necessarily contains a Homunculus and so on indefinitely. Such infinity is impossible â and in well-cited papers, Attneave and later Dennett claim to eliminate it. How do their approaches differ and do they (in fact) obviate the Homunculi?
Design/methodology/approach â The Attneave and Dennett approaches are carefully scrutinized. To Attneave, Homunculi are effectively âdecision-makingâ neurons that control behaviors. Attneave presumes that Homunculi, when successively nested, become successively âstupiderâ, limiting their numbers by diminishing their responsibilities. Dennett likewise postulates neuronal Homunculi that become âstupiderâ â but brain-wards, where greater sophistication might have been expected.
Findings â Attneaveâs argument is Reductionist and it simply assumes-away the Homuncular infinity. Dennettâs scheme, which evidently derives from Attneaveâs, ultimately involves the same mistakes. Attneave and Dennett fail, because they attempt to reduce intentionality to non-intentionality.
Research limitations/implications â Homunculus has been successively recognized over the centuries by philosophers, psychologists and (some) neuroscientists as a crucial conundrum of cognitive science. It still is.
Practical implications â Cognitive-science researchers need to recognize that Reductionist explanations of cognition may actually devolve to Homunculi, rather than eliminating them.
Originality/value â Two notable Reductionist arguments against the infinity of Homunculi are proven wrong. In their place, a non-Reductionist treatment of the mind, âEmergenceâ, is discussed as a means of rendering Homunculi irrelevant
Entanglement of Conceptual Entities in Quantum Model Theory (QMod)
We have recently elaborated 'Quantum Model Theory' (QMod) to model situations
where the quantum effects of contextuality, interference, superposition,
entanglement and emergence, appear without the entities giving rise to these
situations having necessarily to be of microscopic nature. We have shown that
QMod models without introducing linearity for the set of the states. In this
paper we prove that QMod, although not using linearity for the state space,
provides a method of identification for entangled states and an intuitive
explanation for their occurrence. We illustrate this method for entanglement
identification with concrete examples
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Communicating about systems and complexity:from contingency to praxis
The chapter is part of a special Gedenkschrift publication honoring the work of Professsor Brenda Zimmerman in the field of complexity thinking. The term, Gedenkschrift, borrowed from German, can be translated as celebration publication. It is a memorial publication honoring a respected person, especially an academic, created and presented posthumously.
The tribute tracks the influence of Brenda's work in formulating the heuristic developed by the author for teaching systems thinking in practice (STiP) as part of the postgraduate programme on STiP at the Open University
Modelling and optimizing multiple attribute decisions by using fuzzy sets
The purpose of this paper is to present a coherent perspective of modeling and optimizing multiple attribute decisions by using fuzzy sets. In management practice we face most of the time the situation in which a problem have several possible solutions and each solution can be analyzed using multiple criteria models. In the same time, in real life decision making process there is a given level of uncertainty which makes difficult a clear cut analytical analysis. The object of this article is to build a model approach for making multiple criteria decision using fuzzy sets of objects. Elaborating multiple attribute decisions involves performing an assessment and selecting from a given and finite set of possible alternative courses of action in the presence of a given and finite, and usually conflicting set of attributes and criteria.decision making, fuzzy sets, modeling, multiple criteria optimization.
Homunculus strides again: why âinformation transmittedâ in neuroscience tells us nothing
Purpose â For half a century, neuroscientists have used Shannon Information Theory to calculate âinformation transmitted,â a hypothetical measure of how well neurons âdiscriminateâ amongst stimuli. Neuroscientistsâ computations, however, fail to meet even the technical requirements for credibility. Ultimately, the reasons must be conceptual. That conclusion is confirmed here, with crucial implications for neuroscience. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach â Shannon Information Theory depends upon a physical model, Shannonâs âgeneral communication system.â Neuroscientistsâ interpretation of that model is scrutinized here.
Findings â In Shannonâs system, a recipient receives a message composed of symbols. The symbols received, the symbols sent, and their hypothetical occurrence probabilities altogether allow calculation of âinformation transmitted.â Significantly, Shannonâs systemâs âreceptionâ (decoding) side physically mirrors its âtransmissionâ (encoding) side. However, neurons lack the âreceptionâ side; neuroscientists nonetheless insisted that decoding must happen. They turned to Homunculus, an internal humanoid who infers stimuli from neuronal firing. However, Homunculus must contain a Homunculus, and so on ad infinitum â unless it is super-human. But any need for Homunculi, as in âtheories of consciousness,â is obviated if consciousness proves to be âemergent.â
Research limitations/implications â Neuroscientistsâ âinformation transmittedâ indicates, at best, how well neuroscientists themselves can use neuronal firing to discriminate amongst the stimuli given to the research animal.
Originality/value â A long-overdue examination unmasks a hidden element in neuroscientistsâ use of Shannon Information Theory, namely, Homunculus. Almost 50 yearsâ worth of computations are recognized as irrelevant, mandating fresh approaches to understanding âdiscriminability.
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