3,596 research outputs found
Toward an Autopoietic Perspective on Information Systems Organization
This paper applies autopoietic theory to examine the nature of ISnĚorganization relationships involving co- evolutionary processes among an organization and its IS, IS organization issues, and the impacts on an organizationiĚs competitive advantage. By drawing on a longitudinal field study in an international investment banking organization, where the development of a core IS has been studied since 1999, this paper (1) presents the distinct characteristics of the autopoietic approach; (2) demonstrates its explanatory power for understanding the ISnĚorganization coevolutionary processes and IS organization, and (3) shows the implications of these autopoietic explanations for the firmiĚs current and future competitive advantage
The Paradox of Observing, Autopoiesis, and the Future of Social Sciences
The current debates in social sciences show that the paradox of observingâthe embeddedness of observer in the process of observingâis at the heart of the controversy about their cognitive status and future. Although the problem of observing has been addressed in numerous theoretical perspectivesâsome of which (Habermas, Leydesdorff, Maturana, and Luhmann) are examined in this articleâthe prospects for resolving this paradox remain problematic. Locating a point that allows reflection on the process of autopoiesis in general, not just the operation of a particular autopoietic system, may be one condition for resolving this paradox. Such point will offer reflection on all autopoietic systems, including the observer. The dynamic balance between equilibrium and disequilibrium is the mechanism which regulates the process of autopoiesis. Since the function of regulation is essentially a reflective function, this equilibrium between equilibrium and disequilibrium, which can be identified with the concept of homeorhesis introduced by Conrad Waddington, may offer a possibility to reflect on the process of observing
Enaction-Based Artificial Intelligence: Toward Coevolution with Humans in the Loop
This article deals with the links between the enaction paradigm and
artificial intelligence. Enaction is considered a metaphor for artificial
intelligence, as a number of the notions which it deals with are deemed
incompatible with the phenomenal field of the virtual. After explaining this
stance, we shall review previous works regarding this issue in terms of
artifical life and robotics. We shall focus on the lack of recognition of
co-evolution at the heart of these approaches. We propose to explicitly
integrate the evolution of the environment into our approach in order to refine
the ontogenesis of the artificial system, and to compare it with the enaction
paradigm. The growing complexity of the ontogenetic mechanisms to be activated
can therefore be compensated by an interactive guidance system emanating from
the environment. This proposition does not however resolve that of the
relevance of the meaning created by the machine (sense-making). Such
reflections lead us to integrate human interaction into this environment in
order to construct relevant meaning in terms of participative artificial
intelligence. This raises a number of questions with regards to setting up an
enactive interaction. The article concludes by exploring a number of issues,
thereby enabling us to associate current approaches with the principles of
morphogenesis, guidance, the phenomenology of interactions and the use of
minimal enactive interfaces in setting up experiments which will deal with the
problem of artificial intelligence in a variety of enaction-based ways
Performance measurement : challenges for tomorrow
This paper demonstrates that the context within which performance measurement is used is changing. The key questions posed are: Is performance measurement ready for the emerging context? What are the gaps in our knowledge? and Which lines of enquiry do we need to pursue? A literature synthesis conducted by a team of multidisciplinary researchers charts the evolution of the performance-measurement literature and identifies that the literature largely follows the emerging business and global trends. The ensuing discussion introduces the currently emerging and predicted future trends and explores how current knowledge on performance measurement may deal with the emerging context. This results in identification of specific challenges for performance measurement within a holistic systems-based framework. The principle limitation of the paper is that it covers a broad literature base without in-depth analysis of a particular aspect of performance measurement. However, this weakness is also the strength of the paper. What is perhaps most significant is that there is a need for rethinking how we research the field of performance measurement by taking a holistic systems-based approach, recognizing the integrated and concurrent nature of challenges that the practitioners, and consequently the field, face
Is defining life pointless? Operational definitions at the frontiers of Biology
Despite numerous and increasing attempts to define what life is, there is no consensus on necessary and sufficient conditions for life. Accordingly, some scholars have questioned the value of definitions of life and encouraged scientists and philosophers alike to discard the project. As an alternative to this pessimistic conclusion, we argue that critically rethinking the nature and uses of definitions can provide new insights into the epistemic roles of definitions of life for different research practices. This paper examines the possible contributions of definitions of life in scientific domains where such definitions are used most (e.g., Synthetic Biology, Origins of Life, Alife, and Astrobiology). Rather than as classificatory tools for demarcation of natural kinds, we highlight the pragmatic utility of what we call operational definitions that serve as theoretical and epistemic tools in scientific practice. In particular, we examine contexts where definitions integrate criteria for life into theoretical models that involve or enable observable operations. We show how these definitions of life play important roles in influencing research agendas and evaluating results, and we argue that to discard the project of defining life is neither sufficiently motivated, nor possible without dismissing important theoretical and practical research
EMERGING THE EMERGENCE SOCIOLOGY: The Philosophical Framework of Agent-Based Social Studies
The structuration theory originally provided by Anthony Giddens and the advance improvement of the theory has been trying to solve the dilemma came up in the epistemological aspects of the social sciences and humanity. Social scientists apparently have to choose whether they are too sociological or too psychological. Nonetheless, in the works of the classical sociologist, Emile Durkheim, this thing has been stated long time ago. The usage of some models to construct the bottom-up theories has followed the vast of computational technology. This model is well known as the agent based modeling. This paper is giving a philosophical perspective of the agent-based social sciences, as the sociology to cope the emergent factors coming up in the sociological analysis. The framework is made by using the artificial neural network model to show how the emergent phenomena came from the complex system. Understanding the society has self-organizing (autopoietic) properties, the Kohonenâs self-organizing map is used in the paper. By the simulation examples, it can be seen obviously that the emergent phenomena in social system are seen by the sociologist apart from the qualitative framework on the atomistic sociology. In the end of the paper, it is clear that the emergence sociology is needed for sharpening the sociological analysis in the emergence sociology
Observing Environments
> Context ⢠Society is faced with âwickedâ problems of environmental sustainability, which are inherently multiperspectival, and there is a need for explicitly constructivist and perspectivist theories to address them.
> Problem ⢠However, different constructivist theories construe the environment in different ways. The aim of this paper is to clarify the conceptions of environment in constructivist approaches, and thereby to assist the sciences of complex systems and complex environmental problems.
> Method ⢠We describe the terms used for âthe environmentâ in von UexkĂźll, Maturana & Varela, and Luhmann, and analyse how their conceptions of environment are connected to differences of perspective and observation.
> Results ⢠We show the need to distinguish between inside and outside perspectives on the environment, and identify two very different and complementary logics of observation, the logic of distinction and the logic of representation, in the three constructivist theories.
> Implications ⢠Luhmannâs theory of social systems can be a helpful perspective on the wicked environmental problems of society if we consider carefully the theoryâs own blind spots: that it confines itself to systems of communication, and that it is based fully on the conception of observation as indication by means of distinction
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