Natural Intelligence and Anthropic Reasoning

This paper aims to justify the concept of natural intelligence in the biosemiotic context. I will argue that the process of life is (i) a cognitive/semiotic process and (ii) that organisms, from bacteria to animals, are cognitive or semiotic agents. To justify these arguments, the neural-type intelligence represented by the form of reasoning known as anthropic reasoning will be compared and contrasted with types of intelligence explicated by four disciplines of biology – relational biology, evolutionary epistemology, biosemiotics and the systems view of life – not biased towards neural intelligence. The comparison will be achieved by asking questions related to the process of observation and the notion of true observers. To answer the questions I will rely on a range of established concepts including SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence), Fermi’s paradox, bacterial cognition, versions of the panspermia theory, as well as some newly introduced concepts including biocivilisations, cognitive/semiotic universes, and the cognitive/semiotic multiverse. The key point emerging from the answers is that the process of cognition/semiosis – the essence of natural intelligence – is a biological universal.Brunel University Londo

Chapter 8. Transformation of the South African Energy System: Towards Participatory Governance

Background & Significance of the topic: Approximately 10% of South Africa’s population has no access to electricity. Responding to this need for affordable and sustainable energy requires solutions that are environmentally friendly and not detrimental to human health. It has been demonstrated in countries such as Germany, Denmark, Canada and Wales that public participation contributes to the social acceptance of renewable energy. This study proposes that Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation can be used to underpin the concept of stakeholder participation in emerging economies like South Africa, and that participation in renewable energy projects is dependent on leadership that is ‘ecologically’ attuned. From the onset, a renewable energy project that is geared for success must include opportunities for the public to participate in decision- making and to feel part of the success of the project. Methodology: A meta-analysis of the literature was conducted. Application/Relevance to systems analysis: This Chapter demonstrates how promoting public participation through applications such as climate modeling; assessment of impacts, vulnerability, mitigation, and adaptation options; and policy analysis can contribute to transforming a country’s energy sector. Policy and/or practice implications: This study has special relevance for policy making in the energy sector in South Africa as it assists with long term projections for good governance and transformation of the energy sector. Incorporating public participation as part of the public policy process is essential to the success of transforming South Africa’s energy system. Additionally, investing in building a cadet of environmental leaders, especially in the public sector, would mitigate environmental degradation and embrace a transition to cleaner energy. Discussion and conclusion: The need to incorporate public participation within the project cycle and institutionalise it as part of the whole process is an important success feature, along with investing in the development of environmental leadership and monitoring and evaluation initiatives

Stimulus-specific adaptation in a recurrent network model of primary auditory cortex

Stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) occurs when neurons decrease their responses to frequently-presented (standard) stimuli but not, or not as much, to other, rare (deviant) stimuli. SSA is present in all mammalian species in which it has been tested as well as in birds. SSA confers short-term memory to neuronal responses, and may lie upstream of the generation of mismatch negativity (MMN), an important human event-related potential. Previously published models of SSA mostly rely on synaptic depression of the feedforward, thalamocortical input. Here we study SSA in a recurrent neural network model of primary auditory cortex. When the recurrent, intracortical synapses display synaptic depression, the network generates population spikes (PSs). SSA occurs in this network when deviants elicit a PS but standards do not, and we demarcate the regions in parameter space that allow SSA. While SSA based on PSs does not require feedforward depression, we identify feedforward depression as a mechanism for expanding the range of parameters that support SSA. We provide predictions for experiments that could help differentiate between SSA due to synaptic depression of feedforward connections and SSA due to synaptic depression of recurrent connections. Similar to experimental data, the magnitude of SSA in the model depends on the frequency difference between deviant and standard, probability of the deviant, inter-stimulus interval and input amplitude. In contrast to models based on feedforward depression, our model shows true deviance sensitivity as found in experiments