>No. As in so many other things, this only seems
>like a logical deduction because you are taking
>so much forgranted. In fact, this is a matter of
>contingency, not logic. It only works the way it
Not so. If the organism can evolve a mechanism
for implementing the logical rules: "if light
ahead, go forward, else turn" then its genes
will be more successful.
>does because of all the most fundamental facts
>of biology. OK, if you say you're not taking them
>forgranted, that these are your axioms, then you
>can do logical analyses like the one above. But
>my contention is that doing so doesn't buy you
>anything. This ground is already quite well-
>covered using existing concepts. Can I ask just
>what you're trying to do, in pushing
>"parationality"?
Evolutionary biologists usually start with the
assumption that evolution is a rational designer,
then try to figure out what traits are for by
working backward from that. e.g. "there must be
some *reason* these males don't fight to the death
over the females of the herd, I wonder what it
could be?". This is, as Reed pointed out, implicit
in the Darwinian model. However, I got so much flak
when I tried to use the word rational with respect
to instincts that I was forced to make up a new word.
>> Does info processing have the concept of truth, conditionals,
>> negation, conjunction, etc.?
>>
>I don't believe these are useful in the study of
>unthinking behaviour.
I agree for non-living behaviour, or living behaviour
at the level of chemistry. But for everything else...?!
>Logic underlies all of science, and its part there
>is absolutely essential. In a less strict way, it
>guides much of our other thinking. It is already
>built-in to all objective methodology, and to add
>another layer of it "above" disciplines like
>biology, in addition to the layer "below" them,
>seems totally redundant to me.
I don't see parationality as a layer. Maybe we are talking
about two different things here.
-- David McFadzean david@lucifer.com Memetic Engineer http://www.lucifer.com/~david/ Church of Virus http://www.lucifer.com/virus/