Message oriented genetics

Justin Walsh jwalsh at bigpond.net.au
Mon Oct 15 21:45:03 UTC 2001


Thanks Sam for whispering in my ear: I'm studying the paper closely.
It is very close but, after the first couple of pages I smell an error but
just can't put my finger on it. Seven out of ten so far. It is certainly
worth the effort.
justin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Adams" <ssadams at us.ibm.com>
To: <squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 1:48 AM
Subject: Re: Message oriented genetics


> <snipped>...Long but fascinating discusion of intentionality and
> metaphysics... </snipped>
>
> For those interested in modeling emergence and understanding some of its
> implications, I recommend this paper:
>
> Heylighen F. (1991): "Modelling Emergence", World Futures: the Journal of
> General Evolution 31 (Special Issue on Emergence, edited by G. Kampis), p.
> 89-104.
>
ftp://ftp.vub.ac.be/pub/projects/Principia_Cybernetica/Papers_Heylighen/Mode
lling_Emergence.txt
>
> Also see Heylighen's pub list at
> http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/papers/PapersFH.html for lots of
> emergence-oriented thoughts.
>
> There is an interesting notion in these considerations of emergent levels
> of behavior: that each new level has its own emergent semantics as well.
> This could find application in OO design and in Squeak,. Each new class
> defines a new conceptual entity in the programming space, with the names
of
> its variables and methods (and thier external semantic relations)
extending
> and enriching the concept being modeled.  The design for a class from a
> certain level (above method implementation) defines an extension to the
> semantics available to the programmer with which to express his behavioral
> intentions for the new application being developed.  The implementation of
> the each method, however, relies on the existing semantics provided by
> other prexisting classes and methods, with the exception of course of
> messages to self that rely on the newly added or soon to be added
semantics
> of new methods for the new class.  In a sense, each new class and method
is
> bootstrapping new levels of meaning via recombination of existing semantic
> elements.  And while classes and methods in Squeak do not (yet)
> autonomously emerge as in complex adaptive systems, it could be very
> enlightening to consider the resulting complex network of relationships in
> a running Smalltalk application as if they were the result of such a
> process.
>
> Perhaps the old saying "the class library whispers the design in your ear"
> is more literal than we once thought!
>
> Regards,
> Sam
>
> Sam S. Adams, IBM Distinguished Engineer, IBM Research
> tie line 444-0736, outside 919-254-0736, email: ssadams at us.ibm.com
> <<Hebrews 11:6, Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans 1:16-17, I Corinthians 1:10>>
>
>
>





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