Re: [-empyre-] emergence, embodiment, biology

["Aliette Guibert" <guibertc@criticalsecret.com>]

Sorry to have gone in the "too hard" riverside. It was not to proselytize -
because I knew about these movements -, but to place the helm of criticize
extremely. Then, each informs the own measure. I am without party and acting
the autonomy. This says to avoid any misunderstanding.

Have a good day/ night

A.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mitchell Whitelaw" <mitchell.whitelaw@canberra.edu.au>
To: "soft_skinned_space" <empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 1:36 AM
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] emergence, embodiment, biology


> On 10/11/2004, at 8:21 AM, Paul Brown wrote:
>
> > Adrian's original experimental rig only worked in one specific location
> > if he moved it a few centimetres along the bench it stopped.  He
> > discovered that there was a power cable embedded in the wall at the
> > original location and that the evolved circuit was "stealing" the mains
> > impedance frequency as an input.  This example convinced me of the
> > importance of embodiment in AI and alife.
>
> And I think this insight also relates to some of what Aliette has
> posted re. alternatives to Darwinian evolutionary biology. For the
> record I'm as suspicious of Dawkins-style genocentrism as anyone, and I
> find approaches such as Margulis' symbiogenesis far more appealing.
> It's also clear from my resesarch that in a-life in general, and most
> a-life art, the question of embryogenesis and genetic expression - the
> "wet" end of genetics - is put in the "too hard" basket.
>
> Thompson's experiments and other embodied approaches (even in
> software!) are powerful counter-examples. The richness of their
> approach is actually aesthetically as well as formally evident... I'm
> thinking here of the work of Annunziato (http://www.plancton.com/) and
> Driessens and Verstappen (http://www.xs4all.nl/~notnot); works using
> cellular automata (like Paul's) also offer an alternative to the
> "organism = gene = code" fallacy.
>
> Mitchell
>
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