🚀 go-pugleaf

[From Bruce Abbott (990501.1330 EST)]

>Bill Powers (990430.1353 MDT)

>The only thing that makes Simon's statement at all
>surprising is the implication that ALL complexities of behavior are due to
>environmental complexities, with NONE being produced spontaneously by the
>organism (he was certainly not trying to make the opposite point).

Time for a reality check.

In asserting that this implication is surprising, you have begged the
question of whether this is in fact an implication of Simon's statement.  In
fact it is not, and your assertion that it is, merely raises yet another
straw man for you to vanquish.  Simon stated that complexity in observed
behavior may reflect the complexity of the environment rather than
complexity in the organism.  There is nothing in that statement to imply
that _all_ complexities of behavior are due to environmental complexities,
and certainly the statement says nothing one way or another about whether or
not part or all of the observed behavior is or is not produced spontaneously
by the organism.

Before we get "surprised" by an implication, be should first be careful to
establish that it actually _is_ an implication.

Second point:  In his little ant example, Simon assumed that the ant had and
maintained the goal of reaching its nest.  So at least with respect to that
variable, the reference was assumed to be fixed.

Third point:  References change for some reason.  If the ant temporarily
changes its heading reference as required to navigate around a pebble, that
change, which adds complexity to the ant's path, was necessitated by the
presence of the obstruction in the ant's path, and therefore can be
attributed to complexity (presence of obstructions) in the environment,
interacting with what may be a relatively simple organization within the
ant.  Given the assumption that the ant is attempting to reach its nest, one
would not expect it to "spontaneously" reset this reference for no reason
and head off in another direction.  A real ant may of course change its
heading because, for example, it chances upon an odor trail that it prefers
to follow, but Simon was presenting a simple example in order to make a
point about the fact that complexity of behavior need not result from a
complex organization of system, and in that context, introducing these other
possibilies that may distract the ant would serve only to muddy the point
the example was intended to illustrate.

Regards,

Bruce