🚀 go-pugleaf

[From Rick Marken (990502.1340)]

Bruce Abbott (990502.0915 EST) --

> To stave off further discussion of what Herbert Simon did or
> did not say about the ant in _The Sciences of the Artificial
> (1969), I herewith present the relevant paragraphs from
> "Chapter 2 -- The Psychology of Thinking: Embedding Artifice
> in Nature."

Thanks for taking the trouble to type all that in. It certainly
validates Bill's analyses of Simon's "argument", doesn't it [eg.
Bill Powers  (990502.0326 MDT)].

I guess I'm wondering why you are so anxious to give us a
"clear sense of Simon's argument". Do you think there something
about Simon's argument that contributes to our understanding of
behavior in a way that goes beyond our underetanding based on
PCT? Or do you think that Simon's argument is in some way
"consistent" with  PCT? Or do you think his argument is the same
as PCT, only using different wards?

It seems pretty obvious from this except (_The Sciences of
the Artificial_, 1969) that Simon had no idea that organisms
control perceptual representations of external states of affairs.
So what's all theis fuss about Simon? He's a nice enough fellow
(I met him at a conference in Minnesota); but he certinaly
didn't know that purposeful behavior _is_ control (if he did, he
was -- and still is, if he's alive -- keeping it to himself).

Best

Rick
-- =
Richard S. Marken                 Phone or Fax:  310 474-0313
Life Learning Associates          e-mail: rmarken@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken/