Don Mikulecky, MCV/VCU,Mikulecky@gems.vcu.edu wrote:
>I see we are starting anew with the discussion of complexity and its
>meaning. I wonder why this happens? Is it productive to have these disjoint
>discussions, each in his own world? I tried to bring together a large
>spectrum of views when I gave my paper at the French Society for Theoretical
>Biology meeting last month. I did focus on Rosen and Casti's elaborations
>on Rosen's approach. I wonder if it is prudent to simply ignore everyone
>elde's work and simply start anew? Surely there is something of value in what
>has gone before? I was taught that good scholarship (if not common
>courtesy) required some attempt3 to tie one's work to that of those who
>paved the way. Is this no longer true?
>Hoping to see some thorough scholarship on complexity, Don Mikulecky
Yes, I think these disjoint discussions are useful.
Science assimilates new ideas by slowly integrating then in a set of
stable abstractions.
This integration can be depicted as a slow burning flame which decomposes
raw ideas into its abstract components and uses the resulting abstract
elements to refine the (abstract) scientific base (inheritance).
The flame of science is feed by new ideas generated in the scientific
environment and by ideas generated by non-scientific persons
(more like artists).
One cannot expect that every artist or philosopher reads all what exists
on the subject before he or she attepts to express hirself.
Besides, a person who has read a lot about a subject is in a sense
restricted in what he/she can generate as new ideas,
just because of the "paved ways" of thinking.
Therefore, it is important for science to accept this "new blood",
even when the terminology is different and scientists find it "confusing".
P.S.
Please don't shoot me if my 'definition' of 'science' is so called 'wrong'.
I am not a scientist.
I hope this sheds new light on many recent discussions on PCP.
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Luc Claeys claeys@innet.be
Antwerpen (Wilrijk) Belgium.
In search of new points of view
for better understanding of Nature.
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