Dear WESSers:
Due to delays in re-establishing the WESSweb site, the due date for WESS
abstracts has been postponed until February 15, 1998.
The focus of WESSconf VI is Evolution and Semiotics.
The updated call for abstracts is given below. Submissions from
non-members are welcomed.
Please circulate this call among your colleagues and other interested
individuals.
Jerry
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Call for Abstracts
6 th Interdisciplinary Conference on General Evolutionary Systems:
Evolution and Semiotics
Abstracts for 6 th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on General
Evolutionary Systems of the Washington Evolutionary Systems Society
(WESS) are sought. The conference will be on on the weekend of May 8, 9
and 10, 1998 at the Reiss Science Building on the campus of Georgetown
University, 37 th and =93O=94 Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20021.=20
Abstracts are due February 15, 1998.
Semiotics is postulated to be a critical feature of evolution. Signs
and signals, not only within human language, but also in the arts,
sciences, medicine and mathematics, play a substantial role in human
culture. Other biological organisms also deploy characteristic signs
and signals, for a wide range of communicative and social purposes.
=20
At present, the role of semiotics can be viewed as controversial.=20
Differing views of the basic phenomenon are common. For example, von
Neuman (The Theory of Self Reproducing Automata, 1966) pointed out that
logical necessity of matter-symbol complementation. He noted that
matter and symbol are categorically distinct, for example, neurons
generate pulses but the pulses are not in the same category as neurons;
computers generate bits but bits are not in the same category as
computers. =20
Karl Pribram (1972, and later) described linkages between neurological
structures and codes, images, and symbols and hence psychological
functioning. Hoffmeyer, (Signs of Meaning in the Universe, 1996)
proposes a central role for semiotics in biology and evolution. C. S.
Pierce=92s writings on Semiotics are a primary root of the American schoo=
l
of pragmatic philosophy. The notations of mathematics and the sciences
are composed from symbols - such notations are critical to our views of
natural systems and our capacity to translate from one discipline to
another. For example, Michele Malatesta (The Primary Logic, 1997)
proposes a decision tree for classifying artificial and natural signs.
Thus, in WESSconference VI, we seek to explore the evolutionary
relationships between semiotics and complex systems -- from the
qualitative and subjective as well as from the quantitative and
objective perspectives -- in order to construct a better understanding
of general evolutionary systems. =20
Three symposium are being organized for the sixth annual WESS
conference:
Semiotics and the Emergence of Mind.
Evolutionary Philosophy: Information and Semiotics.=20
Semiotics and the Modeling of Complex Systems.
Abstracts are also sought in other areas of evolutionary systems.=20
Abstracts should not exceed two pages. Abstracts should be written to
communicate with individuals of widely varying backgrounds in order to
facilitate transdisciplinary communication. Abstracts may be edited
prior to publication. Authors of abstracts accepted for presentation
will be notified.
=20
Abstracts should be submitted in electronic format. The preferred
submission is via email (JLRChand @ Erols.com ); floppy disk (31/2
inch) submissions (either Mac or DOS formats) are also acceptable. For
clarifications, call 703 - 790 - 1651.
Abstracts may be posted on the web, www.wess.org, after the WESS site
returns to operation in early February.=20
WESS is a transdisciplinary society which promotes the study of
evolutionary systems of all types. Members of WESS work in more than
100 different scientific and academic disciplines. We seek to inform
each other of emerging concepts in our individual disciplines and to
facilitate communications among the various disciplines.
Surface mail address:=20
WESS Conference VI
Jerry LR Chandler, Ph.D=20
837 Canal Drive,
McLean, VA 22102-1407 =20
Scientific Organizing Committee:
Fred Abraham <abraham@sover.net>,
Jerry LR Chandler <JLRChand@Erols.com
Karl Pribram, M.D. <kpribram@runet.edu>,
Paul Rapp <rapp@auhs.edu>,
Stan Salthe <ssalthe@binghamton.edu>