Re: The physics of open systems:insight from Rosen's last book

Cliff Joslyn (joslyn@LANL.GOV)
Wed, 9 Jun 1999 10:40:19 -0600

> 2. Rosen work on the applications of category theory to science was
> fundamentaly flawed. (I sought recently to engage you in a conversation
> on this matter, but you declined.) It is my opinion that these flaws
> are so deep that I can not find the linkages between his mathematics and
> living organisms. These flaws may or may not influence one's veiws of
> complexity.

I have also thought this, but was not sure if the flaw was in Rosen or
in me!

I'm currently involved in a project working with a good category
theorist (Mae Gherke, Mathematics, NM State U.). I had given her my
review of Rosen, and she had said that my description of Rosen's
category theory didn't make much sense. But again, the problem might
be as much in me as in him!

Mae is, however, very interested in considering Rosen's ideas more
seriously. Other than _Life Itself_ itself, (a very flawed book from a
mathematical perspective, if only for notational problems), can
someone suggest the best vehicle to expose a mathematician to Rosen's
category theory ideas?

O------------------------------------------------------------------------>
| Cliff Joslyn, Member of the Technical Staff (Cybernetician at Large)
| Distributed Knowledge Systems Team, Computer Research Group (CIC-3)
| Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mail Stop B265, Los Alamos NM 87545 USA
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V All the world is biscuit-shaped. . .