[pkl] Eshel Ben-Jacobs: Learning from Bacteria about social networks

[oliver]

mal ein kleines Zitat aus einem von Ben-Jacobs' papers:

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    1. Introduction

    The reductionist approach has long governed western philosophy and
    underpinned our view of the world and our scientiÿc thought [1]. The
    Universe is Laplace’s mechanical universe, in which there is no room for
    renewal or creativity. On the contrary, the assumption is that systems in
    nature, when left alone, approach maximum entropy according to the second
    law of thermodynamics.


    Concepts like cognition, intelligence or creativity are regarded as our
    illusions. The amazing process of evolution – from inanimate matter,
    through organisms of increasing complexity, to the emergence of
    intelligence – is claimed to be merely a successful ac- cumulation of
    errors (random mutations) enhanced by natural selection (the Darwinian
    picture) [ 2 – 6].



    The reductionist hegemony in scientiÿc thought is largely due to the
    undeni- able achievements of science, which have not been hindered by the
    still unsolved fundamental questions. The power of the Darwinian picture
    lies not only in its achievements, but also in the dismay evoked by what
    seems to be the only alternative – Vitalism [7].


    But is Vitalism the only alternative? Or could there be another picture,
    neither Darwinian nor Vitalistic? This manuscript is devoted to presenting
    an alternative ap- proach. My basic assumption is that the observed
    creativity in nature is not an illusion but part of an objective reality,
    and as such should be included in our scientiÿc de- scription of reality
    [8]. However, if we understand science as the ability to predict the future
    state and behavior of a system based on the present knowledge about the
    system, then a creative process contradicts the tenets of scientiÿc
    description. After all, creation means emergence of something new and
    unpredictable, something not directly derivable from the present.

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  ( aus: Eshel Ben-Jacob:
     Bacterial wisdom, Godel’s theorem and creative genomic webs )
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Das passt bestens zu G. Günther und den Problemen der klassischen
Wissenschaftsdenke.


Gruß,
   Oliver