Hi,
> Phil Henshaw wrote: > If a person moves to a new country and doesn't know the language, and > learns it through observation and experiment, that might be an > example. That's assuming the person had a closed self-referential > learning mechanism. Presumably the engine that's driven by the > abstract system of logic can store and retrieve data, even if the logic > itself were unmodifiable? (I doubt the latter is a useful constraint, > but for the sake of the thought experiment..) I suggest you read a wonderful book by James Welch Jr. The Hearsong of Charging Elk Here an individual (agent) is left alone for decades in a foreign culture and language and no one there of course can speak Sioux. "The Heartsong of Charging Elk," published in 2000, tells the story of a young Oglala Sioux, traveling in France with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in 1889, who is hospitalized and stranded in Marseilles when the troupe moves on. The novel follows the young man as he comes to grips with the enormous cultural, linguistic and geographical dislocations of his life, gradually building a life for himself as a Frenchman." Lou ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
