Stephen, Thanks for the link to Michael Levin's piece on Dennett. Levin, also at Tufts <https://as.tufts.edu/biology/people/faculty/michael-levin>, is one of the most insightful and creative biologists around. The article points to a joint Aeon piece <https://aeon.co/essays/how-to-understand-cells-tissues-and-organisms-as-agents-with-agendas> Levin wrote with Dennett. Even though it was published 3 1/2 years ago, it's very much worth reading. It will give you a sense of the kind of work Levin does.It also illustrates Dennett's notion of competence without comprehension from his From Bacteria to Bach and Back <https://www.amazon.com/Bacteria-Bach-Back-Evolution-Minds/dp/0393242072>, published 3 years earlier. The article is a very nice example of the melding of two minds.
Many will want to maintain that real cognition is what brains do, and what happens in biochemistry only seems like it’s doing similar things. We propose an inversion of this familiar idea; the point is not to anthropomorphise morphogenesis – the point is to naturalise cognition. There is nothing magic that humans (or other smart animals) do that doesn’t have a phylogenetic history. Taking evolution seriously means asking what cognition looked like all the way back. Modern data in the field of basal cognition makes it impossible to maintain an artificial dichotomy of ‘real’ and ‘as-if’ cognition. There is one continuum along which all living systems (and many nonliving ones) can be placed, with respect to how much thinking they can do. -- Russ Abbott Professor Emeritus, Computer Science California State University, Los Angeles On Sun, Apr 21, 2024 at 1:15 PM Stephen Guerin <stephen.gue...@simtable.com> wrote: > Michael Levin's farewell to Dan Dennett > https://thoughtforms.life/farewell-dan-dennett-i-will-really-miss-you/ > > > > > On Fri, Apr 19, 2024 at 2:46 PM Stephen Guerin < > stephen.gue...@simtable.com> wrote: > >> Such a loss :-( >>> >>> https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/04/19/daniel-dennett-philosopher-atheist-darwinist/ >> >> >> yes a loss of a great person and intellectual. Though in the loss is the >> possibility of progress. if you consider the above "atheist-darwinist" url >> representing a certain paradigm in which Dennett has been cast as a central >> figure. >> >> Planck's Principle on paradigms and funerals: >> >> An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually >> winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul >> becomes Paul >> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_of_Paul_the_Apostle>. What >> does happen is that its opponents gradually die out, and that the growing >> generation is familiarized with the ideas from the beginning: another >> instance of the fact that the future lies with the youth. >> — Max Planck, Scientific autobiography, 1950, p. 33, 97 >> >> Colloquially, this is often paraphrased as "Science progresses one >> funeral at a time" >> >> >> _________________________________________________________________ >> Stephen Guerin >> CEO, Founder >> https://simtable.com >> stephen.gue...@simtable.com >> >> stephengue...@fas.harvard.edu >> Harvard Visualization Research and Teaching Lab >> <https://hwpi.harvard.edu/eps-visualization-research-laboratory/home> >> >> mobile: (505)577-5828 >> >> >> On Fri, Apr 19, 2024 at 1:03 PM Jochen Fromm <j...@cas-group.net> wrote: >> >>> Such a loss :-( >>> >>> https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/04/19/daniel-dennett-philosopher-atheist-darwinist/ >>> >>> I will put his autobiography "I’ve Been Thinking" from last year on my >>> reading list >>> >>> https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/01/ive-been-thinking-by-daniel-c-dennett-review-an-engaging-vexing-memoir-with-a-humility-bypass >>> >>> -J. >>> >>> >>> -------- Original message -------- >>> From: Jochen Fromm <j...@cas-group.net> >>> Date: 4/19/24 7:32 PM (GMT+01:00) >>> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group < >>> friam@redfish.com> >>> Subject: [FRIAM] Daniel Dennett (1942-2024) >>> >>> A sad day today. Daniel Dennett has died :-( For every big question in >>> philosophy there is at least one Daniel Dennett book: >>> >>> "Consciousnes Explained" (1991) about consciousness >>> "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" (1995) about evolution >>> "Freedom Evolves" (2003) about free will >>> "Breaking the spell" (2006) about religion >>> >>> https://dailynous.com/2024/04/19/daniel-dennett-death-1942-2024/ >>> >>> -J. >>> >>> -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >>> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >>> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >>> archives: 5/2017 thru present >>> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >>> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >>> >> -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom https://bit.ly/virtualfriam to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
