Hyperscale Puts the Sapiens into Homo
Affiliation(s)
1 The Living Systems Project, Department of Electronics and Informatics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium. 2 IMEC vzw, Leuven, Belgium.
1 The Living Systems Project, Department of Electronics and Informatics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium. 2 IMEC vzw, Leuven, Belgium.
ABSTRACT
The human mind’s evolution owes much to its companion phenomena of intelligence, sapience, wisdom, awareness and consciousness. In this paper we take the concepts of intelligence and sa-pience as the starting point of a route towards elucidation of the conscious mind. There is much disagreement and confusion associated with the word intelligence. A lot of this results from its use in diverse contexts, where it is called upon to represent different ideas and to justify different ar-guments. Addition of the word sapience to the mix merely complicates matters, unless we can relate both of these words to different concepts in a way which acceptably crosses contextual boundaries. We have established a connection between information processing and processor “architecture” which provides just such a linguistic separation, and which is applicable in either a computational or conceptual form to any context. This paper reports the argumentation leading up to a distinction between intelligence and sapience, and relates this distinction to human “cognitive” activities. Information is always contextual. Information processing in a system always takes place between “architectural” scales: intelligence is the “tool” which permits an “overview” of the relevance of individual items of information. System unity presumes a degree of coherence across all the scales of a system: sapience is the “tool” which permits an evaluation of the relevance of both individual items and individual scales of information to a common purpose. This hyperscalar coherence is created through mutual inter-scalar observation, whose recursive nature generates the independence of high-level consciousness, making humans human. We conclude that intelligence and sapience are distinct and necessary properties of all information processing systems, and that the degree of their availability controls a system’s or a human’s cognitive capacity, if not its appli-cation. This establishes intelligence and sapience as prime ancestors of the conscious mind. How-ever, to our knowledge, there is no current mathematical approach which can satisfactorily deal with the native irrationalities of information integration across multiple scales, and therefore of formally modeling the mind.
The human mind’s evolution owes much to its companion phenomena of intelligence, sapience, wisdom, awareness and consciousness. In this paper we take the concepts of intelligence and sa-pience as the starting point of a route towards elucidation of the conscious mind. There is much disagreement and confusion associated with the word intelligence. A lot of this results from its use in diverse contexts, where it is called upon to represent different ideas and to justify different ar-guments. Addition of the word sapience to the mix merely complicates matters, unless we can relate both of these words to different concepts in a way which acceptably crosses contextual boundaries. We have established a connection between information processing and processor “architecture” which provides just such a linguistic separation, and which is applicable in either a computational or conceptual form to any context. This paper reports the argumentation leading up to a distinction between intelligence and sapience, and relates this distinction to human “cognitive” activities. Information is always contextual. Information processing in a system always takes place between “architectural” scales: intelligence is the “tool” which permits an “overview” of the relevance of individual items of information. System unity presumes a degree of coherence across all the scales of a system: sapience is the “tool” which permits an evaluation of the relevance of both individual items and individual scales of information to a common purpose. This hyperscalar coherence is created through mutual inter-scalar observation, whose recursive nature generates the independence of high-level consciousness, making humans human. We conclude that intelligence and sapience are distinct and necessary properties of all information processing systems, and that the degree of their availability controls a system’s or a human’s cognitive capacity, if not its appli-cation. This establishes intelligence and sapience as prime ancestors of the conscious mind. How-ever, to our knowledge, there is no current mathematical approach which can satisfactorily deal with the native irrationalities of information integration across multiple scales, and therefore of formally modeling the mind.
Cite this paper
Cottam, R. , Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2015) Hyperscale Puts the Sapiens into Homo. International Journal of Intelligence Science, 5, 13-36. doi: 10.4236/ijis.2015.51003.
Cottam, R. , Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2015) Hyperscale Puts the Sapiens into Homo. International Journal of Intelligence Science, 5, 13-36. doi: 10.4236/ijis.2015.51003.
References
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http://www.people.vcu.edu/~mikuleck/ON%20COMPLEXITY.html [13] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2005) Life and Simple Systems. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 22, 413-430. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sres.716 [14] Collier, J.D. (1999) Autonomy in Anticipatory Systems: Significance for Functionality, Intentionality and Meaning. In: Dubois, D.M., Ed., Proceedings of Computing Anticipatory Systems: CASYS’98-2nd International Conference, AIP Conference Proceedings, 465, 75-81. [15] Aristotle (2000) Politics 1 (1), 1. Translated by Jowett, B. Dover Publications Inc., New York. [16] Rosen, R. (1991) Life Itself: A Comprehensive Enquiry into the Nature, Origin, and Fabrication of Life. Columbia University Press, New York. [17] Matsuno, K. (1996) Internalist Stance and the Physics of Information. BioSystems, 38, 111-118.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2006.09.002 [23] Salthe, S.N. (2012) Information and the Regulation of a Lower Hierarchical Level by a Higher One. Information, 3, 595-600. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/info3040595 [24] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (1998) Emergence: Half a Quantum Jump? Acta Polytechnica Scandinavica, 91, 12-19. [25] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (1999) A Biologically Consistent Hierarchical Framework for Self-Referencing Survivalist Computation. In: Dubois, D.M., Ed., Proceedings of Computing Anticipatory Systems: CASYS’99-2nd International Conference, AIP Conference Proceedings, 517, 252-262. [26] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2006) Living in Hyperscale: Internalization as a Search for Reunification. 15th Annual Conference of the International Society for the System Sciences Proceedings, #06-382, ISSS, Sonoma, 9-14 July 2006, 1-11. [27] Fowles, J. (1969) The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. [28] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2008) Bi-Sapient Structures for Intelligent Control. In: Mayorga, R.V. and Perlovsky, L., Eds., Toward Artificial Sapience, Springer, New York, 175-200.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-999-6_11 [29] Tononi, G. (2004) An Information Integration Theory of Consciousness. BMC Neuroscience, 5, 1-22. [30] Tononi, G. (2008) Consciousness as Integrated Information: A Provisional Manifesto. Biological Bulletin, 215, 216-242. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/25470707 [31] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2013) A Framework for Computing Like Nature. In: Dodig-Crnkovich, G. and Giovagnoli, R., Eds., Computing Nature, in the SAPERE Series, Springer, Heidelberg, 23-60. [32] Plato (2001) Symposium, a Translation by Benardete, S. with Commentaries by Bloom, A. and Benardete, S., 203E-204A. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. [33] Peirce, C.S. (1958-1966) Collected Papers. In: Hartshorne, C., Weiss, P. and Burks, A., Eds., The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 1, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, III, 2, A6; III, 2, B3; III, 2, C3. [34] Cottam, R. and Ranson, W. (2013) A Biosemiotic View on Consciousness Derived from System Hierarchy. In: Pereira Jr., A. and Lehmann, D., Eds., The Unity of Mind, Brain and World: Current Perspectives on a Science of Consciousness, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 77-112.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139207065.004 [35] Taborsky, E. (2004) Dynamics of the Informational Interface. Journal of Computing Anticipatory Systems, 16, 169-185. [36] Salthe, S.N. (1985) Evolving Hierarchical Systems. Columbia University Press, New York. [37] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2001) Artificial Minds? 45th Annual Conference of the International Society for the System Sciences Proceedings, #01-114, ISSS, Asilomar, 8-13 July 2001, 1-19.
[1] Albus, J.S. (1991) Outline for a Theory of Intelligence. IEEE Trans Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 21, 473-509. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/21.97471 [2] Albus, J.S. and Meystel, A.M. (2001) Engineering of Mind: An Introduction to the Science of Intelligent Systems. Wiley, Hoboken. [3] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2008) The Mind as an Evolving Anticipative Capability. Journal of Mind Theory, 39-97. [4] Schempp, W. (1992) Quantum Holography and Neurocomputer Architectures. Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision, 2, 279-326. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00121876 [5] Metzinger, T. (2004) The Subjectivity of Subjective Experience: A Representationalist Analysis of the First-Person Perspective. Networks, 3-4, 33-64. [6] Tononi, G. and Edelman, G.M. (1998) Consciousness and Complexity. Science, 282, 1846-1851.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.282.5395.1846 [7] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2004) Autocreative Hierarchy I: Structure-Ecosystemic Dependence and Autonomy. SEED Journal, 4, 24-41. [8] Sigmund, K. (1993) Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. Oxford University Press, New York. [9] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2000) A Diffuse Biosemiotic Model for Cell-to-Tissue Computational Closure. Biosystems, 55, 159-171. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0303-2647(99)00094-5 [10] Rosen, R. (1997) Transcript of a Videotaped Interview of Dr. Robert Rosen, Recorded in July 1997 in Rochester, New York, USA by Judith Rosen. http://www.people.vcu.edu/~mikuleck/rsntpe.html [11] Rosen, J. and Kineman, J. (2005) Anticipatory Systems and Time: A New Look at Rosennean Complexity. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 22, 399-412.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sres.715 [12] Mikulecky, D.C. (2009) Definition of Complexity.
http://www.people.vcu.edu/~mikuleck/ON%20COMPLEXITY.html [13] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2005) Life and Simple Systems. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 22, 413-430. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sres.716 [14] Collier, J.D. (1999) Autonomy in Anticipatory Systems: Significance for Functionality, Intentionality and Meaning. In: Dubois, D.M., Ed., Proceedings of Computing Anticipatory Systems: CASYS’98-2nd International Conference, AIP Conference Proceedings, 465, 75-81. [15] Aristotle (2000) Politics 1 (1), 1. Translated by Jowett, B. Dover Publications Inc., New York. [16] Rosen, R. (1991) Life Itself: A Comprehensive Enquiry into the Nature, Origin, and Fabrication of Life. Columbia University Press, New York. [17] Matsuno, K. (1996) Internalist Stance and the Physics of Information. BioSystems, 38, 111-118.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0303-2647(95)01580-9 [18] Salthe, S.N. (2001) Theoretical Biology as an Anticipatory Text: The Relevance of Uexküll to Current Issues in Evolutionary Systems. Semiotica, 134, 359-380. [19] Rosen, R. (1985) Anticipatory Systems: Philosophical, Mathematical and Methodological Foundations. Pergamon, New York, 423. [20] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2003) Autocreative Hierarchy II: Dynamics—Self-Organiza- tion, Emergence and Level-Changing. International Conference on Integration of Knowledge Intensive Multi-Agent Systems, Piscataway, IEEE, 30 September-4 October 2003, 766-773. [21] Haken, H. (1984) The Science of Structure: Synergetics. Prentice Hall, New York. [22] Tschacher, W. and Haken, H. (2007) Intentionality in Non-Equilibrium Systems? The Functional Aspects of Self-Organized Pattern Formation. New Ideas in Psychology, 25, 1-15.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2006.09.002 [23] Salthe, S.N. (2012) Information and the Regulation of a Lower Hierarchical Level by a Higher One. Information, 3, 595-600. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/info3040595 [24] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (1998) Emergence: Half a Quantum Jump? Acta Polytechnica Scandinavica, 91, 12-19. [25] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (1999) A Biologically Consistent Hierarchical Framework for Self-Referencing Survivalist Computation. In: Dubois, D.M., Ed., Proceedings of Computing Anticipatory Systems: CASYS’99-2nd International Conference, AIP Conference Proceedings, 517, 252-262. [26] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2006) Living in Hyperscale: Internalization as a Search for Reunification. 15th Annual Conference of the International Society for the System Sciences Proceedings, #06-382, ISSS, Sonoma, 9-14 July 2006, 1-11. [27] Fowles, J. (1969) The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. [28] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2008) Bi-Sapient Structures for Intelligent Control. In: Mayorga, R.V. and Perlovsky, L., Eds., Toward Artificial Sapience, Springer, New York, 175-200.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-999-6_11 [29] Tononi, G. (2004) An Information Integration Theory of Consciousness. BMC Neuroscience, 5, 1-22. [30] Tononi, G. (2008) Consciousness as Integrated Information: A Provisional Manifesto. Biological Bulletin, 215, 216-242. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/25470707 [31] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2013) A Framework for Computing Like Nature. In: Dodig-Crnkovich, G. and Giovagnoli, R., Eds., Computing Nature, in the SAPERE Series, Springer, Heidelberg, 23-60. [32] Plato (2001) Symposium, a Translation by Benardete, S. with Commentaries by Bloom, A. and Benardete, S., 203E-204A. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. [33] Peirce, C.S. (1958-1966) Collected Papers. In: Hartshorne, C., Weiss, P. and Burks, A., Eds., The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 1, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, III, 2, A6; III, 2, B3; III, 2, C3. [34] Cottam, R. and Ranson, W. (2013) A Biosemiotic View on Consciousness Derived from System Hierarchy. In: Pereira Jr., A. and Lehmann, D., Eds., The Unity of Mind, Brain and World: Current Perspectives on a Science of Consciousness, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 77-112.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139207065.004 [35] Taborsky, E. (2004) Dynamics of the Informational Interface. Journal of Computing Anticipatory Systems, 16, 169-185. [36] Salthe, S.N. (1985) Evolving Hierarchical Systems. Columbia University Press, New York. [37] Cottam, R., Ranson, W. and Vounckx, R. (2001) Artificial Minds? 45th Annual Conference of the International Society for the System Sciences Proceedings, #01-114, ISSS, Asilomar, 8-13 July 2001, 1-19.