I met Adrian Bejan at the Lions Cannes Festival in June, where I was also introduced to his Constructal law. Here's a very nicely done video of Adrian explaining his theory. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgEBTPee9ZM&w=560&h=315] Here's the law in Bejan's terms: "For a finite-size system to persist in time (to live),...
Category: Complexity
Writing a cybernetic novel
I would like to define a cybernetic novel as one that writes itself, or one where the reader is also the narrator. A novel that possesses self-reflexivity. I made the sketch (see above) some time ago while thinking about my novel "The Island Survival Guide". When I say "I thought about my novel"...
Gerald Edelman and AI
Gerald Edelman passed away on May 17, 2014 in La Jolla, California. In 1972 he won the Nobel Prize (together with Rodney Porter) for solving the antibody structure, and explaining how the immune system functions. His research into antibodies led him to realize the enormous explanatory potential of selective-recognition systems....
Predicting the future
"Prediction is difficult, specially about the future", said the father of quantum physics Niels Bohr, his words often quoted - wrongly - as a tautology. Bohr did not mean to state the obvious but made reference to the non-deterministic nature of quantum phenomena. Although the microscopic world of quanta is bound...
Saltations
Complexity theory studies non-linear emergent phenomena whereby networked interactions produce self-organization at ever higher levels. At certain threshold values of network interactivity certain “jumps” occur – called “saltations” – and the system changes behaviour. Despite the many advocates of complexity theory, the idea is facing many obstacles and often fails...