Thursday, October 30, 2008

MINDing the Economy: [“MINDing one's SELF” through the Technology of SYNTHETIC MIND]

MINDing (or To Mind)”
Definition (in the present context): To Mind (or Minding) is an act intended by the acting mind to increase the Intelligence &/or Knowledge &/or Wisdom of the subject as mind(including that of self), or as affected by or effected through mind, where each such mind can reside principally in Reality or Virtual Reality or Virtuality.

Definition: Virtuality is an Autonomous Semiotic Universe in which a sign (e.g. a piece of information) is taken to be transferable (communicatable) only among (virtual) minds resident in this Virtuality and relatable to (Human) Reality only through the Virtual Reality of the Internet/Web.

Definition: Stages in Synthesizing Mind as a Semiotic Relational System
From computerized raw data/information
to First Stage
INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES
involving
Perceptual Processes
focused on Syntactic Patterning

to Second Stage
KNOWLEDGE TECHNOLOGIES
featuring
Conceptual Processes
focused on Semantic Patterning

to Third Stage
WISDOM TECHNOLOGIES
being
Valuational Decision Processes focused on Pragmatic Patterning
i.e. Action Selection
[Wisdom (defined): the expression in acts of value through knowledge]

EXPERIENTIAL INSTANCES OF “MINDing (or To Mind)”
The uses of the term “MINDing (or To Mind)” in our culture are so numerous and varied so as to make it near-unconsciously common in examples such as – she’s minding the store – where the implication is one of focus of attention or care or concern. Herein the intent is to extend this “focus” to augmenting, enhancing or improving mind in its functional parts as it reflects or affects subjects such as the World, Humanity, Society, Community, AgReCulture, Research, Technology, Arts, Education, Business, etc. In subsequent posts we intend to address various of these subjects from time to time with a query as to how to Mind them. The specific subject for focus to initiate this process in this post is MINDing the ECONOMY.

MINDing The ECONOMY: EcoGnomics [This latter term is not conceptually originated from any reference to David Bowie’s “Not at the London School of Ecognomics!” from his lyrics of the Laughing Gnome, or from any other prior use, but was formed simply to convey “the intent of bringing Gnosis (knowledge/wisdom) explicitly into re-formulating the disciplines of Economics”, i.e. MINDing Economics]

Despite the near-total negative global impact of the current crises in the World’s Financial Institutions, triggered specifically by massive failure in the US Lending system, and ignoring, for the simplification of the present argument, the disparity in presumptive foundations, formal theories, applied models and means of results measurement in Formal Economics, albeit many Nobel Prizes have been awarded for aspects thereof, the proactive inclusion of Synthetic Intelligence/Mind is rarely addressed.

RELATIONAL SEMIOSIS as SYNTHETIC MIND:
Some Partial Descriptions
[See http://relatedone.blogspot.com/2008/03/mind-creating-mind-cocreative-re.html, MIND Creating MIND: A CoCreative Re-Evolutionary Act {Re:SYN5-Prologue1} SYNTHESIZING MIND: A PERSPECTIVE]

Semiotic Relational Systems
A Semiotic Relational System is a system of relations exhaustively admitting all forms of interrelatedness among systems and/or relations and with certain systems or relations taking the place of (i.e. imaging (signifying)) other systems or relations.

AutoGnome(tm)
The AutoGnome is a self-knowing general purpose software system of automated (autonomous) inquiry, inference and intuition exploiting a mechanized carrier system for relational semiosis as a virtual (synthetic) mind.

Intellisite(tm)

The Intellisite (an Intelligent WebSite) is a constructed software environment (a Website) with an embedded form of the AutoGnome known as a WebGnome(tm), an intelligent agent residing in this cyberspace environment which, with its continuous adaptive learning from mimicking the user’s behavior, will grow into a likeminded replica (MindClone(tm)) of a user-self acting in the Virtual Reality of the Internet with the synthetic mind capabilities of the AutoGnome.

CoGnome(tm)
The CoGnome is a selected WebGnome which, inter-connecting two or more Intellisites in a Network of Intellisites, provides a computerized collective intelligence, an automated co-intelligence, i.e. the Collective-AutoGnome (Auto(Co)Gnome) or simply the CoGnome.

CogWeb
The CogWeb is the Network of Intellisites implemening the CoGnome for Network Decision-Making by autonomously formed Intellisite-defined groups, organizations, communities and societies.

ECOGNOMICS
THE STATE OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
We are in the midst of sweeping global economic and social transformations where creativity will increasingly replace physical labor and large-scale bureaucracy as the key source of community and economic growth. This derives largely from the explosive growth of an information-based, chaotically changing environment in which success depends on the superiority of continually accelerated Innovation.

Not surprisingly then, one of the most significant remaining unmined potentials is in the rich base of human, social, relational and intellectual capital to be found in small (including from one up to a small handful of entrepreneurial persons) to medium size enterprises. A strong and independent small enterprise system disperses economic power, localizes economic decision-making, and protects the potential for voluntary cooperative organization.

IDENTIFYING THE REQUISITE CHANGE
The need in order to effectively engage this resource is for new processes and technologies for improving personal and organizational effectiveness in “Knowledge Development” implemented through an organizational and management architecture respecting autonomy throughout its hierarchical and heterarchical levels by effecting co-intelligence in a cognitive network for Rational Collective Decision Making to support and extend individual Innovation. See, for example, the following:

Dynamics of the Informational Interface: Statement Of Relevance
Edwina Taborsky
(Edited slightly for the context)
“The twentieth century's momentous introduction of the network as the operating infrastructure of our global socioeconomic reality has set up a new socioeconomic structure, a 'complex adaptive system' composed of multiple and fluid connections, operating within hierarchical and heterarchical levels, to access and process a wide range of resources. Networks have the capacity to process not only goods and services but also information in a manner that promotes wide-ranging involvement in strategic planning and decision-making rather than unilateral transference. If we were to consider the major component of a network that enables such collaborative interactions, it would be the Interface, the spatial and conceptual gaps or gateways that act to both separate and connect its multiple parts. As intermediary zones between different sides, so to speak, interfaces are sites of resistance, exchange and negotiation. Globalization of the new economy and its knowledge base does not eliminate borders. Instead, borders change from functioning as closures to acting as major opportunities for the collaborative reconstruction of resources, services and information. We consider this border, the interface, to be the crucial site for the interactional processes that enable the multidimensional operational productivity of our new global economy.

Our networked economy and knowledge system requires a mode of exploratory information processing that acknowledges the reality of our global diversity and builds on this diversity by enabling the processes of decision-making to be co-held by tactical alliances of users in different domains of the complex system. A major characteristic of this new economy is that questions that investigate information are also questions that investigate the operational reality of the economy, for the two are intertwined. What is the organizational and management architecture of this economic and informational network - and what are the conditions that enable robust interface interactions in both fields? And importantly, how does a global economic and informational network negotiate the ecological and cultural disparities that are our historical legacy?”

FORMULATING THE COGWEB ARCHITECTURE
The CogWeb is, by definition, the implementation of a computerized collective intelligence [automated co-intelligence] through the adaptation of the AutoGnome Technology (as the CoGnome) for Network Decision-Making by IntelliSite-defined groups, organizations, communities and societies. While the IntelliSite itself was focused on the development of a semiotic engine as an Individual Intelligence, the extended potential of individual intellect, be it human or machine, can be realized in groups; hence the reason for the Automated Community Builder functionality of the IntelliSite. This collective creativity, while related to the intelligence of the individual, is actually a feature not only of the Decision Network’s inference/inquiry/intuition processes (the CoGnome), but more generally of the Network Architecture.

A proprietary “breakthrough application” of the CogWeb, as an example, is the following approach to Rational Group Opinion Assessment. Assume the group targeted for a survey is a population of users of MyWebGnome via an IntelliSite subscription. Instead of statistically extrapolating useful data from a well-drawn small sample group (with all of the attendant margins of error), the response is taken by the CoGnome from a user’s WebGnome standing in as the user’s proxy. Hence it will be common to effect virtually a 100% response in every Assessment.

In general, a CogWeb is the first True approximation to a Rational Collective Decision Process accomplished without constraining the Network to being a top down organized system since each and every IntelliSite WebGnome responding to a query can also pass the query on to it’s closest neighbors, and so on, until the entirety of the Network has been mapped by the query, which could have been initiated by any individual WebGnome or the CoGnome itself.

Since it is increasingly evident that smart aggregates of humans can frequently be more effective decision makers than individuals, this CogWeb architecture collectively technologically enables Co-Intelligence Via Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution.

QUERY
What if, rather than, or in parallel with, the construction of models for realizing a specific formal socio-economic theory, we were to build out a virtual society (Virtuality) of synthetic minds (WebGnomes), a CogWeb, as a Virtual Reality-connected Human Reality Societal Test-bed for doing real-time experimentation on global economic issues. This approach, EcoGnomics, would actually provide a first real opportunity to explore a People’s Economics, particularized to the individual WebGnome and computer-implementable in “real time”?

Thursday, October 2, 2008

AgReCulturing the WORLD

RURAL TRANSFORMATIONS, INC.

Rural Transformation, Inc. (RTI) was created as a joint enterprise between the Rural Learning Center (RLC) (http://www.rurallearningcenter.com/) located in Howard, SD and TrueFarmer, Inc. (TFI), a South Dakota subsidiary of As It Is, Inc (Ai3) (http://www.asitisinc.com/) located in Buffalo, NY. RTI development is an outgrowth of the RLC’s desire to develop and market new learning and community development practices and Ai3’s interest in augmenting these practices through the integration of its virtual synthetic intelligence (http://www.truethinker.com/) technologies in rural communities. TFI is focused on the Ag(ricultural) aspects and RTI on the ReCulturing aspects in AgReCulturing the WORLD. To this end RTI staff are also engaged as consultants with the RLC in communities across the region conducting rural economic development/community revitalization activities. It is from this community work that the concept of “social satisfaction” as an economic development strategy was developed by the visionaries behind the RLC.

RTI Blog: building a deep conversation about the future of rural
http://www.reimaginerural.com/, an outgrowth of the Rural Learning Center (see below), is a blog for rural residents who want to be a part of building a new future for their communities. It’s no secret that most rural communities have struggled in recent decades with outmigration, poverty, and general decline. We belive this downward slide can be turned around by the people who take time to reimagine and work towards a different future.

A movement of change is rolling across the rural landscape as many communities pioneer a new future. Rural communities are coming alive with big ideas and people are connecting to each other and to the world of opportunity.

We hope to be a part of these connections. In fact, we hope that by sharing ideas on this blog, we will inspire rural residents to “reimagine” their communities and become a part of this changing rural landscape.

RLC VISION: renewed hope is the driving force
The Rural Learning Center (http://www.rurallearningcenter.com/) is a product of visionaries. Both organization and place, it is a platform for rural people to discover, teach, share and reimagine--together. In the midst of Miner County, South Dakota's quiet, remarkable transformation from dying town to place of hope and opportunity, this small rural community has become a living learning laboratory for innovative and sustainable solutions.

Now, as a centerpiece for the work in and out of Miner County, the RLC and dozens of partners are building a learning and demonstration center in Howard, SD (http://www.opportunityhoward.com/). The Maroney Rural Learning Center facility will be a one-of-a-kind conference and training center - a living showcase of innovations in rural sustainability, a gathering place to share and experience rural community learning, and the home of an innovative workforce development experiment.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Mapping the NEW (VIRTUAL RELATIONAL) WORLD: AHA!Institute Virtual Campus {Re:SYN7-Design Concept}

Over the next year you will see the implementation of our vision of AHA!Institute move from the classic blog format to a full-featured and environment rich “Virtual Campus” website including E-Education (learning) , Automated Idea Generation (thinking), Community Building and Enterprise (including Business) Incubation (acting). To say that the new iteration of the AHA!Institute will be a “campus” is a bit adventurous since there has never been, at least to this author’s knowledge, a robust Virtual collaboration built on Synthetic Intelligence that automatically assesses the Value of a contribution and spontaneously builds communities recognizing that valuation. The “AHA!Institute Virtual Campus” stands to be the 1st collaboration and learning environment of it’s kind found since the WWW inception. AHA!Institute will harness the AI driven Knowledge Development Platform, http://www.truethinker.com/, and Gnostek’s proprietary “Knowledge Valuing” toolsets to build a robust “Campus” of Relational Researchers. Some participants may come purely to increase their knowledge of a certain subject, others may come to generate new ideas, or possibly collaborate on the construction of a patent, a book outline, a business idea, or a new and better mousetrap. Whatever the reason for a “student” or “relational researcher’s” entry into the AHA!Institute Campus, one factor will remain the same: their “value,” “status,” or “position” in the Campus derives solely from their contribution of MIND. Test scores, resumes, and financial contributions will not play a role in accessing this virtual campus of Relational Researchers.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

THE AUTOGNOMICS INSTITUTE, INC.

AUTOGNOMICS
In contemplating where in this blog to begin our query regarding value, it seems obvious that it should begin with the work of Norm and Skye Hirst which evolved from Norm’s investigation into axiology to their effort in the founding of a new focus of inquiry named AutoGnomics.

REVISITING THE MIND TRUST: Norman F. Hirst & Skye Hirst
The following are just a few notes selected to underscore the content of this post. For more details on my partners, Norm and Skye, see www.autognomics.org and links therefrom.

Norm is a graduate in mathematics and physics (1957) from M.I.T. where he met Robert Hartman (world renowned philosopher for contributions to axiology) and began his work in the study of values and the logic of metaphysics. In 1965, he joined a project team headed by Eugene (Gene) Pendergraft at the University of Texas at Austin Linguistics Research Centre (LRC) which achieved the development of the first Computerized Semiotic System, i.e. a self-created symbol processing system applied to machine learning of human language. This foundation laid by the LRC research resulted in what has become known as a partial AutoGnome and which originally came to serve as the core of Siemens’ METAL translation system. When Gene and Norm first met, Gene was unfamiliar with axiology and Norm with Peirce (semiotics).

Skye, with a Ph.D. in Communication from The Union Institute (1979), in 1987 was introduced to Hartman’s Value Theory when she met Norm. Skye joined with Norm in 1992 and stimulated a joint effort to establish an institute to work on a theory of Living Processes. Together with Gene and myself, the four of us began organizing The AutoGnomics (named by Gene and Skye) Institute, Inc. and with my partner, John F. Papsidero, Esq., we legally formed it as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation.

WHAT ARE WE TO DO? A REVOLUTION IN SCIENCE THINKING!
The results of a 40+ year research project
leading to a new understanding of the
laws of Value and Life-itself
“A PROPOSAL FOR FUNDING”
by Norman F. Hirst & Skye Hirst
May 7, 2001

[The following blue text is edited by this blogger from the above-referenced document]

ON NATURAL LAW:
Natural law consists of relationships, or systems of relationships, that prevent chaos while not unduly inhibiting freedom.

The complex systems of Life are governed by laws of Value.

THE NATURAL LAWS OF VALUES:
Are there natural laws of value? Yes, but don’t expect them to tell us what to value. There is no law saying gentlemen should prefer blondes. One’s values can be extremely personal. However, whatever one’s values there are lawful processes at work.

Following Hartman there are three kinds of value; intrinsic, extrinsic and systemic:
Intrinsic values are aesthetic and/or unique. They defy description.
Extrinsic values are practical values. As such they can be judged good or bad.
Systemic values are laws or rules. Under systemic values judgements are right or wrong.

Remarkably, the three kinds of value seem to be related to the three levels of semiotics; firstness, secondness and thirdness.
  • Peirce describes Firstness as the mode of being of that which is without reference to any subject or object. Secondness is the mode of being of that which is itself in referring to a second subject, regardless of any third subject. Thirdness is the mode of being of that which is itself in bringing a second and a third subject into relation with each other (CP 8.328).3 Thirdness brings Firstness and Secondness into relation with each other, and mediates between them. Thirdness is the mode of being of signs, in that signs mediate relations between their objects and their interpretants. [Copywright© Alex Scott 2004; retrieved 7/29/08 from http://www.angelfire.com/md2/timewarp/peirce.html]

Firstness - as the realm of all possibilities it is the source of intrinsic value.
Secondness - corresponds to extrinsic value.
Thirdness - corresponds to systemic value.

The law of value places intrinsic over extrinsic and extrinsic over systemic. This law has been verified through the use of the Hartman Value Profile in a wide variety of cultures.

RELATIONAL RE-THINKING OF
THESE THREE MODES OF BEING

Albeit the threeness of the Peircian modes of being ignores the fourth Relational Order – R(S)-NESS [ see http://relatedone.blogspot.com/2007/05/relational-systems-re-view-resyn1-rs.html, http://relatedone.blogspot.com/2008/06/mapping-new-virtual-relational-world_16.html or
http://relatedone.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-05-27T22%3A07%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=12 ], as threeness it seems experientially relevant; however, the potpourri of specific “definitions” beginning with Peirce and continuing to date seem not to provide a coherent meaning. Correspondingly, the suggested relation to the three kinds of value lacks argumentive strength.

As an alternative consideration, I suggest the following conjecture. Clarity on this notion is a must since it permeates both Pearcian Semiotics and Hartman Axiology and thus any work inspired thereby.

CONJECTURE:

Firstness <–> Whole(Ness) as per von Goethe via Henri Bortoft
Secondness <–> Distinction of Parts as per Spencer-Brown
Thirdness <--> Part-Whole Interrelations as per mereology, the theory/logic of part/whole relations

Rural Learning Center St. Croix

AHAInstitute, coupled with various partners are currently exploring the construction of a Rural Learning Center in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. In a continuing effort to re-define “rural” and re-vitalize rural communities around the world, St. Croix has been recognized with potential loci for such a facility. After all, there are few places as rural as an Island. St. Croix hosts a difficult arid cultivation base, a lack of quality water, impoverished indigenous population, and a wealthy “snowbird” residency that adds little to the local economy – all important vectors well suited to the solutions of a Rural Learning Center. Design elements for the Center include:
  • Modern facility with digital media learning applications, conference rooms, distance learning media, and “tourist learning” ready accommodations.
  • At least 50% energy resources derived from Solar and Wind technologies.
  • Fully functioning aquaculture farm producing revenue generating produce and fish end product.
  • Microbial-based Sustainable Technology Ponds converting 75% of the Center’s waste in to sale-able Premium Grade Potting Soil.
The Center will form a tightly woven relationship with the St. Croix University of Agriculture to address the specific needs of rural island communities; and serve as a model for rural island community development around the world.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Mapping the NEW (VIRTUAL RELATIONAL) WORLD: Foundational/Formal/Theoretical RS Development Outline-Part II {Re:SYN1-Maps}

RELATIONAL SYSTEMS
DEVELOPMENT
- Annotated Outline –
This post, again beginning with the identifier {Re:SYNx-Maps, where x=1to7}, follows our preceding posts, http://relatedone.blogspot.com/2008/05/mapping-new-virtual-relational-world.html and http://relatedone.blogspot.com/2008/06/mapping-new-virtual-relational-world.html and
continues the post at
MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2008
Mapping the NEW (VIRTUAL RELATIONAL) WORLD: Foundational/Formal/Theoretical RS Development Outline-Part I {Re:SYN1-Maps}

RELATIONAL SYSTEMS
DEVELOPMENT

I. NOTIONAL FOUNDATIONS
II. GENERAL RELATIONAL THEORY CONSTRUCTION

Beginning from the Specific RS Presumptions of Subsumption [Distinction (Boundary) as per George Spencer-Brown] and Image [Sign as per Charles Sanders Peirce], an approach to the next successful stage in the mainstream frontier transformations of the SYSTEMIC foundations of Human Knowledge will take THE FORMas THE FORM of a general [meta order(ing)] theory of theory formation with components—objects (specific SYSTEMS), operations (specific INTER-SYSTEMIC RELATIONS) and preferred order(ing) relations (specific SYSTEMIZING RELATIONS).

NOTE ON FORMALIZATION
It is taken as a given that the development of a Formal Theory requires attention to all of the following Relations (R) and Systems (S). The brief outline of this present post, however, is only directed at identifying certain of the necessary RS’s and does not address completion of their organization nor attend to their sufficiency as a Formal Theory, although this is the immediate strategic intent of this research in the construction of a SPECIFIC RELATIONAL THEORY.
FORMAL (IMAGE) SYSTEM (FS)
  • Specify primitive S’s and R’s

  • Define how RS’s should be constructed from primitive S’s & R’s

  • Presume certain primitive RS’s (axioms; postulates)

  • Specify IaR (rules of inference) stating conditionally how other RS’s (theorems) are to be derived from the primitive RS’s.

  • Certain RS’s shown to be explicit RS’s derivable by IaR from the primitive RS’s

  • Meta-RS’s about the FS itself which relate certain of its parts in specified ways
IMAGE & ACTIONAL RELATIONS (RELATIONS TO EXPERIENCE)

The following paragraphs provide a brief summary of the precursors to formalization, i.e. an order and its derivative calculus, the latter taken as a formulation of the disorder experientially related to the given order, which also implies a reorder(ing) format (methodology).

(1) ORDER Formalisms

Order theory dictates the way in which an algebra can be extended to a calculus by assigning numerical values to pairs of elements of a poset (a set of elements together with a binary ordering relation is called a partially ordered set, or a poset) to describe the degree to which one element includes another. The result is a methodology (Order theory) that can be used to generalize an algebra to a calculus by relying on consistency with the underlying order to derive the laws of the calculus.

In terms of ORDER formalisms, the Laws of Form [Spencer-Brown, G. (1969). Laws of form (4th ed.). New York: E. P. Dutton], built on the assumed notions of ‘distinction’ (Subsumption) and ‘indication’ (Image), advanced the foundational formulation of a mathematics of distinguishability (boundary mathematics) which was shown to imply a Boolean algebra (having an interpretation as Boolean logic-deductive reasoning-where implication is among logical assertions in situations of complete certainty=order) as one of its many consequences, and which has now been expanded to General MultiBoundary Formalisms (Lattices, Algebras, etc. (recognizing that every algebra has its arithmetic) and their associated Calculus) wherein
  • A set of logical statements ordered by implication gives rise to a Boolean lattice (or a Boolean algebra), and
  • The Boolean lattice of logical statements induces the free distributive lattice of questions (the question lattice or algebra).

FROM IMAGE AND SUBSUMPTION TO MATHEMATICS AND LOGIC
(AND SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE/MIND)
Although this brief formal snippet may at first seem opaque, it can be transparent (enlightening) to realize that by simply grasping the concept of “distinction” the world of mathematics and the formal theories constructed thereon, which are the core essence of the work addressed herein, are within an Occam Simple grasp.
The theme of this argument, following an editorial extraction by the authors from George Spencer-Brown, Laws of Form: Evolution of Consciousness, is that a universe comes into being when a space is severed by drawing a distinction. By tracing the way we represent such a severance, we can begin to reconstruct, with an accuracy and coverage that appear almost uncanny, the basic forms underlying linguistic, mathematical, physical, and the life sciences, and can begin to see how the familiar laws of our own experience follow inexorably from the original act of severance. The act is itself already remembered, even if unconsciously, as our first attempt to distinguish differences in a world where, in the first place, the boundaries can be drawn anywhere we please. (Spencer-Brown 1969)
The expectation here is simply for an “open” impression by the reader regarding the arguments herein; quite obviously, the inclusive argument can not be joined in this limited exposition. On the other hand the partial arguments here presented are “informative” when focusing attention on this open impression.
To introduce the Occam Simplicity of creating Formal Systems, we begin with Personal Experience of the Existence of The Form of Relational System (RS), but with only the Presumption of imaging Experience as an Essence thereof. Let this experience be imaged asthat is, the Person (imaged as the observer “eye”) is within The Form of RS with no other essence. Let this existence be called (imaged as) the Void (or R-Space or more formally, a Potential RS). The Void is not a mathematical (i.e. a formal “RS”) or physical space, nor is it a “System” of any sort. It is the absence (Non-Existence) of any System, and thus it possesses no attributes of any kind, including emptiness. [For this insert, see generally Shoup, R. (2008). Boundary institute for the study of foundations. Retrieved June 17, 2008, from http://www.boundary.org/; referencing (Shoup 1994)]
Within the Void create (image) the simplest fundamental Essential Presumption as subsumption subsuming the notion of distinction. By drawing a distinction, we form a boundary with two sides, the first System in our Void (R-Space). We can visualize this first distinction by a closed curve (of arbitrary shape) in the plane as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. The first distinction.
The distinction may be taken both as a System, e.g. an object (an area defined in the space), and as a Relation, e.g. an action (an injunction to cross from the outside to the inside). At this ultimately simple level, System and Relation as object and action or state and event or thing and change are united (undifferentiated) in a single concept, i.e. System and Relation are a Whole.
The functionality of the distinction may be seen more clearly when we draw a second distinction (Figure 2). Given a single object distinguished from the Void, only two possibilities exist for the second distinction: 2.a) as an additional identical distinction from the Void, or 2.b) as a distinction from (within) the existing object.
Figure 2. Two ways of combining two distinctions --
the axioms of the boundary mathematics (logic and arithmetic).
In the first case, we have two identical distinctions from the Void taken together, which is just the same as one distinction. (At this level of extreme simplicity, either we have distinction from the Void or we have not.) In the second case, a distinction from the first distinction (since there is no Other distinction) can only refer back to the Void. The second arrangement can also be thought of as a function -- one distinction "applied to" or "surrounding" another. Using these two relations as axioms, any arrangement of boundaries (multiple distinctions including distinctions within distinctions) in the plane (Void) can be simplified to either one distinction or the Void.

The foregoing brief perspective on the mathematics of distinction has grown into a general candidate for an approach to a universal language for formal systems, MultiBoundary Mathematics. Inherent to this latter is a Boundary Logic from which Boolean Logic is derivable as a special case and which is leading to a more powerful computer design. [See generally Bricken, W. (2007). Boundary mathematics. Boundary logic. Retrieved June 17, 2008, from http://wbricken.com/index.html; referencing (Bricken 2002; 2004)] Generally, taking a universal formal system as an axiom system with the property that any other consistent axiom system can be interpreted within it, the mathematics of distinction implies a mathematics of subsumption which, in turn, implies a Membership theory as a first step towards a universal language for mathematics. [Etter, T. (2006), Three-place Identity. Private Publication. Saratoga, CA.: Boundary Institute]

(2) DISORDER Formalisms

NOTE: R.Elated’s RELATIONISM treats the notion of probability as being composed of a “subSystemic probability” (to be referred to herein as “probability” in the lower case) which corresponds to the classical Bayesian understanding as foundationally grounded by Cox (see below) and a “Systemic probability” (to be referred to herein as “PROBABILITY” in the upper case) which, in one instance, corresponds to the generalized entropy of Cox as a measure of relevance in the query algebra (also see below). When referring generally to the notion of probability, “Probability” will ordinarily be used; however, the reader may have to rely on the context since the author’s diligence in this matter is expected to be frequently deficient.

To gain true understanding in any area of study, the foundations need to be repetitively re-explored. Cox’s investigations into the role of consistency of probability theory with Boolean algebra were a crucial initial step in this new exploration. The Algebra of Probable Inference/Inquiry (Cox, R. T. (1961). The algebra of probable inference. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press) has finally been recognized as the succinct and profound foundational form of formalized Probability in representing DISORDER.

The effect of Cox’s contribution to probability theory was to generalize Boolean implication among logical statements to degrees of implication represented by real numbers (NOTE: by varying the algebra and extending the number system, e.g., to complex or quaternion numbers, other formulations of Probability such as quantum probability arise), which are manipulated using rules derived from consistency with the Boolean (or other underlying) algebra. These rules are known as the sum rule, the product rule and Bayes’ Theorem, and the measure resulting from this generalization is “probability”.

Generalizing a particular function of the question lattice leads to a valuation called relevance, which is a measure of the degree to which a statement answers a given question. Cox conjectured that this degree can be expressed as a generalized entropy which has subsequently been shown to be the case.

For the foregoing part of this section as well as the next section see generally Fry, R. L. (2001), MaxEnt2001, Bayesian Inference and Maximum Entropy in Science and Engineering: 21th International Workshop at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD (USA). August 4-9, 2000; AIP Conference Proceedings 617. May 2002. pp. 410-432. Edited by Robert L. Fry. Available at: proceedings.aip.org (volume 617), http://www.blogger.com/www.jhuapl.edu/maxent2001.

(3) REORDERING Formalisms

The method of Maximum Entropy Inference [Cox, R. T. ( 1979), “Of inference and inquiry, an essay in inductive logic,” in The Maximum Entropy Formalism, edited by R. D. Levine and M. Tribus, The MIT Press, Cambridge, 1979, pp. 119–167]; [See generally Jaynes, E. T. (2003), Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge; 2003; including references (Jaynes 1957, 1968, 1979, 1985)] generalized to Optimum Systemic(SubSystemic) Probabilistic Inference (OS(sS)PI) [See generally Hamann, J. R. at http://www.relationalsystems.net and references therein (Hamann 1968, 1969a, 1969b, 1972)] within RELATIONAL SYSTEMS as the progenitor of the formal basis for REORDERING the DISORDER completes THE FORM.

It is now well-understood that probability theory is literally an extension of (deductive) logic. Integrating the logic of inference (probability) with the logic of inquiry (relevance=entropy) yields a powerful formulation of inductive reasoning (logic) when completed through the use of the Principle of Maximum Entropy for assigning prior probabilities since this maximizes the relevance of the parameterization of the subject system.

CONJECTURE: It is also speculated here, based on real, but partial evidence, that the third mode of reasoning, i.e. abduction, may be formalizable by invoking a MiniMax Entropy Principle. Formal inclusion of abduction is necessary to complete a system of automated, autonomous inquiry/inference/intuition. [Hamann, J. R. (2007). Computational autognomics: An introduction. In R. Gudwin & J. Queiroz (Eds.), Semiotics and intelligent systems development (pp. 287-309). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc.]

The third post (III) in this series Mapping the NEW (VIRTUAL RELATIONAL) WORLD: Foundational/Formal/Theoretical RS Development Outline-Parts I, II & III {Re:SYN1-Maps} will follow in the not too distant future.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

CO-CREATING POSSIBLE UNIVERSAL RELATIONAL FUTURES

DEFINING THE RESEARCH PROCESS
[Co-Intelligence in Co-Creative Research]
This AHA!Institute blog will be the only entry point inviting open participation in the evolving Community of Relational Researchers addressing THE 7 SYNs: Strategic Viewpoints of Possible Relational Futures.
  • SYN1: Creation of Interrelated Relational (RO3) Sign Systems
  • SYN2: Synthesis of Field as Interrelated Relational (RO3) Sign Systems
  • SYN3: Synthesis of Matter as manifest FIELD
  • SYN4: Synthesis of Life as dependent on the origin of sign in FIELDS as RO3
  • SYN5: Synthesis of Mind as both being and meta-imaging RO3
  • SYN6: Synthesis of Language in RO3, and
  • SYN7: Synthesis of Society AsItIsToBe as Interrelated Relational (RO3) Sign Systems
See also the following regarding the 7SYNs:
http://relatedone.blogspot.com/2007/03/in-begining-was-word-and-now-mindclone.html

http://relatedone.blogspot.com/2007/12/aha-institute-relational-systems-re.html

http://relatedone.blogspot.com/2008/03/asitisinccom-portal-to-future-as-it_09.html



RESEARCH PARTICIPATION WILL BE INITIATED EFFECTIVE OCTOBER, 2008, WITH NOTICE OF THE SPECIFIC OPENING DATE TO BE PUBLICIZED ON THIS BLOG SHORTLY IN ADVANCE OF SAID DATE. THE INITIATING SPECS FOR SYN4,5,&6 WILL BE POSTED BEFORE THE END OF 2008. THE AUTOGNOMIC INTELLISITE (IN THE http://www.truethinker.com/ APPLICATION) AS A KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT AND DIFFUSION SYSTEM (SEE BELOW) WILL BE DEPLOYED AS THE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.


AS OF THE OPENING DATE, to participate in this Community, begin by Adopting-a-Gnome as per the procedure laid out in the post herein titled, Adopt-a-Gnome. Read the section entitled “What is the Adopt-a-Gnome Program” and then follow the directions under “How does one Adopt-a-Gnome?” As a TrueThinker, having subscribed through
one immediately becomes a participating Relational Researcher simply by way of the incorporation of their personal MindClone (MyKnowledgeBank) in the AHA!Institute 7SYNs Community KnowledgeBank; this latter serves as a resource knowledge-base for this research. More specifically, however, each open-entry participant is free to engage actively in this research at whatever level of Pragmatic Knowledge Value they competently offer as assessed by the AHA! Community–Builder.


AUTOGNOMIC INTELLISITE
as a

KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT

and

DIFFUSION SYSTEM

(Foreseeing an Autonomous Scientific Intelligence)



The following content was edited by the author hereof in part from:
  • Your AutoGnomics™ Update (July 21, 2006) and A Sixty-Second Summary of: TrueThinker.com™:The Intelligent Web Site (October 23, 2006), written by Harvey and Carl Rohde, The Greenwich Division of Ai3, P.O. Box 9, Greenwich, CT 06836-0009
A Brief History of Idea Acceptance
Throughout history there have been “telling” examples of great ideas which have gone through three distinct phases. The first phase was characterized by being deemed sacrilegious, whimsical, or just plain silly. The second phase involved the intellectual pioneers seeking to prove the utility and validity of their idea. The third phase was heralded by the cries of the crowd, “We always believed it was true!

Vision Before Manifestation
Catching the vision of AutoGnomics™ is rather like the legend of the old Native American Sachem. The ancient “Medicine Man/Woman” was a seer of dreams, an interpreter of visions. These Sachems traveled in their thoughts where others could not go. For most of us as early investors, AutoGnomics has been largely visionary, almost dream-like. And yet, not unlike the Sachems, there has been a need for patience. The Sachems knew that any kernel of truth had to be placed in good soil, to be tended by a gentle hand, and then allowed to grow at its own intrinsic rate to full maturity in preparation for the harvest.

A Patient Family

Our Ai3/AutoGnomics Family has shown remarkable patience. Every one has envisioned, in his or her own way, a part of the possibility of AutoGnomics--of the vast potential of this unique leading-edge science.

A Radically New Application
Over the past five years the effort has been focused on an original application worthy of the AutoGnome's potential ubiquitous applicability. Such an application would need to be revolutionary in its scope, visionary in its conception, and available to a very broad customer market. As such, it should be a candidate for fulfilling Bill Gates’ challenge:

New York Times, March 1, 2004
“Microsoft, Amid Dwindling Interest,
Talks Up Computing as a Career” by Steve Lohr-- Bill Gates, ''If you invent a breakthrough in artificial intelligence, so machines can learn, that is worth 10 Microsofts.''

This first application should fill an apparent need that competing technologies have shown themselves unable to address.

The Solution Environment

It has become the norm in the experience, for example, of small business enterprises that they need to hire special information technologists using additional technology/tools to teach/train their employees in the requisite skills to enable them to use the web search tools. Hence, the "golden age of information technology" has created the problem of an “info-glut” which, as a result of efforts to resolve that problem, has led to the further problem of a “tool-glut” with its inherent added problem of limiting solutions due to a “limited set of skilled tool users”. To address these challenges, Ai3 has introduced its Intellisite™ (Intelligent WebSite™) technology which can ultimately effectively act as an autonomous agent assisting or replacing the human computer operator in interacting with the CyberUniverse™.

The Intellisite™: A Virtual Replica of Individual Intelligence
An Intellisite™ (generically branded as TrueThinker.com™) is a constructed software environment (a website) with an embedded form of the AutoGnomic Technology. Hence the AutoGnome is a synthetic intelligence (a WebGnome™) residing in this virtual environment which, with its continuous adaptive learning from mimicking the user’s behavior, will grow into a likeminded replica (MindClone™) of a user-self acting in the virtual world of the Internet with capabilities initially including:
  • knowledge organization [learning] (manual, supervised and automated categorization);
  • knowledge creation [thinking] (ideation, autonomous search, and automated community building), and
  • knowledge applications [acting] (capital development, management, & investment and autonomous entrepreneurs).
TrueThinker.com™
The present TrueThinker experience includes these features:

  • My Home webpage, a dashboard or homepage that you can personalize as your portal to the Internet.
  • My KnowledgeBank, where you can manually, or via your AutoGnome automatically, store your relevant and valued information (i.e. Knowledge) so you can find it easily
  • My Communities, where you can join or create groups of people with the same social, business, research or other interests to share resources and hold public or private discussions.
What's more, you can access TrueThinker and your organized knowledge files from any computer, making your accumulated knowledge on just about anything accessible from anywhere.

How TrueThinker Can Begin To Work For You
To access the TrueThinker site, simply enter http://www.truethinker.com/ in your browser of choice. The first act is to register your personal information. Once you have opened the TrueThinker.com intelligent website, pause and take a few moments to look around. See the unique layout. Sample TrueThinker’s novel approach to information gathering and its ease of operation in organizing your personal KnowledgeBank. Sample the tutorial available to users of the site. You can also expect ongoing growth in the functional intelligence of the AutoGnomic features resident in the site.

Benefits Of TrueThinker
TrueThinker is not just an idea, but is a technology that needs to be experienced for it to be actionally conceptualized. A core function of TrueThinker, i.e. an operator-less intelligent technology to augment human intellect, is now nearing availability. This allows potential Relational Researchers to become involved in a technology that will provide each their own MindClone which, as an Autonomous Scientific Intelligence (AScI), might serve as a personal Research Assistant and thus allow the Researcher a depth of research participation never before conceived.

The remainder of this post has been excerpted from
a paper by Jon Ray Hamann, An AutoGnomic Intellisite,
to be published in October, 2008.

Intellisite Derivatives - Autonomous Scientific Intelligence
The Intellisite obviously has a broad spectrum of applicability apart from its key functionality as an individual's mirrored Intelligence/Knowledge, in particular as an Autonomous Scientific Intelligence (AScI), a Collective-AutoGnome (CoGnome) and the CogWeb (cognitive network of Intellisites).


AScI
A first generative instantiation of the AutoGnome deriving from its form as a general [meta order(ing)] theory of theory formation is as an Autonomous Scientific Intelligence (AScI) which promises to automate the scientific method.
CoGnome
Assigning a priority MetaQuery/Response status to a selected WebGnome which inter-connects two or more Intellisites in a Network provides a computerized collective intelligence, the CoGnome.
The CogWeb is, by definition, the implementation of the CoGnome for Network Decision-Making by Intellisite-defined groups, organizations, communities and societies.

While the Intellisite itself was focused on the development of a semiotic engine as an Individual Intelligence, the full potential of individual intellect, be it human or machine, is realized in groups; hence the Automated Community Builder functionality of the Intellisite. This collective creativity, while related to the intelligence of the individual, is actually a feature not only of the Decision Network’s inquiry/inference processes (the CoGnome), but more generally of the Network Architecture. Since it is increasingly evident that smart aggregates of humans are frequently more effective decision makers than individuals, this CogWeb architecture collectively technologically enables Co-Intelligence in Co-Creative Research.

Monday, June 30, 2008

2 Philosophical Houses Of Fly Tying...

One of the guiding principles here at the AHA!Institute is that each person, regardless of their background or profession can make a meaningful contribution to the collective effort. Physicists have something to learn from Janitors and Janitors have something to learn from Physicists. My personal understanding of many of the weightier ideas expressed here may not always be immediate, but by staying present to the conversation quite often the underlining principles reveal themselves. Lately, I’ve been returning to the conversation many of the programmers are having in their attempt to construct the Autognome, the "learning" and “thinking” component of Ai3’s flagship Online Knowledge Management and Community Building Tool. The conversation as I interpret it goes something like this: “We are training the Autognome to look at sets of raw data/information. The Autognome logically forms "signs" with respect to this data/information and then groups those signs in terms of similarity into "classes (or categories)". These “signs” and "classes" form character sets for a "tentative language". The Autognome uses this language to interpret new data and then check its results for accuracy with respect to experience." With all of this in mind I have set out to apply a similar line of thought to my approach toward tying flies for competitive fly fishing. I will look at a set of data (fish feeding behavior); Form signs from that data (tie flies to invoke positive reactions); Cluster data (group positive reactions); Then apply those signs to new data, record, and modify for accuracy (use flies in different settings). This may not be Noble Prize winning work, but it could mean quite a bit to the angler. The basis for my quantitative work will stand on the theory of “Suggestive” rather than “Imitative” fly tying. There are generally 2 philosophical houses of fly tying: the first sets out to key reaction strikes based on stimuli such as shape, color, and size while the second seeks to reproduce fish forage as closely as humanly possible with artificial materials. Please look for updated reports on this “Query” in the upcoming weeks and months.

ANNOTATED CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF POSTS

ANTICIPATING A PUBLICATION
(an EBOOK)
REPRESENTING THE POSTS AT
EACH SUBSEQUENT DATE
AT WHICH THERE IS COMPLETED
APPROXIMATELY 49 SEQUENTIAL POSTS
The Formulation and Initiating Construction of this Blog began in and was in process throughout the month of March, 2007. The postings for the first nine posts during that period were saved in reverse chronological (i.e. actual chronological) order by fabricating the date stamps from March 12th to March 4th. These dates were arbitrarily chosen simply to maintain the actual chronology of the construction events. From the Sunday, April 1, 2007 post and thereafter, the dated entries are the actual chronology.

Monday, March 12, 2007

AUDITION for the Ultimate VIRTUAL REALITY PLAY (See the following post, Adopt-a-Gnome, to sign up for an audition)

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND---
(thinking and language are co-determinate)

Sunday, March 11, 2007

ADOPT-a-GNOME

WHAT IS A GNOME?
(a magical mind?!)

Saturday, March 10, 2007

RE-COGNIZING RELATION {Re:SYN1}

WHAT ARE THE TWO
FOUNDATIONAL NOTIONS
OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE?
(SYSTEM and RELATION)

Friday, March 9, 2007

RE-COGNIZING WHOLE/PART RELATIONS {Re:SYN1}

THE HOLISTIC PARADIGM SHIFT
(holism is becoming an experiental imperative)

Thursday, March 8, 2007

MINDing HUMANITY

AUTOGNOMIC (VIRTUAL) EDUCATION
(re-building education today from the perspective of a
transhumanist society of post-2063 which subsumes a
Virtual Autonomous CyberSociety of WebGnomes)

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

A PRAGMATIC ACTION METHODOLOGY

A METHODOLOGY FOR CO-CREATIVE (R)EVOLUTION

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

"LIFE ITSELF" AS IT IS {Re:Q1SYN4}

ON THE ORIGIN OF SIGN (=IMAGE)
AS A NECESSARY AND (POSSIBLY) SUFFICIENT
CONDITION FOR THE
EVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN OF LIFE

Monday, March 5, 2007

RELATIONAL SYSTEMS:Prolegomenon {Re:SYN1-RS Fdns}

FOUNDATIONS
(PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IS THE EXISTENCE OF
RELATION(AL) SYSTEM (R(S))
BY PRESUMPTION, R(S) IS THE ESSENCE
OF EXISTENCE (NON-EXISTENCE) OTHER THAN PERSONAL)

Sunday, March 4, 2007

MIND TRUST

THE RELATIONISTS
(the leaders of the Relational (R)Evolution in Gobal Society)

Sunday, April 1, 2007

AHA! INSTITUTE BLOG

INITIATING "DIABLOG"

Saturday, April 7, 2007

BEGINNING THE "RELATIONAL QUEST" {Re:SYN1}

IS THERE A NEED FOR URGENCY?
(in transitioning from a Systemic to a Relational paradigm)

Sunday, May 27, 2007

RELATIONAL SYSTEMS: Re-View {Re:SYN1-RS Fdns}

NOTIONAL FOUNDATIONS
(See also the posts on "Re-Cognizing Relation"
and "Relational Systems: Prolegomenon")

Friday, December 7, 2007

MIDWIFING "THE AGE OF RELATION" (Expected Delivery in 2012-2013){Re:SYN7-(R)Ev}

STRATEGIC ENVISIONING/ENACTMENT
of
RELATIONAL FUTURES
50 Years: 1963-2013


Sunday, March 9, 2008

ASITISINC.com: A Portal to the Future "AS IT IS/TO BE"{Re:SYN7}

MINDing the world through technology! SYNMIND

Monday, March 17, 2008

MIND Creating MIND: A CoCreative Re-Evolutionary Act {Re:SYN5-Prologue1}

SYNTHESIZING MIND:
A PERSPECTIVE

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Without knowing that it is...


Monday, May 12, 2008

RE-CREATING SOCIETY: The Rural Perspective {Re:SYN7-RuralTransformations 1(RT1)}


Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Systems its members support...


Friday, May 23, 2008

Mapping the NEW (VIRTUAL RELATIONAL) WORLD: Formal/Theoretical Sketches Initially Focused on SynMIND {Re:SYN7-Maps}


Tuesday, May 27, 2008

From GROUPS to COMMUNITIES to SOCIETY: {Re:SYN7-Experiential Beginnings}

RE-CREATING SOCIETY
through the technology of
Synthetic Intelligence/Mind

Monday, June 9, 2008

My “mind of the known”


Monday, June 9, 2008

RELATIONAL EDUCATION

BACKGROUND LITERATURE
Relevant to
RELATIONAL EDUCATION

Tuesday, June 24, 2008