[ Follow Ups ]
Posted by ramellini on November 05, 1999 at 11:58:06:
In Reply to: The genetic program: creator, demiurge, or neither? (Re: Program God) posted by Ramellini on November 01, 1999 at 04:41:55:
Dear Pierre,
since we have begun our dialogue I've glanced over my texts to check current
ideas about GP; surprisingly, I've discovered a hard debate between supporters
and fighters of this concept; I thought it were a widely accepted concept, and
on the contrary I've realized that there is a deep attack against it.
The positions I've found are roughly the following ones:
- the program is extremely important, it is THE distinguishing character of
living entities: Mayr, Dawkins
- the program is information and instruction: Jacob, Mayr
- the program is instruction, but not information: Prigogine, Stengers
- there is no need of the concept: Maturana & Varela, Ceruti, Piaget
- the program is not a building plan: Ageno
- the concept is merely a metaphor or analogy (eventually a misleading
metaphor): Atlan, Ageno, Goodwin, Prigogine, Stengers, Waddington, Weiss
- the concept is a good metaphor: Jacob
- the program is a necessary but not sufficient condition: Ageno, Emmeche,
Goodwin
I'd appreciate any contribution to extend, deepen, correct this preliminary
survey.