CDT403 Research Methodology in Natural Sciences and Engineering
Theory of Science
RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY, WORLDVIEWS
COMPLEXITY AND INTERDISCIPLINARITY
Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic
School of Innovation, Design and Engineering
Mälardalen University
1
Theory of Science
Lecture 1 SCIENCE, KNOWLEDGE, TRUTH, MEANING. FORMAL
LOGICAL SYSTEMS LIMITATIONS
Lecture 2 LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION. CRITICAL
THINKING. PSEUDOSCIENCE - DEMARCATION
Lecture 3 RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETAL ASPECTS.
PROGRESS. HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY.
POSTMODERNISM . COMPLEXITY AND INTERDISCIPLINARITY
Lecture 4 GOLEM LECTURE. ANALYSIS OF SCIENTIFIC
CONFIRMATION: THEORY OF RELATIVITY, COLD FUSION,
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
Lecture 5 COMPUTING HISTORY OF IDEAS
Lecture 6 PROFESSIONAL & RESEARCH ETHICS
2
RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY,
WORLDVIEWS
SCIENCE IN MICROCOSMOS AND IN MACROCOSMOS
SCIENCE, RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY
SCIENCE, SOCIETY, ECONOMY – TRIPLE HELIX
SCIENCE, RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, PROGRESS
HISTORY OF SCIENCE THEORY
SCIENCE WARS AND PEACE
CYBERNETICS AS A LANGUAGE FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY
COMMUNICATION
TRANSDISCIPLINARY, INTERDISCIPLINARY AND CROSS
DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
AN EXAMPLE OF PARADIGM SHIFT IN SCIENCE: COPERNICAN
REVOLUTION
3
SCIENCE IN MICRO AND MACROCOSMOS
Physical Sciences, Objects and Methods
OBJECTS
DOMINATING
METHOD
Simple
Reductionism
(analysis)
Logic &
Mathematics
Abstract objects:
propositions, numbers, ...
Deduction
Natural
Sciences
Natural objects: physical
bodies, fields and
interactions, living
organisms ...
Hypothetico-deductive
method
Social
Sciences
Social objects:
human individuals,
groups, society, ..
Hypothetico-deductive
method
+ Hermeneutics
Humanities
Cultural objects: human
ideas, actions and
relationships, language,
artefacts…
Hermeneutics
Complex
Holism (synthesis)
SCIENCE
4
CLASSICAL SCIENCES
HAVE SPECIFIC AREAS OF VALIDITY
5
Different Levels of Organisation –
The Structure of Matter
6
DNA - Deoxyribonucleic Acid
DNA is the primary chemical component of
chromosomes and the material of which genes are made
7
DNA – BASE MOLECULE
8
MOLECULE - ATOM
9
ATOM – NUCLEUS - NUCLEON
10
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FORCES
http://www.cpepweb.org/images/chart_2006_4.jpg
11
MODEL vs ”REALITY”
http://www.iumsc.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/demoselect.cgi
12
MODELS OF ORGANIC MOLECULES
13
Different Representations
of the Same Molecule
http://www.iumsc.indiana.edu/graphics/jamm2.1.html
14
IMAGES
Santa Cruz scientists have taken a detailed
Fluorescence images of rhodamine
picture, using x-ray crystallography, of a
B molecules obtained by
complete ribosome, the small cellular
Fluorescence Imaging and
component which translates genetic
Spectroscopy of Single
information into proteins.
Molecules
http://www.aip.org/physnews/graphics/html/ribosome.html
15
ATOM
Images of ultracold rubidium atoms
trapped in different configurations of
laser beams. Left to right: dual 1-D
traps, crossed 1-D traps, and 3-D
lattice trap formed at trap
intersections.
Model of atom
http://www.aip.org/mgr/png/Physics News Graphics
16
MODELLING
“REAL WORLD”
AS IT IS:
MODELED
SIMPLIFIED
MODEL
COMPARISON:
DOES IT WORK?
PHENOMENA
COMPARISON
“Real world”
Program
Computer Hardware
Model
Compiler Theory
Computer Simulation
17
MODEL & SIMULATION
Rowley's original orrery, 1712. The
orrery was made by John Rowley of
London for Charles Boyle, fourth Earl of
Orrery.
The instrument acquired its current name
after it was popularized by 17th century
essayist, Sir Richard Steele.
The solar system model showed the
respective motions of the Earth and Moon
around the Sun and was copied from an
earlier example made by the famous
clockmaker George Graham (1673-1713)
for Prince Eugene of Savoy.
Science Museum London/ Science &
Society Picture Library
18
SUN
19
SUN
20
SUN
Long-lasting sunspots
appear in this sequence
of drawings made by
Galileo himself as he
observed the Sun from
June 2nd to 26th, 1612
21
SCIENCE VS
TECHNOLOGY
The invention of gunpowder,
c 14th century.
Allegorical interpretation of the
invention of gunpowder, showing
the devil on the shoulder of a
monk involved in an experiment.
It is thought that the artist
intended the monk in the picture
to be Berthold Schwarz, a semilegendary German Franciscan
monk.
Schwarz was a nickname
(German for 'black') due to
Berthold's chemical experiments.
The picture is an alchemical
engraving.
Science Museum London/
Science & Society Picture Library
22
TECHNOLOGY EXPANDS OUR WAYS OF
THINKING ABOUT THINGS, EXPANDS
OUR WAYS OF DOING THINGS.
Herbert A. Simon
23
CLASSICAL SCIENCES –
LANGUAGE BASED SCHEME
Logic
&
Mathematics
Natural Sciences
(Physics,
Chemistry,
Biology, …)
Culture
(Religion, Art, …)
Social Sciences
(Economics,
Sociology,
Anthropology, …)
Computing
The Humanities
(Philosophy, History,
Linguistics …)
24
SCIENCES BASED ON SEVERAL
RESEARCH FIELDS
Our scheme represents classical sciences.
Many modern sciences are stretching over several research fields
of our scheme.
Computer science e.g. includes the field of AI that has its roots in
mathematical logic and mathematics but uses physics,
chemistry and biology and even has parts where medicine and
psychology are very important.
25
WHAT IS AFTER ALL
THIS THING CALLED SCIENCE
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Aristotle, Metaphysica
26
SCIENCE, RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY
Aristotle's Distinctions between Science and Technology
Science
Technology
Object
unchangeable
changeable
Principle of motion
inside
outside
End
knowing the general
knowing the concrete
Activity
theoria: end in itself
poiesis: end external
Method
abstraction
modeling complexity
Process
conceptualizing
optimizing
Innovation form
discovery
invention
Type of result
law-like statements
rule-like statements
Time perspective
long-term
short-term
27
SCIENCE, RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
Research
Development
Science
Technology
28
SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
THE TRIPLE HELIX MODEL
SOCIETY
Knowledge society
based on ICT
CULTURE
SCIENCES & HUMANITIES
The triple helix model:
– ACADEMIC
– INDUSTRY
– GOVERMENT
29
SOCIETAL ASPECTS OF SCIENCE
Science has undoubtedly several important facets:
- insights in foundational issues,
- applications
- societal aspects.
Sciences are promoting rational and analytical discussions of
central issues of concern to scientists and other scholars, and to
the public at large both in terms of knowledge production and
practical applications.
30
SOCIETAL ASPECTS OF SCIENCE
RESEARCH COMMUNITY AS INFORMATIONAL NETWORK
“ .. if we consider Galileo alone in
his cell muttering, ‘and yet it
moves,’ with the recent meeting
at Kyoto – where heads of
states, lobbyists, and scientists
were assembled together in the
same place to discuss the Earth
– we measure the difference ..”
Bruno Latour
31
SOCIETAL ASPECTS OF SCIENCE
Further reading on current topics:
http://www.sciencemag.org
Essays on Science and Society
Science magazine
32
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (1)
Logical Positivism
During much of this century, “positivism” has dominated
discussions of the scientific method.
Positivism recognizes as valid only the knowledge based on
experience.
33
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (2)
Logical Positivism
1920s: Logical positivism (Vienna Circle), accepted as its central
doctrine Wittgenstein’s verification theory of meaning that
statements or propositions are meaningful only if they can be
empirically verified.
This differentiate scientific (meaningful) statements from purely
metaphysical (meaningless) statements.
34
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (3)
Logical Empiricism
Carnap replaced the concept of verification with the idea of
“gradually increasing confirmation”.
Universal statements could never be verified, but they may be
“confirmed” by the accumulation of successful empirical tests.
Thus, science progresses through the accumulation of multiple
confirming instances obtained under a wide variety of
circumstances and conditions.
35
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (4)
Logical Empiricism
Logical empiricists believe that all knowledge begins with
observation. This leads to empirical generalizations among
observable entities. As our ideas progress, theories are
formulated deductively to explain the generalizations, and new
evidence is required to confirm or disconfirm the theories.
Throughout the process, data are given precedence.
The entire process is viewed as essentially inductive.
36
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (6)
Popper and Falsificationism
Unlike positivists, Popper accepted the fact that “observation
always presupposes the existence of some system of
expectations”.
For Popper, the scientific process begins when observations clash
with existing theories or preconceptions. To solve this scientific
problem, a theory is proposed and the logical consequences of
the theory (hypotheses) are subjected to rigorous empirical
tests.
37
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (7)
Popper and Falsificationism
The objective of testing is the refutation of the hypothesis. When a
theory’s predictions are falsified, it has to be ruthlessly rejected.
Those theories that survive falsification are said to be corroborated
(= confirmed) and tentatively accepted.
38
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (8)
Popper and Falsificationism
Thus the problem of induction is seemingly avoided by denying that
science rests on inductive inference. Note nevertheless that
Popper’s notion of corroboration itself depends on an inductive
inference.
According to Popper’s falsificationism, science progresses by a
process of “conjectures and refutations”.
39
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (9)
Popper and Falsificationism
The most severe problem with Popper’s version of the scientific
method is that it is impossible to conclusively refute a theory
because realistic test situations depend on much more than just
the theory under investigation.
40
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (10)
Kuhn’s Scientific Revolutions
Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996) was the one of most influential
philosophers of science of the twentieth century. His The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions is one of the most cited
academic books.
His contribution to the philosophy of science meant not only a
break with several positivist doctrines but also established a
new style of philosophy of science directly related to the history
of science.
41
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (10)
Kuhn’s Scientific Revolutions
Kuhns account of the development of science held that science
enjoys periods of stable growth interrupted by scientific
revolutions, to which he added the controversial
‘incommensurability thesis’, that theories from differing periods
suffer from certain deep kinds of failure of comparability. For
Kuhn competing paradigms were incommensurable - they
involved looking at the world in radically different ways.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
42
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (11)
Kuhn’s Scientific Revolutions
In Kuhn’s view, the individual scientist’s decision to pursue a new
paradigm must be made on faith in its “future promise”.
Science progresses through “paradigm shifts”, but there is no
guarantee that it progresses toward anything - least of all toward
“the truth”.
43
EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORY (12)
Kuhn’s Scientific Revolutions
In criticism of Kuhn, some writers have suggested alternative
worldview models as for example “research tradition” concept,
which attempts to restore rationality to theory selection by
expanding the concept of rationality.
44
Paul Feyerabend: Anything Goes
Feyerabend, held that there was no such thing as the scientific
method and saw science as an essentially anarchic enterprise in
which ‘anything goes’.
It is true that there is no single method that marks out science from
any other form of rational enquiry but nonetheless there are a
range of criteria - such as explanatory scope, predictive power,
experimental repeatability, consistency with other wellestablished theory - that make it a different sort of enterprise to,
say, astrology or alchemy.
45
POSTMODERNISM
Postmodernism is an artistic, architectural, philosophical, and
cultural movement which formed in reaction to modernism.
Modernism may be seen as the culmination of the
Enlightenment's quest for an rational aesthetics, ethics, and
knowledge, postmodernism is concerned with how the
authority of those ideals, sometimes called metanarratives,
are undermined through fragmentation, and
deconstruction.
46
POSTMODERNISM
Jean-François Lyotard famously described postmodernism as an
"incredulity toward metanarratives" (Lyotard, 1984).
Postmodernism attacks the notions of monolithic universals and
encourages fractured, fluid and multiple perspectives and is
marked by an increasing importance in the ideas from the
Sociology of knowledge.
metanarratives - "grand narratives“, form of ‘universal truth'
47
POSTMODERNISM
All knowledge, scientific knowledge included, is held to be socially
constructed.
Science is therefore merely one story among others. The world we
know is one that is constructed by human discourses, giving us
not so much truths as ‘truth-effects’ which may or may not be
pragmatically useful.
From this point of view, epistemologically speaking, a scientific text
is understood as being on a par with a literary text.
48
SCIENCE WARS (1)
In early 1996 the physicist Alan Sokal created a controversy by
publishing two journal articles.
The first article, Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a
Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity appeared in
the journal Social Text.
It pretended to be, and was taken by the editors of Social Text as, a
serious article on the implications of developments in the field of
cultural studies for developments in modern physics, and viceversa.
49
SCIENCE WARS (2)
The second article, A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies,
appeared in the journal Lingua Franca just as issue of Social
Text containing the first article came out. It revealed that the first
article was in fact a hoax.
50
SCIENCE WARS (3)
“But why did I do it? I confess that I'm an unabashed Old Leftist
who never quite understood how deconstruction was supposed
to help the working class. And I'm a stodgy old scientist who
believes, naively, that there exists an external world, that there
exist objective truths about that world, and that my job is to
discover some of them. “
Allan Sokal
51
SCIENCE WARS (4)
“To test the prevailing intellectual standards, I decided to try a
modest (though admittedly uncontrolled) experiment: Would a
leading North American journal of cultural studies - whose
editorial collective includes such luminaries as Fredric Jameson
and Andrew Ross - publish an article liberally salted with
nonsense if (a) it sounded good and (b) it flattered the editors'
ideological preconceptions? “
Allan Sokal
52
SCIENCE WARS (5)
The post modern ideas were known as
• Deconstructionism
• Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK),
• Social Constructivism, and they greatly influenced
• Science and Technology Studies (STS).
The branch of sociology known as Sociology of Scientific Knowledge
(SSK) or Science and Technology Studies (STS), had the objective
of showing that the results of scientific findings did not represent
reality, but were basically the ideology of dominant groups within
society.
53
Postmodernist Anti-Scientism
Post-modernism was a radical critique against science,
contemporary philosophy and current understanding of
rationality. The view of science as a search for truths (or
approximate truths) about the world was rejected.
According to postmodernism, the natural world has a subordinated
role in the construction of scientific knowledge.
Science was just another social practice, producing
``narrations'' and ``myths'' with basically no more validity
than myths.
54
IS THERE ANYTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN?
ANY PROGRESS?
55
An Example of Progress - Transports
56
An Example of Progress - Transports
Beam me up Scotty next?
57
SCIENCE WARS (6)
http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/
A report from the front of the ``Science Wars''
The controversy over the book
Higher Superstition, by Gross and Levitt
http://www.math.gatech.edu/~harrell/cult.html
http://skepdic.com/sokal.html
58
SCIENCE WARS AND PEACE
Cross-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Examples: Computing and Philosophy
http://ia-cap.org/
http://www.interdisciplines.org Interdisciplines (Topics:
Adaptation and Representation, Art and Cognition, Causality,
Enaction (Action and perception intertwined), Issues in
Coevolution of Language and Theory of Mind,
59
Knowledge Era and Skepticism
Again it is almost like in Renaissance, people can claim
“Ad fontes” ! To the sources, that is. We do not need
to accept a second opinion, we can now try to get a
thousand instead , and one can be formidably well
informed as a patient.
Bodil Jönsson, Think if it is just the opposite!? (Tänk om
det är precis tvärtom!?)
60
Cybernetics as a Language for
Interdisciplinary Communication
Stuart A. Umpleby
The George Washington University
Washington, DC
www.gwu.edu/~umpleby
61
How is interdisciplinary communication
possible?
• We would need to share a common language
• Perhaps there is a common “deep structure” which is hidden by
our more specialized discipline-oriented terms and theories
Stuart A. Umpleby
62
Common processes in the external world
• General systems theory, particularly James G. Miller’s living
systems theory, claims that there are certain functions that a
living system must perform
• Miller suggested that “living systems” exist at seven levels:
- cell,
- organ,
- organism,
- group,
- organization,
- nation,
- supranational organization
Stuart A. Umpleby
63
3. Basic Concepts
In cybernetics there are three fundamental concepts:
Regulation
Self-organization
Reflexivity
Stuart A. Umpleby
64
Regulation
• Two analytic elements – regulator and system being regulated
• Engineering examples – thermostat and heater, automatic pilot
and airplane
• Biological examples – feeling of hunger and food in stomach,
light in eye and iris opening
• Social system examples – manager and organization, therapist
and patient
Stuart A. Umpleby
65
The law of requisite variety
• Information and selection
– “The amount of selection that can be performed is limited by
the amount of information available”
• Regulator and regulated
– “The variety in a regulator must be equal to or greater than
the variety in the system being regulated”
W. Ross Ashby
Stuart A. Umpleby
66
Coping with Complexity
When faced with a complex situation, there are two choices
1. Increase the variety in the regulator: hire staff or
subcontract
2. Reduce the variety in the system being regulated: reduce
the variety one chooses to control
Stuart A. Umpleby
67
The Management of Complexity
• There has been a lot of discussion of complexity, as if it exists in
the world
• Cyberneticians prefer to speak about “the management of
complexity”
• Their view is that complexity is observer dependent, that the
system to be regulated is defined by the observer
• This point of view greatly expands the range of alternatives
Stuart A. Umpleby
68
Self-organization
• Every isolated, determinate, dynamic system obeying
unchanging laws will develop organisms adapted to their
environments. W. Ross Ashby
• Many elements within the system
• Boundary conditions
– open to energy (hence dynamic),
– closed to information (interaction rules do not change during the
period of observation)
http://www-lih.univ-lehavre.fr/~bertelle/cossombook/cossombook.html Complex
Systems and Self-organization Modelling
After Stuart A. Umpleby
69
Self-organization
70
Examples of self-organization
• Physical example – chemical reactions; iron
ore, coke, and oxygen heated in a blast
furnace will change into steel, carbon dioxide,
water vapor and slag
• Biological examples – food in the stomach is
transformed into usable energy and materials,
species compete to yield animals adapted to
their environments
After Stuart A. Umpleby
71
Digital Video Feedback and
Morphogenesis
Video Feedback systems tend toward either
stability or chaos. While the stable attractor
offers some interest in the subtleties of its
decay, the unstable attractor offers an
unlimited supply of endless evolving motifs
and an emergent behaviour.
The system can be get into chaotic emergence
via camera movement (rotation and
positioning). The important thing was to
catch the movement of ‘catching a shape’ in
a particular temporal phase to feed back
into the system advancing the complexity
and initiating lifelike morphogenesis.
http://www.transphormetic.com/Talysis01.htm
72
Physical biology of molecular motors
involved in intracellular self-organization
Motor proteins are key determinants for the
spatial organisation of eukaryotic cells.
They are thermodynamic non-equilibrium
machines playing a crucial role for the
dynamic nature of cellular order. In fact,
they provide a paradigm for the concept
of intracellular order depending on
molecular dynamics. How exactly the
collective behaviour of various motors
with different kinetic properties drives the
organisation of the cytoskeleton is not
understood.
Network of microtubules and two kinds of motor
proteins created by self-organisation in vitro
http://www-db.embl.de/jss/EmblGroupsOrg/g_175.html
73
Self-Organizing Systems Resources
http://www.calresco.org/links.htm
74
Introduction to Complex Systems
by David Kirshbaum
Four Important Characteristics of Complexity:
• Self-Organization
• Non-Linearity
• Order/Chaos Dynamic
• Emergent Properties
Computer Programming approaches used for demonstrating, simulating,
and analyzing these characteristics of Complex Systems:
• Artificial Life
• Genetic Algorithms
• Neural Networks
• Cellular Automata
• Boolean Networks
http://www.calresco.org/links.htm
75
Examples of self-organization
Large-scale lattice Boltzmann
simulations of complex fluids:
advances through the advent of
computational grids
Institute for Computational Physics. Physics on High
Performance Computers
http://www.ica1.uni-stuttgart.de/publications/2005/HCVC05/
76
Structure and dynamics of animal social
networks
Interactions between agents (whatever they may be)
can be represented by a network. In animal social
systems the nodes represent individual animals and
the lines between them social ties.
There is a growing interest, among mathematicians,
statistical physicists, sociologists and others in
understanding and characterizing the structure of
such networks, and the dynamics of processes (such
as the transmission of disease or other "information")
on networks.
Most of the animal social networks constructed so far
are built via an accumulation of many surveys of the
population. An alternative approach is to monitor
interactions in real time, to try to understand not only
how information might be transmitted through a
network, but also how the nature of the information
might be having an effect on the structure of the
network.
http://people.bath.ac.uk/pysrj/
77
Supramolecular chemistry and selfassembling molecules
Supramolecular chemists are now
extending their research beyond the
design of molecules that can be used
for molecular recognition or catalysis.
They are actively exploring systems that
undergo self-organisation - systems
that can spontaneously generate welldefined functional supramolecular
architectures by self-assembly from
Molecular fragments self-assemble to form a dynamic library of
their components.
potentially bioactive compounds
This spontaneous but controlled formation
of nanoscale architectures could be
"Self-organisation by selection takes advantage of dynamic
used to engineer and process
diversity to allow variation in response to internal or external
functional nanostructures, offering a
factors in a Darwinian fashion."
powerful alternative to
nanofabrication, going from
"Constitutional dynamic chemistry paves the way towards an adaptive
construction to self-construction.
and evolutive chemistry, a further step towards unravelling the science
of complex matter."
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemScience/Volume/2007
/02/A_natural_selection.asp
78
Self-reference
Reflexivity
79
http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/guarana/docs/design-html/node2.html Computational Reflection
Douglas Hofstadter on Self-Reference
“Self-reference is ubiquitous. It happens every time any
one says “I” or “me” or “word” or “speak” or “mouth”. It
happens every time a newspaper prints a story about
reporters, every time someone writes a book about
writing, designs a book about book design, makes a
movie about movies, or writes an article about selfreference. Many systems have the capability to
represent or refer to themselves somehow, to
designate themselves (or elements of themselves)
within the system of their own symbolism. Whenever
this happens, it is an instance of self-reference.”
“My proposal [...] is to see the “I” as a hallucination
perceived by a hallucination, which sounds pretty
strange, or perhaps even stranger: the “I” as a
hallucination hallucinated by a hallucination.”
(I Am a Strange Loop, p. 293 )
80
Self-reference
(Reflexivity)
• This model has traditionally
been avoided and is logically
difficult
• Inherent in social systems
where observers are also
participants, in individual living
organisms
• Every statement reveals an
observer as much as what is
observed
After Stuart A. Umpleby
81
Examples of reflexivity – recursive
algorithms
This graph is based on a
simple recursive algorithm.
Recursion is a popular
technique used to describe
trees and the like, because
of the self-referential
nature of a tree.
Self-reference can lead to
undecidability (and
paradoxes like set of all
sets that are not members
of themselves)
82
Observation
Self-awareness
Stuart A. Umpleby 83
Reflexivity in a social system
Stuart A. Umpleby
84
Ideas
Variables
Groups
Events
A reflexive theory operates at two levels
Stuart A. Umpleby
85
Adaptation/Reactivity/Regulation, Self-organization,
Self-reference/Reflexivity/Recursiveness
Models of regulation, self-organization, and reflexivity – can be
used in two ways, to:
• develop descriptions of some system (develop interdisciplinary
models), or
• guide efforts to influence some system
Stuart A. Umpleby
86
Overview of Cybernetics
• The focus of attention within cybernetics has changed from
engineering to the biology of cognition to social systems
• Ideas from cybernetics have been used in computer science,
robotics, management, family therapy, philosophy of science,
economics and political science
• Cybernetics has created theories of the nature of information,
knowledge, adaptation, learning, self-organization, cognition,
autonomy, and understanding
Stuart A. Umpleby
87
Author
Von Foerster
Pask
Varela
Umpleby
Umpleby
First Order Cybernetics
Second Order Cybernetics
The cybernetics of observed
systems
The purpose of a model
Controlled systems
Interaction among the variables in
a system
Theories of social systems
The cybernetics of observing systems
The purpose of a modeler
Autonomous systems
Interaction between observer and observed
Theories of the interaction between ideas
and society
Definitions of First and Second Order Cybernetics
Stuart A. Umpleby
88
Engineering Cybernetics
Biological Cybernetics
Social Cybernetics
The view of
epistemology
A realist view
of epistemology:
knowledge is a
“picture” of reality
A biological view of
epistemology: how the
brain functions
A pragmatic view of
epistemology:
knowledge is
constructed to achieve
human purposes
A key distinction
Reality vs. scientific
theories
Realism vs. Constructivism
The biology of cognition vs.
the observer as a
social participant
The puzzle to be
solved
Construct theories which
explain observed
phenomena
Include the observer within the
domain of science
Explain the relationship
between the natural
and the social sciences
What must be
explained
How the world works
How an individual constructs a
“reality”
How people create,
maintain, and change
social systems through
language and ideas
A key assumption
Natural processes can be
explained by
scientific theories
Ideas about knowledge should
be rooted in
neurophysiology.
Ideas are accepted if they
serve the observer’s
purposes as a social
participant
An important
consequence
Scientific knowledge can
be used to modify
natural processes to
benefit people
If people accept constructivism,
they will be more tolerant
By transforming conceptual
systems (through
persuasion, not
coercion), we can
change society
Three Versions of Cybernetics
89
Stuart A. Umpleby
The Cybernetics of Science
NORMAL SCIENCE
Correspondence
principle
Incommensurable
definitions
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
Stuart A. Umpleby
90
The Correspondence Principle
• Proposed by Niels Bohr when developing the quantum theory
• Any new theory should reduce to the old theory to which it
corresponds for those cases in which the old theory is known to
hold
• A new dimension is required
Stuart A. Umpleby
91
New philosophy of science
Old philosophy of science
Amount of attention paid to
the observer
An Application of the Correspondence Principle
Stuart A. Umpleby
92
TRANSDISCIPLINARY, INTERDISCIPLINARY
AND CROSS DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Modern sciences are stretching through several classical fields.
Computer science e.g. includes the field of AI that has its roots in
mathematical logic and mathematics but uses physics,
chemistry and biology and even has parts where medicine and
psychology are very important.
Examples: Environmental studies, Cognitive sciences, Cultural
studies, Policy sciences, Information sciences, Women’s
studies, Molecular biology, Philosophy of Computing and
Information, Bioinformatics, adaptive systems, intelligence,
consciousness, societies of minds, ..
93
TRANSDISCIPLINARY, INTERDISCIPLINARY
AND CROSS DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Research into complex phenomena has led to an insight that
research problems have many different facets which may be
approached differently at different levels of abstraction and that
every knowledge field has a specific domain of validity.
This new understanding of a multidimensional many-layered
knowledge space of phenomena have among others resulted in
an ecumenical conclusion of science wars by recognition of the
necessity of an inclusive and complex knowledge architecture
which recognizes importance of a variety of approaches and
types of knowledge.
94
TRANSDISCIPLINARY, INTERDISCIPLINARY
AND CROSS DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Based on sources in philosophy, sociology,
complexity theory, systems theory, cognitive
science, evolutionary biology and fuzzy logic,
Smith and Jenks present a new interdisciplinary
perspective on the self-organizing complex
structures.
They analyze the relationship between the process
of self-organization and its environment/ecology.
Two central factors are the role of information in
the formation of complex structure and the
development of topologies of possible outcome
spaces.
95
TRANSDISCIPLINARY, INTERDISCIPLINARY
AND CROSS DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
The authors argue for a continuous
development from emergent complex
orders in physical systems to cognitive
capacity of living organisms to complex
structures of human thought and to
cultures.
This is a new understanding of unity of
interdisciplinary knowledge, unity in
structured diversity, also found in
(Mainzer).
96
“Cosmic evolution leads from symmetry to
complexity by symmetry breaking and
phase transitions. The emergence of new
order and structure in nature and society is
explained by physical, chemical, biological,
social and economic self-organization,
according to the laws of nonlinear
dynamics.
All these dynamical systems are considered
computational systems processing
information and entropy.”
97
“Are symmetry and complexity only useful
models of science or are they universals
of reality? Symmetry and Complexity
discusses the fascinating insights
gained from natural, social and
computer sciences, philosophy and the
arts.
With many diagrams and pictures, this
book illustrates the spirit and beauty of
nonlinear science. In the complex world
of globalization, it strongly argues for
unity in diversity.”
98
ix
Preface
Part I
The Simple and the Complex
1
Prologue: An Encounter in
the Jungle
2
Early Light
11
3
Information and Crude
Complexity
23
4
Randomness
43
5
A Child Learning a
Language
51
6
Bacteria Developing Drug
Resistance
63
7
The Scientific Enterprise
75
8
The Power of Theory
89
9
What Is Fundamental?
10
7
3
99
Part II
The Quantum Universe
10
Simplicity and Randomness in
the Quantum Universe
123
11
A Contemporary View of
Quantum Mechanics:
Quantum Mechanics and the
Classical Approximation
135
12
Quantum Mechanics and
Flapdoodle
167
13
Quarks and All That: The
Standard Model
177
14
Superstring Theory: Unification
at Last?
199
15
Time's Arrows: Forward and
Backward Time
215
100
Part III
Selection and Fitness
16
Selection at Work in Biological
Evolution and Elsewhere
235
17
From Learning to Creative Thinking
261
18
Superstition and Skepticism
275
19
Adaptive and Maladaptive Schemata
291
20
Machines That Learn or Simulate
Learning
307
Part IV
Diversity and Sustainability
21
Diversities Under Threat
329
22
Transitions to a More Sustainable World
345
23
Afterword
367
Index
377
101
SCIENTIFIC METHOD CASE STUDY:
THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
– Paradigm shift from medieval astronomy to modern science
– Plato has defined five perfect solids corresponding to five
elements.
– In Aristotle’s physics each element had a natural place in the
universe.
102
SCIENTIFIC METHOD CASE STUDY:
THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
The natural place for the Earth was in
the center of the universe; for Water
on the surface of the Earth, for Air in
the region above the surface of the
Earth, and for the Fire above the
atmosphere.
The five
Platonic
solids
tetrahedron = plasma ("fire")
octahedron = gas ("air")
icosahedron = liquid ("water")
hexahedron = solid ("earth")
dodecahedron = the fifth element,
(the quintessence)
103
ARISTOTELIAN WORLD VIEW (1)
Each earthly object would have a natural place in the sub-lunar
region depending on the proportion of four elements.
All objects on Earth were thought to have natural property to move
in strait lines upwards or downwards, towards their natural
place.
Thus stones have the natural motion straight downwards, towards
the center of the earth, and flames have a natural motion
straight upwards, striving towards the top of the atmosphere.
104
ARISTOTELIAN WORLD VIEW (2)
All motion other than natural motion requires a force.
In the second century AD Ptolemy developed within the Aristotelian
physics a geocentric astronomical system that specified the
orbits of the moon, the sun and all the planets. Ptolemy’s system
was held as definite truth during the Antique and Middle Ages.
105
PTOLEMY’S SYSTEM
106
COPERNICAN SYSTEM
Figure 2 Copernican system
107
THE COPERNICAN TURN
Copernicus (1483-1543) had no alternative for Aristotelian
physics, and hence had no strong enough arguments to defend
his heliocentric system.
Copernicus model was against Aristotelian ideas of earth as
natural center of the universe.
108
PROBLEMS WITH THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM (1)
• Tower argument (the stone dropped from the top of a tower
strikes the ground at the base of the tower, contrary to the
hypothesis that the earth is spinning around its axes).
•
Loose objects on the surface of the earth would be expected to
flung from the earth surface in much the same ways stones
would be flung from the rotating wheel.
• Absence of parallax in the observed positions of the stars
109
PROBLEMS WITH THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM (2)
• Mars and Venus, as viewed by the naked eye, do not change
size appreciably during the course of the year.
•
If the earth were moving through the universe one would expect
wind blowing all the time…
•
How to explain that the moon follows the earth on its journey
through the universe?
110
GALILEO (1)
The new Galileo’s (1564 -1642) mechanics helped to defend
Copernican system.
An object held at the top of a tower and sharing its circular motion
around the center of the earth will continue that motion (because
of inertia) along with tower, after it is dropped and will strike the
ground at the foot of the tower.
111
GALILEO (2)
Galileo proposed the following experiment to show the correctness
of the law of inertia. If we drop a stone from the mast of a
uniformly moving ship on the sea, the stone will strike the deck
at the foot of the mast!
Galileo also used telescope to observe celestial bodies. The
discovery of the phases of Venus was another Galileo’s
contribution to a success of Copernican theory.
112
KEPLER (1)
The next major support for Copernicus
heliocentric scheme was from Kepler
(1571-1630).
Kepler discovered the following three
(Kepler!) laws of planetary motion.
Keplers’s first law
LAW 1: The orbit of a planet/comet about the sun is an ellipse with the
sun's center of mass at one focus.
(That eliminated ad-hoc epicycles from Copernican model).
113
KEPLER (2)
LAW 2: Sun sweeps out equal areas in
equal intervals of time
Keplers’s second law
LAW 3: The squares of the periods of the planets are proportional to the
cubes of their semi major axes:
Ta2 / Tb2 = Ra3 / Rb3
114
NEWTON
Utilizing Kepler’s third law, Newton derived the
law of gravitation.
Gravitational force is directly proportional to
masses and inversely proportional to the
square of their distance.
Constant G is called gravitational constant.
115
WHAT CAN WE LEARN
FROM THIS HISTORICAL EXAMPLE? (1)
We can conclude that neither inductivists (who claim that laws are
"induced" from sets of data) nor falsificationists (who claim that
one counter-example can prove theory wrong) can give a
satisfactory explanation of Copernican revolution.
The Copernican revolution did not take place as a result of a new
theory supported by experimental confirmation.
116
WHAT CAN WE LEARN
FROM THIS HISTORICAL EXAMPLE? (2)
New physical concepts of force, inertia and action on distance did
not come in the first place as a result of observation and
experiment.
117
WHAT CAN WE LEARN
FROM THIS HISTORICAL EXAMPLE? (3)
Early formulations of the new theory, involving vaguely formulated
novel conceptions, were preserved in spite of apparent
falsifications!
It was only due to the intellectual effort of a number of scientists
developing new physics during several centuries, that the new
theory could be satisfactorily justified.
118
WHAT CAN WE LEARN
FROM THIS HISTORICAL EXAMPLE? (4)
Galileo Galilei devised new mechanic to replace Aristotelian and so
remove arguments against Copernicus.
He distinguished between the ideas of velocity and acceleration
(change of velocity), and asserted that freely falling objects
move with a constant acceleration that is independent of their
weight.
119
WHAT CAN WE LEARN
FROM THIS HISTORICAL EXAMPLE? (5)
Galileo denied the Aristotelian claim that all motion requires a force
and instead proposed circular law of inertia:
A moving body subject to no force will move indefinitely in a circle
around the sun at uniform speed.
This law of inertia is later on replaced by Newton’s law of inertia.
120
AND AN ILLUSION AT THE END!
121