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SUMMARY:Meta-Morphogenesis: Evolution of mechanisms for producing minds - 
 Professor Aaron Sloman (University of Birmingham)
DTSTART:20120508T163000Z
DTEND:20120508T173000Z
UID:TALK38123@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:26108
DESCRIPTION:"Alan Turing's work on morphogenesis (see below) explored how 
 micro-interactions\nin physicochemical structures might account for global
  transformations from a\nfertilized egg to an animal or plant\, within a s
 ingle organism.\n\nI'll outline a rudimentary theory of "meta-morphogenesi
 s" that aims to show how\,\nover generations\, interactions between changi
 ng environments\, changing animal\nmorphology\, and previously evolved inf
 ormation-processing capabilities might\ncombine to produce increasingly co
 mplex forms of "informed control"\, initially\njust control of physical be
 haviour\, then later also informed control of\ninformation-processing. Thi
 s potentially explains philosophically puzzling\nfeatures of animal (inclu
 ding human) minds\, including the existence of "qualia".\nIt is also relat
 ed to the transformation of empirical knowledge into a "generative"\nor "d
 eductive" form\, a process labelled "Representational Redescription" by An
 nette\nKarmiloff-Smith[*]. I suspect that such processes provide the found
 ation for human\nmathematical competences."\n\nAdmission free to CUCaTS me
 mbers\, £2 otherwise. Membership may also be bought at the door. As usual
  refreshments will be served 15 minutes before the start of the talk.
LOCATION:Auditorium Lounge\, Robinson College
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