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9 Mind, Life, and the Universe
there are neuron circuits and individual neurons that fire up every time a specific
object is seen or occurs in mind. Such object-specific neurons are assumed to be
the neurological equivalents of tokens in memory. When they fire, memories
associated with the object become accessible. In a strong sense, they behave as
symbols.
Symbolic systems are among the oldest inventions of nature. Evolution could
never have gotten off the ground without the molecular genetic system, which
is a paradigm example of a symbolic scheme. The double helix is a symbolic
structure, essentially an extended proposition, which contains the description
of an organism’s entire body plan.
It is well-known today that strands of DNA are “words” written in an
alphabet of four symbols: Like words and sentences in any language, the
sequence of symbols is the linearization of a Gestalt: It represents a wholebody description reorganized in serial form, and preserves the blueprint of the
whole organism in order that out of it, an organism may be reconstructed.
The control mechanisms in living animals and plants are symbolic systems.
They receive input data from sense receptors, and produce output whose function is to regulate the behavior of organs or organisms. The data they receive
as well as the information they generate consist of symbols, because this data
represents external conditions or elements of motor output. Thus, symbolic
mechanisms of various kinds make their appearance at the most fundamental
level of life.
At this stage, it is possible to understand more clearly what a symbolic system
is. When it is necessary to describe an object of the external world, we must
decide on the level of specificity that is wanted. For example, to give a description
of a steam engine, the relevant objects are the cylinder, the piston, the rotary
valves, and the boiler. It would be redundant and quite unnecessary to begin
the description at the level of quarks and elementary particles, or by describing
the molecular properties of metals. In fact, it would be incorrect, because those
are not the functional components of a steam engine.
Every description is meaningful at a level of specificity whose basic parts are
the ones you need for your description. The symbols used in the description
refer to basic parts. The basic, or elementary parts at your current level may
actually be composite things at a lower level. For example, in a description of
the steam engine, the piston is made of an alloy of different metals and has
a crystalline structure. So the piston, which is an elementary object in your
description of a steam engine, is a compound object from the perspective of a
metallurgist.
In this example, you may consider a next-higher level of description: For
the industrial engineer who is designing a factory, the basic components of his
9 Mind, Life, and the Universe
there are neuron circuits and individual neurons that fire up every time a specific
object is seen or occurs in mind. Such object-specific neurons are assumed to be
the neurological equivalents of tokens in memory. When they fire, memories
associated with the object become accessible. In a strong sense, they behave as
symbols.
Symbolic systems are among the oldest inventions of nature. Evolution could
never have gotten off the ground without the molecular genetic system, which
is a paradigm example of a symbolic scheme. The double helix is a symbolic
structure, essentially an extended proposition, which contains the description
of an organism’s entire body plan.
It is well-known today that strands of DNA are “words” written in an
alphabet of four symbols: Like words and sentences in any language, the
sequence of symbols is the linearization of a Gestalt: It represents a wholebody description reorganized in serial form, and preserves the blueprint of the
whole organism in order that out of it, an organism may be reconstructed.
The control mechanisms in living animals and plants are symbolic systems.
They receive input data from sense receptors, and produce output whose function is to regulate the behavior of organs or organisms. The data they receive
as well as the information they generate consist of symbols, because this data
represents external conditions or elements of motor output. Thus, symbolic
mechanisms of various kinds make their appearance at the most fundamental
level of life.
At this stage, it is possible to understand more clearly what a symbolic system
is. When it is necessary to describe an object of the external world, we must
decide on the level of specificity that is wanted. For example, to give a description
of a steam engine, the relevant objects are the cylinder, the piston, the rotary
valves, and the boiler. It would be redundant and quite unnecessary to begin
the description at the level of quarks and elementary particles, or by describing
the molecular properties of metals. In fact, it would be incorrect, because those
are not the functional components of a steam engine.
Every description is meaningful at a level of specificity whose basic parts are
the ones you need for your description. The symbols used in the description
refer to basic parts. The basic, or elementary parts at your current level may
actually be composite things at a lower level. For example, in a description of
the steam engine, the piston is made of an alloy of different metals and has
a crystalline structure. So the piston, which is an elementary object in your
description of a steam engine, is a compound object from the perspective of a
metallurgist.
In this example, you may consider a next-higher level of description: For
the industrial engineer who is designing a factory, the basic components of his