Dennett I 306
Definition "Epistasis"/Kauffman: Interactions between genes. Suitability landscape strongly determines the development. For example, the creation of a sonnet: forces us to remove some of the beautiful parts that we have worked hard on, because they do not fit into the overall scheme.
Kauffman I 117/118
Definition State Space/Kauffman: Range of possibilities of the light pattern, 2 exp n. With 1000 molecules and a change after a trillionth of a second, the existence time of the universe would not be sufficient to complete a cycle (running through all possible states).
I 121
Networks/Kauffman: Question: How to create networks with short status cycles? Is it difficult to produce them, so they are extremely unlikely?
Solution: Attractor: more than one trajectory can enter the same state cycle.
If attractors are small, more order is created.
I 176
Definition "Supracritical Behavior"/Kauffman: here: abrupt increase in the diversity of the biosphere. Similar to a nuclear chain reaction.
While the biosphere as a whole is supracritical, like a mass of split atomic nuclei, the individual cells that make up the biosphere must be subcritical. This protects the system from chaos. ((s) e.g. So that a house can be built from bricks, not from crumbs.).
I 189
System/cell/order/evolution/supracritical/Kauffman: the fact that we eat our food and do not merge with it indicates a fundamental fact:
Biosphere: supracritical
Cells: subcritical
If we merged with our food, a supercritical explosion would be triggered in the organism.
I 393
Definition Recipient-based communication/Larry Wood: all actors in a system that seek to coordinate behavioural patterns share what happens to them. This is included in the decision-making process. There is a superordinate team goal.
For example, fighter pilots can do without ground support. They react to those other machines that fly the least distance away from them. Similar to the example of flocks of birds.