My paper on Autopoiesis & Cognition
Francis Heylighen
Dear Colleagues,
Modeling Autopoiesis and Cognition with Reaction Networks
Abstract: Maturana and Varela defined an autopoietic system as a self-regenerating network of processes. We reinterpret and elaborate this conception starting from a process ontology and its formalization in terms of reaction networks and chemical organization theory. An autopoietic organization can be modelled as a network of “molecules” (components) undergoing reactions, which is (operationally) closed and self-maintaining. Such organizations, being attractors of a dynamic system, tend to self-organize—thus providing a model for the origin of life. However, in order to survive in a variable environment, they must also be resilient, i.e. able to recover from perturbations. According to the cybernetic law of requisite variety, this requires cognition, i.e. the ability to recognize and compensate perturbations. Such cognition becomes more effective as it learns to accurately anticipate perturbations by discovering invariant patterns in its interactions with the environment. Nevertheless, the resulting predictive model remains a subjective construction. Such implicit model cannot be interpreted as an objective representation of external reality, because the autopoietic system does not have direct access to that reality, and there is in general no isomorphism between internal and external processes.
Director, Center Leo Apostel
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
https://clea.research.vub.be/en/FrancisHeylighen
r.es...@syncho.org
Dear Francis,
I’ve read with great delight the paper you submitted to the special issue of Biosystems on Autopoiesis and Cognition. I liked it for its clarity at the same time for finding that it aligned well with some of my work, starting from my book with Alfonso Reyes, “Organizational Systems, managing complexity with the Viable System Model (Springer 2011)”, in which we explore the complementarity of operational (internal processes) and black box (input output) descriptions of organisational systems and continuing with two of my more recent publications, which I’m attaching to this email. For brevity I leave for possible personal conversations their discussion, but for now I want to highlight that my work is focused on social systems, language and conversations (Maturana’s Path of Objectivity-in- Parenthesis and Beer’s Viable System Model) , more than on Chemical Viable Theory. As proposed in your conclusions you want to develop further “What kinds of conditions are most conducive to the emergence of non-trivial, autopoietic networks (Veloz et al., 2022)”, and I think that my work, as explained in Cybernetics and Human Knowing, offers something in that direction. Additionally, in the paper in Cybernetics and Systems 2022, I explore in some depth the idea of Recursive Organisations and Problem Solving (the Viplan Methodology), which I felt could benefit from some of the arguments about modelling processes in your paper.
Altogether, thank you for sharing your manuscript.
Kind regards
Raul
Professor Raul Espejo
President
World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics
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Borislav Harihari
Dear Profesosr dr. Heylinghen,
you asked for feedback and I'm trying to give one.
Maturana and Varella defined self-regenerating network of biochemical processes in terms of self-reproduction. At least that was how In my conversation with Maturana he emphasized structure and organization of Living beings. He mentioned also recursive processes in Living beings.
An autopoietic organization (and probably structure) can be modelled as a network of molecular reactions (Maturana's definition) and thus as a control system like for ex. bacteria e.colli which will perform goal oriented behavior in order to survive. With rotating flagella in one direction it will "seek" for food and rotating flagella in other direction when food is found it will follow the trace of food. It means that bacteria is "feeding". Experiment is described in "Tree of Knowledge" (1987).
Autopoietic system as any Living Control System (LCS) has ability to compensate or adjust effects of disturbances from "variable" environments which tend to "move" state of LCS from homeostasis. But control mechanisms inside LCS make recovery from effects of perturbations as you wrote and return LCS into predefined state which is defined by genetic control subsystems in organism. In case of bacteria this is direct control.
I think it's not that easy to include Law od requisite variety only into cognitive processes, becasue basic homeostatics can be achieved without them (for ex. bacteria or Amoeba). They are quite evolutionary distant in self-maintaining activity to keep homeostatic conditions in LCS.
Law of requisite variety can be turned into control language as a strucutre and organization of LCS which will perform compensating or adjusting activity in respect not only to external disturbances but also to internal. If LCS does not have enough control mechanisms to compensate disturbances inside it will not survive.
Cognitive activity in compensating disturbances (perturbances) of LCS can be observed much later in structure and organization of nervous system that tended toward heirarchical organization and which can perform beside "negative feedback" also control operations in anticipating perturbances (feedforward).
I don't what you exactly meant by "the autopoietic system does not have direct access to that reality".
How autopoietic system anticipate disturbances if it doesn't have direct access to reality through input?
Boris Hartman
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