LC 00488

•Our actions in the present are guided by our experiences we gained in the past. In a sense we can predict the future. We built a mental model of reality that shapes the way we look at things and situations. That is, we behave according to our worldviews comprised of practices and experiences driven by assumptions and emotions. This is who we are.

•Our behavior is self-referential, i.e., we refer to our own practices and experiences to guide us in future actions.

•We make our own decisions, although circumstances might limit our options, or even more extreme, we might be coerced in a particular behavior.

•Mutual influences:

•We cannot stand on our own. We are constantly sensing the world and adapt where deemed necessary. Adapting to changing circumstances in the environment but also the concepts and ideas put forward by other people.

•Cognizing = sensing the world → adaptation = living.

•There must be a difference that makes a difference. That is, a difference according to our worldviews (self-referential) and the (implicit) decision (autonomy) to adapt including to reshape our worldviews (autopoiesis).

•More formally O = WV(O). We view according to our worldview an object (can be anything including a non-animated thing (for instance a chair) or a complex situation involving several stakeholders holding different opinions) and create a mental picture of the object. In the process of perceiving our worldview is adapted repeatedly. In the end, we might reach a fixed point in which our mental picture corresponds with the object. Our worldview is a moving target and continuously adapted in this process. Beware for the fact that the fixed point only applies for ourselves. It becomes a fixed point because in the end there is no difference anymore that makes a difference. No matter how we look at the object from different angles, the object remains the same in our perception.

•O = WV(WV(O))

•O = WV(WV(WV(…)))

•In the end, provided the recursion stops in the sense that there is no difference anymore that makes a difference, a fixed point is reached: O = WV(O)

•Although a fixed point can be reached, this does not mean that we have a complete perception of the object or even a correct one. It simply means that there is no difference anymore. A worldview provides a way to look at the world, like glasses. It is how we look and we do not know what we miss by perceiving the world according to our worldview (glasses). That is, everyone has its blind spots. Critical thinking is shifting the attention from first order observations (observing the O) to second order observations (observing the WV). We need others to pinpoint our blind spots.

We act and react on each other. This is how culture originates end evolves.

• Lees hiervoor:
  Second-Order Cybernetics
• Lees hierna:
  Self-observation

Referenties

• Steps to an Ecology of Mind, Gregory Bateson, Jason Aronson Inc, 1 januari 1972.
• Objects as tokens for eigenbehaviours, H. von Foerster, Observing Systems, Systems Inquiry Series, pp. 274-285, 1 januari 1981.
• On the cybernetics of fixed points, Louis Kauffman, Cybernetics, 1 januari 2001.
• Processes and Boundaries of the Mind; Extending the Limit Line, Yair Neuman, Spriner Science Business Media, 1 januari 2003.