From Complexity to Creativity : Explorations in Evolutionary, Autopoietic, and Cognitive Dynamics

Goertzel, Ben

ISBN 10: 0306455188 / ISBN 13: 9780306455186

Published by Springer, 1997

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 659113-n

Bibliographic Details

• Title: From Complexity to Creativity : Explorations in Evolutionary, Autopoietic, and Cognitive Dynamics
• Publisher: Springer
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0306455188
• ISBN 13: 9780306455186
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Cybernetic pioneer Warren McCullough asked: "What is a man, that he may know a number; and what is a number, that a man may know it?" Thinking along much the same lines, my question here is: "What is a creative mind, that it might emerge from a complex system; and what is a complex system, that it might give rise to a creative mind?" Complexity science is a fashionable topic these days. My perspective on complexity, however, is a somewhat unusual one: I am interested in complex systems science principally as it reflects on abstract mathematical, computational models of mind. In my three previous books, The Structure of Intelligence, Evolving Mind, and Chaotic Logic, I have outlined a comprehensive complex-systems-theoretic theory of mind that I now call the psynet model. This book is a continuation of the research program presented in my previous books (and those books will be frequently referred to here, by the nicknames EM and CL). One might summarize the trajectory of thought spanning these four books as follows. SI formulated a philosophy and mathem- ics of mind, based on theoretical computer science and the concept of "pattern. " EM analyzed the theory of evolution by natural selection in similar terms, and used this computational theory of evolution to establish the evolutionary nature of thought.

Synopsis

This groundbreaking text applies the concepts of complexity science to provide a unified scientific explanation of all aspects of human creativity. The book clearly describes the psynet model - a novel complex-systems theory - that integrates ideas from computer science, mathematics, neurobiology, philosophy, and cognitive and personality psychology. Goertzel shows how common computer science algorithms, such as neural nets and genetic algorithms, fit into the mental and creative process, and proposes that the understanding of mathematics must be extended to successfully deal with the mind's workings.