From: Jeff Bone (jbone@jump.net)
Date: Tue Feb 01 2000 - 09:01:40 PST
Kragen Sitaker wrote:
> The exceptions are that (a) big programs always had some degree of
> encapsulation, at least since the 1960s; otherwise they wouldn't have
> been possible; (b) I don't know what entelechy is, and the dictionary
> definition ("something that actually exists, as opposed to something
> that merely could exist")
Hmm. The operative definition in the stuff I've been reading seems to be
something like "behaviors that emerge at higher levels of complexity and
organization." I.e., stuff that comes from the whole being somehow greater
than the sum of its parts. Though granted this usage doesn't flow very
naturally from the dictionary defs I can find, either.
jb
> is not helpful in understanding how it could
> be an organizing principle in nature, so I can't agree or disagree with
> that. As if you cared. I just didn't want to claim to agree with
> something I didn't understand. :)
>
> > PS - those damned peasants can still stay the hell off my fallow
> > pasture. ;-)
>
> :)
>
> --
> <kragen@pobox.com> Kragen Sitaker <http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/>
> The Internet stock bubble didn't burst on 1999-11-08. Hurrah!
> <URL:http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/bubble.html>
> The power didn't go out on 2000-01-01 either. :)
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