| Title & Author | Abstract | |
|---|---|---|
| 13(026) | BEHAVIORAL KNOWLEDGE AND STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY IN MCCULLOCH-PITTS SYSTEMS
Target Article on Behavioral Knowledge José E. Burgos University of Guadalajara Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones en Comportamiento Av. 12 de Diciembre #204 Col. Chapalita C.P. 45030 (A.P. 5-374) Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. U.S.A.: 413 Interamericana Blvd WH1 PMB 30-189 Laredo, TX 78045-7926. http://udgserv.cencar.udg.mx/~ceip/ jburgos@cucba.udg.mx |
Abstract:
I present a thought experiment in biobehavioral
epistemology. A McCulloch-Pitts (MP) system faces the task of
attaining some behavioral knowledge about another MP system, where
"knowledge" means "classifying" and "behavior" means "input-output"
relations. An analysis of two cases, where the observing system was
structurally as complex as the observed system, revealed that the
former could not achieve a complete, maximally fine-grained
knowledge about the latter's behavior. I examine some hypothetical
generalizations of this outcome.
Keywords: behavioral knowledge, complexity, McCulloch, Pitts, epistemology |