Brain Inspired BI 174 Alicia Juarrero: Context Changes Everything
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Sep 13, 2023 Philosopher Alicia Juarrero discusses the importance of constraints in understanding complex systems like the brain. They explore the concept of context and its impact on human behavior. The conversation touches on emergent properties, culture, and the role of top-down constraints. They also delve into embodied cognition, brain activity, dimensionality, the difference between mind and brain, and the concept of wisdom. Exploring hope, protein folding, and higher levels of organization and constraints conclude the podcast.
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Constraints Shape Possibility Spaces
- Constraints, not just forces, shape complex systems by limiting and enabling possible dynamics.
- Alicia Juarrero argues constraints create coherence and deserve central causal status.
Emergence Can Be Causally Powerful
- Emergent properties can exert top-down causal influence by constraining component dynamics.
- Juarrero sees dynamical systems theory as allowing real causal power for emergent regimes.
Rethinking Causation As Constraints
- Efficient (energetic) causation misses top-down and constraint-based influences across scales.
- Juarrero reframes such influences as 'influence by constraint' rather than traditional efficient causes.