Intensity of interaction as the defining factor in hierarchical organization (all organization?)
Most physical and biological hierarchies are described in spatial terms. We detect the organelles in a cell in the way we detect the raisins in a cake—they are “visibly” differentiated substructures localized spatially in the larger structure. On the other hand, we propose to identify social hierarchies not by observing who lives close to whom but by observing who interacts with whom. These two points of view can be reconciled by defining hierarchy in terms of intensity of interaction, but observing that in most biological and physical systems relatively intense interaction implies relative spatial propinquity. (H. Simon, The Sciences of the Artificial, 199)
“Intensity” of interaction here means something like how “tightly” things are coupled, or even how “close-knit” they are—that is, the degree to which the behavior of each affects or constrains the other…. Further, comparing these intensities can be the first step in accounts, respectively, of relative independence and interface simplicity; for each can be seen as a matter of less intense interaction—looser coupling—externally, as compared to internally.
—Haugeland, J., 2000: Mind Embodied and Embedded, p. 9. Chapter 9 in Haugeland, J., 2000: Having Thought: Essays in the Metaphysics of Mind. Harvard University Press. (Citing Simon, H., 1969/81: Embedding Artifice in Nature. Chapter in The Sciences of the Artificial, p. 199.)
author:simon-herbert book:simon-sciences-of-the-artificial author:haugeland-john book:haugeland-having-thought paper:haugeland-mind-embodied-and-embedded snip:interface-intensity interface definition relation simplicity intensity organization hierarchy modularization list:mind-body-world
