Isomorphic Patterns in Nature
Human nervous system
Electronic brains
Electromagnetic Society
Reiser, Oliver. L. (1953). Logic, Cybernetics, and Semantics. Synthese, 9(3/5). S. 306. |
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The present article is an adventure into the field of creative semantics. It presents a theory of what Dr. S. I. Hayakawa calls a map of a territory-to-be: a theory of a coming planetary civilization based upon a universal or all-world symbolism. The development of such a theory rests upon the use of a three-level analogy between the functioning of
(1) the human nervous system,
(2) the electronic brains which are now constructed to ”think,“
(3) a coming electromagnetic society,
with the spreading network of ganglia and electronic nerves — such as radio, television, and radar — constituting the embryonic nerve cells or neuroblasts of an emerging world cortex. The common denominator of these three levels of electrical conductivity is provided by mechanisms which ”scan“ the symbolism of the screen and thus transmit the gestalt patterns of communication across the social whole. In order to proliferate this synthesis it is necessary first to lay bare the architectonic of human reason, and then investigate the isomorphic patterns which undergird the parallels between the human brain and the planetary cortex of the emerging world sensorium.