[From: Bruce Nevin (Tue 920110 14:18:16)]
Robert K. Clark (Tue, 10 Mar 1992 15:24:00 GMT) --
I couldn't find the posts to which you were responding (if you include a
date it helps), and haven't time for more than a quick gasp of air.
Yes, ECS is a recent acronym for "elementary control system," a term
offered by Martin Taylor some months ago that we seem to have found
useful for distinguishing a minimal neural black box (comparator with
I/O functions for perceptual input, reference input, and error or delta
output) from a hierarchical control system as a whole.
A key question for social "control" it seems to me is "how can one
person model her behavior on that of another?" Something close to that
is how social norms and conventions are learned, shared, and used.
The degree to which one follows or violates a norm for X kind of person
communicates to others something of what kind of person one is (or
purports to be).
In this, it is as though there were an input reference signal for the
given social norm or convention. You ask "How is this perceptual signal
generated? And how is the set of inputs composing that same perceptual
signal selected over time?" I ask: how can one person model his behavior
on that of others? If we understand that in a clear and precise way, I
believe we thereby have clear and precise answers to your questions.
Bruce
bn@bbn.com