Fred's Expanding Grasp of PCT

Rick Marken's response to my model suggests I have the basics correct. I'll
tinker with the changes he suggested (comparator, perceptual function, and
output function) but I come now to the question that brought me to the list:

        How are reference conditions established?

Regards,

Fred Nickols
Senior Consultant
The Distance Consulting Company
nickols@worldnet.att.net

[Hans Blom, 971001e]

(Fred Nickols)

... the question that brought me to the list:

       How are reference conditions established?

That's a good question. Only just recently I've come to the
realization that the HPCT hierarchy is foremost a _perceptual_
hierarchy, where perceptions are ever more abstracted into higher
level notions, and not very much like how I envision a _control_
hierarchy, with fixed top level goals and lower level goals that are
the means through which the top level goals are satisfied. Just see
the names that Bill uses for the levels: they denote _perceptions_,
not (or only implicitly) _goals_.

I would like to discuss this topic as well.

Greetings,

Hans

[From Rick Marken (971001.0730)]

Fred Nickols (971001) --

How are reference conditions established?

By the outputs of higher level control systems; the highest
level reference conditions are ultimately established by
reorganization. All this is explained in B:CP. I'm going
to make my spreadsheet model available at my web site soon.
It shows how (according to PCT) lower level reference
conditions are established by higher level systems. The
process can also be understood phenomenologically; once
again, point at this "X". Note how your intention to perceive
your arm moving toward the screen is determined by your intention
to perceive your finger over the "X". Intentions depend on other
intentions.

Best

Rick

···

--
Richard S. Marken Phone or Fax: 310 474-0313
Life Learning Associates e-mail: rmarken@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken

[From Bill Powers (971001.1107 MDT)]

Hans Blom, 971001e--

(Fred Nickols)

... the question that brought me to the list:

       How are reference conditions established?

That's a good question. Only just recently I've come to the
realization that the HPCT hierarchy is foremost a _perceptual_
hierarchy, where perceptions are ever more abstracted into higher
level notions, and not very much like how I envision a _control_
hierarchy, with fixed top level goals and lower level goals that are
the means through which the top level goals are satisfied. Just see
the names that Bill uses for the levels: they denote _perceptions_,
not (or only implicitly) _goals_.

Of course the names of the levels denote perceptions. That is what is
controlled. A reference signal specifies a particular state of a
perception; its meaning is given by the perception that is compared with
it. The error is converted into settings for reference signals in
lower-level systems, which then match _their_ perceptions to those
reference signals.

I wish you would put aside your preconceptions for a while and just learn
how PCT and HPCT are supposed to work. There's a book on the subject, and
your memory of it seems pretty poor.

Best,

Bill P.