In article <62nf1i$bp6$1@news2.xs4all.nl> , mervyn@xs4all.nl writes:
<snip>
I believe this concept can be explored effectively by Pattern Theory.
Pattern Theory proposes systems that analyse dynamic patterns,
encode them (forced by limits of bandwidth), reconstruct them and
analyse the match between reconstruction and original perception.
- An open mind would be a system that *from instant to instant*
constructs an optimal match.
<snip>
Jim Dix here...
Thanks, Mervyn, I appreciate the response. For the purposes of
discussion, I've decided to stay with "being receptive" rather than
"having an open mind", because of the use of "mind" in the latter. Thus,
I would wnat to think of "being receptive" as a state of some larger
system. In the dynamical sense of this, I'm not too concerned how long
the state exists, only that it continues to receive new things and
considers them sufficiently, before accommodating them (accepting or
rejecting or something in between). Without this, it is difficult to
distinguish being receptive from not being receptive. My slant is that
sometimes it takes decades before enlightenment occurs. Does this mean
that there is a certain arbitrariness to receptivity? Probably yes.
Regards,
Owleye