[From Bill Powers (930617.1030 MDT)]
Tom Bourbon says in a direct post
What would you like to receive from those of us who are
pursuing some of the chapters and verses that will be presented
in the article? As you probably surmised after I posted my
lists of publications containing odd, erroneous or distorted
discussions of CT, I have unearthed a few more that were
missing after our moves. There should be still others. Should
I review each of them in detail? Or might it be more useful if
I give a very brief synopsis of the authors' stated goals, then
lift a few juicy quotes and give a brief critique? It is also
possible to group the quotes by topics, across articles, for
topics such as "positive feedback," "feedforward," "control
systems control their behavior or actions," etc.
The way the paper is developing, it looks as though we should
organize the "misinterpretations" by topics as Tom suggests,
across articles. I think we should stick to correcting direct
statements about control theory and the behavior of control
systems that are wrong, without attacking any whole theoretical
frameworks. In addition to the topics Tom suggests, there are
Feedback is too slow
Control is a sequence of events
An organism is ONE control system
Feedback doesn't occur unless it is given
Control processes must involve consciousness
Control is homeostasis (goals are fixed)
And probably more.
It would be most helpful right now just to get lists of topics
from people, with brief references. As I see the structure of the
paper better I can ask for specific citations. Of course if
anyone wants to send citations now that's fine; I'll collect
everything in one file. Dag Forssell has already send me excerpts
from this year's posts, but don't try to avoid duplication. I'll
sort that out. We obviously won't be able to have long
discussions of every error; I'll consult later about a possible
final list.
Best
Bill P.