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From: wcalvin@milton.acs.washington.edu (William Calvin)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.neural-nets
Subject: Re: Request for reviews: Neural Darwinism & The Remembered Present
Keywords: Edelman neural darwinism Darwin evolution
Message-ID: <3831@milton.acs.washington.edu>
Date: 31 May 90 17:15:04 GMT
Article-I.D.: milton.3831
References: <KERCE.90May24220154@nu.cs.fsu.edu> <35821@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Reply-To: wcalvin@milton.u.washington.edu (William Calvin)
Distribution: comp.ai.neural-nets
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
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I did the review of Edelman's NEURAL DARWINISM which appeared in
SCIENCE on 26 June 1988.  Takes twice as long to read as it ought
to, but it is an important book for anyone interested in the
development of nervous systems, how they self-organize, how experience
can shape up committees.  But Darwinism it isn't (in the examples he
gives) as there is only a initial injection of randomness (initial
conditions) rather than the back-and-forth "Darwinian Two-Step" dance
of randomness-then-shaping, randomness-then-shaping some more, etc.
  William H. Calvin
  Univ. of Washington      wcalvin@well.sf.ca.us
  Biology NJ-15         wcalvin@u.washington.edu
  Seattle WA 98195    206/328-1192  206/543-1648