[Fis] Autopoiesis, Autocatalysis and the Brain

[Paul Suni]

Dear FIS Colleagues,

According to AP, the nervous system is operationally closed. Empirically, it produces an electromagnetic signal environment that is a complete mess - objectively. The RMS noise around any given neuron at any given time can be as high as 30%. Yet, this incoprehensible signaling mess produces Bach Preludes and Fugues, Michelangelo sculptures, Shakespeare sonnets, general relativity, quantum mechanics and Maturana and Varela’s “ Tree of Knowledge: the Biological Roots of Understanding” 

Actually, the electromagnetic and biochemical signal environment of the whole organism looks like a mess. The classical approach to this mess sweeps the noise conveniently under the many rugs of academic disciplinarities by designating it as random. I wish to point out that autocatalytic networks, which are ostensibly the basis of autopoiesis, produce ordered (but random-looking) time series, which exhibit mathematically inherently metastable behavior.

Network metastability has become a crucial mathematical tool in understanding the brain and the mind. The neural network of the organism is obviously operationally closed, but is it autocatalytic? It seems that, from the mathematcal stand-point,  just like autopoiesis produces order out of temporal and spatial noise, so does the brain produce order out of non-random noise of metastable origin.

Recently, an ecology-derived mathematical concept of winnerless competition (Rabinovitch et al), which may be familiar to you from the rock-paper-scissors game, has been used to demonstrate mathematically how the brain may produce order out of messy network relations.

Actually, ecology itself is an exploration of networks that are mathematically autocatalytic.This brings me to Gregory Bateson, a historically influential figure in the world of information science. He introduced the idea of “ The Ecology of Mind.” I believe that there is a lot to be learned from studying organism and mind from the mathematical autocatalytic stand-point. Autopoiesis serves as a rich abstraction for both organism and mind. Autocatalysis gives us some of the mathematics.

Cheers,
Paul