<div dir="ltr"><div><font size="4">To Pedro and FIS, I agree with Pedro that Gordon Tomkins' "Metabolic Code" correlates with what I have been saying about how and why cells evolve due to alterations in their homeostatic state in order to adapt to ever-changing conditions within the environment. Tomkins hints at homeostasis but doesn't use the term<i> per se, </i>even though it is the core principle for physiology (Bernard, Cannon)....</font></div><div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Aptos,sans-serif;background:0% 0% repeat yellow"><br></span></div><div><font size="4"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Aptos,sans-serif;background:0% 0% repeat yellow">Survival </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Aptos,sans-serif;background-color:yellow">would therefore have required the evolu</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Aptos,sans-serif;background-color:yellow">tion of regulatory mechanisms that could </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Aptos,sans-serif;background-color:yellow">maintain a relatively constant intracellular </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Aptos,sans-serif;background-color:yellow">environment in the face of changes in ex</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Aptos,sans-serif;background-color:yellow">ternal conditions.</span></font><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:18.4px;font-size:medium;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:12pt;background-color:yellow"><br></span></p><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><font size="4">My own work on cellular evolution and consciousness ties what Tomkins is alluding to through the effect of the force of gravity as an 'organizing principle' (Maturana and Varela's 'Autopoiesis') that accounts for how/why we feel there is something greater than ourselves, <b>ennobling ourselves to adapt to the ever-changing conditions in our environment as a consequence of the expanding Cosmos</b>, but allow me to explain. The aggregate of that process is what we refer to as consciousness, mediatedd by Lynn Margulis Sagan's Symbiogenesis, assimilating factors in the environment to maintain homeostasis, along with their associated mathematics (Plato, Tegmark, Livio)....integrating such factors to form our physiology, replete with math (see Weibel's 'Symmorphosis'). In turn, the composite of our physiology constitutes synchronic local consciousness, and when challenged, the latter references the Cosmos diachronically as non-local consciousness. All of the above takes on a 'holism' when seen in the guise of Stellar Nucleosynthesis (Hoyle, 1946), the stars being formed from hydrogen and helium iteratively, the elements as byproducts in their exact order of their atomic masses as the 'logic of the Cosmos'. We living beings assimilate that logic through Margulis-Sagan's Symbiogenesis, the lighter (less than or equal to the atomic mass of iron) elements within the cell, the heavier elements (greater than iron) embedded in the extracellular matrix. As 'proof of principle', homeostatic communication between the cell and its matrix is mediated by nitric oxide (NO); the highest concentration of NO in the skin resides in the Acupuncture sites, alluding to the communication between the skin and visceral organs, NO being secreted into the circulation, and ultimately the exhaled breath. The consensus is that there's not enough NO in the breath to affect the behavior of other 'conversants', as in Gordon Pask's "Conversation Theory".....that as a conversation progresses it will lead to a higher level of consciousness. However, if oxytocin, the neuroendocrine hormone, is produced as a consequence of 'progressive' conversation, the oxytocin will amplify the NO signaling within and between the conversants. This is not unlike Suzanne Simard's ("The Mother Tree") observation that the leaves of trees use ethhylene to converse with one another. Much of the above is mediated by cAMP, so we're back to Tomkin's 'Metabolic Code'.</font></blockquote><div><br></div><div><font size="4">Please feel free to comment/criticize.....John</font> </div><div><br></div><div> </div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 3:22 PM Pedro C. Marijuán <<a href="mailto:pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com">pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
<div>
<div>Hi, </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>the messages below remind me Tomkins'
"metabolic code " hypothesis. In a nutshell it says that most (?)
signaling evolves from the detection of anomalous inner states,
accumulating unwanted metabolic dead ends, and later on these very
substances become signals that circulate inside and outside to
trigger functional responses (the case of cAMP is highlighted).
So, the individual contingent becomes later on the social
determinant, and also the vice versa. </div>
<div>My memory is weak, my time short.
Anyone interested may go to journal Science. <span><span>GM
Tomkins</span><span aria-hidden="true"> · </span><span>1975</span><span aria-hidden="true"> </span>— </span><span>The <em>Metabolic
Code</em>: Biological symbolism and the origin of
intercellular communication is discussed.</span></div>
<div><span>I think John's works are not far
from these premises...</span></div>
<div><span><br>
</span></div>
<div><span>Greetings to all,</span></div>
<div><span>--Pedro</span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>El 20/11/2025 a las 12:54, JOHN TORDAY
escribió:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Any way to test whether the AI 'parts' are representative
of a 'whole'? or just space-filling stuff....</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>John Torday</div>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at
4:29 AM Mark Johnson <<a href="mailto:johnsonmwj1@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnsonmwj1@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Dear all,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A group of colleagues and I have been working on
diagnostic AI for some years using a comparison
technique. A few of us just published this paper on the
inter-relationship between management decision making, the
learning of decision-making and technology: <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296325006654__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!WPhKwNIaSyPehSx-1rv1IXkLmAKWvfhjcSoF8ycbMGpQLKjNmUeRHbMR7LBpcGoUSKLBgkQAwLAnZMgvKms0B4w$" target="_blank">Developing
judgement for business: an AI-based model of independent
management learning - ScienceDirect</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The role of information in this is obviously crucial -
as is the criticism of AI that it is an unreliable
assistant. How might AI tell us when it's not sure about
things? While Shannon's H is a kind of contingency signal,
it is curious how with AI this aspect of mathematical
information theory is easily forgotten! However, there
does seem to be an intersection between the way
information is conceived and effective social
decision-making where:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>a. information is framed in terms of varying degrees of
contingency</div>
<div>b. good decision concerns the effective allocation of
scarce human expertise to maximise organisational
effectiveness</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>In essence, the greater the contingency in a judgement,
the greater the need to allocate human resource to debate
choices; the less the contingency, the less the need for
humans in decision processes. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The fundamental message is a management cybernetic one
(i.e. Stafford Beer) - it is not what the technology
itself does, it is how we organise ourselves with it that
matters.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The technique in the paper illustrates a way in which
degrees of contingency in decision-making can be
identified by the technology. It is, we would suggest,
this signal which we need from our technology, not an
"answer" to questions. So the pursuit of "answer engines"
(as Google and others are discussing) is barking up the
wrong tree. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A deeper question is whether some kind of "contingency
signal" lies at the heart of biological information
itself. This would have resonance with deeper cybernetic
ideas about contingency (Luhmann, Leydesdorff, Shannon,
etc) and cellular organisation (Torday and colleagues,
Levin, etc) - whether a biological "contingency signal" is
produced in the gap between the internal biological
selection process of a cell (referencing its evolutionary
history acquired through symbiogenesis, for example) and
external selection pressure. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Any thoughts?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best wishes,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Mark</div>
<span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br>
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">Dr. Mark William Johnson<br>
<div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Faculty of
Biology, Medicine and Health</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">University of
Manchester</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><br>
</div>
<div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Department of Eye and
Vision Science (honorary)</div>
<div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">University of Liverpool</div>
Phone: 07786 064505<br>
Email: <a href="mailto:johnsonmwj1@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnsonmwj1@gmail.com</a><br>
Blog: <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.com__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!WPhKwNIaSyPehSx-1rv1IXkLmAKWvfhjcSoF8ycbMGpQLKjNmUeRHbMR7LBpcGoUSKLBgkQAwLAnZMgv378sKxM$" target="_blank">http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.com</a></div>
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