All that is significant emerges from the coupling of slow with fast processes.
The slow side implies a compression or memory process relative to the fast side. That said, there is always change, but the relative difference in speed of the two processes leads to an invariance. It is that emergent invariance that is significant.
The dual of invariance is tension. There are processes that lead to convergence (thus remaining the same) and there are features that are constantly driven towards diversity. All evolution requires push-pull dynamics.
Fast coupled with slow processes establishes a temporal tension. Parts coupled with the whole establishes a spatial tension.
In fact, organizational processes can be best understood by the coupling of slow and fast processes.
All too often the mistake is to demand the conformance to a single unifying process. This unfortunately stifles adaptability and creativity. This is because these should be constrained differently depending on the context.
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Biological cognition is always based on computation subject to time and resource constraints (i.e. fast and frugal). The case where parallel computation cannot be recreated by sequential computation is precisely in this context.
Said differently, smaller brains do not have the same capabilities as larger brains. So when we talk about the notion of cognition or agency for insects or even single-cell life (without brains), we speak of a kind of behavior that is grossly simpler.
However, the computation performed by living things is very different from the computation performed by computers. This is because agency leads to an intentional stance. Intention is what constrains computations towards goals.
So I got myself the Quest 2. I'm not a heavy VR user. Last time I used VR was when the Vive was released. So I skipped one generation of VR headsets. This is the 3rd gen.
The original Vive had 1080×1200 per eye. Quest 2 has 1832×1920 per eye. So the viewing experience is obviously superior. Adoption of VR will all depend on resolution. Seeing the world in low-res is a turn-off.
The 1st gen VR required some setup and was tethered to a computer. Quest 2 in contrast is untethered, the compute is on the headset itself. It's certainly much more convenient to use now that we are spoiled by our mobile devices.
Almost all human creativity is consumed gaming the system so as to gain an advantage over each other. This is why it took 20,000 generations to get where we currently are.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the minority of humans who refused to play this game and focused their ingenuity towards the benefit of all.
Steve Jobs said this in a simple way. 'Do you want to spend your entire life selling sugar water to kids or do you want to change the world?'
There are two kinds of robustness in this universe, the static kind and the dynamic kind. You need both kinds to stand the test of time.
The blind spot of almost every proposed mechanism of neuroscience is the ignorance of one kind over another.
The characteristic of emergence is that there always exists a fast process that is in continual feedback with a slower process. In an analog system, it is the slower process that is emergent. In a digital system, it is the faster process that is emergent.
Interesting to realize that the living things that lay the foundation of the biosphere are extremely robust as compared to the humans that are destroying the biosphere.
Seed can remain dry and dormant for ages only to reborn when provided the proper nutrients. In contrast, most animals require a continual living vessel to reconstruct itself from its DNA.
Evolution appears to constantly perform tradeoffs between robust organisms and organisms that are adaptable. Co-evolution makes possible the development of complex species as a consequence of robust organisms.