Re: Understanding MinEP and MaxEP
- From: Guy Hoelzer <hoelzer@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 01:22:13 -0400 (EDT)
in article dfrcf6$12gm$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Perplexed in Peoria at
jimmenegay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 9/9/05 12:09 AM:
> Since we now have a hydraulic engineer onboard, I would like to give
> a hydraulic analogy for a 'living system', which, I claim is a concept
> diametrically opposed to that of a 'self-organizing' system.
>
> My analogy is this - an inverted U siphon in an aquaduct. The siphon
> is 'alive' if it is filled with water. It remains 'alive' as long as it
> is transmitting water. But it 'dies' if the water source is disrupted,
> the flow stops, and the U bend becomes filled with air. And once it
> 'dies', it takes extraordinary efforts to resuscitate it.
>
> I contrast this with a 'self-organized' system which, almost by
> definition, is capable of 'spontaneous generation'. But 'living systems',
> almost by definition, are not capable of spontaneous generation.
I think that I fully understand your example, but I don't see how it is a
concept "diametrically opposed to that of a 'self-organizing' system." For
example, if you agree that you and I are self-organized systems, then
introducing a big air bubble into our circulatory system puts a fast stop to
the dynamics just as it does for the siphon. Where is the contradiction?
Guy
.
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