Representing Looping-through

 

When shown a manuscript that used the term "looping-through" to describe the relationship of organism to environment, Heinz replied with the postcard shown above.

On the right are 3 transforms of which the bottom one, labelled AUTOTOPIC, is equivalent to looping-through. It illustrates how cybernetics claims the nervous system maps its environment. This contrasts with AI's view, shown in the top transform, involving internal representations of an external world.

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