Von Foerster's theorem on connectedness and organization: Semantic applications

Benny Shanon*, Henri Atlan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

A theorem originally proposed as a conjecture by H. von Foerster suggests that the more trivially connected are the elements of a system, the less influence they will have on the system as a whole. Following previous applications of the conjecture in the context of economics, game theory and the theory of automata, applications in the semantic domain are noted. A series of examples in poetic language, visual expression and music presents a variety of cases in which the state of affairs depicted by the conjecture holds. Implications to semantic theory and to the study of metaphor in particular are noted.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)81-90
Number of pages10
JournalNew Ideas in Psychology
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1990

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