Doug, check also the work of John Holland (SFI, U of Michigan) and
his recent book on complexity - I don't have the title at hand but
can find it if anybody wants and has problems locating it.
He has developed principles and approaches for recombination (best
known as genetic algorithms) where an entity or action is understood
as related operational principles and nothing else.
For example a signficant part of a frog can be understood as:
- if something is on right, turn head right
- continue until centered
- shoot out toungue
- unless it's too big, then don't
-- Michael McMaster Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk -Info: learning-org-approval@world.std.com or <http://world.std.com/~lo/>