Recursive Distinctioning

by Louis H. Kauffman and Joel Isaacson

 This slide show is based on a papers on
“Recursive Distinctioning”
by Joel Isaacson and Louis H Kauffman,
and
joint work with
programming and exploring recursive distinctioning
by
Louis H Kauffman and Dan Sandin.

See
http://homepages.math.uic.edu/~kauffman/
RD.html
 Recursive distinctioning is what it says.

One has a distinction or a field of distinctions.

Such a field of distinctions can be made specific
by arranging the patterns in a line, on a lattice or a graph.

For example, one might have a string of letters

such as
AAAABAAAA
We will describe this pattern with a special
alphabet
{ =, [, ], O} where a letter will receive “=” as its
description if it is equal to both of its neighbors.
A letter will receive “[“ if it is equal on the
right and unequal on the left.
A letter will receive “]“ if it is equal on the left
and unequal on the right.
A letter will receive “O“ if it is unequal on the
left and unequal on the right.

...AAAAAAAABAAAAAAAA...
...= = = = = = ] O [ = = = = = = ...
...= = = = = ] O O O [ = = = = = ...
...= = = = ] O [ = ] O [ = = = = ...
 ...AAAAAAAABAAAAAAAA...
...= = = = = = ] O [ = = = = = = ...
...= = = = = ] O O O [ = = = = = ...
...= = = = ] O [ = ] O [ = = = = ...
A single distinction (the letter B in the row of same A’s)
has been described and the description itself described
two more times.
At the first description, a
“protocell” ]O[ appeared and this cell
underwent a “mitosis” in the next two
iterations.
 The Logical Underpinnings
Exclusive OR = XOR
A XOR B = A or B but not both.
A Union B / A Intersect B
XOR is the fundamental operation of discrimination in logic
and in set algebra.

While we speak of distinction

informally, we can replace that
informality by perspicuous
use of XOR.
A and B are distinct exactly when
A XOR B is not empty.

Perfect overlap is perfect

vanishing.
Icon and Alphabet is dictated by
the structure
of logic and discrimination.
The Discriminator Circuit
In the context of recursive distinctioning, recursive re-
description, a simple local distinction gives birth to an
entity ]O[ that can reproduce itself!
...AAAAAAAABAAAAAAAA...
...= = = = = = ] O [ = = = = = = ...
...= = = = = ] O O O [ = = = = = ...
...= = = = ] O [ = ] O [ = = = = ...

Philosophically speaking, this is the whole talk.

We wish to make the case that the RD process
is fundamental and primordial. The fact that it
can do something this significant at once, in the
simplest case, proves our point.
 Here is
another
take on the
same
process
where “=”
has been
replaced by
no marking.
 0
1
10 Note how the cells get farther and farther
11 apart in a process of interaction that is
100 reminiscent of the carrying process in
101 simple binary addition.
110
111
1000 In the case of the RD, there is no
1001 carry rule as in
1010 arithmetic. Everything happens
1011 from the local considerations of
1100 nearby distinctions.
1101
1110
1111
10000
 Generalize RD to Graphs
Each node has an icon.
A B
(A=B)
A B
(A=B)
Amalgamate these marks of
distinction to form new icons at
each node of the graph.
A A

B
B
Up to cyclic permutation, there are four
icons for the nodes of a trivalent graph.
The degrees of the graphical nodes determine
the number of
icons in the RD alphabet.

etc.
Bateson: “Information is a difference
that makes a difference.”
 In working with a two dimensional lattice we use
a natural sixteen letter alphabet. The letters in this
alphabet generalize our small one-dimensional alphabet, and
indicate distinctions to the north, south, east and west.

W E

S
Here is our sixteen
letter alphabet.
In the next few slides we use the sixteen letter alphabet by
hand, hoping to encourage you to explore it directly.
Here is a growing pattern in 2DRD.
 Lock and Key

The next two slides are

named
Tweedledum
and
Tweedledee.
Each gives rise to the
other under the RD rule.
And you can ask of the simple iterations we have shown,
can they do complex activities?
For example, can they count?
And you might recall:
1 And you see that
2
4 our simplest RD
knows the powers of
8 2 when it hits a
maximal
]0000000[
with 2^(n-1) zeros
16 between the
markers.
 So we conclude that the RD’s can do elementary
mathematical operations, but it may require some extra
observations of them to elicit the patterns that are implicit
within them.

This means that we have to work on this,

and use some creativity to
figure out how to hook up
elementary RD’s to make a bigger
more conscious entity.
We feel that the balance of
language and form that is
part of the RD is very
important to the design.
 But, you say, what about all those cellular automata.
They have a lot of potential applications.
Can you see them as RD?
The answer is YES! Consider the Wolfram Rule 110.

Rule 110 makes a binary distinction on the set of

eight binary triples shown above. It assigns 0 to
three of them and 1 to the other five.
Once this distinction is in place, one runs this
just like our RD except the language is very
simple, just 0 and 1, and it always refers to
this single distinction.
 Rule 110 produces very
complex and unpredictable
patterns, all from one very
assymmetrical distinction!

Rule 110 is Turing

Universal, and this means
that it has the potential
to do what any (logical)
machine can do.
 So there is no question that RD has applications.
Many of them already exist but are not often thought about
from our point of view.

Language Distinction

So having found the ground of this way

of working, lets get to work!
The Logical Underpinnings of the Sixteen Letter
Alphabet are related to the structure of
SpaceTime and the Quaternions
It is remarkable that the sixteen letter alphabet, devised
by Isaacson long ago for RD purposes, was rediscovered
by Bernd Schmeikal in a spacetime/logic context.
For an account of this (and other references),
see the paper
Journal of Space Philosophy 5, no. 1
(Spring 2016)
Basic Intelligence Processing
Space By Bernd Schmeikal

The version of the quaternions in relation to the sixteen

letter alphabet shown here is equivalent to an iterant
formulation of quaternions due to Kauffman.
Louis H Kauffman, Iterants, Fermions and Majorana
Operators. In "Unified Field Mechanics - Natural Science
Beyond the Veil of Spacetime", edited by
R. Amoroso, L. H. Kauffman, P. Rowlands, World Scientific
Pub. Co. (2015). pp. 1-32.
 The “Quaternion Card” scheme described here was
invented by Kauffman in 1996. See old notes
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11067256/Hitchlin.pdf
Kauffman made a set of cards with markings at their corners
to represent the “iterant” representation of quaternions
shown on the previous slide. The idea of using the alphabet
was inspired by Isaacson and by Schmeikal.

We have the impression that the sixteen

letter alphabet is fundamental and Bernd
Schmeikal’s articulation of it in terms of the
Clifford algebra of Minkowski spacetime will
be significant both for physics and for the
RD.
Distinction Operation and Braid Operators and
Quaternions
LK and Art Collings
(arXiv:1905.12891 The BF Calculus and the Square Root of Negation)

Braided square roots of minus one. Mark of

distinction is an inversion.
DNA Replication and the One Dimensional
Recursive Distinctor
 DNA Self-Replication Schema

DNA = |Watson> < Crick|

|Watson> Environment < Crick|

|Watson> <Crick| |Watson> < Crick|

DNA DNA
 RD Self-Replication
is analogous to
DNA Self-Replication.
 RD VARIANTS
Recursive distinctioning is a topic whose basic
principles apply at all levels of biology, cognition,
information science and computation.
We continue with discussion of
examples
using part of the RD structure
such as
local interaction,
description,
replacement rules.
We will see
cellular automata
and other stuctures fitting in this category.
The Observer can see what is not there.
 An object, in itself, is a symbolic
entity,
participating in a network of interactions,
taking on its apparent solidity and stabilty
from these interactions.
 42 Kauffman & Lambropoulou

DNA Knotting and Recombination

~

K
0

K
1

K
2

K
3

K
4

Figure 28 - Processive Recombination with S = [⇥1/3].

Lets see what the form of the processive recombination is for an arbitrary
sequence of recombinations. We start with
O = [a1 , a2 , · · · , ar 1 , ar ]
 the reentering

crossed form.
A Form Re-enters its Own
Indicational Space.

= ...
 Fibonacci Form and Beyond 17

Fractal
Re-entering
Mark

It is generally thought that the miracle of being able to recognize an object arises in
 An EigenPuzzle

1
11
WHAT IS THE NEXT
21
NUMBER?
1211
111221
312211
Describing Describing
 *
Description: “One star.”

1*
Description: “One one, one star.”
111*

Description: “Three ones, one star.”

311*
Description: “One three, two ones, one star.”
13211*
Describing Describing
*
1*
111*
311*
13211*
111312211*
311311222111*
1321132132311*
11131221131211131213211*
sequences is the eigenform in back of the audio-activity!
R2 ¼ { { }; Cats; { { }; Cats} }:
A ¼ 11131221131211132221. . .
so not a member of itself and so we would have to add R2 and keep
as throwing in
Bother sets that come along and are normal.
¼ 3113112221131112311332. . . A set is
member of itself.
C ¼ 132113213221133112132123. . .
le of infinite sequences are built by continually cycling the sel
the three sequences. This leads to a definite and highly unpredict
ree infinite sequences, A, B, and C such that B describes A, C des
bes C! (Figure 5).
triplication is the eigenform for the recursion of the audio-active se
e mutual description is the “fixed point” of this recursion. With th
n to see the subtlety of the concept of an eigenform, and how it m
human situations. For indeed imagine the plight of three indivi
 FORMAL ARITHMETIC
One can have a system in which local changes are made according to rules
that respect local distinctions, but the local changes are not simply the
placement of boundaries.

For example, consider the following system. We have strings with three types of
entries:
{*, <, >}. These are stars (*), left brackets (<) and right brackets (>).
The basic rule is:

** => <*>.

That is, two consecutive stars are replaced by a bracket around a star.
The second rule is:

>< => nothing.

That is, two opposite brackets cancel each other.

Formal Arithmetic finds the binary form via local
interactions.
(19 stars)
*******************
<*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>*
<**><**><**><***>*
<<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>*>*
<<*><*><*><*>*>* <<****>*>*
<<<*><*>>*>* <<<**>>*>*
<<<<*>>>*>*
*>0>0>*>*
10011 is binary for 16+2+1 = 19.
Molecular Biology and Virology
In the full complexity of molecular biology, we have
not only the fantastic workings of the cells, but also
the diabolical workings of the virus, where a
molecular object has only parasitic existence and
depends for its livelihood on interaction with a cell as
environment for its viral DNA. Here again we have a
powerful RD variant where an entity (the virus) can
engage in key –in-lock interaction with cellular
membranes in order to use the cellular environment
for its individual recursion and self production
(Figures 1 and 2).
Figure 2 - Illustration of Virus Invading a Cell
RD and Particle Physics
{= , s, d, u} replacing {=, o, [ , ] }
Baryon Octet
Baryon
In particle physics, a baryon is a type of composite
subatomic particle which contains an odd number of
valence quarks (at least 3).[1] Baryons belong to the
hadron family of particles, which are the quark-based
particles. They are also classified as fermions, i.e., they
have half-integer spin.
The name "baryon", introduced by Abraham Pais,[2]
comes from the Greek word for "heavy" (βαρύς, barýs),
because, at the time of their naming, most known
elementary particles had lower masses than the baryons.
Each baryon has a corresponding antiparticle (antibaryon)
where their corresponding antiquarks replace quarks. For
example, a proton is made of two up quarks and one down
quark; and its corresponding antiparticle, the antiproton,
is made of two up antiquarks and one down antiquark.
The Lambek Bookeeper
may be a clue to Stegano.
Thank you for listening!