Reflexing Interfaces: The Complex Coevolution of Information Technology Ecosystems doc

Reexing Interfaces:
The Complex Coevolution of
Information Technology
Ecosystems
Franco Orsucci
University College London, UK &
Institute for Complexity Studies, Italy
Nicoletta Sala
Università della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland &
Università dell’Insubria, Italy
Hershey • New York
InformatIon scIence reference
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reexing interfaces : the complex coevolution of information technology ecosystems / Franco F. Orsucci and Nicoletta Sala, editor.
p. cm.
Summary: “This book discusses the application of complex theories in information and communication technology, with a focus on the
interaction between living systems and information technologies, providing researchers, scholars, and IT professionals with a fundamental
resource on such topics as virtual reality; fuzzy logic systems; and complexity science in articial intelligence, evolutionary computation,
neural networks, and 3-D modeling” Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59904-627-3 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-59904-629-7 (ebook)
1. Information technology. 2. Articial intelligence. I. Orsucci, Franco. II. Sala, Nicoletta.
T58.5.R4365 2008
004 dc22
2007032052
British Cataloguing in Publication Data
A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
All work contributed to this book set is original material. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of
the publisher.
If a library purchased a print copy of this publication, please go to for information on activating
the library's complimentary electronic access to this publication.

Foreword xii
Preface xv
Section I
Living Systems and Information Technology
Chapter I
Reexing Interfaces 1
Franco Orsucci, University College London, UK & Institute for Complexity Studies, Italy
Chapter II
Riddle of the Sphinx: Paradox Revealed and Reveiled 21
Terry Marks-Tarlow, Institute for Fractal Research, Kassel, Germany & Private Practice,
Santa Monica, California, USA
Chapter III
Theory of Cooperative Coevolution of Genes and Memes 33
Vladimir Kvasnicka, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
Jiri Pospichal, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
Chapter IV
Thinking Animals and Thinking Machines: What Relations? (with Particular Reference to the
Psychoanalytical Point of View) 46
Franco Scalzone, Italian Psychoanalytical Society, Italy
Gemma Zontini, Italian Psychoanalytical Society, Italy
Chapter V
Machines Paying Attention 65
John G. Taylor, King’s College, UK
Table of Contents
Chapter VI
Articial Mind 83
Rita M. R. Pizzi, University of Milan, Italy
Chapter VII
Neurofeedback: Using Computer Technology to Alter Brain Functioning 94
David Vernon, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK

Chapter VIII
Biological Traits in Articial Self-Reproducing Systems 109
Eleonora Bilotta, Università della Calabria, Italy
Pietro Pantano, Università della Calabria, Italy
Chapter IX
Evolutionary Algorithms in Problem Solving and Machine Learning 124
Marco Tomassini, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Leonardo Vanneschi, University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy
Chapter X
The Future Quantum Computer: Biotic Complexity 138
Hector Sabelli, Chicago Center for Creative Development, USA
Gerald H. Thomas, Milwaukee School of Engineering, USA
Section II
Application Fields: From Networks to Fractal Geometry
Chapter XI
Networks: Uses and Misuses of an Emergent Paradigm 174
Alessandro Giuliani, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy
Chapter XII
Theory and Practice of Ant-Based Routing in Dynamic Telecommunication Networks 185
Gianni A. Di Caro, Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull’Intelligenza Articiale (IDSIA),
Switzerland
Frederick Ducatelle, Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull’Intelligenza Articiale (IDSIA),
Switzerland
Luca M. Gambardella, Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull’Intelligenza Articiale (IDSIA),
Switzerland
Chapter XIII
Cryptography, Delayed Dynamical Systems, and Secure Communication 217
Santo Banerjee, JIS College of Engineering, India
Asesh Roy Chowdhury, Jadavpur University, India
Chapter XIV

Portfolio Optimization Using Evolutionary Algorithms 235
Lean Yu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China & City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Shouyang Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Kin Keung Lai, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Chapter XV
Financial Trading Systems: Is Recurrent Reinforcement Learning the Way? 246
Francesco Bertoluzzo, University of Padua, Italy
Marco Corazza, University Ca’Foscari of Venice, Italy & School for Advanced Studies in
Venice Foundation, Italy
Chapter XVI
About the Use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the Framework of Physical
Limnological Studies on a Great Lake 257
Leonardo Castellano, Matec Modelli Matematici, Italy
Walter Ambrosetti, CNR – Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi, Italy
Nicoletta Sala, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland & Università dell’Insubria,
Italy
Chapter XVII
Urban and Architectural 3-D Fast Processing 278
Renato Saleri Lunazzi, Laboratoire MAP aria UMR 694 CNRS: Ministère de la Culture et
de la Communication, France
Chapter XVIII
Reections of Spiral Complexity on Art 290
Ljubiša M. Kocić, University of Niš, Serbia
Liljana R. Stefanovska, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, R. of Macedonia
Chapter XIX
Fractal Geometry and Computer Science 308
Nicoletta Sala, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland & Università dell’Insubria,
Italy
Glossary 329
Compilation of References 357

About the Contributors 388
Index 395
Detailed Table of Contents
Foreword xii
Preface xv
Section I
Living Systems and Information Technology
Chapter I
Reexing Interfaces 1
Franco Orsucci, University College London, UK & Institute for Complexity Studies, Italy
The author identies the reexing interfaces that can redene different approaches in different disci-
plines in the new millennium. The chapter sets the scene for discussions presented by various subsequent
authors.
Chapter II
Riddle of the Sphinx: Paradox Revealed and Reveiled 21
Terry Marks-Tarlow, Institute for Fractal Research, Kassel, Germany & Private Practice,
Santa Monica, California, USA
The author presents the Oedipus myth in the light of interpersonal neurobiology and second-order cy-
bernetics, where observers are self-referentially implicated within the observed. The riddle of the Sphinx
is understood as a paradox of self-reference in apparent contradiction with all known laws of science.
The chapter describes Oedipus’ capacity for full self-reference as equated with the operation of the most
powerful universal Turing machine with both implicit and explicit memory of its past.
Chapter III
Theory of Cooperative Coevolution of Genes and Memes 33
Vladimir Kvasnicka, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
Jiri Pospichal, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
The authors propose a simple replicator theory of the coevolution of genes and memes. The presented
coevolutionary theory assumes that units of information acquired from parents by imitation (memes) are
not independent of genes, but are bounded with genes as composites, which are subjects of Darwinian
evolution.

Chapter IV
Thinking Animals and Thinking Machines: What Relations? (with Particular Reference to the
Psychoanalytical Point of View) 46
Franco Scalzone, Italian Psychoanalytical Society, Italy
Gemma Zontini, Italian Psychoanalytical Society, Italy
The authors describe some interesting similarities between computer science and psychoanalysis. They
formulate some hypotheses by bringing closer the statute of connectionism to the energetic model of the
psychic apparatus, as well as OOP (object-oriented programming) to the object relations theory. They
explore the man-machine theme, the way in which men relate to machines, especially thinking machines,
describing the fantasies they arouse.
Chapter V
Machines Paying Attention 65
John G. Taylor, King’s College, UK
The author describes the attention that is analyzed as the superior control system in the brain from an
engineering point of view, with support for this from the way attention is presently being understood
by brain science. The author remarks that an engineering control framework allows an understanding
of how the complex networks observed in the brain during various cognitive tasks can begin to be
functionally decomposed.
Chapter VI
Articial Mind 83
Rita M. R. Pizzi, University of Milan, Italy
The author presents the advances of articial intelligence that have renewed the interest in the mind-
body problem, the ancient philosophical debate on the nature of mind and its relationship with the brain.
The author remarks that the new version of the mind-body problem concerns the relationship between
computational complexity and self-aware thought.
Chapter VII
Neurofeedback: Using Computer Technology to Alter Brain Functioning 94
David Vernon, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK
The author introduces neurofeedback as a mechanism for altering human brain functioning and in turn
inuencing behavior. He argues that neurofeedback provides a plausible mechanism by which the indi-

vidual can learn to alter and control aspects of his electrocortical activity.
Chapter VIII
Biological Traits in Articial Self-Reproducing Systems 109
Eleonora Bilotta, Università della Calabria, Italy
Pietro Pantano, Università della Calabria, Italy
The authors present an articial taxonomy of 2-D, self-replicating cellular automata (CA) that can be
considered as proto-organisms for structure replication. The authors highlight the idea that the process of
self-reproduction is an important mechanism, and they discuss almost 10 methods of self-replication.
Chapter IX
Evolutionary Algorithms in Problem Solving and Machine Learning 124
Marco Tomassini, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Leonardo Vanneschi, University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy
The authors describe the evolutionary algorithms, focusing their attention on two specic applications.
The rst is about an important nancial problem: the portfolio allocation problem. The second one deals
with a biochemical problem related to drug design and efcacy.
Chapter X
The Future Quantum Computer: Biotic Complexity 138
Hector Sabelli, Chicago Center for Creative Development, USA
Gerald H. Thomas, Milwaukee School of Engineering, USA
The authors present the notion of quantum computing and how it forces a reexamination of logics. They
examine its historical roots in logos, the logic of nature, and the laws of physics, describing the logical
design of computers according to the logic of quantum physics that will allow the full use of quantum
processes for computation, providing explicit realizations of these ideas.
Section II
Application Fields: From Networks to Fractal Geometry
Chapter XI
Networks: Uses and Misuses of an Emergent Paradigm 174
Alessandro Giuliani, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy
The author presents the notion of network, which is more and more widespread in all the elds of human
investigation, from physics to sociology. He describes some applications of network-based modeling

to both introduce the basic terminology of the emergent network paradigm and highlight strengths and
limitations of the method.
Chapter XII
Theory and Practice of Ant-Based Routing in Dynamic Telecommunication Networks 185
Gianni A. Di Caro, Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull’Intelligenza Articiale (IDSIA),
Switzerland
Frederick Ducatelle, Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull’Intelligenza Articiale (IDSIA),
Switzerland
Luca M. Gambardella, Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull’Intelligenza Articiale (IDSIA),
Switzerland
The authors introduce ant colony optimization (ACO), an optimization metaheuristic inspired by the
foraging behavior of ant colonies. They describe the characteristics of ACO and they derive from it
ant colony routing (ACR), a novel framework for the development of adaptive algorithms for network
routing.
Chapter XIII
Cryptography, Delayed Dynamical Systems, and Secure Communication 217
Santo Banerjee, JIS College of Engineering, India
Asesh Roy Chowdhury, Jadavpur University, India
The authors describe a new method for the transmitting and receiving of signals using delayed dynamical
systems. The change of the delay parameter at the intermediate state gives extra security to the system.
They also propose a method of communication using the synchronization between two coupled, delayed
chaotic systems by adaptive coupling-enhancement algorithms.
Chapter XIV
Portfolio Optimization Using Evolutionary Algorithms 235
Lean Yu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China & City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Shouyang Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Kin Keung Lai, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
The authors present a double-stage evolutionary algorithm for portfolio optimization. In the rst stage,
a genetic algorithm is used to identify good-quality assets in terms of asset ranking. In the second stage,
investment allocation in the selected good-quality assets is optimized using another genetic algorithm

based on Markowitz’s theory.
Chapter XV
Financial Trading Systems: Is Recurrent Reinforcement Learning the Way? 246
Francesco Bertoluzzo, University of Padua, Italy
Marco Corazza, University Ca’Foscari of Venice, Italy & School for Advanced Studies in
Venice Foundation, Italy
The authors propose a nancial trading system whose trading strategy is developed by means of an
articial neural network approach based on a learning algorithm of recurrent reinforcement type. This
approach consists of two parts: rst, directly specifying a trading policy based on some predetermined
investor’s measure of protability, and second, directly setting the nancial trading system while using
it. They propose a simple procedure for the management of drawdown-like phenomena, and they apply
their nancial trading approach to some of the most prominent assets of the Italian stock market.
Chapter XVI
About the Use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the Framework of Physical
Limnological Studies on a Great Lake 257
Leonardo Castellano, Matec Modelli Matematici, Italy
Walter Ambrosetti, CNR – Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi, Italy
Nicoletta Sala, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland & Università dell’Insubria,
Italy
The authors describe a mathematical model able to simulate the limnological physics of a complex
natural body of water: computational uid dynamics (CFD). They present an experience in progress at
CNR-ISE (Italian National Research Council, Italian Institute of Ecosystems Study) of Pallanza in the
eld of application of mathematical modeling techniques applied to Lake Maggiore (Northern Italy and
Switzerland).
Chapter XVII
Urban and Architectural 3-D Fast Processing 278
Renato Saleri Lunazzi, Laboratoire MAP aria UMR 694 CNRS: Ministère de la Culture et
de la Communication, France
The author presents a research task that consists of applying automatic generative methods in design
processes. The initial approach briey explores early theoretical conjectures, starting with form and

function balance within former conceptual investigations. He describes original techniques introducing
integrated 2-D and 3-D generators for the enhancement of recent 3-D Earth browsers (Virtual Terrain©,
MSN Virtual Earth©, or Google Earth©), and cellular automata processes for architectural program-
matic optimization.
Chapter XVIII
Reections of Spiral Complexity on Art 290
Ljubiša M. Kocić, University of Niš, Serbia
Liljana R. Stefanovska, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, R. of Macedonia
The authors consider a relationship between spirals as protocomplex shapes and human intelligence
organized in an information system, distinguishing between old (precomputer age) and new (computer
age) IS. They proposed some methods for extracting spiral forms from pieces of visual arts using modern
technologies of IS. The results support the thesis that there is a constant need for systematic recording
of this important shape through history.
Chapter XIX
Fractal Geometry and Computer Science 308
Nicoletta Sala, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland & Università dell’Insubria,
Italy
The author presents fractal geometry, which can help us describe shapes in nature. It is applied in various
elds now, from biology to economy, using two different points of view: spatial fractals and temporal
fractals. The author describes some applications of fractal geometry and its properties (e.g., self-simi-
larity) in computer science, particularly for image compression and landscape modeling. Fractional
Brownian motion has been observed for controlling trafc in computer networks (local area networks,
metropolitan area networks, wireless area networks, and the Internet).
Glossary 329
Compilation of References 357
About the Contributors 388
Index 395
xii
Foreword
Intelligent behavior is characterized by the exible and creative pursuit of endogenously dened goals.

It has emerged in humans through the stages of evolution that are manifested in the brains and behav-
iors of other animals. Intentionality is a key concept by which to link brain dynamics to goal-directed
behavior. The archetypal form of intentional behavior is an act of observation through time and space,
by which information is sought for the guidance of future action. Sequences of such acts constitute the
key desired property of free-roving, semiautonomous devices capable of exploring remote environments
that are inhospitable for humans. Intentionality consists of (a) the neurodynamics by which images are
created of future states as goals, (b) command sequences by which to act in pursuit of goals, (c) the
prediction of changes in sensory input resulting from intended actions (reafference), (d) the evaluation
of performance, and (e) modication of the device by itself in learning from the consequences of its
intended actions. These principles are well known among psychologists, philosophers, and engineers
(e.g., Ashby, 1952; Clark, 1996; Hendriks-Jansen, 1996; Merleau-Ponty, 1945/1962).
What is new is the development of nonlinear mesoscopic brain dynamics (Freeman, 2000) by which
to apply complexity theory in order to understand and emulate the construction of meaningful patterns
of endogenous activity that implement the action-perception cycle (Merleau-Ponty, 1942/1963) as ex-
emplied by the perceptual process of observation.
The prototypic hardware realization of intelligent behavior is already apparent in certain classes of
robots. The chaotic neurodynamics of sensory cortices in pattern recognition is ready for hardware em-
bodiments, which are needed to provide the eyes, noses, and ears of devices for survival and intentional
operation—as distinct from autonomous operation in connoting cooperation with the controller—in
complex and/or unpredictable environments.
The three salient characteristics of intentionality are (a) intent or directedness toward some future
state or goal, (b) wholeness, and (c) unity. These three aspects correspond to the current use of the term
in psychology (with the meaning of purpose), in medicine (with the meaning of the mode of healing
and integration of the body), and in analytic philosophy (with the meaning of the way in which beliefs
and thoughts are connected with or about objects and events in the world, also known as the symbol-
grounding problem).
Intent comprises the endogenous initiation, construction, and direction of behavior into the world. It
emerges from brains. Humans, animals, and autonomous robots select their own goals, plan their own
tactics, and choose when to begin, modify, and stop sequences of action. Humans at least are subjectively
aware of themselves acting, but consciousness is not a necessary property of intention. Unity appears in

the combining of input from all sensory modalities into gestalts, in the coordination of all parts of the
body, both musculoskeletal and autonomic, into adaptive, exible, yet focused movements. Subjectively,
unity appears in the awareness of self and emotion, but again this is not intrinsic to or a requisite for
intention. Wholeness is revealed by the orderly changes in the self and its behavior that constitute the
xiii
development, maturation, and adaptation of the self, within the constraints of its genes or design prin-
ciples, and its material, social, and industrial environments. Subjectively, wholeness is revealed in the
remembrance of self through a lifetime of change, although the inuences of accumulated and integrated
experience on current behavior are not dependent on recollection and recognition. In brief, simulation
of intentionality should be directed toward replicating the mechanisms by which goal states are con-
structed, approached, and evaluated, and not toward emulating processes of consciousness, awareness,
emotion, and so forth in machines.
Chaotic dynamics has proved to be extremely difcult to harness in the service of intelligent machines.
Most studies that purport to control chaos either nd ways to suppress it and replace it with periodic
or quasiperiodic uctuations, or to lock two or more oscillators into synchrony, sharing a common
aperiodic wave form often as an optimal means for encryption and secure transmission. Our aim is to
employ chaotic dynamics as the means for creating novel and endogenous space-time patterns, which
must be the means to achieve any signicant degree of autonomy in devices that must operate far from
human guidance, where in order to function they must make up their courses of action as they go along.
We know of no other way to approach a solution to the problem of how to introduce creative processes
into machines other than to simulate the dynamics we have found in animal brains. To be sure, there are
major unsolved problems in this approach, with the chief among them being that we know too little about
the dynamics of the limbic system. Hence, we nd it necessary to restrict the development of hardware
models to the stage of brain-world interaction that we know best, which is the eld of perception. In
brief, what are the problems in giving eyes, ears, and a nose to a robot so that it might learn about its
environment in something like the way that even the simpler animals do by creating hypotheses and
testing them through their own actions?
The formation of a worldview by which the device can guide its explorations for the means to reach
its goals depends on the integration of the outputs of the several sensory systems in order to form a
multisensory percept known as a gestalt. The sequential frames deriving from sampling the environment

must then be integrated over time and oriented in space.
It is also clear that such devices were rst built by the pioneer of intentional robotics, W. Grey Walter
(1953), and are now in advanced development to meet the challenges of extraterrestrial exploration with
intentional robots (Huntsberger, 2001; Huntsberger, Tunstel, & Kozma, 2006; Kozma, in press). The
proper path of future management will not be by techniques of passive memory installation or of train-
ing and aversive conditioning, but by education with the inculcation of desired values determined by
the manufacturers that will govern the choices that must by denition be made by the newly intentional
and quasi-autonomous mechanical devices.
This book provides both a toolbox and mapping for the exploration of new landscapes of the human
technocultural environment.
Walter J. Freeman
Berkeley, June 2007
REFERENCES
Ashby, W. R. (1952). Design for a brain. London: Chapman & Hall.
Clark, A. (1996). Being there: Putting brain, body, and world together again. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
xiv
Freeman, W. J. (2000). Neurodynamics: An exploration of mesoscopic brain dynamics. London:
Sprinter.
Hendriks-Jansen, H. (1996). Catching ourselves in the act: Situated activity, interactive emergence,
evolution, and human thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Huntsberger, T. (2001). Biologically inspired autonomous rover control. Autonomous Robots, 11, 341-
346.
Huntsberger, T., Tunstel, E., & Kozma, R. (2006). Onboard learning strategies for planetary surface
rovers. In A. Howard & E. Tunstel (Eds.), Intelligence for space robotics (chap. 20, pp. 403-422). San
Antonio, TX: TCI Press.
Kozma, R. (in press). Neurodynamics of intentional behavior generation. In L. Perlovsky & R. Kozma
(Eds.), Neurodynamics of cognition and consciousness (Springer Series on Understanding Complex
Systems). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer Verlag.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1963). The structure of behavior (A. L. Fischer, Trans.). Boston: Beacon Press.

(Original work published 1942)
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). New York: Humanities
Press. (Original work published 1945)
Walter, W. G. (1953). The living brain. New York: W. W. Norton.
xv
Preface
…it’s a Looking-glass book, of course!
Lewis Carroll
Since the rst production of tools at the beginning of human presence on Earth, human evolution is
linked to the invention of new tools, usually combined with new environmental adaptations.
The symbiosis of man with tools and environments represents one of the main factors in human
evolutionary processes. It is evident how this coupling is based on the biophysics of our bodies and the
development of the social memory system called culture.
In recent times, computing devices, molecular biology, and new media (all members in different
ways of the information communication technology set) are redesigning the human embodiment and
its ecological niche.
The studies on interfaces, forming a common boundary between adjacent regions, bodies, substances,
or phases, seem located at the core of these new developments (Jonassen & Land, 2000). It is there at the
junction, sometimes originating a projection or an incorporation, that humans’ new embodied identity
evolves. New interfaces are actively reexive and extend in more and more subtle ways the reexivity
naturally embedded in our bodies.
The cognitive neuroscience of the reexive function can be one of the main keys to understand how
the emergence of new interfaces yields new ways of extending and changing the human presence and
consciousness in the world.
The embodied mind emerges and grows (bottom-up) on the basic reexive function as an order
parameter in biological processes. Some authors use these terms synonymously but we prefer to use
the different terminology to stress the conceptual and factual difference. Reexivity will be direct and
nonconceptual: It implies an immediate capacity of awareness without effort or intellectualization. Re-
ectivity is a metacognitive process of higher order, implying secondary self-observation, denotation,
and conceptualization (Gladwell, 2005; Siegel, 2007).

In reexivity, the interface is “under your skin” as we are reminded that the embryological origin
of skin, brain, and mind is the same. The ectoderm, our primary interface, is the outermost of the three
primary germ layers of an embryo and the source of the epidermis, the nervous system, the eyes, and
the ears, that is, interfaces. Reexions happen at a very precognitive stage, before any higher order
metacognition might be established. Primary reexivity is based on massive nonlinear dynamics and
it is probably the basic property of living matter, whose ultimate extension is consciousness. Modern
advancements in complexity theory from Henry Poincare to Walter J. Freeman and Stuart Kauffman
point in this direction and beyond. Fractal mathematics has extended the isomorphism capabilities in
space and time for our technocultural niche (Orsucci, 1998, 2006; Orsucci & Sala, 2005; Sala, 2006;
Thelen & Smith, 1994).
xvi
The current debate on cyborg identity is, by this perspective, relocated to a more familiar (though
maybe not less disconcerting) perspective (Gray, 2001; Hayles, 1999; Marcuse, 1962). Our thesis is that
man is a cyborg by default as human intelligence and embodied technology are just as in a Möbius strip:
You can change the perspective and it might look different, but the surface is the same. Ancient Greek
and Hindi tales describing strange half-esh, half-metal creatures; golems; talking heads; homunculi;
and modern cyborgs are just expressions of the same effort by our intellectual egos to understand and
adapt to this natural evolutionary line.
ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK
The book is divided in two sections. The rst section, comprising 10 chapters, explores theoretical
perspectives. The second section, including the last 9 chapters, presents a series of examples of applica-
tions in different elds.
Chapter I: “Reexing Interfaces.” Franco Orsucci identies the reexing interfaces that can redene
different approaches in different disciplines in the new millennium. The chapter sets the scene for discus-
sions presented by various subsequent authors. In particular, it identies how the cognitive neuroscience
of the reexive function can be a key to understand how the emergence of new interfaces links new
ways of projecting human presence and consciousness in the world. In substance, information science
and technology are accumulating ground for new possible evolutionary jumps. Computing devices,
molecular biology, and new media are redesigning the human embodiment and its environment. An
integrated approach, which should include the latest advancements in neuroscience, can draw the map

of new possible human evolutions.
Chapter II: “Riddle of the Sphinx: Paradox Revealed and Reveiled.” Terry Marks-Tarlow presents the
Oedipus myth in the light of interpersonal neurobiology and second-order cybernetics, where observers
are self-referentially implicated within the observed. The riddle of the Sphinx is understood as a paradox
of self-reference in apparent contradiction with all known laws of science. The author of this chapter
describes Oedipus’ capacity for full self-reference as equated with the operation of the most powerful
universal Turing machine with both implicit and explicit memory of its past.
Chapter III: “Theory of Cooperative Coevolution of Genes and Memes.” Vladimir Kvasnicka and
Jiri Pospichal propose a simple replicator theory of the coevolution of genes and memes. The presented
coevolutionary theory assumes that units of information acquired from parents by imitation (memes) are
not independent of genes, but are bounded with genes as composites, which are a subject of Darwinian
evolution. A population composed of couples of genes and memes, the so-called m-genes, is postulated
as a subject of Darwinian evolution. Three different types of operations over m-genes are introduced:
replication (an m-gene is replicated with mutations onto an offspring m-gene), interaction (a memetic
transfer from a donor to an acceptor), and extinction (an m-gene is eliminated). Computer simulations
of the present model allow us to identify different mechanisms of gene and meme coevolutions.
Chapter IV: “Thinking Animals and Thinking Machines: What Relation? (With Particular Reference
to the Psychoanalytical Point of View).” Franco Scalzone and Gemma Zontini describe some interest-
ing similarities between computer science and psychoanalysis. The authors formulate some hypotheses
by bringing closer the statute of connectionism to the energetic model of the psychic apparatus, as well
as OOP (object-oriented programming) to the object relations theory. They explore the man-machine
theme, the way in which men relate to machines, especially thinking machines, describing the fantasies
they arouse. In order to do this we will use Tausk’s classic On the Origin of the Inuencing Machine in
xvii
Schizophrenia (1919), as well as some of Freud’s writings. They also review some ethical issues in the
security of electronic commerce.
Chapter V: “Machines Paying Attention.” John G. Taylor describes the attention that is analyzed as
the superior control system in the brain from an engineering point of view, with support for this from
the way attention is presently being understood by brain science. The author remarks that an engineering
control framework allows an understanding of how the complex networks observed in the brain during

various cognitive tasks can begin to be functionally decomposed. He also presents a machine version of
such an attention control system, and he extends it to allow for goals and their reward values also to be
encoded in the attention machine. The author briey discusses the manner in which emotion may then
begin to be imbued in the machine and how even some glimpse of consciousness may then arise.
Chapter VI: “Articial Mind.” Rita Pizzi presents the advances of articial intelligence that have
renewed the interest in the mind-body problem, the ancient philosophical debate on the nature of the mind
and its relationship with the brain. The author says the new version of the mind-body problem concerns
the relationship between computational complexity and self-aware thought. She also introduces the
progresses of micro-, nano-, and biotechnologies that allow creating the rst bionic creatures, composed
by biological cells connected to electronic devices. Creating an articial brain with a biological structure
could allow verifying if it possesses peculiar properties with respect to an electronic one, comparing
them at the same level of complexity.
Chapter VII: “Neurofeedback.” David Vernon introduces neurofeedback as a mechanism for alter-
ing human brain functioning and in turn inuencing behavior. The author argues that neurofeedback
provides a plausible mechanism by which the individual can learn to alter and control aspects of his
electrocortical activity. He highlights some of the ndings from both clinical and optimal performance
research, showing the benets of neurofeedback training, and outlines some of the important issues that
remain to be addressed.
Chapter VIII: “Biological Traits in Articial Self-Reproducing Systems.” Eleonora Bilotta and Pi-
etro Pantano present an articial taxonomy of 2-D, self-replicating cellular automata (CA) that can be
considered as proto-organisms for structure replication. The authors highlight that the process of self-
reproduction is an important mechanism, and they discuss almost 10 methods of self-replication. These
systems produce structures that are very similar to those found in biological systems. After examining
self-replicating structures and the way they reproduce, the authors consider this behavior in relation to
the patterns they realize and to the function they manifest in realizing an articial organism.
Chapter IX: “Evolutionary Algorithms in Problem Solving and Machine Learning.” Marco Tomas-
sini and Leonardo Vanneschi describe the evolutionary algorithms, a family of powerful optimization
heuristics based on the metaphor of biological evolution, especially genetic algorithms and genetic pro-
gramming. The authors focus their attention on two specic applications. The rst is about an important
nancial problem: the portfolio allocation problem. The second one deals with a biochemical problem

related to drug design and efcacy.
Chapter X: “The Future Quantum Computer: Biotic Complexity.” Hector Sabelli and Gerald H.
Thomas present the notion of quantum computing and how it forces a reexamination of logics. The au-
thors examine its historical roots in logos, the logic of nature, and the laws of physics. They also describe
the logical design of computers according to the logic of quantum physics that will allow the full use of
quantum processes for computation, providing explicit realizations of these ideas.
The second section is composed of nine chapters.
Chapter XI: “Networks: Uses and Misuses of an Emergent Paradigm.” Alessandro Giuliani presents
the notion of network, which is more and more widespread in all the elds of human investigation,
from physics to sociology. It evokes a systemic approach to problems able to overcome the limitations
xviii
of reductionist approaches as evidenced for some decades. The author describes some applications of
network-based modeling to both introduce the basic terminology of the emergent network paradigm and
highlight strengths and limitations of the method.
Chapter XII: “Theory and Practice of Ant-Based Routing in Dynamic Telecommunication Networks.”
Gianni A. Di Caro, Frederick Ducatelle, and Luca M. Gambardella introduce ant colony optimization
(ACO), an optimization metaheuristic inspired by the foraging behavior of ant colonies. The authors
describe the characteristics of ACO and they derive from it ant colony routing (ACR), a novel framework
for the development of adaptive algorithms for network routing. They also state, through the concrete
application of ACR’s ideas to the design of an algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks, that the ACR
framework allows the construction of new routing algorithms.
Chapter XIII: “Cryptography, Delayed Dynamical Systems, and Secure Communication.” Santo
Banerjee and Asesh Roy Chowdhury present nonlinear systems with time-delayed feedback, whose
dynamics are governed by delay-differential equations. The authors describe a new method for the
transmitting and receiving of signals using those delayed dynamical systems. The change of the delay
parameter at the intermediate state gives extra security to the system. They also propose a method of
communication using the synchronization between two coupled, delayed chaotic systems by adaptive
coupling-enhancement algorithms.
Chapter XIV: “Portfolio Organization Using Evolutionary Algorithms.” Lean Yu, Shouyang Wang,
and Kin Keung Lai present a double-stage evolutionary algorithm for portfolio optimization. In the rst

stage, a genetic algorithm is used to identify good-quality assets in terms of asset ranking. In the second
stage, investment allocation in the selected good-quality assets is optimized using another genetic algo-
rithm based on Markowitz’s theory. The authors discuss the experimental results that highlight that their
double-stage evolutionary algorithm for portfolio optimization provides a useful tool to assist investors
in planning their investment strategy and constructing their portfolio.
Chapter XV: “Automatic Financial Trading Systems: Is Recurrent Reinforcement Learning the Way?”
Francesco Bertoluzzo and Marco Corazza propose a nancial trading system whose trading strategy is
developed by means of an articial neural network approach based on a learning algorithm of recurrent
reinforcement type. This approach consists of two parts: rst, directly specifying a trading policy based
on some predetermined investor’s measure of protability, and second, directly setting the nancial
trading system while using it. The authors take into account as a measure of protability the reciprocal
of the returns weighted direction symmetry index instead of the widespread Sharpe ratio. They propose
a simple procedure for the management of drawdown-like phenomena and apply their nancial trading
approach to some of the most prominent assets of the Italian stock market.
Chapter XVI: “About the Use of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the Framework of
Physical Limnological Studies on a Great Lake.” Leonardo Castellano, Walter Ambrosetti, and Nicoletta
Sala describe a mathematical model able to simulate the limnological physics of a complex natural body
of water: computational uid dynamics (CFD). The authors present an experience in progress at the
CNR-ISE (Italian National Research Council, Italian Institute of Ecosystems Study) of Pallanza, Italy.
The main features of the current state of the art in this eld of application of mathematical modeling
techniques are summarized and the characteristics of the computer code now in use for their studies on
Lake Maggiore (Northern Italy and Switzerland) are described in detail.
Chapter XVII: “Urban and Architectural 3-D Fast Processing.” Renato Saleri Lunazzi presents a
research task that consists of applying automatic generative methods in design processes. The initial
approach briey explores early theoretical conjectures, starting with form and function balance within
former conceptual investigations. The author, following experiments, describes original techniques in-
troducing integrated 2-D and 3-D generators for the enhancement of recent 3-D Earth browsers (Virtual
xix
Terrain©, MSN Virtual Earth©, or Google Earth©), and cellular automata processes for architectural
programmatic optimization.

Chapter XVIII: “Reections of Spiral Complexity on Art.” Ljubiša M. Kocić and Liljana R. Stefanovska
consider a relationship between spirals as protocomplex shapes and human intelligence organized in an
information system. The authors distinguish between old (precomputer age) and new (computer age)
IS. It seems that actual intelligent machines, connected in an efcient network, inherit a much older
structure: a collective consciousness being formed by an international group of artists that exchange their
ideas of beauty with amazing speed and persistence. The authors proposed some methods for extracting
spiral forms from pieces of visual arts using modern technologies of IS. Sometimes, these forms are a
consequence of a conscious and sometimes of an unconscious action of the artist. The results support
the thesis that there is a constant need of systematic recording of this important shape through history.
Chapter XIX: “Fractal Geometry and Computer Science.” Nicoletta Sala presents fractal geometry
that can help us describe shapes in nature (e.g., ferns, trees, seashells, rivers, mountains). It is applied
in various elds now, from biology to economy, using two different points of view: spatial fractals and
temporal fractals. Spatial fractals refer to the presence of self-similarity observed in various enlargements.
Temporal fractals are present in some dynamic processes that evidence a wide range of time scales with
scale-invariant power-law characteristics. The author describes some applications of fractal geometry and
its properties (e.g., self-similarity) in computer science, particularly for image compression and landscape
modeling. Fractional Brownian motion has been observed for controlling trafc in computer networks
(local area networks, metropolitan area networks, wireless area networks, and the Internet). The chapter
highlights that self-similarity, which characterizes some fractal objects, is a unifying concept. In fact, it
is an attribute of many laws of nature and is present in different elds of computer science.
CONCLUSION
In the Kubrick and Clarke’s movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a savannah-dwelling ape has a eu-
reka-like ash of inspiration in realizing the awesome power of the bone tool in his hands. He tosses it
skyward, where it morphs into a space station at the dawn of this millennium (Ambrose, 2001).
xx
This book is a multifaceted mirror on how human evolution has had a constant psychobiological
link with the development of new tools and environmental changes. Discoveries and technological in-
novations in information and communication science and technology (ICST) are paving the ground for
new evolutionary steps. Computer devices could play a central role in this evolution as Giovanni Degli
Antoni (1988) afrms: “Computers become mirrors in which the real lives his new reality beyond space

and the time.”
In the book Through the Looking-Glass (1872), the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
(1871), Lewis Carroll described many mirror experiences lived by Alice. Alice’s adventures beyond the
mirror could be considered a metaphor for ICST realities. If Alice were a modern child, certainly her
mirror could be a computer screen. She would be used to experiencing how actions in a real world are
transformed in other actions in the virtual world, and vice versa. These transformations follow interesting
mathematical and physical processes that Lewis Carroll would certainly be interested in; Degli Antoni
named these new processes bi-causality (Pizzi, 1989).
The isomorphism between biocognitive structures and the ICST niche we inhabit is progressively
blurring boundaries between res cogitans and res extensa. Our new insights in neurocognition and the
multiple reexions implied in our sensory-perceptive processes are leading to new interfaces and new
media. Reexing interfaces are extensions of human embodiment just as the bone tool tossed skyward
by a savannah-dwelling ape. Time ows, always different yet similar.
As Varela, Thompson, and Rosch stated aphoristically, “Readiness-for-action is a micro-identity and its
corresponding level a micro-world: we embody streams of recurrent micro-world transitions” (1991).
We are the ow of micro and macro worlds, nested and intermingled. The stream of time ows here
and there, generating multiple cascades, reexing in billions of innitesimal mirrors, and radiating in
what we used to call consciousness.
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Psychoan. 5
Thelen, E., & Smith, L. B. (1994). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and
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xxii
Acknowledgment
The editors would like to acknowledge the contributions of all people involved in the project’s collation
and review processes, without whose support the book could not have been satisfactorily completed.
Our gratitude goes to all the authors, whose creativity added multiple reexing perspectives to this
looking-glass book. We wish to thank all of the authors for their insight and excellent contributions. We
also want to thank all of the people who assisted us in the reviewing process.
Special thanks also go to all the staff at IGI Global, whose contributions throughout the whole process
from inception of the initial idea to nal publication have been invaluable. In particular, thanks go to
Kristin Roth (development editor), Deborah Yahnke and Ross Miller (editorial assistants), Jan Travers
(managing director), and Mehdi Khosrow-Pour (executive editor) whose enthusiasm motivated us to

initially accept his invitation for taking on this project.
Finally, we want to thank our families for their love and support throughout this project.

Franco Orsucci, MD, and Nicoletta Sala, PhD
Editors
London (UK) and Mendrisio (CH)
June 2007



Section I
Living Systems and
Information Technology