THE DETERMINATE MACHINE 3/11 



''colour of the next throw", which is a variable that has only two 

 values: Red and Black. A system that includes the latter variable 

 is almost certainly not predictable, whereas one that includes the 

 former (the probability) may well be predictable, for the probability 

 has a constant value, of about a half.) 



The "absolute" system described and used in Design for a Brain 

 is just such a set of variables. 



It is now clear why it can be said that every determinate dynamic 

 system corresponds to a single-valued transformation (in spite of 

 the fact that we dare not dogmatise about what the real world 

 contains, for it is full of surprises). We can make the statement 

 simply because science refuses to study the other types, such as the 

 one-variable pendulum above, dismissing them as "chaotic" or 

 "non-sensical". It is we who decide, ultimately, what we will accept 

 as "machine-like" and what we will reject. (The subject is resumed 

 in S.6/3.) 



41 



