DESIGN FOR A BRAIN 



15/8 



These remaiks are probably sufficient for the moment to show 

 that the absence of connexions between organismal subsystems 

 in Figure 15/7/1 does not condemn the representation off-hand. 

 There is more to this matter of joining than is immediately 

 evident. (The topic is resumed in S. 17/2.) 



Serial adaptation 



15/8. By S. 15/3, our second stage of connectedness in the system 

 occurs when the parts of the environment are joined as a chain. 

 Figure 15/8/1 illustrates the case. 



Figure 15/8/1. 



Without enquiring at the moment into exactly what will 

 happen, it is obvious, by analogy with the previous section, that 

 adaptation must occur in the sequence — A first, then B, then C. 

 Thus we are considering the case of the organism that faces an 

 environment whose parts are so related that the environment can 

 be adapted to only by a process that respects its natural articulation. 



15/9. Such environments are of common occurrence. A puppy 

 can learn rabbit-catching only after it has learned how to run: 

 the environment does not allow the two reactions to be learned in 

 the opposite order. A great deal of learning occurs in this way. 

 Mathematics, for instance, though too vast and intricate for one 

 all-comprehending flash, can be mastered by stages. The stages 

 have a natural articulation which must be respected if mastery is 



200 



