Evolutionary construction of knowledge systems: a theoretical and empirical study within the framework of the PPRincipia Cybernetica Project.

We assume that it is possible to explain the construction of new knowledge systems with the help of an evolutionary-systemic approach, based on the recombination and selection of existing concepts. We plan to develop such a model by integrating existing, partial theories: Holland's classifiers and genetic algorithms, memetics, heuristic models of discovery and knowledge reformulation, and Campbell's evolutionary epistemology. This model will be tested empirically by comparing its predictions with the results of a computer-supported process of system construction, as proposed in the Principia Cybernetica Project. This will necessitate an intensive collaboration, using electronic mail and de World-Wide Web distributed hypermedia network, with foreign colleagues participating in the Principia Cybernetica network.