Re: "Identity" - is a modal notion and the matrix

On 2017-06-02 2:23 PM, David Chadwick wrote:
> 
> On 02/06/2017 19:17, Joe Andrieu wrote:
...>> I think your notion of "authorize" would be more commonly 
regarded as
>> acting on. I would go further and use the term apply.

> or we could say, make a decision.

Strongly agree.

And I'm going to try to summarize, because this thread is large and 
fast-moving, but I feel like there's a chance for consensus cropping 
up. :-)

But first, here's something I think is directly relevant that appeared 
in the journal "Cell" yesterday, and was reported in MedicalXpress: an 
interesting new evidence of a mechanism for how we (monkeys, but 
certainly us too) recognize faces. By attributes! And more simply than 
anyone imagined, as the authors say.

Here's the MedicalXpress story:
"Researchers decipher the enigma of how faces are encoded in the brain"
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-06-decipher-enigma-encoded-brain.html

The key point is that there are 200 neurons, only, that are required, 
and each neuron measures a *single* attribute in the face, like the 
distance between the eyes, or the width of the hairline, or the skin 
tone, or texture.

We can assume that these attributes are then pattern-matched, 
together, against stored previous measures in memory, and a match is 
'recognized' for the entire group and so the face is 'identified'.

This seems like a fundamental process, and perhaps one that parallels 
how this thread is showing we should approach 'Identity' through 
Verifiable Claims as well, both on and off-line.

So: maybe these four statements are true? :

1. Identity of 'A' is in the eye of the beholder, B. (Beholder C might 
not recognize A at all, or might do so via a different set of evidence 
than B does.)

2. For any beholder such as B, 'recognition' (validation) of the 
identity is done by measuring, or receiving, a pattern of attributes 
of A, and comparing them with a pattern of attributes stored in B's 
memory. When a best fit is found, 'recognition' occurs, by B, of A. 
This is not an exact process, but rather a statistical, 
probability-based, process.

3. This recognition, of A by B, is the basis for a functional decision 
by B for some action B will take. B is collecting these particular 
attributes purposely, to gather information to help in making the 
decision. Thus the information is not, in general, something A 'gives 
B', but something B measures.

4. Privacy is concerned with whether A can prevent B from making the 
measurement.


Steven

Received on Friday, 2 June 2017 22:58:49 UTC