<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 16px; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div align="CENTER"><font face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><font size="5"><span style="font-size: 16pt; "><hr align="CENTER" size="3" width="95%">The Center for Human Development Presents<br></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; "><br></span></font></font><font size="6"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 24pt; "><b>Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini<br></b></span></font></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><b><i>University of Arizona</i></b></span></font></div><div align="CENTER"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman"><b><font size="4"><span style="font-size: 14pt; "><i>Department of Cognitive Science<br></i></span></font></b></font><font face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 12pt; "><br><b>Friday, October 31st <br></b></span><b><font size="1"><span style="font-size: 9pt; ">12-1pm (discussion 1-1:30pm)<br>room 003 in the Cognitive Science Building</span></font></b></font></div><div align="CENTER"><br></div><div align="CENTER"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px; "><br></span></font></div><div align="CENTER"><font face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><b><font size="1"><span style="font-size: 9pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px; font-weight: normal; ">“The return of the Laws of Form and (some) Perfection in Language"</span><br><br></span></font></b></font></div><div align="CENTER" style="font-size: 10px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">
<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:150%">Chomsky’s
Minimalist Program has been criticized by some because it portraits Narrow
Syntax as the perfect solution to the problem of computing in real time the
match between linguistic sound and its interpretation. The rationale of this
criticism is that language is part of our biology and biology never finds
optimal solutions, only “satisficing” ones, as the result of adaptation and
natural selection. Whether one accepts Minimalism or not on other grounds (I
do) it can be shown that this critique is unfounded. I will review an entire
spectrum of factors that have played a major role in evolution and that are
alien to adaptation and natural selection. For historical reasons, and for want
of a better term, these are called “the laws of form”. These are constraints
explained by mathematical and physico-chemical laws leading to optimal
solutions that exceed the boundaries of biology and are quite abstract.<span style="color:red"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%">When
very similar specific morphologies (Fibonacci series and Fibonacci spirals) are
observed in<span style="color:red"> </span>spiral nebulae, in the geometrical
arrangement of magnetically charged droplets in a liquid surface, in seashells,
in the alternation of leaves on the stalks of plant stems and in the disposition
of seeds in a sunflower, it can hardly be<span style="color:red"> </span>that
natural selection is responsible. As we are going to see in some paradigmatic
instances, the relevant search space would be so huge that the hypothesis of
such solutions having been found by blind trial and error followed by natural
selection becomes exceedingly improbable. It is even hard to suppose that some
genetic machinery is specifically (one has to insist on this: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">specifically</i>) responsible for coding
these forms <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">as such</i>. It’s vastly more
plausible to suppose that the causes of these forms are to be found in the
elaborate self-organizing interactions between several components that are,
indeed, coded for by genes (protein complexes, morphogenetic gradients,
cell-cell interactions and so on) and chemical and physical forces. The latter
are vastly more ubiquitous and vastly less modular than biological processes.
They transcend the biological subdivisions into species, genera, families,
orders, classes and phyla. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%">After
having cleared the way for optimal solutions in biology in general, we will examine
applications of this model to the organization of language.</p>
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</span></font></div><div align="CENTER"><font face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><b><font size="1"><span style="font-size: 9pt; "><br></span></font><span style="font-size: 12pt; "><u>Everyone is welcome. <br></u></span></b><font size="1"><span style="font-size: 9pt; "><br><b>Speaker list</b> and <b>papers</b> are available at <a href="http://www.chd.ucsd.edu/seminar/f08sched.shtml">http://www.chd.ucsd.edu/seminar/f08sched.shtml</a><br><br>For any<b> questions </b>about the seminar<b> contact Katie </b>at kgwagner<a href="x-msg://479/jlparris@psy.ucsd.edu">@psy.ucsd.edu</a></span></font></font></div><div><font face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><font size="1"><span style="font-size: 9pt; "><br> <br><hr align="CENTER" size="3" width="95%"><br></span></font></font><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; "></span></font></div><div align="CENTER"><font size="1"><font face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 9pt; "><br>If you are interested in receiving the weekly announcements for the <br>Center for Human Development talks you should add your email address <br>(or if you are not interested you can remove it) to the CHD Seminars list. <br><br>To add or remove, visit<br><font color="#0000FF"><u><a href="http://mailman.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/chdseminar-l">http://mailman.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/chdseminar-l</a><br></u></font></span></font></font></div></div></span></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>