19.5 Polynemes


A polyneme is 1) an agent, 2) sends messages to a number of different agents, and 3) can have different effects on different agents. How is this last property possible? Because controlled agencies must have learned their particular response to particular signals. "To understand a polyneme, each agency must learn its own specific and appropriate response. Each agency must have its private dictionary or memory bank to tell it how to respond to every polyneme." What mechanism could account for this? K-lines. Meanings, then, are being treated as selected (context dependent) memories.

(NB: Here, another puzzle is brought to mind. Previously, it was noted that each agency on the receiving end of a polyneme gets the same signal. What in the world is a signal? Do different polynemes send different signals, or is it assumed that the same kind of signal is always sent? If the latter case is true, then how are different polynemes differentiated by receiving agencies?


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