[Categoricaldata_announce] Interesting sentence

[Peter C. Marks]

I know some of you are aware of the late theoretical biologist Robert
Rosen's book "Life Itself" in which he proposes an answer to the question
"What is Life?" that is based, in part, on Category Theory. I came across a
review of the book written in 1993 by Cliff Josyln. I was struck by a
sentence at the beginning of the review (which I've italicized below). It
appears to align quite nicely with the goals of Ologs and FQL.

Rosen looks to a mathematics based on category theory rather than the
traditional Whitehead-Russell language of sets and functions to be the
canonical language for systems theory and the "sciences of complexity".
Invented to ease the fusion of abstract algebra and topology, as a
language, category theory his some great advantages.* It is hoped that
these advantages will allow category theoretic expressions to more closely
capture the semantic aspects of theories expressed in natural language
without sacrificing any objectivity or rigor. *


   1. A review of: “LIFE ITSELF: A COMPREHENSIVE INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE,
   ORIGIN, AND FABRICATION OF LIFE”, by Robert Rosen. Columbia University
   Press, 1991, xix + 284 pages.
   <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03081079308945090>
   CLIFF JOSLYN
   International Journal of General Systems
   <http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ggen20/21/4>
   Vol. 21, Iss. 4, 1993

Enjoy,

Peter
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