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Well shit, I talked myself into arguing against holistic thinking. Hofstadter got it wrong. The opposite of holism is not reductionism (that still inherits the well-posedness delusion of holism). The opposite is fragmentism (shardism? disconnectionism? muttism? discordianism?)
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Reductionism is the belief that your solution to a problem will inevitably roll up into more complex solutions to bigger problems, all the way up to the problem of life, the universe and everything being 42.
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Fragmentism by contrast, doesn't expect any sort of coherent roll-up of a localized solution to any problem to anything bigger, more holistic. It is not an integrationist view of differential bits of the universe. More strongly, it speculates that such roll-up is unnecessary
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That triggers memories of the discussion regarding the "Principle of Alternate Possibilities" around Harry G. Frankfurt. Not in the light of free will but in regards to the "roll up" of simple answers into a more complex world.
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