The same room. The same arrangement. Mr Blottisham appears especially assured, which, by now, has become a reliable warning.
Blottisham:
I believe I have finally secured the role of inference.
Quillibrace:
Then we must proceed carefully.
Blottisham (with calm authority):
Inference is the process by which an observer recognises patterns in instantiations and constructs systems from them.
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham does not flinch.
Blottisham:
You object to “observer,” no doubt.
Quillibrace:
Among other things.
Blottisham:
Very well. We may remove the observer and speak instead of a cognitive system performing the inference.
Quillibrace:
No.
A pause.
Blottisham:
Then who, or what, is doing the inferring?
Quillibrace:
No one.
Blottisham blinks.
Blottisham:
That is untenable.
Quillibrace:
It is necessary.
Blottisham leans forward.
Blottisham:
Patterns do not recognise themselves.
Quillibrace:
Correct.
Blottisham:
Then something must recognise them.
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham exhales slowly.
Blottisham:
This is becoming perverse.
Elowen:
You are treating inference as if it required a vantage point outside the system.
Blottisham:
How else could one infer anything?
Elowen:
By continuing within it.
Blottisham pauses.
Blottisham:
That sounds like participation, not inference.
Quillibrace:
It is both.
Blottisham considers this, sceptical.
Blottisham:
Let me attempt to reformulate. Inference is not performed by an observer, but is a process internal to the system.
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham:
You object even to that?
Quillibrace:
You have smuggled the system back in as an agent.
Blottisham looks briefly irritated.
Blottisham:
Then what remains? We have patterns, but no one to recognise them. We have systems, but no one to infer them. We have inference, but no inferer.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
A longer pause.
Blottisham:
This is absurd.
Quillibrace:
Only if one insists on actors.
Elowen speaks softly.
Elowen:
You are treating inference as if it were an act performed on a pattern.
Blottisham:
What else could it be?
Elowen:
A trajectory within it.
Blottisham frowns.
Blottisham:
A trajectory of what?
Quillibrace:
Constraint-consistent selection.
Blottisham leans back, considering.
Blottisham:
So inference is not recognising a pattern, but moving within it?
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham:
That is a very odd use of the word.
Quillibrace:
It is a necessary one.
Blottisham taps the table.
Blottisham:
Let me see if I can make sense of this. We have a subpotential—a stabilised pattern of recurrence. Within that pattern, certain continuations are viable and others are not.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham:
Inference is selecting among those continuations.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham brightens.
Blottisham:
Then inference is decision-making.
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham sighs.
Blottisham:
Choice?
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham:
Prediction?
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham gestures in mild exasperation.
Blottisham:
You remove every familiar term.
Quillibrace:
I remove every misleading one.
Elowen smiles slightly.
Elowen:
You are still treating inference as if it were directed toward an outcome.
Blottisham:
Is it not?
Elowen:
No. It is constrained by prior recurrence.
Blottisham pauses.
Blottisham:
So inference is not aiming at a result, but continuing in a way that does not break the pattern.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham nods slowly.
Blottisham:
Then it is a kind of stability-preserving movement.
Quillibrace:
Acceptable.
A brief silence.
Blottisham:
And this movement occurs within each system.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham:
Biological inference, social inference, semiotic inference—
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham:
All operating simultaneously in a single instantiation.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham leans forward again.
Blottisham:
Then surely there must be some coordination between them.
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham closes his eyes briefly.
Blottisham:
But their trajectories must align.
Quillibrace:
They must not contradict.
A pause.
Blottisham:
So inference does not unify the systems.
Quillibrace:
Correct.
Blottisham:
Nor does it observe them.
Quillibrace:
Correct.
Blottisham:
Nor does it produce them.
Quillibrace:
Correct.
Blottisham leans back, now more thoughtful than triumphant.
Blottisham:
Then inference is simply the continuation of constraint-consistent trajectories within stabilised subpotentials.
Quillibrace:
Acceptable.
Blottisham nods.
Blottisham:
Without an observer.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham:
Without a goal.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham:
Without representation.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
A quiet settles.
Blottisham (after a moment):
It is remarkably impersonal.
Quillibrace:
It is remarkably precise.
Elowen glances between them.
Elowen:
And remarkably easy to misunderstand.
Blottisham smiles faintly.
Blottisham:
I shall do my best.
Quillibrace:
You will do your usual.
End of Dialogue V
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