Purpose: Seeks to promote an understanding of a multidisciplinary approach to artificial intelligence and the humanities. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on an interview with Heinz von Foerster. Findings: Describes von Foerster’s personal and intellectual journey which made him a transdisciplinary scientist and the founder and director of the Biological Computer Laboratory. Originality/value – Provides a better understanding in how the complexity of scientific practice should be reflected in an open and flexible attitude towards the objects of enquiry.

Key words: artificial intelligence, cybernetics.

A number of proposals to augment the classical theory of natural selection turn on the need to consider the role of neutral genetic modifications, as well as on the role of patterns of physicochemically stable substructures. There are similarities between this opposition and that within cognitive science, where the dynamic and computational approaches emphasize complementary aspects of perceptual-motor development. This paper summarizes the relevant arguments of the various schools of evolutionary and cognitive theory, as well as the various calls that have been made for unification or complementarity of explanations. An extended concept of stability is then proposed, which bridges the gap between thermodynamic equilibrium and semantic closure.