Thanks for the response, John. First of all, I think I'm using "paraphrase" in the sense you're using "interpretation."  My OED is more liberal in its definition and doesn't appear to connote any requirement for isomorphism...and my arguing semantics and definitions with a respected and honored linguist would engage you in a dialogue with an unarmed person. I see two threads in your reply:  Rigor and Utility. As for rigor, I'm wholeheartedly in favor of it, and I find lots of it in "Whisperings."  The rigor is what makes it appealing to me.  When I read the pages about LRV, I was left with my own impression that you no longer wanted it to hold a legitimate role in NLP.  I've found an interpretation that seems to me to be closer to Ashby's intent, and it works for me.  I offered it only as one humble suggestion for consideration.  Perhaps together, we in this forum could collaborate to formulate a better interpretation that would both more closer to the complex original and be more useful? Alas, I'm not qualified to present a proof, I can only suggest there might be one if someone qualified were to address it.  I'll search my sources and see if I can find anything, but I'm not sanguine about the prospects (it's amazing to me how few people know of Ashby's work).  If there's anything I could do to help others develop a more rigorous characterization of LRV to open and/or living systems, I offer whatever resources I may have. As for Utility, that's where I thought my experience might be helpful.  Anecdotes can be bearers of information, despite lack of rigor.  I've found that applying LRV has proven helpful to me--no matter how misguided my understanding might be.  Perhaps I'm just trusting my unconscious to draw conclusions from information not yet evident in the world of formal proofs and shared experience...or, perhaps, I'm just hallucinating that value.  I try to follow Gene Gendlin's recommendation to "Check In (listen to one's unconscious) and Check Out (look for confirming/denying evidence)" (parenthetic interpretations being my own--cao). --Friday