38 3 A Patternist Philosophy of Mind e Evolution , conceived as a general process via which patterns within a large population thereof are differentially selected and used as the basis for formation of new patterns, based on some “fitness function” that is generally tied to the goals of the agent — Example: If trying to build a blocks structure that will surprise Bob, an agent may simulate several procedures for building blocks structures in its “mind’s eye”, assessing for each one the expected degree to which it might surprise Bob. The search through procedure space could be conducted as a form of evolution, via an algorithm such as MOSES. e Autopoiesis: the process by which a system of interrelated patterns maintains its integrity, via a dynamic in which whenever one of the patterns in the system begins to decrease in intensity, some of the other patterns increase their intensity in a manner that causes the troubled pattern to increase in intensity again — Example: An agent’s set of strategies for building the base of a tower, and its set of strategies for building the middle part of a tower, are likely to relate autopoietically. If the system partially forgets how to build the base of a tower, then it may regenerate this missing knowledge via using its knowledge about how to build the middle part (i.e., it knows it needs to build the base in a way that will support good middle parts). Similarly if it partially forgets how to build the middle part, then it may regenerate this missing knowledge via using its knowledge about how to build the base (i.e. it knows a good middle part should fit in well with the sorts of base it knows are good). — This same sort of interdependence occurs between pattern-sets containing more than two elements — Sometimes (as in the above example) autopoietic interdependence in the mind is tied to interdependencies in the physical world, sometimes not. e Association. Patterns, when given attention, spread some of this attention to o