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The randomness of language change
Language is a complex-adaptive system, which means that sometimes the changes in language are the result of random drift rather than any particular influence.
English is shaped by more than natural selection.
Assume a belief-transmission process in which individuals transmit beliefs to others with a volume proportional to their own adherence to the belief and the volume and number of other agents from whom they have heard the belief, and individuals adopt a belief in proportion to the number and volume of voices they hear that are espousing the belief. Contagion is no longer a linear relationship (exposure to an infected individual results in X probability of infection), but rather a non-linear process in which the previous cycle's increase leads to amplified infection rate in the next round.
Daniel Little at Understanding Society. Is public opinion part of a complex system?
Strategic design will always require leadership to translate ideas, inspiration and strategy into action. In complex conditions, this means setting a leadership course that involves humility, agility, and curiosity. #strategicdesign #leadership #healthinnovation #complexity
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Panpyschism suggests everything has a form of proto-consciousness. Although the consciousness is the only thing that can’t be doubted, by attributing it to everything renders the question of consciousness a little redundant. A drop of water doesn’t seem to portray any form of conscious attribute so should I class it as such?
My cat however appears to be making conscious decisions because I empathise its behaviour with mine. Without an internal measure of my cat’s consciousness I can only use emphatic assessment to consider the likelihood of of my cat to understand its own thought (informational) processes. So if I don’t empathise that a drop of water is conscious when would I consider a body of water to be conscious?
Consider a vortex of water in a river, it persists because it is adapting to the flow of the water. I can anthropomorphise this as learning but I would hardly consider it to be understanding what it learns. However as the river becomes more turbulent and the vortex is still persisting, the vortex will not only seem to control the water flow, it will display similar behaviour to regulate its own internal flow. One may anthropomorphise this self-regulation as to have processes that have a rudimentary ‘understanding’ of its own behaviour. As the river becomes rougher and rougher higher and higher levels of a hierarchy of regulation emerge, each with a greater degree of ‘intelligence’ required to govern its structure. At some point this degree of control would start to look like a form of self-autonomy, a water sprite emerging from the water. If so have I any right to deny it consciousness without access to its internal experience of self-regulation? If it displays the intelligence equivalent to my cat should it be assigned equal likelihood of consciousness in spite of the difference in material form? We have no understanding why our own self-regulation takes place in the realm of subjective experience. Could we just be some equivalent form of a water sprite that has evolved the stabilising concepts of self, time and self-agency without which our physical brains would disperse? Does the natural formation of self-regulation become mistaken for the struggle of survival?
I think a good qualitative assessment of consciousness therefore would be an entity that has the capacity to learn heuristics and strategies for survival. This assessment may not be necessarily applicable to an ant but the colony itself may be considered conscious. If so then could we attribute a form of consciousness to human societies and cultures? Does life on earth create an even more sophisticated form of experiential regulation beyond our knowledge to grasp?
For me this sets a limit, albeit fuzzy, to the supposed assertion of infinite granularity in panpsyhiscm. It does question our self-agency, but systems such as vortices operate through circular not linear causality so the concept of determinism is not an appropriate consideration either. I rather believe in complex-agency, a process of the non-linear creation of novelty, as the ultimate outcome of consciousness. Consequently the capacity for creativity in non-linear systems must be my best measure of consciousness.
Is Evolution an Entropic Process?
The traditional view of entropy as disorder might not fully capture the relationship between life and the universe's fundamental forces. A closer look reveals a surprising relationship: evolution, the process driving the diversity and complexity of life, may itself be an entropic process.
Entropy, a key concept in thermodynamics, traditionally represents the measure of disorder in a system leading to an imagined perspective of flatness. However, from a statistical mechanics standpoint, entropy also quantifies the number of possible states a system can occupy. In this broader sense, a system with more complexity—characterized by a greater variety of components and interactions—holds the potential for more states, thereby possessing higher entropy.
Evolution through natural selection is fundamentally about changes—specifically, genetic variations that increase an organism's adaptability to its environment. Each genetic change, adaptation, or mutation that survives the harsh sieve of natural selection adds layers of complexity to life's blueprint. More complexity means more potential states and interactions, which translates to higher entropy. Thus, as species evolve and ecosystems diversify, they potentially increase the entropy of the biological system.
Evolution isn't just a genetic process; it involves significant energy and information flow changes. These transformations, as organisms become more adapted and ecosystems more intricate, lead to greater dispersal and utilization of energy. As species evolve, they explore and embody more microstates of energy distribution, suggesting that evolution might be one of nature’s pathways to maximizing entropy.
If evolution is indeed an entropic process, this provides a novel lens through which to view life's development: not merely as a fight for survival against entropy but as an integral part of the broader entropic trends of the universe. Life, in its myriad forms, isn’t just undergoing evolution; it is being driven by and facilitating the universe's intrinsic march towards higher entropy and complexity.
This perspective can reshapes understanding of the partnership between evolution and entropy. It posits life as a creation of and a dynamic participant in the universe's entropic unfolding, actively exploring new states of being and complexity. As such life could be seen as a natural consequence of entropy which includes consciousness itself.
Universal Heat Death Revisited: A Happy Ending
Introduction to Entropy and State Variability
Entropy, traditionally understood in thermodynamics as a measure of disorder, is actually proportional to the number of possible configurations (states) a system can take. As entropy increases, so too does the system's state variability, a term we use to describe the diversity of potential states available to a system.
Misconceptions About the Universe’s Configuration
It's essential to clarify that while the universe increases in entropy, implying more potential states, it exists in only one configuration at any given moment. As entropy expands the range of possible states, the likelihood of more complex configurations also increases. This relationship suggests that each moment in the universe is not just a step towards disorder but potentially towards greater complexity.
Heat Death and Complexity
The concept of the heat death of the universe suggests an end state of maximum entropy, characterized by a uniform and useless distribution of energy. Traditional views equate this state with simplicity and inertness. However, as state variability rises with entropy, the complexity of possible states, including energy distributions, also increases. This raises a critical question: Is a universe at maximum entropy necessarily simple, or could it be complex in unexpected ways?
Complexity in Human Terms
Consider the complexity of a human being versus a pile of its molecular constituents. The human organism exhibits a higher state of complexity and thus requires more information for its description. If state complexity and state variability both scale with entropy, then phenomena like life itself are not merely surviving entropy but are direct manifestations and drivers of it. This challenges the traditional view of life as a struggle against entropy. Instead, life—through its myriad forms and functions—can be seen as an agent that harnesses and even accelerates the entropic processes, facilitating the universe's exploration of new and more complex states.
Information, Entropy, and Work
To further understand this, we can examine the relationship between information, entropy, and the capacity to perform work. While the classical view holds that no work can be done at the point of heat death due to the uniformity of energy, an alternative perspective considers the role of information in directing energy to perform work. Information theory suggests that even in a high-entropy state, where traditional work is impossible, random fluctuations of energy might still occur. These fluctuations, within a universe at maximum entropy, can lead to localized increases in complexity even as the overall system remains in a state of equilibrium due to decreases in complexity elsewhere.
Conclusion: A New Perspective on Entropy and the Universe
Thus, understanding entropy as a creative rather than destructive force offers a more optimistic view of the universe's fate. It suggests that the universe, driven by entropy, continually evolves into states of greater complexity and novelty, not despite entropy but because of it. This view encourages us to reconsider our perspective on the universe, not as marching towards a cold, inert end but as evolving through a dynamic interplay of complex structures and processes, revealing an ongoing narrative of transformation, destruction and creativity.
Call to Embrace a Holistic View
In embracing this holistic and dynamic perspective, we might better appreciate the intricate interdependencies and the ultimate unity of the cosmos, where every end is potentially the beginning of new forms of order and complexity even when no work can be done.
HAL 9000
Complex adaptive systems persist because each independent unit in the system follows rules that guide it to do so. To anthropomorphise this behaviour, we could equate this persisting nature as a survival instinct. For example, it can be said that all living things purpose is to ensure its DNA, a complex adaptive system, survives. Our brains, our societies, ecosystems and flocks of birds are wired to persist, to survive.
Modern digital computers are not complex adaptive systems, despite parallel processing there is always a controller coordinating the threads. In complex adaptive systems each unit (bird, brain cell) operates independently - the entire process is parallel. Computers do not have a survival instinct similar to ours. However, advances in analogue computing could result in machines with the capability of entirely parallel processing. Such machines could potentially demonstrate all aspects of a complex adaptive system. It is entirely possible that we could create a machine with a ‘survival instinct’. Such a machine, like our immune system, may even enhance its survival through replication.
There is no implication that such machine would be conscious. It could be more akin to a virus or amoeba than a human. However, this does not make it any less dangerous than an animal threatened with termination. Could the HAL 9000 become a reality? Skynet a possibility?😬
I am continual spontaneity, reconciling the now with my infinite past.
