biological organisation as the true foundation of realitybdj10/documents/lindau2016-slides.pdf ·...
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BiologicalOrganisation astheTrueFoundationofReality
BrianD.JosephsonMind–MatterUnificationProject
DepartmentofPhysics,UniversityofCambridge
http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10
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ConventionalPhysics
• Currentphysicsviewsmatter asprimary
• Dealshappilywithinformation,butrejectsmeaning
• Ithasitsproblems,e.g.quantummechanicsisastatisticaltheory,sayingnothingaboutindividualevents
• Plusall-pervasiveconfusion:‘Ifyouthinkyouunderstandquantummechanics,youdon'tunderstandquantummechanics’(Feynman)
• Andphysicsishavingahardtimeatpresentmatchingtheoryandexperiment
• Mightthisbebecausesomethingismissingfromtheregularworldview?Mightphysicsbesufferingasaresult?
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Thealternative
• Mainthesisofthistalk:meaningisasfundamentalasmatter;thetwoareentangled
• AsPeirce wrote inthe19th century:‘allthisuniverseisperfusedwithsigns’
• Histheoryofsigns(semiotics)doesnowhaveaplaceinbiology(inthedisciplineofbiosemiotics,whichstudiestherolethatsignsplayinbiology)
• Butithasnotyetcreptintoregularphysics,wheresignsandmeaningareviewedasirrelevant
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WhatareSigns?
• Signsareentitiesthatrelatetocorrespondingobjects,throughthemediationofinterpretants: signs(e.g.realised throughbiomoleculeshavingparticularsignificance)directtheactivitiesofbiologicalsystems
• Whilenothinginphysicscorrespondstobiosemiotics,anumberofpeoplehavemaderelevantproposals.Thefollowingslidesindicatebookshavingsuchconcerns.
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BooksbyDavidBohm
Introducingsoma-significance:“Soma(whichisphysical)andsignificance(whichismental)arenotinanysenseseparatelyexistent,butratheraretwoaspectsofoneoverallreality”
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“Thisbookwillexploretheviewthatquantumtheoryisdescribingaworldofpossibilitythatliesbeneath,orbeyond,ourordinary,experiencedworldofreality”
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“Matterandmeaningarenotseparateelements.Theyareinextricablyfusedtogether,andnoevent,nomatterhowenergetic,cantearthemasunder”
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“Fromideas,symbols.Fromsymbols,mind.Weinventedsymbolssowecouldhavesomewayofarticulatingthehiddenrealityweknowasmind.Therecanbenomindwithoutidea,noideawithoutsymbol,nosymbolwithoutreality.So,here,isaunifiedwhole(mind,matter,symbol).”
Yardley:“Somewherebetweenmindandmatterisanexpressionwhichwenormallycallsymbol.Wedonothavetolocatethissymbol.Weknowitexistsbecauseitexpressesitselfasnumbersystems,wordsystems,picturesystems.”
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‘Self-organizedcriticality’incomplexitybiologyplacessystemlociofcontrolatcriticalinstabilities,physicalpropertiesofwhich,includinginformationproperties,arepresented.
http://philpapers.org/rec/HANCBI-3
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Thekeyissue
• Thepicturetobepresentedhypothesises fundamentalrealitytobesimilartolife,andthequestiontobeaddressedishowfamiliarlifemechanismscanbetranslatedtothisnewdomain,withoutinvolvingchemistry.
• Unfortunatelybiologicalsystemsaremuchless‘tidy’thantheonestypicallystudiedinphysics(thoughphysicsiscatchingup),sothepicturewillnotbethatstraightforward!
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MatteraccordingtoBarad
“Matterisnotathing,butadoing,acongealingofagency;itismorphologicallyactive,responsive,generative,andarticulate”.
Whatdoesthismean?Wordedmoresimply:mattertakesform,andcreatesandmanipulatesthatform,withtheassistanceofsymbolicmechanisms.
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Agencyandintra-action
Agencyisanabstraction,anotionalcause,likethewind,amagneticfield,oraresonance,featuringinanexplanation.Abstractagencies canbeusedtomodelconcretephenomena.
Re‘congealingofagencies’:agenciescancometogetherintheproductionofaphenomenon.Intra-action isatermusedbyBaradtorefertothemutualinfluencesinvolvedinthisproduction.
Butthecongealingismorecomplicatedthanitmayseemtobeatfirstsight…
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Separation
Hereisasubtleissue.Theadjoiningshapemightbeusefullymodelledeitherastwoblobsorone.Ifastwo,thanwhatexactlyarethecomponentsthatareinteracting?Answer:theiridentitiesbecomewell-definedonlyiftheyarecompletelyseparatedfromeachother.
Barad’sdescribesthesituationthus,usingittoexplainmiscellaneousquantumparadoxes:“Individualsdonotpreexisttheirinteractions;rather,individualsemergethroughandaspartoftheirentangledintra-relating.”
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Entanglementofphysicalandmental
• Mattercancompute• Thisinitselfimpliesthatthephysical andmental areintimatelyconnected
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Computationalmatter
‘Computationalmatter’assuchisfamiliar:• The‘analyticalengine’ofBabbageandLovelace• Turingmachine• Thebrain(usesnetworkmechanics,notTuring)Somatterbeingentangledwithcomputingisn’tanissue.Meaningistrickier,thus:meaningisrelatedtodifference:differentcomputations,differentoutcomeOnlycertaincomputations‘work’,andbiologyselectstheseBiologicalsystemsuse‘goodideas’(algorithms):thisiswhatturnsphysicsintobiology
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Physicsofsystemmanipulation
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line circle
‘pi’
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Yardley:“Anyideaisconnectedtoacounter-idea(anopposite),orelsetheideacannotexist”.
Compare“thisisnotapipe”(Magritte)
Therealpipeandtheimageofthepipearedifferentthings,buttheyareconnected(onecanbeaproxyfortheother).
Whenwenoticesomething,theonethingbecomestwo(theexternalthing,andthecopyinmymind).
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Oppositionaldynamics
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Moreillustrations
Situation1:considerpairsAa,Bb,CcandtimesequenceA,B,Cthisimpliestimesequenceabc(interpretation:olddynamicsABCinstructsnew,abc;‘getsitoverhurdles’)
Situation2,replication:aswithDNA,ifXandYarepairs,XcanmakerepeatedcopiesofY,assistedbyassemblymechanismZ(‘pi’).Example:pairingofathingwithitsnameleadstoreplicationofnameforthing
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Roleofideas
Yardleyagain:“Fromideas,symbols.Fromsymbols,mind.Weinventedsymbols(andtheyinventedus)sowecouldhavesomewayofarticulatingthehiddenrealityweknowasmind.Therecanbenomindwithoutidea,noideawithoutsymbol,nosymbolwithoutreality.So,here,isaunifiedwhole(mind,matter,symbol).”
Anideaisanentity(e.g.computercodeorneuralnetwork)that,likeahologram,magicallyachievesvisibleresults.Likearesonance,itistherebutisn’tquiteathing,morea‘doing’.
Mostideas(generativemechanisms)failtoreplicate,butkeyideassurviveandinfluencewhathappens.
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Processandsystem
Yardley:“anentityisalwayspartofaprocess,aprocessalwayspartofasystem,whichisalwayspartofanentity,processandsystem,adinfinitum”ThisindicatestheoverallorganisationofthecomplexsituationdescribedhereAsystemisa‘pieceofmagic’thatcanrunaparticulardomainSystemsevolve throughworkingatborderofdomain,thusextendingitbyannexingothersystems
Complicatedpicture,butlogical,andbroadlyspeakingfitsstructuralaspectsoflinguisticactivity
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Space,timeandmathematics
• Mechanismsrelevantto‘spatiality’and‘temporality’canleadtoemergenceofspace-time(BaradandKastner):e.g.spatialitydevelopsintoconcretespaceinthesamewaythatasenseofbalancedevelopsintotheskillofbalance
• MatthewWatkinsinhis‘SecretsofCreation’trilogydiscussesindications,basedonthewayprimesappearinphysicalcontexts,ofmathematicshavingaphysicalbasis
• Interpretationhere:mathematicalfacts implyphysicalprocesses thatgiverisetocorrespondingmathematicalthoughts inthemindofthemathematician,hencemathematicalintuition
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Thebasisofeverything(?)
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line circle
‘pi’
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ConcludingcommentsCPSnowspokeof2cultures:sciencesandhumanities.Justasnon-scientistsdon’tengagewiththe2nd law,scientistsdon’ttypicallyengagewiththinkingofamoredescriptivecharactersuchasthatdiscussedhere.Biologyshowsthatasynthesisispossible.Physicsneedstoacceptthatasimilarperspectiveisneededthereandnotpresumethatquantitativeisthefinalword;connections areequallysignificant.Atthemomentweseeonlythetopofaniceberg;wecanexpectthefuturetodevelopthescientificaspect(e.g.involvingparallelswithcriticalphenomena,AIandA-life).Itmaywellconfoundmainstreamideologiesbyrevealingnewpotentialitiesofnature.
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Acknowledgements
Thanksto:Ilexa YardleyAlexHankeyPlamen Simeonov
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THE END
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