biological organisation as the true foundation of realitybdj10/documents/lindau2016-slides.pdf ·...

BiologicalOrganisation astheTrueFoundationofReality

BrianD.JosephsonMind–MatterUnificationProject

DepartmentofPhysics,UniversityofCambridge

http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10

June29,2016 BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson 1

ConventionalPhysics

• Currentphysicsviewsmatter asprimary

• Dealshappilywithinformation,butrejectsmeaning

• Ithasitsproblems,e.g.quantummechanicsisastatisticaltheory,sayingnothingaboutindividualevents

• Plusall-pervasiveconfusion:‘Ifyouthinkyouunderstandquantummechanics,youdon'tunderstandquantummechanics’(Feynman)

• Andphysicsishavingahardtimeatpresentmatchingtheoryandexperiment

• Mightthisbebecausesomethingismissingfromtheregularworldview?Mightphysicsbesufferingasaresult?


Thealternative

• Mainthesisofthistalk:meaningisasfundamentalasmatter;thetwoareentangled

• AsPeirce wrote inthe19th century:‘allthisuniverseisperfusedwithsigns’

• Histheoryofsigns(semiotics)doesnowhaveaplaceinbiology(inthedisciplineofbiosemiotics,whichstudiestherolethatsignsplayinbiology)

• Butithasnotyetcreptintoregularphysics,wheresignsandmeaningareviewedasirrelevant


WhatareSigns?

• Signsareentitiesthatrelatetocorrespondingobjects,throughthemediationofinterpretants: signs(e.g.realised throughbiomoleculeshavingparticularsignificance)directtheactivitiesofbiologicalsystems

• Whilenothinginphysicscorrespondstobiosemiotics,anumberofpeoplehavemaderelevantproposals.Thefollowingslidesindicatebookshavingsuchconcerns.


BooksbyDavidBohm

Introducingsoma-significance:“Soma(whichisphysical)andsignificance(whichismental)arenotinanysenseseparatelyexistent,butratheraretwoaspectsofoneoverallreality”


“Thisbookwillexploretheviewthatquantumtheoryisdescribingaworldofpossibilitythatliesbeneath,orbeyond,ourordinary,experiencedworldofreality”


“Matterandmeaningarenotseparateelements.Theyareinextricablyfusedtogether,andnoevent,nomatterhowenergetic,cantearthemasunder”


“Fromideas,symbols.Fromsymbols,mind.Weinventedsymbolssowecouldhavesomewayofarticulatingthehiddenrealityweknowasmind.Therecanbenomindwithoutidea,noideawithoutsymbol,nosymbolwithoutreality.So,here,isaunifiedwhole(mind,matter,symbol).”

Yardley:“Somewherebetweenmindandmatterisanexpressionwhichwenormallycallsymbol.Wedonothavetolocatethissymbol.Weknowitexistsbecauseitexpressesitselfasnumbersystems,wordsystems,picturesystems.”



‘Self-organizedcriticality’incomplexitybiologyplacessystemlociofcontrolatcriticalinstabilities,physicalpropertiesofwhich,includinginformationproperties,arepresented.

http://philpapers.org/rec/HANCBI-3

Thekeyissue

• Thepicturetobepresentedhypothesises fundamentalrealitytobesimilartolife,andthequestiontobeaddressedishowfamiliarlifemechanismscanbetranslatedtothisnewdomain,withoutinvolvingchemistry.

• Unfortunatelybiologicalsystemsaremuchless‘tidy’thantheonestypicallystudiedinphysics(thoughphysicsiscatchingup),sothepicturewillnotbethatstraightforward!


MatteraccordingtoBarad

“Matterisnotathing,butadoing,acongealingofagency;itismorphologicallyactive,responsive,generative,andarticulate”.

Whatdoesthismean?Wordedmoresimply:mattertakesform,andcreatesandmanipulatesthatform,withtheassistanceofsymbolicmechanisms.


Agencyandintra-action

Agencyisanabstraction,anotionalcause,likethewind,amagneticfield,oraresonance,featuringinanexplanation.Abstractagencies canbeusedtomodelconcretephenomena.

Re‘congealingofagencies’:agenciescancometogetherintheproductionofaphenomenon.Intra-action isatermusedbyBaradtorefertothemutualinfluencesinvolvedinthisproduction.

Butthecongealingismorecomplicatedthanitmayseemtobeatfirstsight…


Separation

Hereisasubtleissue.Theadjoiningshapemightbeusefullymodelledeitherastwoblobsorone.Ifastwo,thanwhatexactlyarethecomponentsthatareinteracting?Answer:theiridentitiesbecomewell-definedonlyiftheyarecompletelyseparatedfromeachother.

Barad’sdescribesthesituationthus,usingittoexplainmiscellaneousquantumparadoxes:“Individualsdonotpreexisttheirinteractions;rather,individualsemergethroughandaspartoftheirentangledintra-relating.”


Entanglementofphysicalandmental

• Mattercancompute• Thisinitselfimpliesthatthephysical andmental areintimatelyconnected


Computationalmatter

‘Computationalmatter’assuchisfamiliar:• The‘analyticalengine’ofBabbageandLovelace• Turingmachine• Thebrain(usesnetworkmechanics,notTuring)Somatterbeingentangledwithcomputingisn’tanissue.Meaningistrickier,thus:meaningisrelatedtodifference:differentcomputations,differentoutcomeOnlycertaincomputations‘work’,andbiologyselectstheseBiologicalsystemsuse‘goodideas’(algorithms):thisiswhatturnsphysicsintobiology


Physicsofsystemmanipulation


line circle

‘pi’

Yardley:“Anyideaisconnectedtoacounter-idea(anopposite),orelsetheideacannotexist”.

Compare“thisisnotapipe”(Magritte)

Therealpipeandtheimageofthepipearedifferentthings,buttheyareconnected(onecanbeaproxyfortheother).

Whenwenoticesomething,theonethingbecomestwo(theexternalthing,andthecopyinmymind).


Oppositionaldynamics

Moreillustrations

Situation1:considerpairsAa,Bb,CcandtimesequenceA,B,Cthisimpliestimesequenceabc(interpretation:olddynamicsABCinstructsnew,abc;‘getsitoverhurdles’)

Situation2,replication:aswithDNA,ifXandYarepairs,XcanmakerepeatedcopiesofY,assistedbyassemblymechanismZ(‘pi’).Example:pairingofathingwithitsnameleadstoreplicationofnameforthing


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.


Processandsystem

Yardley:“anentityisalwayspartofaprocess,aprocessalwayspartofasystem,whichisalwayspartofanentity,processandsystem,adinfinitum”ThisindicatestheoverallorganisationofthecomplexsituationdescribedhereAsystemisa‘pieceofmagic’thatcanrunaparticulardomainSystemsevolve throughworkingatborderofdomain,thusextendingitbyannexingothersystems

Complicatedpicture,butlogical,andbroadlyspeakingfitsstructuralaspectsoflinguisticactivity


Space,timeandmathematics

• Mechanismsrelevantto‘spatiality’and‘temporality’canleadtoemergenceofspace-time(BaradandKastner):e.g.spatialitydevelopsintoconcretespaceinthesamewaythatasenseofbalancedevelopsintotheskillofbalance

• MatthewWatkinsinhis‘SecretsofCreation’trilogydiscussesindications,basedonthewayprimesappearinphysicalcontexts,ofmathematicshavingaphysicalbasis

• Interpretationhere:mathematicalfacts implyphysicalprocesses thatgiverisetocorrespondingmathematicalthoughts inthemindofthemathematician,hencemathematicalintuition


Thebasisofeverything(?)


line circle

‘pi’

ConcludingcommentsCPSnowspokeof2cultures:sciencesandhumanities.Justasnon-scientistsdon’tengagewiththe2nd law,scientistsdon’ttypicallyengagewiththinkingofamoredescriptivecharactersuchasthatdiscussedhere.Biologyshowsthatasynthesisispossible.Physicsneedstoacceptthatasimilarperspectiveisneededthereandnotpresumethatquantitativeisthefinalword;connections areequallysignificant.Atthemomentweseeonlythetopofaniceberg;wecanexpectthefuturetodevelopthescientificaspect(e.g.involvingparallelswithcriticalphenomena,AIandA-life).Itmaywellconfoundmainstreamideologiesbyrevealingnewpotentialitiesofnature.


Acknowledgements

Thanksto:Ilexa YardleyAlexHankeyPlamen Simeonov


THE END

June 29, 2016Biological Organisation and Foundations of Reality Brian Josephson

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