To all (using this as a take-off point),
Lawrence de Bivort wrote:
> Within the
> dynamics of evolution can we see _any_ thing that would suggest even a
> non-human, non-conscious, non-moral purpose?
I suggested a while back, but nobody picked up on it, that in addition
to "purposeless evolution" and "purposeful evolution" (either in
Teilhard de Chardin's sense, or in a theistic God sense) there is a
third possibility which (in that context) I referred to as the
Machine in the Ghost theory: that Quality evolves, first (from our point
of view) as inorganic, then biologically, etc.
The question is how do new patterns evolve,
and for that we need the concept of DQ. However, it might be better to
think of DQ operating not as the creator of patterns but as the Pure
Observer and Evaluator, which gives weight to certain variations, making
them more likely. Thus we can consider a meta-pattern, tieing together
the probabilistic nature of subatomic particles, the overabundance of
genetic material, allowing for useful mutations when conditions can make
use of them, and of course our own freedom of choice. The pattern is: in
any situation, certain possibilities exist, and as they are observed and
evaluated, some gain higher probability, and hence become more likely to
happen (become static patterns).
It also implies that our ability to observe and evaluate is a
localization of DQ (seen through a glass darkly), with interesting
consequences.
So it is a theory in compliance with empirical data (not that that is
saying much). It doesn't assume an entity outside of the evolving
entities, since the evolving entities "just are" Quality evolving,
always in the form of the polarity DQ/sq (neither of which has any
reality without the other). Its advantage over the purposeless theory is
that the latter has no way of getting from the nonsentient to the
sentient (and so cannot explain the emergence of consciousness) and has
the advantage over purposeful evolution of not requiring a something
outside the system to move the system.
In short, as a theory it fits the facts and has a minimum number of platypi.
- Scott
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