>ROGER FINDS A CONTRADICTORY PASSAGE TO
>THE STATEMENT THAT ONLY LIVING BEINGS
>RESPOND TO DQ
>
>Lilacs,
>
>The concern Mary and Rich and I have with the line that only living beings
>can react to DQ is specifically encapsulated with the following quote.
>
>>“Societies and thoughts and principles themselves are no more that sets
>>of static patterns. These patterns can't by themselves perceive or adjust
>>to Dynamic Quality. Only a living being can do that.” (Lila, Chp. 13)
>
>This sentence seemed to make no sense to me because it implies that DQ and
sq
>are not metaphysical explanations of reality that can explain the emergence
>of life out of non life. This statement seems to undermine the entire
>explanation of the nature of reality as explained by the MOQ. It also
implies
>that DQ is some type of animistic life force. Mary has suggested that
Pirsig
>is only referencing societies and thoughts, but the group consensus has not
>agreed with her yet.
>
>I thought I had seen contradictory statements, and I finally found them.
They
>are on pages 167 to 171 regarding subatomic forces and carbon atoms. Below
>are just a few of the key contradictions.
>
>"...weak Dynamic forces at a subatomic level discover strategems for
>overcoming huge static inorganic forces at a superatomic level. They do
this
>by selecting superatomic mechanisms in which a number of options are so
>evenly balanced that a weak Dynamic force can tip the balance one way or
>another."
>
>" This ambiguity of carbon's bonding preferences was the situation the weak
>Dynamic subatomic forces needed....... It was a vehicle they could steer to
>all sorts of freedom by selecting......"
>
>Read the entire passage, there are numerous other potential contradictions.
>PATTERNS DO ADJUST TO DQ, AND NOT JUST LIVING PATTERNS.
Glove:
It is my opinion that these are only contradictions if reality is viewed as
existing independently of observation. Reality cannot be separated from the
observer... this seems very fundamental to not only the MOQ but the
framework of complementarity as well.
>
>This seems to me to negate Pirsig's first quote, and in my opinion, saves
the
>entire MOQ from a contradiction. It also puts more credence in Mary's
>hypothesis. However, I need to get Glove and Platt's input to see if they
>agree with my interpretation. It does seem to negate the below quote from
>Platt's most recent post.
>
>Platt:
>>Just as a living-being observer in quantum mechanics is necessary to
>>collapse the elusive quantum and create reality, so a living-being
>>perceiver in the MoQ is necessary to respond to DQ and change the path
>>of evolution.
>
>I am now going back to my very first interpretation on this original Pirsig
>quote. I think that in general his statement is correct because it is
>usually living beings that are able to respond to DQ, but that in actuality
>(using chaos terms) other systems in non equilibrium can adjust as well.
Glove:
This can only be inferred and there is always an uncertainty factor involved
from a static quality point of view since Dynamic Quality is undefinable.
Quality is experience; thus any event is an experiential event and therefore
only a living being can experience Quality, or respond to DQ. The idea of
evolution over billions of years is itself an intellectual construct subject
to uncertainty and revision as new information becomes available. Just last
week the universe became 2 billion years younger according to one group of
researchers... quite amazing really...
As I seem to be in the minority opinion here I think I will go out and ride
my Goldwing on this warm Sunday evening. That seems like the most Dynamic
choice to make right now. Well, cancel that... my daughter just called
wondering if I could watch my grand daughter for a couple hours while her
and her husband to to see a movie. Hmmm... could my motorcycle have
responded to that bit of DQ? Somehow I don't think so...
Best wishes
glove
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