Love this, Mark! Very thought-provoking. I'm curious what the implications are for free will. Does this imply that "we", literally meaning you and me, were baked into the universe from day one? Or just that "we", meaning some broad type of sentient life, were always baked into it? If the former, then that doesn't bode well for free will. If the latter, then free will is redeemable!
It's a completely different concept, but the idea that what appears random is actually there for a reason reminds me a bit of Chesterton's Fence...
Thanks Ed. This article is step one in developing my thesis. How the algorithms play out over evolutionary time is a matter of the Constructal Law and other laws of nature. I think cosmic evolution mirrors the probabilities of quantum mechanics, so no, our personal outcomes and "free will" are not predetermined.
In the next article I will argue that the only predetermined thing for life is the thermodynamic requirement to gain more energy from the environment than it takes to operate the mechanism of life and that the Turing architecture is the base algorithm for all information machines in the universe. All decisions for action must on average return a "profit" and build "wealth" for the organism. That is the boundary of free will.
Yes, Chesterson's Fence (don't tear it down till you know why it was put there) certainly applies to our actions in the natural environment and could be a critical factor in determining the positive or negative outcome of some action in many realms. Great addition to the "worldview" concept, thanks.
I grok this model Mark, very cool insight. There are simple, massively important things hiding in plain sight.
A different slant and not sure how it attaches to this concept but maybe on the same theme of hiding in plain sight, I just heard that Brian Greene is thinking that the fabric of the universe is wormholes and that is what is behind the quantum theory of entanglement. The entangled particles are communicating through wormholes which is why the are simultaneously opposite at great distance. Someone or something will figure this out, maybe not in our lifetimes (but maybe with AI) but there's a lot to wrap your mind around.
Yes, we think we are so smart. But for 2000 years the Ptolemaic astronomers thought the sun and stars revolved around the earth - and they were wrong. How are we thinking about the structure of the universe in ways that will be laughable when we see the bigger picture? It's actually a very interesting time to be alive I think.
Love this, Mark! Very thought-provoking. I'm curious what the implications are for free will. Does this imply that "we", literally meaning you and me, were baked into the universe from day one? Or just that "we", meaning some broad type of sentient life, were always baked into it? If the former, then that doesn't bode well for free will. If the latter, then free will is redeemable!
It's a completely different concept, but the idea that what appears random is actually there for a reason reminds me a bit of Chesterton's Fence...
Thanks Ed. This article is step one in developing my thesis. How the algorithms play out over evolutionary time is a matter of the Constructal Law and other laws of nature. I think cosmic evolution mirrors the probabilities of quantum mechanics, so no, our personal outcomes and "free will" are not predetermined.
In the next article I will argue that the only predetermined thing for life is the thermodynamic requirement to gain more energy from the environment than it takes to operate the mechanism of life and that the Turing architecture is the base algorithm for all information machines in the universe. All decisions for action must on average return a "profit" and build "wealth" for the organism. That is the boundary of free will.
Yes, Chesterson's Fence (don't tear it down till you know why it was put there) certainly applies to our actions in the natural environment and could be a critical factor in determining the positive or negative outcome of some action in many realms. Great addition to the "worldview" concept, thanks.
I grok this model Mark, very cool insight. There are simple, massively important things hiding in plain sight.
A different slant and not sure how it attaches to this concept but maybe on the same theme of hiding in plain sight, I just heard that Brian Greene is thinking that the fabric of the universe is wormholes and that is what is behind the quantum theory of entanglement. The entangled particles are communicating through wormholes which is why the are simultaneously opposite at great distance. Someone or something will figure this out, maybe not in our lifetimes (but maybe with AI) but there's a lot to wrap your mind around.
Yes, we think we are so smart. But for 2000 years the Ptolemaic astronomers thought the sun and stars revolved around the earth - and they were wrong. How are we thinking about the structure of the universe in ways that will be laughable when we see the bigger picture? It's actually a very interesting time to be alive I think.