Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia; Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.
Post 113.January 8, 2021 continued . . . .
Aristotle and Einstein
Immanent Causation & Self-Organization
Since the notion of Universal Information is being used by some physicists and cosmologists, notably Paul Davies, Feser addresses the implications of the universe-as-information-pro-cessor model. He asks, “is computation intrinsic to physics?” Some critics of that idea have argued that “comput-ational features are all essentially observer-relative rather than intrinsic to nature”. But, Feser retorts that “computational descriptions do indeed track what Daniel Dennett call ‘real patterns’ in nature”. And it’s those patterns that we interpret as meaningful information. Yet, he notes that Claude Shannon “was concerned with information in a syntactic rather than semantic sense”. Un-fortunately, that kind of empty container for information is what most computer programmers work with. Nevertheless, some philosophers & scientists have adopted physicist John Wheeler’s innovative hypothesis of “It from Bit”28. Meaning that physical things (Its) are derived from meta-physical Information (Bits). Therefore, theorists, such as David Chalmers & Paul Davies propose “grounding laws instead in information con-sidered as the ‘ontological basement’ level of reality . . . The laws of physics are the algorithms according to which the universe computes”. Even adamant atheist biologist Richard Dawkins “is particularly eloquent on the subject of programs in nature”, such as DNA, “whose coded characters spell out specific instructions for building willow trees”.
One thing that Dawkins might disagree with is the notion that such natural forms of information are intentional. That’s where Feser brings Aristotle back into the discussion. He says that philosopher John Wilkins calls information “the new Aristo-telianism”. Nature, according to Aristotle, is an intentional (seeking, teleological) organism, not a passive purposeless mechanism. And that is also the conclusion of the Enform-ationism thesis. Moreover, even Shannon’s informative Bits turned-out to be intentional, in the sense that each vessel is a vector29, aimed at some future state. Also, in its Energy form, it is causal, with some future physical effect as output. Likewise, it is design-oriented30, in the sense that to enform is to create a novel pattern. A neuroscientist even said that “the concept of Information is Aristotle redivivus, the concept of matter and form united in every object of this world”. So, it’s not just flakey philosophers who look back to Aristotle’s fundamental categories for insights into the fecund nature of universal Information.
Another Aristotelian notion is that of Immanent Causation31, one form of which is self-motivation of animals, as opposed to Transeunt Causation found in inanimate objects, which move only due to external causes. Living organisms are innately self-organizing32, in the sense of evolving in form from embryo to adult. They are also self-interested, in that they are internally motivated toward survival. All of these features of living organisms are signs of teleology in nature. And the arrow of nature is also exhibited in thinking beings, especially those who are able to project past events into the future, in order to make their next step into the darkness more predictable. Thus, they become agents of their own self-interest. Each evolution-ary stage has become more complex, and more organized. But complexity is not sufficient to produce agency. Instead, the difference that makes a difference is the Integrated Information of Holism. Post 113 continued . . . click Next
Due to internal communication of Information
32. Self-Organization : Self-organization, also called (in the social sciences) spontaneous order, is a process where some form of overall order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spontaneous when sufficient energy is available, not needing control by any external agent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-organization
NOTE : In nature, some forms of organization seem to appear spontaneously. But they always result from inputs of causal energy, which refers back to the First Cause. So, there is always at least one external agent.
Another technical term for Self-Organization is Autopoiesis. : refers to a system capable of reproducing and main-taining itself by creating its own parts and eventually further components. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopoiesis
28. It from Bit : It from Bit symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom — at a very deep bottom, in most instances — an immaterial source and explanation; that what we call reality arises in the last analysis from the posing of yes-no questions and the registering of equipment-evoked responses; in short, that all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and this is a participatory universe. https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/09/02/it-from-bit-wheeler/
29. Vector : Something that points beyond itself. Symbolized by an arrow. In computer language, a single Bit or Byte is meaningless. But together, they refer to an object or concept that is not inherent in the empty symbol or number.
30. Design : to work out the structure or form of (something), as by making a sketch, outline, pattern, or plans
NEXT
BACK
Forum
