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End Notes

Comments, and References from the Text

Note numbers in text are identified thus [12]


  1. Key to creation scenario . . . <p11> See the Intelligent Evolution essay in the appendix.
  2. Information in the technical sense . . . <p11> Defined by Claude Shannon as-if a “bit” of information was a physical particle in a transport system. That mechanical metaphor ignored the meaning of the information, which is more important in a non-technical sense.
  3. Global Mind  . . . <p13> Gaia and Global Mind theories grew out of ecological evidence and complexity concepts of the mid-2oth century. See Bloom, Howard.  Global Brain : The Evolution of Mass Mind From the Big Bang to the 21st Century. Wiley, 2000.
  4. only reliable indicator of truth . . . <p13> In The God Particle.Lederman made this sheepish admission in regard to physicist’s faith in and dogged pursuit of elusive “particles” such as the Higgs boson that are known only by the holes (absence of simplicity and symmetry) in their calculations.
  5.  a hard bottom line to reality . . . <p14> Reasoning has to begin and end somewhere, but the Reductive method of science has found no top or bottom to physical reality. Instead it seems to fade away into an irrational eternal regress in both directions. A fuzzy reality.
  6.  clouds of mathematical probability . . .  <p14> Statistical probability is inherently less precise as the number of elements gets closer to one. The behavior of a single object is unpredictable. Hence, a dimensionless point particle is about as insubstantial (ghostly) as anything you could imagine.
    Gell-Mann once referred to the quarks “inside” a proton as “an accounting device” because of their statistical nature.
  7.  dimensionless points . . . <p14> Mathematical physicists imagine electrons to be at the center of a cloudlike zone of probability. The Heisenberg Uncertainty principle reduces a material element to its imaginary metaphysical counterpart. See Lederman, God Particle.
  8. “original sense of materialism” <p14> As defined by ancient Greeks, all that exists is matter and void. But now material objects, such as electrons and neutrinos, have been found to be almost indistinguishable from empty space. Is the Neutrino a material thing or a ghost? See sidenote below.
  9. no physical evidence to support the string theory . . . <p14> After 20 years of searching, the strings of String Theory are as real as Unicorn horns.
  10. action potential . . . <p14> By analogy with the minimum quantum of energy required to cause a neuron to fire, an electron cannot cause a chemical action until it absorbs a specific quantum of potential energy. Potential energy is neither actual energy nor actual matter.
  11.  That mysterious property (qualia) of matter . . . <p15> Although a photon is often described as a particle, it has no mass and no spatial extension. So it  can be detected only by its effects on matter.
  12. Holism, Systems Theory, Cybernetics, and so forth <p16> All of these fields are concerned more with formal relationships than with matter itself.
  13. Universal Mind <p16> The Group or Hive mind concept carried to its logical extreme would be the mental aspect of the entire universe functioning as a single holistic system. Does that imply consciousness? Not necessarily, but : “There is nothing wrong with thinking of the universe itself as a gigantic thinking organism.” Seth Lloyd, Programming the Universe.
  14. four kinds of information <p17> Wikipedia : Information Theory, Floridi.
  15. Gregory Chaitin, in a paper On the Intelligibility of the Universe . . . <p17>    https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0210035
  16. Information, in the Shannon sense . . . <p18> “Bits” of information were imagined to be analogous to physical particles, even though they have no actual physical properties, such as size or mass.
  17. THE organizing principle of the universe . . . <p18> In this sense Information is equivalent to Enformy, as a principle acting counter to the disorganization caused by the Thermodynamic law of Entropy. Both are inherent in the “design” of the universe, and essential to the creative/destructive operations of evolution.
  18. Energy . . degree of non-randomness–-enumerated by a statistical quality . . . <p20> Shannon, Claude and Weaver, W. The Mathematical Theory of Communication.
  19. abstract, immaterial, mathematical information . . . <p21> Physical particles are treated by mathematical physicists as pure abstractions with no physical properties, only defining numbers.
  20.  the mind-stuff we call information . . . <p21> According to this thesis, information is not only the essential substance of the brain, but the essential content of a mind.
  21. quantum mechanics produces detail and structure because it is inherently uncertain . . . <p21> In quantum theory absolute certainty is static and unchanging, and unstructured, so change and differentiation occur only in a dynamic state of uncertainty.
  22. HOLISM AND EVOLUTION . . . <p22> Although not well known, this book inspired many more popular authors such as, Arthur Koestler, and Erich Jantsch. It was an attempt to make sense of fragmented evolutionary science.
  23. Metasystem Transition Theory . . . <p22>  URL: http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MSTT.html
  24. Consciousness seem to be related to paradoxical Quantum level activities . . . <p23> New theories of Quantum Consciousness, nano-scale Q tubes, and Holographic Brains all derive from quantum quirks.
  25.  I AM A STRANGE LOOP . . . <p23>  Hofstadter struggled with the holistic concept of Self while trying to remain within the reductive scientific paradigm. Self-reference Feedback loops are the key to consciousness.
  26. theater screen in the head . . . <p23> Daniel Dennett; Consciousness Explained
  27. human Freewill is an emergent quality of our highly-evolved brain/mind apparatus . . . <p23> Daniel Dennett; Freewill Emerges
  28. The Center Leo Apostel website . . . <p25>   PDF document http://www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/pub/books/worldviews/
  29. The Seven Components of a WorldView . . . <p25>  PDF document
    http://www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/pub/books/worldviews/#RTFToC13
  30.  The many faces of information:
    Message, Pattern, property, sensory input, influence, physical property, record of change, symbol, meaning




CREATIVE CONSCIOUSNESS


We propose a biocentric picture of reality. From this point of view, life–-particularly consciousness–-creates the universe.

—- Lanza & Berman

          Biocentrism

NEUTRINO


It has no electric charge.

It has no strong or electromagnetic force.

It has no size, so spatial extent. Its radius is zero.

 It may not have a mass.

Nothing has so few properties.

—- Leon Lederman

          The God Particle

WHAT & WHY?


There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another which states that this has already happened.

    —-Douglas Adams

 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe