From: Kevin (kevin@xap.com)
Date: Tue Jan 07 2003 - 17:58:57 GMT
Lawry said:
It is a theory that the pattern of things (such as physical shape and
behavior) can be influenced by the pattern of things that existed
before, in ways other than the accepted mechanisms of evolution and
causality, such as genetics, physical influence, information
transmissions, etc.
The very existence of previous patterns -- and nothing more -- is said,
by the Sheldrakians, to be sufficient to influence the patterns of new
emergent systems. They posit the existence of "morphogenic fields" that
provide for this transmission of pattersn. No evidence has ever been
advanced that proves the existence of such fields, and the theory has
largely been discarded. At this time, "morphogenic fields" is described,
at best, metaphorically. A spate of experiments and phenomena were
advanced by the Sheldrakians to prove the theory, but did not stand up
as proof upon scrutiny.
Kevin:
I've always thought the morphogenic fields idea to be quite interesting
despite it's spurious reputation amoung "serious" scientists. I suppose
it appeals to that left brained, touchy-feely, intuitive part of me that
also responds to Pirsig's ideas of Quality.
It suggest methods of information trasmission beyond physical
(psychical, for example). To quote Sheldrake:
"It is not at all necessary for us to assume that the physical
characteristics of organisms are contained inside the genes, which may
in fact be analogous to transistors tuned in to the proper frequencies
for translating invisible information into visible form. Thus,
morphogenetic [sic] fields are located invisibly in and around
organisms, and may account for such hitherto unexplainable phenomena as
the regeneration of severed limbs by worms and salamanders, phantom
limbs, the holographic properties of memory, telepathy, and the
increasing ease with which new skills are learned as greater quantities
of a population acquire them"
Here are some abstracts of experiments done by Sheldrake and others from
an interesting website called www.co-intelligence.org:
Experiment 1: In the 1920s Harvard University psychologist William
McDougall did experiments for 15 years in which rats learned to escape
from a tank. The first generation of rats averaged 200 mistakes before
they learned the right way out; the last generation 20 mistakes.
McDougall concluded that, contrary to accepted genetic science, such
acquired knowledge could be inherited.
Experiment 2: In later efforts to duplicate McDougall's experiments in
Australia, similar rats made fewer mistakes right from the start. Later
generations of rats did better even when they were not descendents of
the earlier rats. This wasn't genetics at work. It was something else.
Nobody tested it further.
"Experiment" 3: In the 1920s in Southampton, England, a bird called the
blue tit discovered it could tear the tops of milk bottles on doorsteps
and drink the cream. Soon this skill showed up in blue tits over a
hundred miles away, which is odd in that they seldom fly further than 15
miles. Amateur bird-watchers caught on and traced the expansion of the
habit. It spread faster and faster until by 1947 it was universal
throughout Britain. In a parallel development, the habit had spread to
blue tits in Holland, Sweden and Denmark. German occupation cut off milk
deliveries in Holland for eight years -- five years longer than the life
of a blue tit. Then, in 1948 the milk started to be delivered. Within
months blue tits all over Holland were drinking cream, a habit that had
taken decades to take hold before the war. Where did they get this
knowledge?
Experiment 4: In the early sixties psychiatrists Dr. Milan Ryzl of
Prague and Dr. Vladimir L. Raikov of Moscow hypnotized subjects into
believing they were living incarnations of historical personages. Such
subjects would develop talents associated with their alter egos. A
subject told she was the artist Raphael took only a month to develop
drawing skills up to the standard of a good graphic designer.
Experiment 5: In 1983 Sheldrake showed two difficult-to-discern patterns
to a group of test subjects to establish a base line for how easily the
hidden picture in each could be recognized. Next he showed 2 million
viewers of British TV what one of the hidden pictures was. He then
tested thousands of people all over the world. By significant
percentages, they recognized the image shown on television; the
percentage recognizing the control picture didn't change.
Experiment 6: Psychologist Dr. Arden Mahlberg of Madison, Wisconsin,
created a variation of Morse Code that should have been no harder to
learn than the standard variety. Subjects learned the real code much
faster than his invented one, not knowing which was which.
Perhaps morphogenic fields or morphogenic resonance deserves it's own
Thread?
With interest,
Kevin
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