LS Re: in nothingness there is a great working


Jonathan B. Marder (marder@agri.huji.ac.il)
Fri, 28 Aug 1998 01:14:21 +0100


Hi Ant, LS
...
>So, all other things being equal, if a meteor destroys 90%
>of life on a planet then that is an example of a bad
>change. If life on a barren planet suddenly develops then
>that is an example of a good change.

And if a meteor destroys some life opening the way for more
sophisticated forms to evolve?
What every gardener knows is that you prune to strengthen new growth.

If you recall my morality <-> potential suggestion, I discussed how the
path for maximum realisation of potential is not always a smooth ride.
The ball rolling down a rough slope must sometimes go UP to overcome
minor obstacles. If you take sugar and pour it onto the table, it won't
go to maximal realisation of potential (i.e. a flat layer 1 granule
thick). It gets trapped in static patterns of equilibrium. If you shake
the table, the static patterns are broken, and the sugar can settle
further. As I wrote last month:-
>In Pirsig's terms, DQ itself was a force towards morality. My own
>observation is that realization of potential in a system takes the
>system to greater stability. If DQ is potential, then stability would
be
>its realization. "STABILITY is MORAL". On the other hand, this leads to
>stagnation.

Breaking meta-stable patterns of stagnation can allow more stable
patterns to form!
I talked about this in my post of 9th August in explaining a protein
folding simulation:-
>The pattern breaking algorithm determines how you
>deviate (increment) from the previous state, and how fast you do it. In
>genetics, the pattern breakers are gene recombination and mutation. In
>behaviour, curiosity also serves as a pattern breaker - causing one to
>try something new just out of "curiosity" without obvious gain.
...
[that bit about the purpose of curiosity was an answer to MAGGIE]

Another interesting angle of this is the realisation that meta-stable
patterns change by outside influence.
It's pretty obvious to me that a major force in evolution is interaction
between species, and societies change by contact with foreign societies.
This is why the interactions constituting "higher levels" become so
important.

Jonathan

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