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A Photodynamic Philosophy of Nature
This web site is based on the ideas of Gowan, Sagan, Boltzmann, Gibbs, Lotka, Onsager, Bejan, Langton and others.
Briefly:
Everything is created, maintained and connected by the flow of free energy/information caused by the fracturing of light!
That is:
Light fractures to create an energy/information differential (Gowan). This differential powers energy/information flow from high density to low density, ie non-equilibrium thermodynamics (Lotka, Onsager, Bejan). This non-equilibrium thermodynamic flow in turn powers resonance induced phase transitions (Langton) which create the universe, life, consciousness and self awareness.
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Gowan's Theory of Photodynamics (The Fracturing of Light)
Light is that from which all is created.
Light consists of two components: energy (movement) and information.
Light fractures (Big Bang).
The fracturing of light (a phase transition) is the breaking of the symmetry of the two basic components of light, energy and information.
Energy "does": Information "whats".
Light moves (its intrinsic energy) to continuously create space (a phase transition), from some of its energy and information. However lots of energy and information are left over (free energy/information)!
The movement of light through expanding space converts some space to matter (a phase transition).
The movement of matter through expanding space converts some space into gravity (a phase transition).
The movement of gravity through expanding space converts some space to time (a phase transition).
The movement of time through expanding space melds with space to create space-time (a phase transition).
The reversal of this process results in the reunification of the fractured properties to recreate light (a phase transition).
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A Power Source for the Universe: The Differential Energy/Information State (Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics) Created by the Fracturing of Light
Light fractures but wants to return to what it was. This fracturing and "desire" to return to the original state creates the original energy/information differential (non-equilibrium thermodynamics) which is the power source for the universe.
The differential is expressed in terms of conserved charge (energy):
- location charge (gravity) ie Relativity
- electromagnetic charge (electromagnetism) -colour/flavour charge (strong force) -identity charge (weak force) ie Quantum mechanics)
These conserved charges provide the energy to drive the components of light to become whole again.
The differential is created by the spatial differentiation of the density of these charges. They want to recombine to once again become light and in an effort to do so move through space to reach each other to recombine to make light.
This drive by the components of fractured light powered by the conserved charges mentioned above, is seen in our universe as energy/information flow.
All the light we see in the universe, stars shining, bio-luminescence, etc., is the result of this recombination.
This flow is the origin of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, the fundamental power source of the universe.
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The Creativity of Resonance Induced Phase Transitions (Langton)
Non-equilibrium energy flow through any medium creates resonance.
Resonance causes the medium to loose or absorb, free energy/information.
At a critical point the medium has lost or absorbed so much free energy/information that its process is disrupted and a new a new process is created.
This disruption and resulting recreation is known as a phase transition.
Phase transitions create the universe and all that exists in the universe.
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There is one driving force in nature: the drive to optimize!
Optimization is characterized by the minimization of the initial high level of free information in the universe (the initial state).
Free information is minimized by subjecting it to restraint.
Restraint is manifested through three basic processes:
1. A power process (information flow - this uses some free information). (catabolism is an analogous process)
2. A creative process (this uses more free information) (anabolism is an analogous process)
3. The result (which is itself made up of yet more free information) (outputs of anabolism are analogous restraints) _____________________________________
In more detail
1. A potential (gradient) is established with a high level of information accessibility at one end and a low level of information accessibility at the other
2. Free information "flows" from high accessibility to low accessibility
3. Some of this free information acts as a power source
4. To build
5. More restraints on the remaining free information.
6. This results in a cascading series of ever increasing restraints.
This is reflexivity! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In our Universe - 1. Time (see definition below) is the power process.
2. Phase transitions are the creative process.
ie. Time powers phase transitions which create all that exists.
3. And the universe we see around us is both a manifestation of transformed free information and at the same time the resulting restraint on the remaining free information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stated another way
Optimized, wavy, finite, irreversible, downhill (thermodynamic) information flow (time) -- powers self-organizing phase transitions -- which sequentially and irreversibly create -- restraining processes.
In our universe these restraining (and reflexive) processes are of two types:
- First, the less restraining:
1. self-dissipative processes (Prigogine) also known as space processes - (the continuous thermodynamic destruction and renewal of individual atoms of space) i. which in turn create the micro world (quantum processes)
ii. and the macro world (all processes that are not bio-conscious
- And subsequently the more restraining:
2. self-catalytic processes (Kauffman) (bio-consciousness)
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When the downhill flow of information stops (if indeed it ever stops at all), everything, including time, instantly collapses into nothing.
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The world we see and we ourselves are the result of the continuous differentiation over 13.7 billion years of a simple original medium.
Or stated another way
Continuous creation and maintenance through the continuous differentiation over 13.7 billion years of an original undifferentiated medium through continuous information driven self-organizing phase transitions.
Or stated another way
Continuous creation, growth, differentiation and maintenance through the continuous self-absorption or self-radiation of information by a medium.
Continuous deterioration, consolidation, shrinkage and collapse through the continuous self-absorption or self-radiation of information by a medium.
(Author's ideas or the ideas of others with author's interpretation are in green text)
(The ideas of others are in red text) _____________________________________________________________________
Summary
The universe, people and everything else are the result of a 13.7 billion year old universal computation that continues to this day. In much the same way that the computers we are familiar with calculate the problems we give to them, so too nature calculates its problem. What is that problem? Nature must find a way to optimize itself. But what is nature you may ask? And whatever it is, how can this be optimized? Increasingly nature is being thought of as information and the best way to optimize information is to process it.
If nature is to process its problem, it needs a computer. What is that? It is nature itself. Nature processes itself by treating itself as its own computer and using its own information to run this computer. And nature has its own special CPU known as a phase transition. This is a natural physical process that is nature’s way of creating new things. A phase transition takes something that already exists and transforms it into something new through a natural computation. We see it every day when water freezes to form ice or when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. We feel a phase transition when we wake up or fall asleep. We can see the power of some phase transitions in the explosion of an atomic bomb. All these examples and thousands of others are the results of phase transitions.
Where and when did all these phase transitions start? They started with an original undifferentiated medium, a kind of blank slate that was pure information, about 13.7 billion years ago. This blank slate was differentiated by the first phase transition and an infinite number of phase transitions have continued to differentiate the results ever since, creating the world we see around us.
What made all these phase transitions go? Wavy (spin) information flow is the key. Wavy information flow creates successive "atoms" or intervals of time in the original medium. Only the "present" or "now" atoms are active. When the interval of a "now" atom has elapsed the atom becomes one of time "past" and disappears. The past is not conserved.
The original blank slate was packed tight with information looking for somewhere to go and something to do (maximum enthalpy). A little kick got it flowing and the first phase transition occurred. We call this the Big Bang which occurred about 13.7 billion years ago. It differentiated the original blank slate. The Big Bang allowed the passage (symmetry maintenance) of the process that creates time present and also created a new process where the atoms of time "past " are continuously conserved and converted into atoms of space. These atoms of space interact to produce the quantum world, with its particles of that represent matter (fermions) and particles that carry force (bosons). At the same time the Big Bang freed up a lot of loose information that started a wavy flow, like water down a hill.
This wavy information flow powered other phase transitions: self-dissipative phase transitions and auto-catalytic phase transitions and self-aware phase transitions. Self-dissipative phase transitions created everything in the macro world, planets, stars, galaxies etc. Auto-catalytic phase transitions created bio-consciousness and self-aware phase transitions created self-awareness.
As things are created some of the wavy information flow is used up (entropy) in the creation process (the phase transition). Some is also used to continually maintain the things that have been created (more entropy). But some remains unused and continues its wavy flow, (enthalpy), powering new phase transitions which continue to create new things. When all the information has flowed to the bottom of the hill (maximum entropy) everything will come to an end.
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In More Detail
What problem must nature solve? Nature must devise a way to optimize itself (Pearl, 1984).
How does nature optimize itself? - by establishing the concept of information (Floridi, 2002) . - by establishing an original undifferentiated medium (two ways of way of describing the same thing) - by restraining that information
What is information? It is three possible types of potential: the potential to be transformed, the potential to be the transformer or the potential to have been transformed. (Shannon, Boltzman)
How does nature optimize this original undifferentiated information/medium? - by restraining the information through continuous processing: by taking a potential to be transformed and transforming it into a realization.
How does this happen? First the information must flow. A gradient is developed with accessibility forming one pole and inaccessibility forming the other pole. Free information flows from accessible (downhill) to inaccessible. (Chiasson, 2001)
How do we describe information in the initial accessible state? We say that it is far-from-equilibrium. (Prigogine)
How does processing occur? - The flow is characterized by information waves. Optimized waves (enthalpy) cause the information/medium to self-absorb information through wave-induced resonance. Resistant waves (entropy) cause the information/medium to self-radiate information through resistance. The wave-induced self-absorption and wave-induced self-radiation of information by the information/medium is the simplest form of processing.
Is there anything else about these waves? -yes. Waves are the carrier of the information potential mentioned above. They come in all frequencies, amplitudes and degrees of freedom. They are a characteristic of information flow.
How does nature optimize this continuous far-from-equilibrium information/medium processing? - by continuously processing the information/medium reflexively (self-processing). This means that realizations can continuously become new potentials for transformation.
Why is reflexive processing optimal? - it keeps processing distances short and therefore minimizes entropy due to transmission loss. (Any action has a cost, known as entropy). (Shannon)
What is the continuous reflexive processing mechanism? - continuous self-organized phase transitions.
What is so special about far-from-equilibrium self-organized phase transitions? - they act as spontaneous computations (Langton, 1990) that create different new information/media. The media have three components: a process, a storage buffer for free information and free information in the buffer. They are the result of the resonance induced self-absorption and resistance induced self-radiation of information by an information/medium.
What else do they do? -they liberate the wavy flow of free information (Gibbs, Helmholtz). This wavy flow is an essential part of the Langton computation (at the boundary separating complex processes and chaos), in that it provides the information throughput that supports the computation, which creates new media. This wavy flow also supports the continued existence of the new media. Stop the wavy flow and the medium collapses. The wavy flow or flux of surplus free information is in turn available to initiate new phase transitions. If information is made more inaccessible there is cost as manifested in increased entropy (Landauer).
How does far-from-equilibrium self-organization occur? - it is a numbers game. When there there are sufficiently large numbers of wavy pieces of information all interacting with each other in a sufficiently large space, they can spontaneously assemble in novel and unpredictable ways (Kauffman 1995). But they do so at a cost called entropy. The key to sustained self-organization is the continuous removal of this entropy, which acts to destroy organization, during the continuous creation and maintenance process.
How many of these phase transitions are there? - there are an infinite number of continuous self-organized phase transitions, at all scales, at all frequencies (resonances), all creating or destroying information/media and all channelling information flow. There are so many, in continuous operation, at all scales, that the huge number of media they create are like a cloud!
Can they relate to each other in special ways? -yes! They can relate in very complex ways. Among others they can be nested, or form hyper-cycles or hypo-cycles. They can also be branched.
What is the result of all these continuous far-from-equilibrium self-organized phase transitions? - the continuous self-differentiation of the original undifferentiated information/medium through the creation of new information/media and the continuous maintenance of the information/media that have been created.
What makes all this go? -far-from-equilibrium wavy information flow (flux) is the thing! Otherwise known as TIME!! (John Thompson, 2010) , from high levels of concentration to low! There is no free lunch! - the original information/medium has a high information content (maximum enthalpy). An initial phase transition (Big Bang), (Liko, Wesson, 2005), releases wavy free information, which continuously flows through successive phase transitions, which create information/media of ever lower levels of information content due to resistance (entropy) like water flowing down a hill (Boltzmann, 1905).
Can you say more about time? Yes. Time is a far-from-equilibrium phenomenon. It is information flow. Time is a continuously produced stream of atoms with an interval, which is very short but measurable. This unit is what we see as time present. Once the unit of time has past, the atom of time decays. The present is not conserved and a new atom of time is produced. In this way time marched on. (Thompson, 2010)
But doesn't the continuous wavy downhill flow of information prevent the apparent increase in information content found everywhere in nature? - No. Downhill flow does not matter. Continuous wavy flow is the key. Phase transitions in this flow can create information/media that both locally absorb information through resonance from the continuous flow, even though the flow is downhill and flush away their local entropy (self-dissipation) through resistance, in the continuous flow. Metaphorically information begins to flow uphill. In this way the new media locally increase their information content relative to the ever poorer information environment (Prigogine 1977). This is a Prigogine Phase and it is created by a Progogine Phase Transition. The process operates in much the same the way that a geothermal heat pump heats a house from continuously flowing cold water ( the temperature in the house flows uphill rising from cold to warm).
Why does the resulting complex processing structure remain stable in light of possible internal chaos and/or external disruption? There are natural limiting processes within the medium that create and maintain a balance between the stasis of order and the creativity of flexibility. Attractors pull the large variety of processing possibilities in the medium to places of relative stability. Natural selection causes these these places of stability to evolve to a point near the phase transition into chaos. If a disruption pushes the processing into chaos a new phase transition with its Langton computation will compute a new process and order may be restored. If it is, the process will continue. In this way the process strikes a balance between order and flexibility. If order is not restored the process will collapse. (Prigogine, Kauffman, Langton)).
What do Progogine Phase Transitions (PPT) produce? Everything that is not alive...starting with atoms of time present, which decay and are transformed by a PTT into atoms of space (space present). These atoms of space in turn decay. A PPT replaces the decayed atoms of space with new atoms of space (space renewed). Therefore there are always two types of space, space present and space renewed. At the same time a PPT creates gravity from a decayed atom of space present. There is a continuous process of renewal as atoms of time present are produced and destroyed by a PPT to become atoms of space, which in turn are destroyed by a PPT which create new atoms of space and gravity. If time stops all this process collapses.
Are there differences between atoms of space present and space renewed? Yes indeed. Atoms of space present interact to produce the quantum world which we see as particles representing matter (fermions) and particles representing force (bosons). Their continuous renewal means that the particles produced as a result of their interaction are themselves continuously renewed. We call this virtuality. Atoms of space renewed do not decay and do not interact to created the quantum world. They just maintain the existing volume of space which grows as atoms of time decay into new atoms of space present.
Do Prigogine far-from-equilibrium thermodynamic processes create other things? Yes 1. They create space and time (Verlinde, 2010) 2. They create the quantum world (Grossing, 2010)
Does this open the door to new processing possibilities (Kauffman, Jordan, Ghin)? - yes! In some cases Prigogine Phases are characterized by extremely high and heavy wavy information flow (metaphorically, the flow from Niagara Falls versus your kitchen tap). Extremely high and heavy wavy information flow can induce, on very small scales, a further phase transition that leads to auto-catalytic information processing (Kauffman, 1995) otherwise known as contextual emergence (Jordan, Ghin, 2006).
What is auto-catalytic processing? -it is information processing that creates outputs that become inputs for the same process. (It chases its own tail) (Kauffman).
Why is high and heavy wavy information flow necessary to induce auto-catalytic processing? -the auto-catalytic process is hard to induce because it is characterized by very rich processing, (Kauffman 1995) and a correspondingly very high level of entropy. The high and heavy wavy information throughput made available by a phase transition induced opening of an information gate (Morowitz, Smith, 2006) provides the high levels of wavy information necessary to initiate and support this very rich form of processing. The wavy throughput also flushes away the very high levels of entropy produced by the auto-catalytic processing, that would immediately bring it to a halt if not continuously removed by the wavy flow (Prigogine 1977). This is the Kauffman Jordan Ghin Phase and it is created by the Kauffman Jordan Ghin Phase Transition.
What is the result of the creation of the auto-catalytic phase? This phase provides a "channel" that allows the rapid flow of information (energy) from a higher level of potential to a lower level, thus "relaxing" or self-dissipating the information potential of the self-dissipative environment. In the real world this looks like anabolism (Morowitz, Smith, 2006).
Are there any candidates for the first anabolic processes? Yes. There are a number, including the Reverse Krebs Cycle (Morowitz, Smith, 2006)
How about evolution and speciation? Are they the result of far-from-equilibrium thermodynamic processes? Some say yes. Speciation is the result of bifurcations caused by information-flow powered phase transitions that occur when the information flux of the auto-catalytic process (living thing) becomes too complex (approaches chaos). The new life form that results is characterized by a more "relaxed" information state (more degrees of freedom which make more room for the increased amount of imformation)). (Chiasson, 2001, Pierce, 2002)
What is the "contextual emergence" of the Kauffman Jordan Ghin Phase? -it is a hybrid material/phenomenological process (the self-sustaining embodiment of contingent contexts) that we see as life and consciousness.
Is there another way to say this? - yes! It is bio-consciousness. If it is alive it is conscious. If it is conscious, it is alive. You cannot have one without the other. This material/phenomenological process creates a physical "body" that can "experience" or "feel" itself. The "feeling" does not "arise" from the process. The "feeling" is the process, and the process is the "feeling'. The "feeling" is the "body" and the "body" is the "feeling". The "physical" part of the process is what we call metabolism. However it is important to note that the process does not "know" that the "feeling" that it has is its "own".
Is it possible for a Kauffman Jordan Ghin Phase to know that the "feeling" it has is its "own". No. A further phase transition is necessary (Metzinger, 2004).
What does this Metzinger Phase Transition do? -it creates a "phenomenal self-model" (PSM) a kind of "body space" and a that it identifies as its own. That space in turn pulls in a "phenomenal model of the intentionality relation" (PMIR) a "feeling" and identifies the "feeling" in this space as "own". (Metzinger, 2004). This is a Metzinger Phase and it is created by a Metzinger Phase Transition.
What is the result of this Metzinger Phase Transition? -it creates the illusion of self-awareness
But self-aware entities (people) live together and interact. Is this the result of far-from-equilibrium thermodynamic information flow as well? Yes. Driven by information flow, auto-catalytic self-aware entities (people) react with each other and their self-dissipative surroundings (the environment) and create a channel for the passage or "relaxation" of free energy in that environment, from a more accessible state to a less accessible state. We call this channel civilization. (Note: In the present day the channel is so effective it causes fears that it will drain all the free information from the self-dissipative environment. We call this environmental destruction). (Chen, 2008)
Is all of this reflexive processing effected by common factors? -yes. Scale, bandwidth and connectivity.
How so? Scale effects the speed of processing. Bandwidth effects the amount of information that can be processed. Connectivity effects the complexity of the processing.
What does all this reflexive processing look like? - the universe, everything in it and everything beyond it.
In light of this, how else can the universe be characterized? Everything is created, maintained and connected by downhill the flow of free information.
Will the amount of entropy in the universe increase or decrease with time? There are factors which cause a simultaneous increase and decrease in entropy. The 2nd law of thermodynamics says that entropy increases as complexity is created. The amount is always greater than that of the complexity produced. So total entropy will always be greater than total order. The 3rd law says that entropy decreases as the temperature of the system (the universe) approaches absolute zero. Furthermore, Prigogine says the rate of entropy production is greatest in processes that are furthest from equilibrium. We can speculate that since the Big Bang the universe has been moving ever closer towards a state of equilibrium and that therefore the rate of entropy production has been decreasing. Everything considered it is reasonable to conclude that starting with the Big Bang, entropy will increase, reach a peak and decline, approaching zero as the universe chills. However the amount of entropy (information inaccessibility) will always be greater that the amount of order (information accessibility).
How about information flow? Is it increasing or decreasing? The gradient or potential between accessible and inaccessible information has been decreasing since the Big Bang. It is this differential that powers the flow of free information. Therefore information flow has been decreasing since the Big Bang and will continue to decrease both in speed and volume.
How about complexity? Is it increasing or decreasing? Complexity has been increasing but will eventually reach a peak and begin to decrease. Complexity has been increasing since the Big Bang, as the result of the information-flow powered far-from-equilibrium processes of self-dissipation and auto-catalysis. As mentioned above, information flow has been decreasing since the big Bang. Up until now, this flow has been sufficiently strong to power the processes of self-dissipation and auto-catalysis resulting in increasing complexity. However this decreased flow will reach a point where it is no longer sufficient to fully power these two processes. When this happens, complex self-dissipative and auto-catalytic processes will no longer be able to fully cleanse themselves of their waste (entropy) and will begin to deteriorate at an accelerating pace as the universe moves closer to equilibrium. However there will never be as much order in the universe as there is information acessibility.
What happens now? The processing continues. Information continues its wavy flow, initiating an increasing number of phase transitions, which differentiate an infinite number of existing media into still more media, amplifying even more all the richness and wonder of nature.
What happens when all the free information has flowed to the bottom of the hill? - the final phase transition, the "Big Poof", everything collapses and vanishes (maximum information inaccessibility, maximum information dispersal, zero entropy, zero enthalpy... information death)
Oh! ___________________________________________________________________
Causes of Phase Transitions
Phase transitions are powered by the flow of free information.
Phase transitions occur because the wavy free information absorbed or radiated by an information/medium rises above or falls below certain critical levels.
An information/medium has three components. One is the process that characterizes the information/medium, the second is the a buffer with a fixed storage capacity for free information and the third is the free information itself stored in the buffer.
When the information/medium self-absorbs information through wave-induced resonance this free information is stored in the buffer. The characteristic process is not effected.
When an information/medium self-radiates information due to wave-induced resistance the free information that is radiated comes from the buffer. The characteristic process in not effected.
However when the information/medium absorbs more free information than the buffer can hold it spills over into the process. This causes the process to change in ways that cannot be predicted (the Langton Computation) and create a new information/medium with a new process that has a higher information content and a new empty buffer.
In the same way, when the information/medium radiates more information than is stored in the buffer, some is taken from the process. This causes the process to change in ways that cannot be predicted (the Langton Computation) and create a new information/medium with a new process that has a lower information content and a new full buffer. _____________________________________________________________________
Properties of Phase Transitions
Creation of information/media
A phase transition is nature's primary optimizer. It is the great creator. It creates by differentiating an information/medium through the computation of that medium.
Qualitative Change
The new information/medium(a) created by a phase transition are qualitatively different from the originating medium(a).
Initiation of the flow of free information
Phase transitions initiate the wavy flow of free information that initiates and maintains the new phase and subsequent phase transitions.
Computing
A phase transition is nature's primary computer. A phase transition computes (Langton computation) the properties of a new medium. The computation is supported by the wavy flow of free information. In particular it computes three things: - the nature of the new process of the new medium. (This can involve creating a new process or filtering old processes (see below) or both). - the size of the information storage buffer for the new medium - the amount of "free information" in the new storage buffer
Filtering
Phase transitions act as filters. All media have properties. The Langdon computation creates the properties of the new medium. It can do this by creating a property(s) that do not exist in the old medium. Or it can act as a filter: It can allow the passage of an existing property or properties from the old into the new medium (symmetry preservation). It can block the passage of an existing property or properties from the old medium into the new medium (symmetry breaking).
Critical points
The occurrence of all phase transitions is associated with specific levels of free information in the medium. These are known as critical points. The quantities of information associated with these points cannot be predicted in advance from an examination of the medium or the environment.
Uncertainty
Phase transitions are not deterministic. Stated another way, the Langton Computation is not deterministic. It is impossible to predict by examining the medium itself, if it will will undergo a phase transition in a changing environment. If it does undergo a phase transition it is impossible to predict by examining the medium itself or the environment, the conditions that will induce the phase transition. It is impossible to predict by examining the medium itself or by examining the environmental conditions that induced the phase transition, the nature of the medium that will be created by the phase transition. These things can only be known and noted through observation.
Rigour
The phase transition of a given medium always occurs under the same conditions and always produces the same results or same range of results.
Gate keeping
Phase transitions can act as information gate keepers, controlling the flow of wavy information into or out of a phase.
Mediation
Where there may be a range of outcomes associated with a given phase transition, the transition itself can act as a mediator and determine the nature of the outcome, although, as stated above the outcome cannot be known in advance.
The Role of Free Information
In a phase transition wavy free information flows to power the Langton computation, to create the new information/medium, and to maintain the new information/medium that has been created. Any surplus wavy free information is available to flow and repeat this process.
Channelling of information and computation
Multiple phase transitions (successive, simultaneous, hyper-cycle of hypo-cycle connected, branched, etc. ) can act as a switching network channelling the flow of information through multiple information/media. This is another type of computation.
Variability in information content, processing complexity, duration.
Phase transitions come in all sizes and shapes. They are characterized by a wide range of information content from the the smallest to largest (related to frequency and degrees of freedom), the widest range of computation complexity from the simplest to the most complex and they can occur quickly or over long periods of time.
Scale sensitivity
In spite of a self-similarity of process, the results of phase transitions are scale sensitive (scale being a property of space, which was itself created as the result of the differentiation by phase transition of the original undifferentiated medium). In this universe, at the small scale the results of phase transitions manifest themselves as quantum phenomena, at the large scale as relativistic phenomena and at the middle scale as bio-consciousness and civilization.
In spite of a self-similarity of process, phase transitions are also time sensitive. In our universe, the classes of phase transition have "evolved", sequentially, one from the other, over very long periods of time (time itself having been created as a result of the differentiation by phase transition of the original undifferentiated medium), from Big Bang, to Prigogine, to Kauffman Jordan Ghin, to Metzinger Phase.
Self-similarity In spite of scale and time sensitivity, all phase transitions are the result of a common process (described above).
Material/Phenomenological (Bio-Conscious) Phases
Some phase transitions from the material, notably at the middle scale, create phases that are processes that are simultaneously material and phenomenological. These include the Kauffman Jordan Ghin Phase and the Metzinger Phase. _______________________________________________________________________
Classes of Phase Transitions (Organized chronologically as they occur in our universe) (Note a Phase Transition is associated with each information/medium)
Big Bang Class (Before 13.7 Billion Years Ago?)
Initiates the flow of wavy free information to create a given universe Direction of information flow - Downhill Self-organizing, entropic bound Information/media created
Many universes
Our Universe Space/time A continuous phase transition (the Big Bang. Yes it is going on all through us and all around us, right now, 13.7 billion years after it began) continuously creates space/time (perhaps dark time? and dark space? as well), through the continuous differentiation of the original medium.
This continuous differentiation also liberates the continuous wavy flow of free information which has initiated all the phase transitions that have occurred in our universe to this point in time. This wavy flow of free information also continuously maintains all the information/media that have been created to this point.
dark matter? (axions?, neutralinos?), dark energy, fermions/bosons
Prigogine Class (13.7 Billion Years Ago)
Initiated and supported by the wavy flow of free information liberated by the Big Bang. Direction of information flow - Uphill Far from equilibrium Self-organizing, self-dissipative Information/media created At the (sub)atomic scale
Protons, neutrons, nuclei, atoms, molecules (a chemical reaction is a phase transition)
At the large scale
Stars, planets, galaxies, galactic clusters, larger astronomical structures
At the middle scale (Human Scale)
Weather, civilization (based on Kauffman Jordan Ghin Phase and Metzinger Phases (people)
Kauffman Jordan Ghin Class (3.8 Billion Years Ago)
Initiated and supported by the wavy flow of free information liberated by the Prigogine Class. Direction of information flow - Uphill Far from equilibrium Self-organizing, auto-catalytic, material/phenomenological (bio-conscious), self-dissipative Information/media created At the Middle Scale (Human Scale) only
Bio-consciousness ("life") Categories of bio-consciousness vary with the type of system used to classify "life". - life at the simple level can be classified according to metabolism. - using the metabolic definition based on ability to synthesize food there are two types of metabolo-consciousness:
- autotrophic-consciousness, heterotrophic- consciousness (The passage from auto to hetero is characterized by a phase transition.
- heterotrophic-consciousness has in turn been differentiated by phase transitions to become RNA-consciousness. Using the RNA three domain system for the definition of life (Woese, 1990), there are three types of RNA- consciousness:
- archaeo-consciousness, bacterio- consciousness, eucaryo- consciousness (The three categories arose as the result of phase transitions in RNA-consciousness: archaea to bacteria to eucaryota). The eucaryo- consciousness category includes plants animals and people.
Metzinger Class (Several Million Years Ago)
Initiated and supported by the wavy flow of free information liberated by the Kauffman Jordan Ghin Class. Direction of information flow - Uphill Self-organizing, auto-catalytic, reflexively material/phenomenological (bio-conscious), self-dissipative Information/media created At the Middle Scale (Human Scale) only
Human self-awareness
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Jeff Atkins (Chelsea, Quebec, Canada) Author / webmaster Copyright 2006 t Dedicated to Marie Jacqueline Laurence Lavoietact (Nee le 10 aout 1940 Chocoutimi, decedee le1ier fevrier 2003 Chelsea)
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Site created 7th March 2006, by Mario Rotolo of Cyberwave Computing 2000, in Beau Vallon, Mahe, Seychelles. Hosting services provide by WestHost Inc. ,164 N Spring Creek Parkway, Providence, Utah, USA since site was created. Date of most recent update 12/02/12
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