Incomplete Nature
 | This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. (February 2014) |
OCLC 601107605 | | |
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Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter is a 2011 book by
Core ideas
Deacon's first book,
Constraints
A central thesis of the book is that absence can still be efficacious. Deacon makes the claim that just as the concept of
Orthograde and contragrade
Deacon notes that the apparent patterns of
Orthograde changes are caused internally. They are spontaneous changes. That is, orthograde changes are generated by the spontaneous elimination of asymmetries in a thermodynamic system in disequilibrium. Because orthograde changes are driven by the internal geometry of a changing system, orthograde causes can be seen as analogous to
Contragrade changes are imposed from the outside. They are non-spontaneous changes. Contragrade change is induced when one thermodynamic system interacts with the orthograde changes of another thermodynamic system. The interaction drives the first system into a higher energy, more asymmetrical state. Contragrade changes do
Homeodynamics, morphodynamics, and teleodynamics
Much of the book is devoted to expanding upon the ideas of classical thermodynamics, with an extended discussion about how consistently far from equilibrium systems can interact and combine to produce novel emergent properties.
Deacon defines three hierarchically nested levels of thermodynamic systems: Homeodynamic systems combine to produce morphodynamic systems which combine to produce teleodynamic systems. Teleodynamic systems can be further combined to produce higher orders of
Homeodynamics
Homeodynamic systems are essentially equivalent to classical
Morphodynamics
A morphodynamic system consists of a coupling of two homeodynamic systems such that the constraint dissipation of each complements the other, producing macroscopic order out of microscopic interactions. Morphodynamic systems require constant perturbation to maintain their structure, so they are relatively rare in nature. The paradigm example of a morphodynamic system is a
Two systems: The significant heat differential on the liquid produces two homeodynamic systems. The first is a diffusion system, where high energy molecules on the bottom collide with lower energy molecules on the top until the added kinetic energy from the heat source is evenly distributed. The second is a convection system, where the low density fluid on the bottom mixes with the high density fluid on the top until the density becomes evenly distributed. The second system arises when there is too much energy to be effectively dissipated by the first, and once both systems are in place, they will begin to interact.
Self organization: The convection creates currents in the fluid that disrupt the pattern of heat diffusion from bottom to top. Heat begins to diffuse into the denser areas of current, irrespective of the vertical location of these denser portions of fluid. The areas of the fluid where diffusion is occurring most rapidly will be the most viscous because molecules are rubbing against each other in opposite directions. The convection currents will shun these areas in favor of parts of the fluid where they can flow more easily. And so the fluid spontaneously segregates itself into cells where high energy, low density fluid flows up from the center of the cell and cooler, denser fluid flows down along the edges, with diffusion effects dominating in the area between the center and the edge of each cell.
Synergy and constraint: What is notable about morphodynamic processes is that order spontaneously emerges explicitly because the ordered system that results is more efficient at increasing entropy than a chaotic one. In the case of the Rayleigh–Bénard cell, neither diffusion nor convection on their own will produce as much entropy as both effects coupled together. When both effects are brought into interaction, they constrain each other into a particular geometric form because that form facilitates minimal interference between the two processes. The orderly hexagonal form is stable as long as the energy differential persists, and yet the orderly form more effectively degrades the energy differential than any other form. This is why morphodynamic processes in nature are usually so short lived. They are self organizing, but also self undermining.
Teleodynamics
A teleodynamic system consists of coupling two morphodynamic systems such that the self undermining quality of each is constrained by the other. Each system prevents the other from dissipating all of the energy available, and so long term organizational stability is obtained. Deacon claims that we should pinpoint the moment when two morphodynamic systems reciprocally constrain each other as the point when
Autogenesis
Deacon explores the properties of teleodynamic systems by describing a chemically plausible model system called an autogen. Deacon emphasizes that the specific autogen he describes is not a proposed description of the first life form, but rather a description of the kinds of thermodynamic synergies that the first living creature likely possessed.[7]
Reciprocal catalysis: An autogen consists of two self
The first self: Unlike an isolated morphodynamic process whose organization rapidly eliminates the energy gradient necessary to maintain its structure, a teleodynamic process is self-limiting and self-preserving. The two reactions complement each other, and ensure that neither ever runs to equilibrium - that is completion, cessation, and
Work
As with other concepts in the book, in his discussion of
Thermodynamic work
A thermodynamic system's capacity to do work depends less upon the total energy of the system and more upon the geometric distribution of its components. A glass of water at 20 degrees Celsius will have the same amount of energy as a glass divided in half with the top
Morphodynamic work
By recognizing that asymmetry is a general property of work - that work is done as asymmetric systems spontaneously tend towards symmetry, Deacon abstracts the concept of work and applies it to systems whose symmetries are vastly more complex than those covered by
Resonance example: A good example of morphodynamic work is the induced
Contragrade change: When energy is added to the flute by blowing air into it, there is a spontaneous (orthograde) tendency for the system to dissipate the added energy by inducing the air within the flute to vibrate at a specific frequency. This orthograde morphodynamic form generation can be used to induce contragrade change in the system coupled to it - the taut string. Playing the flute does work on the string by causing it to enter a high energy state that could not be reached spontaneously in an uncoupled state.
Structure and form: Importantly, this is not just the macro scale propagation of random micro vibrations from one system to another. The global geometric structure of the system is essential. The total energy transferred from the flute to the string matters far less than the patterns it takes in transit. That is, the amplitude of the coupled note is irrelevant, what matters is its frequency. Notes that have a higher or lower frequency than the resonant frequency of the string will not be able to do morphodynamic work.
Teleodynamic work
Work is generally defined to be the interaction of two orthograde changing systems such that contragrade change is produced.[11] In teleodynamic systems, the spontaneous orthograde tendency is not to equilibriate (as in homeodynamic systems), nor to self simplify (as in morphodynamic systems) but rather to tend towards self-preservation. Living organisms spontaneously tend to heal, to reproduce and to pursue resources towards these ends. Teleodynamic work acts on these tendencies and pushes them in a contragrade, non-spontaneous direction.
Evolution as work: Natural selection, or perhaps more accurately, adaptation, can be considered to be a ubiquitous form of teleodynamic work. The othograde self-preservation and reproduction tendencies of individual organisms tends to undermine those same tendencies in conspecifics. This competition produces a constraint that tends to mold organisms into forms that are more adapted to their environments – forms that would otherwise not spontaneously persist.
For example, in a population of New Zealand wrybill who make a living by searching for grubs under rocks, those that have a bent beak gain access to more calories. Those with bent beaks are able to better provide for their young, and at the same time they remove a disproportionate quantity of grubs from their environment, making it more difficult for those with straight beaks to provide for their own young. Throughout their lives, all the wrybills in the population do work to structure the form of the next generation. The increased efficiency of the bent beak causes that morphology to dominate the next generation. Thus an asymmetry of beak shape distribution is produced in the population - an asymmetry produced by teleodynamic work.
Thought as work: Mental problem solving can also be considered teleodynamic work. Thought forms are spontaneously generated, and task of problem solving is the task of molding those forms to fit the context of the problem at hand. Deacon makes the link between evolution as teleodynamic work and thought as teleodynamic work explicit. "The experience of being sentient is what it feels like to be evolution."[12]
Emergent causal powers
By conceiving of work in this way, Deacon claims "we can begin to discern a basis for a form of causal openness in the universe."[13] While increases in complexity in no way alter the laws of physics, by juxtaposing systems together, pathways of spontaneous change can be made available that were inconceivably improbable prior to the systems coupling. The causal power of any complex living system lies not solely in the underlying quantum mechanics but also in the global arrangement of its components. A careful arrangement of parts can constrain possibilities such that phenomena that were formerly impossibly rare can become improbably common.
Information
One of the central purposes of Incomplete Nature is to articulate a theory of biological
Shannon information
Shannon's key insight was to recognize a link between entropy and information. Entropy is often defined as a measurement of disorder, or randomness, but this can be misleading. For Shannon's purposes, the entropy of a system is the number of possible states that the system has the capacity to be in. Any one of these potential states can constitute a message. For example, a typewritten page can bear as many different messages as there are different combinations of characters that can be arranged on the page. The information content of a message can only be understood against the background context of all of the messages that could have been sent, but weren't. Information is produced by a reduction of entropy in the message medium.
Boltzmann entropy
Shannon's information based conception of entropy should be distinguished from the more classic
Significant information
Deacon's addition to Shannon information theory is to propose a method for describing not just how a message is transmitted, but also how it is interpreted. Deacon weaves together Shannon entropy and Boltzmann entropy in order to develop a theory of interpretation based in teleodynamic work. Interpretation is inherently normative. Data becomes information when it has significance for its interpreter. Thus interpretive systems are teleodynamic - the interpretive process is designed to perpetuate itself. "The interpretation of something as information indirectly reinforces the capacity to do this again."[14]
References
- ^ Lynn Margulis, Dorion Sagan, Slanted Truths: Essays on Gaia, Symbiosis and Evolution. 1997
- ^ Evan Thompson, Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. 2012
- ^ Incomplete Nature, pp. 260
- ^ Incomplete Nature, pp. 260
- ^ Incomplete Nature, pp.561 "Experience should have clear equilibrium-tending, dissipative, and self-organizing characteristics, besides those that are intentional. These are inseparable dynamical features that literally constitute experience."
- ^ Incomplete Nature pg. 355
- PMID 24896328.)
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ Incomplete Nature, pg.365
- ^ Incomplete Nature, pg. 366
- ^ Incomplete Nature, pg.371
- ^ Incomplete Nature pg. 366
- ^ Incomplete Nature. pg 550
- ^ Incomplete Nature. pg.379
- ^ Incomplete Nature. pg. 434
- Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2011. ISBN 978-0-393-04991-6
- Deacon, T. (2006) Reciprocal linkage between self-organizing processes is sufficient for self reproduction and evolvability. Biological Theory 1 (2) 2006, 136–149.