Causality and Complexity, Derek Raine

In linear systems there is a direct link between cause and effect. This is not the case in non-linear systems where causes are inter-related. This is, of course, well known in social systems where the attribution of blame is often a matter of opinion or convenience. Often the approach taken is to appeal to a notion of perturbative causality where small changes in causes are traced to their effects, other things being equal, or at least, as equal as possible given the constraints. In this situation, small causes may appear to generate large effects at tipping points, neglecting the interaction of the small perturbation with the other system variables. In complex systems it is the interactions of the agents, rather than the attributes of the individual agents, that leads to emergent, thereby undermining a naïve reductionist view.

In cosmology the emergent properties of the Universe are attributed to special values of the fundamental constants on the grounds that small perturbations of these values cause large deviations from the observed features, particularly the existence of sentient observers. Thus we are not surprised to find ourselves inhabiting an instance of the multiverse that can support life. This is an example of perturbative causality and gives rise to the idea that the parameters of the system have been fine-tuned.

An alternative view seeks to understand emergent behaviour as a probable consequence of complexity. One example is Kauffman's NK model applied to the origin of life: in this model life (in the sense of a metabolic network) evolves wherever complex chemistry is possible as the natural outcome of a complex system without any fine tuning. Taking this further, we can imagine that the multiverse admits complex behaviours in any of its ground states. In this view there is nothing special about the values we find for the fundamental constants: life, as a complex system, is bound to emerge in any universe with a sufficient number of interacting fields, that is, in high enough dimensions.

This lecture was delivered during the 16th Kraków Methodological Conference "The Causal Universe", May 17-18, 2012.
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[bristol]

The overall structure of our top-down Platonic universe, where monads are quanta
                                    by Roger B. Clough (10/26/14)

Abstract
Here we briefly describe the universe as being simultaneously mental (as monads
or quanta) and physical (as bodies or particles of matter). These particles
or bodies also  have a range of what Leibniz calls perfection, and they indirectly
interact such that a more perfect body makes a less perfect body more
perfect, the more perfect evolving toward the supreme perfection of the One.

The mental sphere (Mind) contains not only monads in the form of quanta
but a pre-established harmony (PEH) as well as forces (which are ideas),
which can act on them, of which there are two kinds: a) physical forces,
which act on mass (as linear momentum) and on spin (angular momentum)
and b) electrical forces, which act on the charge of a particle. Mind also
contains the powers of creation, reasoning, experiencing,   and perception,
and control. Mind controls matter just as mind controls the brain.


Introduction and discussion

The platonic universe consists of two halves of a single entity
which we might call the Absolute : comprising the One and the Many,
or Self (subject) and Other (object), as in Fichte.

The structure is completely cybernetic, by which we mean
that all causation is mental and top-down.. The purely mental or subjective One
or singular ruling creator and governor, is a purely mental subject
(first person singular) . The Many, its  monadic objects, consist of a
network of an infinity of mental monads, all alive and conscious to various
extents, as well as the physical bodies in spacetime described by them.
These bodies. while we call them physical, are actually phenomenal.
They move in spacetime only according to the pre-established 
harmony (PEH),   The PEH is not entirely deterministic. Higher
order living entities move in various degrees purposefully,
by what Aristotle called "final causation".  

Life is a property of all of the universe of particles,
where by life we mean autonomous intelligence,
freely able to make its own selections at least according
to the PEH. This intelligence is that of Mind, and since
Mind causes all and creates all, it is Mind out of
which the Big Bang exploded.

Time and space are phenomenal,   not actual entities, but instead are
simply the four dimensions of spacetime, x, y, z and t. These are
mathematical or phenomenal variables, not real entities.

At the same time, spacetime and the objects in it appear
as real when experienced, either by perception or measurement.
Thus Leibniz does not consider the everyday world as an illusion,
you can still stub your toe in it and perform experiments.
Leibniz thus calls this phenomenal world "well-founded".

Closing

We close by summarizing Plato-Leibniz's conception of the universe,
which Bertrand Russell dismissed in passing as a fairy tale-- a vain remark,
since Russell never proposed an alternate working model. Plato's
universe is cybernetic (top-down), which makes it largely analytic, except
for the fact that in the case of life, Aristotle's final causation
(purposeful action ) is invoked.

In contrast, Panpsychism seems, to  this author at least, to be mob rule.
There is also Whitehead's metaphysics,   but I prefer the computer-like
rationality of Plato-Leibniz.

So, to summarize Plato-Leibniz's universe:

1.  The universe is governed on the large scale mentally and necessarily
(if we are to avoid conflict) by a  single monarch (the One).  This creates all,
perceives all, and causes all action mentally, not physically, through Plato's cybernetic,
top-down  administration.

2.  Here space and time only exist as spacetime,   which is an artifact
(like a map) created locally by the presence of mass in particles or bodies.
Spacetime is not a reality, it is simply the mathematical path as
curved by the mass.

3. On the small scale, the rules of Leibniz's Monadology come into effect.
The universe is made up completely of physical  matter in the
form of distinct and completely independent bodies  moving
in spacetime according to the PEH, which is the practical form of the One's
control.

4. Each particle or physical body has two simultaneous versions:
in spacetime the body is  a conventional physical body
but it also has a mental mirror version in mental space called a monad.
Monads are simply the quantum or mental forms of the particles.

5. Thus we have the One, which controls the Many (the particles
or physical bodies with corresponding simultaneous mental monads

6. The particles are behaviorally characterized through
through three indexes of force-  spin, charge and mass.
Charge is a single pole of electromagnetic force.

7. Mass and spin are mechanical, with mass corresponding
to linear momentum and spin corresponding to angular
momentum of the particle about an axis. Thus each particle
is moved either by charge or by momentum.

8. This PEH is simply a  top-down cybernetic (mathematical) structure based at the lowest
level largely on Einstein's relativity theories, as well as other deterministic theories
such as electromagnetic theory, and the broader, nonlocal (entangled)
and less deterministic theories of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics.
Physics has yet to recognize the nonlocal character of thermodynamics,
especially evident in its conservation laws.




--
Dr. Roger B Clough NIST (retired, 2000).

[derdagian]

Cassandra will block my replies! Hahahaha

[erdemsebibucin]

Prygogine and maturana and varela.
Feedback processes..
Quest for god of the united physicists of all countries..
The account is very overtly probable thus plausible and feasible

It is a somewhat agnostic rather than a theistic approach.
Again deus sive natura.
Determinatio est negatio.
See ethics and whiteheads bi furcation of nature