Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter
Terrence W. Deacon
Language: English
Pages: 624
ISBN: 0393343901
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
“A tour de force encompassing biology, neurobiology, metaphysics, information theory, physics, and semiotics.”―Publishers Weekly
As scientists study the minutiae of subatomic particles, neural connections, and molecular compounds, their attempts at a “theory of everything” harbor a glaring omission: they still cannot explain us, the thoughts and perceptions that truly make us what we are. A masterwork that brings together science and philosophy, Incomplete Nature offers a revolutionary, captivating account of how life and consciousness emerged, revealing how our desires, feelings, and intentions can be understood in terms of the physical world. 12 illustrations
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Global thermodynamic probabilities; (b) are highly heterogeneous in their structures and dynamics; (c) produce processes/behaviors that are so convoluted, divergent, and idiosyncratic as to defy compact algorithmic description; (d) generate and maintain aggregate systemic properties that are quite distinct from properties of any component; and (e) reflect the effects of deep historical contingencies that may no longer be existent in their present context. The transition from physical systems.
Emphasized, organisms are spontaneously emergent systems that can be said to “act on their own behalf” (though “acting” and “selfhood” must be understood in a minimal and generic sense that will be developed further below).8 Since they may incidentally encounter favorable or unfavorable environments, organisms must embody a tendency to generate structures and processes that maximize access to the former and minimize exposure to the latter, in such a way that these capacities are preserved into.
Theory is superficially similar to Manfred Eigen’s hypercycle theory to the extent that each of these two self-promoting processes also promotes the other in some way, forming the analogue of a causal circle of causal circles, so to speak. But the resemblance to hypercycle architecture stops there, and in other respects autogenic theory is fundamentally different. As we saw above, an autocatalytic cycle is susceptible to self-undermining and self-limiting dynamics, and a hypercycle is doubly (or.
Materials, shaping of parts, and systematic assembly, all of which occur with respect to an anticipated set of physical behaviors and ends to be achieved. Although living processes have components that are at least as precisely integrated in their function as any man-made machine, little else makes them like anything engineered. Whole organisms do not result from bringing together disparate parts but by their parts’ differentiating from one another. Organisms are not built or assembled; they grow.
Expression of the second law of thermodynamics, and thus an order-destroying effect. But, as the epigraph to this chapter hints, there may be a source of increasing orderliness available as well: self-organizing processes. The recognition that there needs to be such a “positive” (order-introducing) factor, and not merely a multiplicative factor, in order to explain biological evolution is becoming more widespread. This requirement is echoed also by Peter Corning, who argues that “a fully adequate.