Conscious Layer Speculations

Fisers--

For some reason, the "virtual conference" has not taken off in this
session. Let me try to jump-start the traffic by extending my introductory
message with some provocative speculations.

You'll recall that we supposed that there are two kinds of information,
Info (1) which is the ordinary kind, but which I wish in the present
context to limit to kinds of abstractions and messages that support (the
mechanics of) a science and Info(2) the impetus to organize. I submit that
they are different and the challenge is to have them merge, which is more
likely possible in the social layer.

Here are the speculations:

1. Existence of info(2) posits a requirement (not just a tendency) for
organization. That organization is always increasing.

2. When a system exceeds a certain complexity, it creates new abstractions
within which it can work. Thus, for instance, molecules "grow" into cells.
The laws of these "vertical" layers are wholly determined by the
abstractions of their generators.

[The combination of these two would seem to imply that the existence of
elementary particles in our universe mandates the existence of life.]

3. The laws which codify these new abstraction spaces (and ideally the
mechanism which defines them) will be the most basic discoverable laws.
This is to say that the mapping between info(1) and (2) will be not in
terms of information per se, but the definition of the abstraction spaces
which define information. Since Category Theory is the mathematics of
abstraction, it may provide some useful formal techniques.

4. The abstractions that define consciousness are what merges info(1) and
(2), or more precisely: that layer is where info(1) emerges from (2). That
is why this layer is of particular attention.

5. Almost certainly, the primitives of interest, the abstractions we noted,
bear no intuitive relationship to the apparent units of "horizontal"
organization. Values, Ethics and Morals might be useful as an
information-based organizational principle at the social layer, or peptide
bonds at the biochemical layer (and so onŠ). The real challenge to my mind
is to find the underlying abstract principles that:

a. drive the various, useful horizontal mechanisms

b. create new abstraction spaces at vertical boundaries, and (most
important for FIS)

c. in particular at one boundary, define info(1) and thus science.

6. Quite possibly, the layers are not single-threaded. For instance, the
biological layer might build several types of "societies" or other higher
order organizations.

7. Also possibly, the layers are circular, so that the info(1), science, as
a higher level creates a "law" space where universal laws are sustained,
feeding the physics layer.

8. The abstract primitives are symmetry-based and geometric in the sense
that general relativity and the standard model are, and opposed to quantum
mechanics, modal logics and probability.

That should be controversial enough to spark a dialog. These are not firmly
held ideas, but speculations thrown out for discussion. Everything depends
on the consciousness of the "top" layer which we are discussing.

Best, Ted

_____________
Ted Goranson
Sirius-Beta, Virginia Beach USA
757/426-6704, fax 757/721-0781
Received on Tue Oct 13 12:01:45 1998