vol 3: Development
chapter 2: Model
page 9: Selection
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Selection
The universe we inhabit seems very much simpler than the transfinite replication and complexification envisaged on the previous page. We now turn to selection.
Selection is induced by limitation. In the biological world, only a fraction of the sperm, eggs, embryos and infants that come into existence are destined to find enough resources to reproduce themselves. Natural selection - Wikipedia, Jones
The limiting feature of the transfinite network is computing power. Of the unlimited number of functions that can be represented in the Cantor universe, only aleph(0) are computable.
Let us assume that we can model each message in the network as a function, and that only computable functions are observable. All such functions are discrete, that is they can be represented by mappings of a set of natural numbers onto itself.
This assumption is consistent with the experience in physics, where we find that the only observations we can make are counts of discrete quantum events like the creation or annihilation of a particle.
Our world is inabited by discrete entities like ourselves, stars and grains of sand. Let us assume that each of these entities maintains its existence by a variety of feedback loops. When an organism feels itself being stressed, it reacts in a manner which reduces the stress. I eat when I am hungry; a steel girder resists when I try to bend it. We explore this phenomenon in more detail in cybernetics. Weiner, Ashby
Cybernetics is the study of communication and control. Within each existing entity, we expect to find a network of communication and control which accepts messages from the entity and its environment, decides how to deal with the current situation, and acts upon this decision by communicating with itself and its environment.
This leads us to the assume that effective survival demands error free communication. Shannon's mathematical theory of communication shows that error free messages can be transmitted over a noisy channel by apropriate coding. Claude Shannon - Wikipedia This coding requires computation, and more complex computations may reduce the probability of error. In this way we can link computing power and fitness.
Every control system has its limits. If the environent changes so far or so fast that the system cannot cope, the organism may be injured or die.
Each computation is a series of actions determined by an algorithm stored in the computer's memory. Different algorithms may be available to perform a particular encoding. Some of these algorithms may be more efficient than others: they use less computing resources to perform the same task. Algorithmic efficiency - Wikipedia
When survival is at stake, we might expect the scarcity of computing resources to select for efficient algorithms. Those entities that are better able prevent error and control themselves with the available resources seem to have a better chance of survival.
Although most work on evolution is done in a biological context, the proposal here is that all of the observed struture and communication in the universe has been refined by evolutionary process. The observed world, that which is fit to survive, is thus an infinitesimal fraction of the possible world modelled by the transfinite network.
(revised 26 November 2007)
Further reading
Books
| Ashby, W Ross, An Introduction to Cybernetics, Methuen 1964 'This book is intended to provide [an introduction to cybernetics]. It starts from common-place and well understood concepts, and proceeds step by step to show how these concepts can be made exact, and how they can be developed until they lead into such subjects as feedback, stability, regulation, ultrastability, information, coding, noise and other cybernetic topics' Amazon back |
| Cummins, Denise Dellarosa, and Colin Allen (editors), The Evolution of Mind, Oxford University Press 1998 Introduction: This book is an interdisciplinary endeavour, a collection of essays by ethologists, psychologists, anthropologists and philosophers united in the common goal of explaining cognition. ... the chief challenge is to make evolutionary psychology into an experimental science. Several of the chapters in this volume describe experimental techniues and results consistent with this aim; our hope and intention is that they lead by example in the development of evolutionary psychology from the realm of speculation to that of established research program' Amazon back |
| Dennett, Daniel C, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Penguin Viking 2006 Jacket: 'In this daring and important new book, DCD seeks to uncover the origins of this remarkable family of phenomena that means so much to so many people, and to discuss why--and how--they have commanded allegiance, become so potent and shaped so many lives so strongly. What are the psychological dnd cultural soils in which religion first took root? Is it an addiction or a genuine need that we should try to perserve at any cost? Is it the product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Do those who believe in God have good resons for doing so? Are people right to say that the best way to live the good life is through religion. In a spirited argument that ranges through biology, history, and psychology, D explores how religion evolved from folk beliefs anbd how these early "wild" strains of religion were then carefully and consciously domesticated. At the motives pf religion's stewards entered this process, such features as secrecy, and systematic invulnberability to disproof emerged. D contends that this protective veneer of mystery needs to be removed so that religions can be better understood, and--more important--he argues that the widespread assumption that they are the necessary foundation of morality can no longer be supported. ... ' Amazon back |
| Jones, Steve, Almost like a Whale: The Origin of Species Updated, Doubleday 1999 An Historical Sketch: 'The Origin of Species is, without doubt, the book of the millennium. ... [This book] is, as far as is possible, an attempt to rewrite the Origin of Species. I use its plan, developing as it does from farms to fossils, from beehives to islands, as a framework, but my own Grand Facts ... are set firmly in the late twentieth century. Almost Like a Whale tries to read Charles Darwin's mind with the benefit of scientific hindsight and to show how the theory of evolution unites biology as his millenium draws to an end.' (xix) Amazon back |
| Wiener, Norbert, Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine, MIT Press 1996 The classic founding text of cybernetics. Amazon back |
| Wilson, David Sloan, Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion and the Nature of Society, University Of Chicago Press 2003 Amazon Spotlight Review 'Religion in the Light of Evolution, January 2, 2003 Reviewer: R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) If you have an opinion about religion, or belong to a religion, most people disagree with you; there is not a majority religion in the world. And surely not all religions can be factually correct, since there are fundamental disagreements between them. So, how is it that all those other, incorrect religions exist and seem to help their members and their societies? There must be something they offer beyond a factual representation of gods and the cosmos (and when it comes down to it, if you belong to a religion, yours must be offering something more as well). If religions do help their members and societies, then perhaps they are beneficial in a long term and evolutionary way, and maybe such evolutionary influences should be acknowledged and studied. This is what David Sloan Wilson convincingly declares he has done in _Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society_ (University of Chicago Press): "I will attempt to study religious groups the way I and other evolutionary biologists routinely study guppies, trees, bacteria, and the rest of life on earth, with the intention of making progress that even a reasonable skeptic must acknowledge." To Wilson's credit, he has written carefully about both scientific and religious issues, and readers with an interest in either field will find that he has covered both fairly. His coverage of the science involved begins with an interesting history of "the wrong turn" evolutionary theory took fifty years ago, when it deliberately ignored the influence of group selection. Especially if one accepts that there is for our species not only an inheritance of genes, but also an inheritance of culture, evolutionary influence by and upon religious groups, especially in light of the examples Wilson discusses, now seems obvious. For instance, evolution often studies population changes due to gains and losses from births, deaths, and in the case of religion, conversion and apostasy. The early Christian church is shown to have made gains compared to Judaism and Roman mythology because of its promotion of proselytization, fertility, a welfare state, and women's participation. There is a temple system in Bali dedicated to the water goddess essential for the prosperity of the rice crops; "those who do not follow her laws may not possess her rice terraces." The religious system encompasses eminently practical procedures for promoting fair water use and even for pest control. Religious morality is shown to build upon the principles of the famously successful computer strategy Tit-for-Tat. There is a significant problem, of course, in religions' dealing with other groups; it is not at all uncommon for a religion to teach that murdering those who believe in other religions is different from murdering those inside one's own religion. There is a degree of amorality shown in such competition, no different from the amorality that governs the strivings of ferns, sparrows, and lions. Wilson's many examples are fascinating and easy to take, but _Darwin's Cathedral_ is not light reading; although Wilson wanted to write a book for readers of all backgrounds, he has not "'dumbed down' the material for a popular audience," and admits that there is serious intellectual work to be done in getting through these pages. There is valuable and clear writing here, however, and a new way of looking at religion which may become a standard in scientific evaluation.' Amazon back |
Papers
| Lieberman, Erez, Christoph Hauert, Martin A Nowak, "Evolutionary dynamics on graphs", Nature, 433, 7023, 20 January 2005, page 312-316. 'Evolutionary dynamics has been traditionally studied in the context of homogeneous or spatially extended populations. Here we generalize population structure by arranging individuals on a graph. Each vertex represents and individual. The weighed edges of the graph denote the rate which govern how often individuals place offspring into adjacent vertices. ... Evolutionary graph theory has many fascinating applications ranging from ecology to multi-cellular organisms and economics. . back |
| Nowak, Martin A, Joshua B Plotkin and Vincent A A Jansen, "The evolution of syntactic communication", Nature, 404, 6777, 30 March 2000, page 495-498. Letters to Nature: 'Animal communication is typically non-syntactic, which means that signals refer to whole situations. Human language is syntactic, and signals consist of discrete components that have their own meaning. Syntax is requisite for taking advantage of combinatorics, that is 'making infinite use of finite means'. ... Here we present a model for the population dynamics of language evolution, define the basic reproductive ratio of words and calculate the maximum size of a lexicon.'. back |
Links
| Algorithmic efficiency - Wikipedia Algorithmic efficiency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 'In computer science, efficiency is used to describe several desirable properties of an algorithm or other construct, besides clean design, functionality, etc. Efficiency is generally contained in two properties: speed (the time it takes for an operation to complete), and space (the memory or non-volatile storage used up by the construct). Optimization is the process of making code as efficient as possible, sometimes focusing on space at the cost of speed, or vice versa.' back |
| Claude Shannon - Wikipedia Claude Shannon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 'Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 - February 24, 2001), an American electrical engineer and mathematician, has been called "the father of information theory".[1] Shannon is famous for having founded information theory and both digital computer and digital circuit design theory when he was 21 years-old by way of a master's thesis published in 1937, wherein he articulated that electrical application of Boolean algebra could construct and resolve any logical, numerical relationship. It has been claimed that this was the most important master's thesis of all time.' back |
| Natural selection - Wikipedia Natural selection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 'Natural selection is the process by which favorable traits that are heritable become more common in successive generations of a population of reproducing organisms, and unfavorable traits that are heritable become less common. Natural selection acts on the phenotype, or the observable characteristics of an organism, such that individuals with favorable phenotypes are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less favorable phenotypes. If these phenotypes have a genetic basis, then the genotype associated with the favorable phenotype will increase in frequency in the next generation. Over time, this process can result in adaptations that specialize organisms for particular ecological niches and may eventually result in the emergence of new species.' back |
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