On Thu, 26 Oct 2006, Guy A Hoelzer wrote: > I doubt we disagree in substance here, but I would take issue with the > statement that "there are no laws for biology in the same sense as the > laws of physics", because I think the laws of physics apply in all > realms. In other words, the laws of physics are not limited to physics > in an exclusionary way, because all other disciplines exist within the > bounds of physics. Therefore, the laws of physics are also laws of > biology to me. After picking this nit, I would agree that there are no > additional, proprietary laws of this sort within biology that do not > extend to non-biological physical systems.
Hi Guy! No disagreement whatsoever. I was trying to be brief. The laws of physics continue to hold for biotic systems, they just lose their capability to *determine" the results. To summarize Elsasser's arguments in three words -- combinatorics overwhelm law. By which is meant that for any lawful constraint there usually is a multitude of possible configurations that satisfy that constraint. There being no discrimination among the multitude as regards the law in question, something else must do the discriminating. I propose that something else is "process". What I mean by processes and how they work is explained in the citation, which I repeat here: <http://www.cbl.umces.edu/~ulan/ISEPP.DOC> The best, Bob ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert E. Ulanowicz | Tel: (410) 326-7266 Chesapeake Biological Laboratory | FAX: (410) 326-7378 P.O. Box 38 | Email <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 1 Williams Street | Web <http://www.cbl.umces.edu/~ulan> Solomons, MD 20688-0038 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ fis mailing list [email protected] http://webmail.unizar.es/mailman/listinfo/fis
