> [Chris] > What is Chance really? i have a hard time seeing how Chance can exist, > especially in a MOQ system. > > [Arlo] > As I see it, "chance" stands in contrast to "pre-ordained" or "pre-planned". > The idea that a million eons before "man", a "plan" existed somewhere and > somehow to "bring man into existence". This is the basis of "intelligent > design". The way I see it, the MOQ is purely a metaphysics of "chance", > there is no central consciousness that planned things out, humans are not > part of some divine plan, nor were we made with deliberate intent. > > When those first two subatomic patterns joined into a carbon molecule, they > acted not out of a predetermined trajectory or the will of some supreme > consciousness, it was only AFTER joining as such that there as a "AHA!" > moment where the value of such a joining became apparent, even at the > inorganic level. > > When the first two humans (biological patterns) acted in such a way as to > set off the emergence of the social level, it was not part of some long-term > plan to create a "willful agent". It simply happened, after several million > years, and was the next AHA! moment in the MOQ's evolutionary view. > > Quality is not God. It is not an "intelligent designer". It is not a thinly > veiled theism that some would need to believe it is. It does not pre-plan > nor pre-ordain things. It did not come up with a "plan" and then implement > it. Quality would have not have cared whether or not "man" ever existed.
Arlo: I think your assertion that "the MOQ is purely a metaphysics of 'chance' " is contradicted by the following passage from Lila: "On the other hand, the shift in cell reproduction from mitosis to meiosis to permit sexual choice and allow huge DNA diversification is a Dynamic advance. So is the collective organization of cells into metazoan societies called plants and animals. So are sexual choice, symbiosis, death and regeneration, communality, communication, speculative thought curiosity and art. Most of these, when viewed in a substance-centered evolutionary way, are thought of as mere incidental properties of the molecular machine. But in a value-centered explanation of evolution they are close to the Dynamic process itself, pulling the pattern of life forward to greater levels of versatility and freedom." (Lila, 11) Pirsig's explanation of evolution in Chapter 11 is based on the premise that the forces of DQ and SQ -- not chance -- account for the rise from amoeba to man. Whether "pulling the pattern of life forward to greater levels of versatility and freedom" suggest an "intelligent designer" is open to interpretation. The very existence of Quality suggests a prior source of some kind, although I recognize only too well the Truth of infinite regress. As for a plan, evolution towards greater freedom and versatility suggests a purpose if not an actual plan. The MOQ a metaphysics of chance? I don't think so, based on Pirsig's own words. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
