List, While we have a thread running on Peirce's cosmology, metaphysics and nothing, the following kind of relates, I guess :)
In the course of busying myself with my projects connecting quantum physics with semiotics, I've unearthed further leads that might interest some of us here. My thesis is that the principles of Peircean biosemiotics also apply to subatomic, atomic and molecular particles. In other words, it relates to pragmatism - even atoms and molecules have to "know" how to be, in order to realize the properties that make life possible. My latest draft on this topic can be accessed online: https://www.academia.edu/29626663/DNA_ENTANGLEMENT_THE_EVIDENCE_MOUNTS The bibliography from my latest draft incorporates some of the most recent research in quantum mechanics, particularly as it relates to DNA entanglement: 1) Established assumptions regarding decoherence presuppose that quantum entanglement is fragile and easily destroyed when subjected to the environment. But recent work on the topic of quantum freezing suggests that this assumption is definitely not the whole picture, and that under certain conditions, entanglement is quite persistent. Bibliographic references include: Cianciaruso et al (2015), Silva et al (2016), Zyga (2015) and Zyga (2016). 2) And even after undergoing decoherence, subatomic, atomic and molecular entities can RECOHERE. There is such a thing as recoherence... Bibliography reference: Bouchard et al (2015). Stuart Kauffman also makes references to recoherence in a recent video clip. The topic of recoherence has been around a while now. 3) Identicality (the fact that entities such as atoms and molecules of any one element or compound are perfectly identical to one another) seems to be implicated in the phenomenon of coherence/entanglement. Bibliographic reference: Gefter (2015). 4) While references to entanglement between atoms and molecules are not exactly new, recent research seems to suggest that entanglement between even the largest molecules might be quite fundamental. Bibliographic references include: Arndt et al (1999), Hackermüller et al (2003), Hornberger et al (2012); 5) Recent experimental evidence suggests that coherence is equivalent to entanglement... Bibliographic reference: Streltsov et al (2015). This interests us because while it is one thing to suggest that the principles of de Broglie wave coherence might apply to DNA molecules in an organism, it is quite another to thus infer that the DNA molecules within an organism are ENTANGLED. This now brings us to the binding problem, and how it is that the many parts that come together to make up the whole can act as a whole. CONCLUSION It now seems pretty clear that DNA entanglement is a real thing. Make of that what we will, but the scope of implications are significant, particularly from a semiotic perspective. We are reminded of QM's references to observers, and the idea that the de Broglie wave function (or the Schrodinger wave equation) relate to possibilities that are available to particles as they try to figure out their own "options". Quantum pragmatism... how can matter matter to matter? ABOVE BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTRIES IN MORE DETAIL QUANTUM FREEZING: Zyga, L. (2015). Physicists show 'quantum freezing phenomenon' is universal. Phys. Org. Retrieved October 16, 2016 from http://phys.org/news/2015-04-physicists-quantum-phenomenon-universal.html Zyga, L. (2016). Forever quantum: physicists demonstrate everlasting quantum coherence. Phys. Org. Retrieved October 16, 2016 from http://phys.org/news/2016-10-quantum-physicists-everlasting-coherence.html Cianciaruso et al. (2015). Universal freezing of quantum correlations within the geometric approach. Nature Scientific Reports. 5 (Article number 10177). Retrieved October 16, 2016 from http://www.nature.com/articles/srep10177 Silva et al. (2016). Observation of Time-Invariant Coherence in a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Quantum Simulator. Physical Review Letters. 117 (160402). http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.160402 DECOHERED PARTICLES CAN RECOHERE: Bouchard, F., Harris, J., Mand, H., Bent, N., Santamato, E., Boyd, R. W., et al. (2015). Observation of quantum recoherence of photons by spatial propagation. Nature Scientific Reports , 5 (15330), 15330. Retrieved October 16, 2016 from http://www.nature.com/articles/srep15330 IDENTICALITY: Gefter, A. (2015, November 19). Quantum mechanics is putting human identity on trial. Retrieved May 22, 2016, from Nautilus, 30: http://nautil.us/issue/30/identity/quantum-mechanics-is-putting-human-identi ty-on-trial EVEN THE LARGEST MOLECULES (DNA?) GET ENTANGLED: Arndt, M., Nairz, O., Voss-Andreae, J., Keller, C., van der Zouw, G., Zeilinger, A., et al. (1999, October 14). Wave-particle duality of C60 molecules. Nature , 401, pp. 680-682. Retrieved October 12, 2016 from http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v401/n6754/abs/401680a0.html Hackermüller, L., Uttenthaler, S., Hornberger, K., Reiger, E., Brezger, B., Zeilinger, A., et al. (2003, August 28). Wave Nature of Biomolecules and Fluorofullerenes. Physical Review Letters , 91 (090408). Retrieved October 12, 2016 from https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.090408 Hornberger, K., Gerlich, S., Haslinge, P., Nimmrichter, S., & Arndt, M. (2012, February 8). Colloquium: Quantum interference of clusters and molecules. Reviews of Modern Physics , 84 (157). Retrieved October 12, 2016 from http://www.univie.ac.at/qfp/publications3/pdffiles/Hornberger_Colloquium.Qua ntum%20interference%20of%20clusters%20and%20molecules.pdf EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN COHERENCE AND ENTANGLEMENT: Streltsov, A., Singh, U., Dhar, H. S., Bera, M. N., & Adesso, G. (2015, July 8). Measuring Quantum Coherence with Entanglement. Physical Review Letters , 115 (020403). Retrieved October 12, 2016 from https://arxiv.org/pdf/1502.05876.pdf
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