To continue a recent thread, but down a metaphysical pathway (what else
are Sunday mornings good for?) ... you expect to hear a heaping-helping
of word-salad delivered from high places (like my soapbox), right?
A true "paradigm shift" IMO can be delayed by those in high office
(symbolized by the acronym: MIB) but never really quashed.
All of the dynamic factors which are inherent in the concepts: "critical
mass" or "tipping point" and "paradigm sift" have an underlying basis in
"emergence" which is an under-appreciated macro force - and one which no
micro special-interest can stop.
Delay, maybe - stop, never. To that end, it is facilitative to personify
"information" itself - as a goal-oriented force which operates slowly
over time by using self-ordering and "emergence" as its main tool.
Ok... found my favorite soap-box. There is more.
In this way, the process of biological (or non-biological) "evolution",
once considered to be anti-spiritual, can now be seen instead as a tool:
identical to "emergence".... At the same time, "information" (in the
sense of an expanding meme pool) thereby takes on the special role of a
non-dogmatic divinity.
Information vs Truth... so close to one another, but so far away.
Information is alpha-to-omega: on one level just assorted bits of data
or letters- but structured in such a way that there is a secondary [and
tertiary,etc] effect of the structuring - at least to a particular kind
of data processor. In the beginning was "the word" ... "Nomen" est
"Numen"... The "last word"... These are more than doppleganger idioms.
For assorted observers and Vorticians, more like a troppleganger of
interlocking feedback mechanisms
Back in the day when calling someone a dick (short for detective) could
be considered a compliment of sorts, Raymond Chandler - who did 'have a
clue,' many clues, said with characteristic terseness: "There are two
kinds of truth; the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms
the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art." and
further: "Without art, science would be as useless as a pair of high
forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science, art would become a
crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery.
"Information" in the abstract, goes beyond either and requires both and
more. But can it become a goal-oriented "entity" - even self-aware ?
Back to Morphing and parsing. There are two, three, or four levels of
truth ... or more depending on how deep in rabbit hole one choses to
peer, and which pill one will risk taking. Before one can grasp 'truth'
one must grasp 'information' as an active personality, and grasp
"illusion" as a useful expedient of such a personality to disguise
itself. To morph Morpheus: take the blue pill and the story ends. You
wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. Take the red
pill and you stay in Wonderland and either go insane, or drive others
there. Humans are ill-equipped to deal with bare reality, but even so,
in our more lucid moments, we can grasp a glimmer of these aspects:
1. Absolute Truth - This is the way things really are in a scientific,
detached and mathematical POV: a universally provable sense, devoid of
petty ulterior motives.
2. Relative Truth - The truth as we (lesser information processors)
perceive it to be - which can be empirical truth (observed to be true in
a particular time and place) or rational truth. Rational truth makes
logical sense across time-and-space to a particular kind of information
processor, or until disproved, or until revering to up to #1 (absolute).
3. Meaningful Truth - This is the category of "local truth" which
influences societal conduct in ways which is negentopic or beneficial...
and most importantly: absolute validity is less important than its
"virtual" or consequential effect.
Most humans confuse #3 with #1. But even those who desire, or need to
believe in divinity, if they are sufficiently rational (or in the
occasionally lucid moment) - will have to admit that such a concept as
God normally belongs in category #3 instead of #1, at least for human
mentality.
In human experiential dynamics, it is said that the first truth is 'to
be realized,' (felt rather than learned) the second truth is 'to be
abandoned' (tested by disbelief), the third is 'to be experienced'
(tested by time) and the fourth is 'to be developed' (beyond its own
bounds) in the sense of "emergence". The highest truth is an
understanding of how emergence operates stochastically to (slowly)
influence a result- which for all practical purposes can be seen in
retrospect as a pre-existing goal.
For a proper understanding of life, methinks it is more important to
understand the ramifications of "emergence" than to be a mathematical
genius, for instance. Both would be nice, but are mutually exclusive to
some degree since the mindset required for the former is spiritual and
anti-clinical. Actually not anti-statistical - so much as meta-statistical.
If "information" ever shows a glimpse of an active identity, it is
through emergence.
This rambling proto-meme is all a setup for an even more off-topic
excursion (in the near future) into the function, and possible value, of
an enhanced idea-exchange vehicle; made possible by the www but taken to
the next stage... which basic tool (the Internet) can be identified as
an one more "emergent instrument" of the information-god.
One such idea-exchange vehicle, which can be improved-on, is of course
the specialized one (on the fringe of science) which you are reading.
Because it does not conform, it may the most - or least - valuable of
any such vehicle... to the degree that it can influence emergent
thinking in ways which the mainstream (i.e. science, devoid of
creativity - i.e. art) neglects - at least in the field of alternative
energy.
Adjust your SPAM filters accordingly.
Jones
