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Evolutionary Theory Our Non-Ergodic Universe
The biosphere and the universe are radically non-ergodic (non-repeating). Novel emergence and persistent creativity are the real forces at work in the universe. Thus Kauffman postulates a possible 4th Law of Thermodynamics whose fundamental premise is that the biosphere is always seeking to expand its “adjacent possible.” In other words, the biosphere is rife with creative emergence, and it cannot be “pre-configured” as traditional science assumes. Thus, the traditional science of Einstein and Newton had a fallacious starting point: the universe is static and has pre-determined laws that we are here to de-code and figure out. The universe is constantly creating and changing. As part of the universe, our biosphere seeks to expand its possibilities and its chemical diversity. We cannot predict or pre-define the biosphere. It is evolving its own possibilities. In brief, the universe is an unfolding and unpredictable story of emergence, and that is why people have always been drawn to the “story” of the universe, because at its heart it is just that: an emerging story. Throughout his presentation Kauffman focused on his term “autonomous agent,” by which he means a system that is autocatalytic (self-reproducing) and does a thermodynamic work cycle. An example would be a bacterium that swims up stream in a glucose gradient. It fits to both parts of the definition. Like Deamer, Kauffman is interested in astrobiology. Are there general laws that apply to life anywhere in the universe? Kauffman daringly asserted that within the next 50 years we will either discover life elsewhere in the universe or make it anew ourselves (possibly non-DNA/RNA forms of life). In reference to the origin of life, Kauffman offered that it is nothing “mystical.” Rather, given the sheer numbers of diverse molecules, as a mathematical fact, collective auto-catalysis should be expected to crystallize. When the diversity of molecules increases, the diversity of molecular reactions increases even more. Life’s self-reproducing capacity emerged from the diverse molecular soup at the origin of the earth. In his research Kauffman is particularly interested in connecting two ideas that science has yet to connect: auto-catalysis (self-organization) and thermodynamic work cycles. Kauffman believes our understanding of “work” is incomplete. Kauffman also looked at a possible new definition of the term “organization.” Drawing from Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Judgment: “an organized being. . . possesses in itself formative powers of a self-propagating kind, which it communicates to its materials. . . it organizes them.” For example, a cell does thermodynamic work to create lipids and enzymes and releases energy in the process. It manipulates its constrained release of energy. Kauffman’s point is that the propagating closure of organization makes more of itself; it self-replicates. Cells, as autonomous agents, form closures within their membranes, do work, and constrain their energy. Another important point that came up in Kauffman’s presentation was the notion that autonmous agents co-construct and co-evolve with their environment (the biosphere). Autonomous agents are not passive participants in a Darwinian world of natural selection, but rather are active in the mutual construction of the biosphere. Thus, Kauffman is indicating that evolutionary theory needs to be updated. While Darwin’s theory of natural selection pre-supposed a given, static environment to which autonomous agents adapted, Kauffman instead proposes that we understand evolution as a co-emergence of both autonomous agents and their environment. There is no way we could say in advance what the pre-configuration space of the biosphere could be. The biosphere itself is evolving, not just the agents within it. Overall, Kauffman’s point is to emphasize that there is true novel emergence in the biosphere. To drive this point home with an image, Kauffman asked his audience to consider a flabby squirrel that could not get a date with any of the other squirrels. One day that squirrel was almost eaten by a bird but was able to avoid it by swooping away with its “wings of flabby skin.” No one would have ever pre-configured the emergence of winged squirrels whose excess skin became wings to fly with! Kauffman concluded by turning to George Sudarshan in agreement that “It is no accident that we tell stories. It is a deep part of the physical universe.”
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