[extropy-chat] evolutionary feedback again

[spike]

I have posted on this before, but I have some new
thoughts.  Classical chemistry theory predicts which
reactions can be expected and even equilibrium 
concentrations of reactants and products, but it
provides very little insight into reaction rates.

If one gets cluey with thermodynamics and heat 
transfer theory, one might estimate in general
which reactions will be fast and which will be
slow, but to really get a grok on chemical reaction 
rates requires the application of feedback and 
control theory to classical chemistry and 
thermodynamics.  

I had this notion confirmed recently by a new 
colleague who is formally trained in industrial 
chemical process engineering.  He confirmed that 
there are great leaps in understanding provided by 
applying feedback and control theory, which is 
ordinarily used in machine control, to
industrial chemical processes.  The field is not
crowded: there are very few engineers trained in
both classical feedback control and chemistry.  There
are probably even fewer scientists with formal 
training in both evolutionary biology and control
theory.

My notion is this: if we can somehow apply feedback
and control theory to evolutionary science, we might
gain insights into the singularity.  Singularity 
theorists are, after all, proposing a pole in the 
right half plane, as the controls engineer would say, 
a positive feedback loop leading to instability.

We must fully understand what I think must be a critical
positive feedback loop in evolution, the mechanism of
mate selection.  That mechanism explains the rise of
humanity in our current form: intelligence (somehow)
amplifies the mechanism of mate selection, which (somehow)
amplifies intelligence, and so on.  This positive feedback
loop results in yet another wild card, the introduction of
technology, which leads to a whole new dimension in mate
selection, which leads to... what?  This critical positive 
feedback loop forms the pole in the right half plane, which
then (somehow) defeats all the inherent negative feedback 
loops that keep species in equilibrium, allowing the 
evolutionary version of a chemical explosion.  Is not 
the spike or singularity the evolutionary equivalent of a 
chemical explosion?

Wouldn't it be cool if we could apply feedback and control
theory to predict the speed and final equilibrium of this
explosion?  Am I stretching the theory too far?  Is evolutionary
theory even applicable after the introduction of technology
into the picture?  Hellllp Mr. Wizaaaaarrrrrrd...  

spike