[Paleopsych] information inflation

[Joel Isaacson]

Howard,

You echo below certain aspects of Eshel's 3rd principle.   Increased 
complexification in
living systems allows for detection of (latent) higher-level complexity both 
within and without.
And this is an ongoing, recursive/dialectical process.  -- Joel

PS  For reference, here is Eshel's 3rd principle.

"3. The principle of matched complexity. The system needs an internal level 
of complexity which is sufficiently high in order to extract latent 
information from the external complexity.

I view this matched complexity principle the driving force of evolution that 
explain the ever increasing level of complexity. In a nutshell the idea is: 
A single bacterium needs some level of complexity to detect the complexity 
of the surrounding environment and over the time window between replication. 
To glean more information the bacteria form cooperative behaviour and 
generate complex colonies. However for that each individual bacterium needs 
a higher level of internal complexity for communication and to cope with its 
external environment which is now has higher level of complexity - the 
environment becomes both the outside and the rest of the colony. To solve 
the paradox self-organization leads to the formation of functional modules 
and spatio-temporal patterns. And than .. (for next time)."


>From: HowlBloom at aol.com
>Reply-To: The new improved paleopsych list <paleopsych at paleopsych.org>
>To: paleopsych at paleopsych.org
>Subject: [Paleopsych] information inflation
>Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 09:47:09 EDT
>
>
>New  ways of interpreting information increase the amount of 
>information—and
>of  information’s consequences—in the cosmos.  When photons from a 
>distant
>star hit the face of an empty planet, they  mean just about nothing.  Give 
>that
>planet 3.85 billion years or so to evolve star-gazers, mythmakes, and
>astrology, and the information gleaned from the same photons goes up  
>exponentially.
>  So do the number of  decisions based on the distant star’s trickle of
>photons.
>Give the  life-forms on that previously empty planet another few hundred
>thousand  years to evolve astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology, and the
>information  gleaned from the star’s photon trickle goes up by a factor 
>of ten or
>more.  So do the decisions based on that photon  drip.
>Which means that the cosmos is not just inflating in  physical space and
>time.  It’s not  just expanding in the intricacy of its structures and 
>its
>processes.  It’s also expanding in its  information-content…and in its 
>richness of
>causes and effects.
>New  ways of seeing lead to new ways of being.  And new ways of being lead 
>to
>new ways of seeing.  Information chews on what information  spews.  And the
>cosmos fattens as it  grows.
>Howard
>
>----------
>Howard Bloom
>Author of The Lucifer Principle: A  Scientific Expedition Into the Forces 
>of
>History and Global Brain: The Evolution  of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to 
>the
>21st Century
>Visiting Scholar-Graduate  Psychology Department, New York University; Core
>Faculty Member, The Graduate  Institute
>www.howardbloom.net
>www.bigbangtango.net
>Founder:  International Paleopsychology Project; founding board member: 
>Epic
>of Evolution  Society; founding board member, The Darwin Project; founder: 
>The
>Big Bang Tango  Media Lab; member: New York Academy of Sciences, American
>Association for the  Advancement of Science, American Psychological 
>Society,
>Academy of Political  Science, Human Behavior and Evolution Society, 
>International
>Society for Human  Ethology; advisory board member: Youthactivism.org;
>executive editor -- New  Paradigm book series.
>For information on The International Paleopsychology  Project, see:
>www.paleopsych.org
>for two chapters from
>The Lucifer  Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History,
>see  www.howardbloom.net/lucifer
>For information on Global Brain: The Evolution of  Mass Mind from the Big
>Bang to the 21st Century, see  www.howardbloom.net
>
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