BiologicalOrganisation astheTrue
FoundationofReality
BrianD.Josephson
Mind–MatterUnificationProject
DepartmentofPhysics,UniversityofCambridge
http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
1
ConventionalPhysics
• Currentphysicsviewsmatter asprimary
• Dealshappilywithinformation,butrejectsmeaning
• Ithasitsproblems,e.g.quantummechanicsisastatisticaltheory,sayingnothing
aboutindividualevents
• Plusall-pervasiveconfusion:‘Ifyouthinkyouunderstandquantummechanics,
youdon'tunderstandquantummechanics’(Feynman)
• Andphysicsishavingahardtimeatpresentmatchingtheoryandexperiment
• Mightthisbebecausesomethingismissingfromtheregularworldview?Might
physicsbesufferingasaresult?
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
2
Thealternative
• Mainthesisofthistalk:meaningisasfundamentalasmatter;thetwoare
entangled
• AsPeirce wrote inthe19th century:‘allthisuniverseisperfusedwithsigns’
• Histheoryofsigns(semiotics)doesnowhaveaplaceinbiology(inthediscipline
ofbiosemiotics,whichstudiestherolethatsignsplayinbiology)
• Butithasnotyetcreptintoregularphysics,wheresignsandmeaningareviewed
asirrelevant
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
3
WhatareSigns?
• Signsareentitiesthatrelatetocorrespondingobjects,throughthemediationof
interpretants: signs(e.g.realised throughbiomoleculeshavingparticular
significance)directtheactivitiesofbiologicalsystems
• Whilenothinginphysicscorrespondstobiosemiotics,anumberofpeoplehave
maderelevantproposals.Thefollowingslidesindicatebookshavingsuch
concerns.
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
4
BooksbyDavidBohm
Introducingsomasignificance:
“Soma(whichis
physical)and
significance(whichis
mental)arenotin
anysenseseparately
existent,butrather
aretwoaspectsof
oneoverallreality”
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
5
“Thisbookwillexplorethe
viewthatquantumtheoryis
describingaworldofpossibility
thatliesbeneath,orbeyond,
ourordinary,experienced
worldofreality”
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
6
“Matterandmeaningarenotseparate
elements.Theyareinextricablyfused
together,andnoevent,nomatterhow
energetic,cantearthemasunder”
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
7
Yardley:“Somewherebetweenmindand
matterisanexpressionwhichwenormally
callsymbol.Wedonothavetolocatethis
symbol.Weknowitexistsbecauseit
expressesitselfasnumbersystems,word
systems,picturesystems.”
“Fromideas,symbols.Fromsymbols,mind.
Weinventedsymbolssowecouldhave
somewayofarticulatingthehiddenreality
weknowasmind.Therecanbenomind
withoutidea,noideawithoutsymbol,no
symbolwithoutreality.So,here,isaunified
whole(mind,matter,symbol).”
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
8
http://philpapers.org/rec/HANCBI-3
‘Self-organizedcriticality’incomplexitybiologyplaces
systemlociofcontrolatcriticalinstabilities,physical
propertiesofwhich,includinginformationproperties,are
presented.
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
9
Thekeyissue
• Thepicturetobepresentedhypothesises fundamentalrealitytobesimilartolife,
andthequestiontobeaddressedishowfamiliarlifemechanismscanbe
translatedtothisnewdomain,withoutinvolvingchemistry.
• Unfortunatelybiologicalsystemsaremuchless‘tidy’thantheonestypically
studiedinphysics(thoughphysicsiscatchingup),sothepicturewillnotbethat
straightforward!
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
10
MatteraccordingtoBarad
“Matterisnotathing,butadoing,acongealingofagency;itismorphologically
active,responsive,generative,andarticulate”.
Whatdoesthismean?Wordedmoresimply:mattertakesform,andcreatesand
manipulatesthatform,withtheassistanceofsymbolicmechanisms.
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
11
Agencyandintra-action
Agencyisanabstraction,anotionalcause,likethewind,amagneticfield,ora
resonance,featuringinanexplanation.Abstractagencies canbeusedtomodel
concretephenomena.
Re‘congealingofagencies’:agenciescancometogetherintheproductionofa
phenomenon.Intra-action isatermusedbyBaradtorefertothemutual
influencesinvolvedinthisproduction.
Butthecongealingismorecomplicatedthanitmayseemtobeatfirstsight…
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
12
Separation
Hereisasubtleissue.Theadjoiningshapemightbe
usefullymodelledeitherastwoblobsorone.Ifas
two,thanwhatexactlyarethecomponentsthatare
interacting?Answer:theiridentitiesbecomewelldefinedonlyiftheyarecompletelyseparatedfrom
eachother.
Barad’sdescribesthesituationthus,usingitto
explainmiscellaneousquantumparadoxes:
“Individualsdonotpreexisttheirinteractions;rather,
individualsemergethroughandaspartoftheir
entangledintra-relating.”
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
13
Entanglementofphysicalandmental
• Mattercancompute
• Thisinitselfimpliesthatthephysical andmental areintimatelyconnected
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
14
Computationalmatter
‘Computationalmatter’assuchisfamiliar:
• The‘analyticalengine’ofBabbageandLovelace
• Turingmachine
• Thebrain(usesnetworkmechanics,notTuring)
Somatterbeingentangledwithcomputingisn’tanissue.Meaningistrickier,thus:
meaningisrelatedtodifference:differentcomputations,differentoutcome
Onlycertaincomputations‘work’,andbiologyselectsthese
Biologicalsystemsuse‘goodideas’(algorithms):thisiswhatturnsphysicsinto
biology
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
15
Physicsofsystemmanipulation
line
circle
‘pi’
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
16
Oppositionaldynamics
Yardley:“Anyideaisconnectedtoacounter-idea(anopposite),orelsetheidea
cannotexist”.
Compare“thisisnotapipe”(Magritte)
Therealpipeandtheimageofthepipe
aredifferentthings,buttheyare
connected(onecanbeaproxyforthe
other).
Whenwenoticesomething,theone
thingbecomestwo(theexternalthing,
andthecopyinmymind).
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
17
Moreillustrations
Situation1:considerpairsAa,Bb,Cc
andtimesequenceA,B,C
thisimpliestimesequenceabc
(interpretation:olddynamicsABCinstructsnew,abc;‘getsitoverhurdles’)
Situation2,replication:aswithDNA,ifXandYarepairs,Xcanmakerepeated
copiesofY,assistedbyassemblymechanismZ(‘pi’).
Example:pairingofathingwithitsnameleadstoreplicationofnameforthing
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
18
Roleofideas
Yardleyagain:“Fromideas,symbols.Fromsymbols,mind.Weinventedsymbols
(andtheyinventedus)sowecouldhavesomewayofarticulatingthehiddenreality
weknowasmind.Therecanbenomindwithoutidea,noideawithoutsymbol,no
symbolwithoutreality.So,here,isaunifiedwhole(mind,matter,symbol).”
Anideaisanentity(e.g.computercodeorneuralnetwork)that,likeahologram,
magicallyachievesvisibleresults.Likearesonance,itistherebutisn’tquitea
thing,morea‘doing’.
Mostideas(generativemechanisms)failtoreplicate,butkeyideassurviveand
influencewhathappens.
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
19
Processandsystem
Yardley:“anentityisalwayspartofaprocess,aprocessalwayspartofasystem,
whichisalwayspartofanentity,processandsystem,adinfinitum”
Thisindicatestheoverallorganisation ofthecomplexsituationdescribedhere
Asystemisa‘pieceofmagic’thatcanrunaparticulardomain
Systemsevolve throughworkingatborderofdomain,thusextendingitbyannexing
othersystems
Complicatedpicture,butlogical,andbroadlyspeakingfitsstructuralaspectsof
linguisticactivity
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
20
Space,timeandmathematics
• Mechanismsrelevantto‘spatiality’and‘temporality’canleadtoemergenceof
space-time(BaradandKastner):e.g.spatialitydevelopsintoconcretespaceinthe
samewaythatasenseofbalancedevelopsintotheskillofbalance
• MatthewWatkinsinhis‘SecretsofCreation’trilogydiscussesindications,based
onthewayprimesappearinphysicalcontexts,ofmathematicshavingaphysical
basis
• Interpretationhere:mathematicalfacts implyphysicalprocesses thatgiveriseto
correspondingmathematicalthoughts inthemindofthemathematician,hence
mathematicalintuition
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
21
Thebasisofeverything(?)
line
circle
‘pi’
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
22
Concludingcomments
CPSnowspokeof2cultures:sciencesandhumanities.
Justasnon-scientistsdon’tengagewiththe2nd law,scientistsdon’ttypically
engagewiththinkingofamoredescriptivecharactersuchasthatdiscussedhere.
Biologyshowsthatasynthesisispossible.Physicsneedstoacceptthatasimilar
perspectiveisneededthereandnotpresumethatquantitativeisthefinalword;
connections areequallysignificant.
Atthemomentweseeonlythetopofaniceberg;wecanexpectthefutureto
developthescientificaspect(e.g.involvingparallelswithcriticalphenomena,AI
andA-life).Itmaywellconfoundmainstreamideologiesbyrevealingnew
potentialitiesofnature.
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
23
Acknowledgements
Thanksto:
Ilexa Yardley
AlexHankey
Plamen Simeonov
June29,2016
BiologicalOrganisationandFoundationsofRealityBrianJosephson
24
THE END
June 29, 2016
Biological Organisation and Foundations of Reality Brian Josephson
25