Before getting too far ahead of myself, I would like to first consider the concept of hierarchy. Many come to consider the word in terms of some things being better,worse, or more significant than others. Here, I would like to try to remove as much subjectivity/judgement from the term as possible. In this setting hierarchy refers to the levels of organization in the universe and to the order of events that occurred to bring us to the present. It would be possible to analyze the chaos/order loop from an infinite number of entry points or levels. It is also necessary to point out that every step/level in the universe's arrangement was equally important for the process to bring us to the present. This conversation however is working towards chaos/order and learning so I would like to discuss three steps that may bring us there more directly:
1) The ordering of the physical world from a molecular to galactic level
2) The specific mechanism of biological life, which is an organization of the material universe
3) The development of "consciousness/self-awareness" from life.
Eventually arriving at
4) Noticing patterns in learning based on "consciousness/awareness"
When considering chaos and order, we may notice that as time progresses forward, the physical, material world becomes increasingly organized in a more specific, hierarchical, manner. We see this in the way that all things are made from the organization of ever smaller systems, and over time, these systems continually interact, creating both an increasing number of layers of organization and additional types of interactions. For example elements make molecules, molecules come together to create planets, stars and solar systems, these planets and stars become the setting for more specific organization of molecules, such as life. Life then becomes the setting to continue the pattern. It begins simply and continues to increase in the number of layers it contains and also in the number of types of interactions that occur. One could even argue that, since life is one of the rarest occurrences in the known universe, which creates very unique configurations of atoms, all the currently living things on Earth are the most specifically organized sets of molecules the universe has put together thus far.
If we continue to consider these specific organizations of molecules in motion, i.e. life on Earth, more relevant patterns might begin to appear still. Again, I would like to revisit hierarchy in terms of life and the chaos/order feedback loop. A thought experiment may help us get there. Consider a space where the process of life just began on the most simplistic scale possible. There is one single celled organism that can for the first time replicate itself. This organism is in a particular order/configuration, made of a cell, made of molecules made of elements made of protons, neutrons, and electrons made of.... made of... As before mentioned, this formation is unique and can replicate itself, therefor after some time, there would be a relatively large population of just that organism. Since all the organisms are the same, there are very few types of interactions that occur between them. Things are orderly with relatively few variables. It's possible that the new life doesn't even interact with its replicas in a way that's necessary for their asexual replication cycle. However, eventually the resource that is required for the replication process becomes scarce and there is a constraint on the population. Only the fittest survive and that is the key. The probability of survival increases for the organisms adapt in a way that increases their probability of survival. So now, there are two types of organisms that interact with each other. Because there is more than one type of organism, there are more ways for them to interact. This increases the number of variables and interactions possible. This could be considered a hierarchical step forward. If over time we reached ten organisms, there would be exponentially more possible interactions. With this increasing number of interactions comes a newly developing chaos.
Over millions of years, an untold number of survival techniques come and go, throwing the biological state of the world from chaotic explosions of life in short periods of time, to haulting periods of order, then physical restraints (limits in space and resources or natural disasters) come to push the world back to chaos. In this way five kingdoms of life came to exist on our planet. Those five being: Monera (single celled organism), Protists (mostly singled celled life with a nucleus), Fungi, Plants and Animals. Of the living things on the Earth, life in the animal kingdom requires the most specific arrangements of atoms to function properly because animal life is more dynamic, moving in nature. The process of regular motion innately contains more variables than smaller or sedentary life. Therefore animal life is the most complex, specific arrangement of atoms the universe has produced up to the present.
Within animals, vertebrates, creatures with brains, bones and nervous systems were the latest, most specific arrangements to join the party. From our current observations of life, the most complex single part of an animal would certainly have to be its brain. Out of all the brains on Earth, the human brain most drastically sets itself apart from its peers. This brain, is made of the same particles, elements, that make up the physical universe, and is the product of the specific chain of events known as biological life. Following the chaos/order loop logic, it would make sense that the specifically organized brain of human beings would become the setting for another round of order and chaos, and it is. Our mind is the ground where, now, our ideas and consciousness continue the cycle from chaos to order to chaos and around again. Just as the material and biological world is conditioned, and becomes more specifically intricate, based on the previous organization of smaller parts, ideas too are conditioned by both the physical setting and previous ideas that came before it.
To wrap this conversation up I would like to recap the general idea. The Chaos/order feedback loop is one of the basic organizational phenomena in the universe. It can be observed from the smallest physical level onward. Billions of years of chaos/order, within the laws of physics, moves the universe to more and more specific types of organizations, such as clouds, planets, stars, solar systems, etc. Once the majority of variables are removed from any term of chaos, become stable, orderly. From this state forms the first live organism. Life is where chaos and order continues once the physical world is organized in a stable enough order. Life, over time, changes to more elaborate, specifically structured organisms thanks to chaos and order in their new setting, nature. This eventually results in consciousness, as a survival tool most likely, in animals with brains. A brain provides a setting for consciousnesses or self awareness, and consciousness is the setting for what we call learning.
Well this is where I would like to leave the conversation for today. I highly doubt anyone was too worried, but I sincerely apologize for the delay producing this entry. I started working on it the day after my previous post and have worked on it everyday since. I was having trouble finding words to appropriately depict what I see as the chaos/order loop through the different levels of organization (physical, biological, conceptual). If anyone feels could not follow chaos and order through those settings, please let me know so I can find a different way to get there. My next post will bring us to learning and its' relevance in regards to chaos and order. Thank you as always.
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