Chapter 6 - Bringing Consciousness Into Evolution Flashcards
Entropy
Amount of disorder in a system
Always increases or stays the same
Universe must obey entropy law
Not compatible with Darwinian theory, biological Evolution proceeds from less order to more order. Nothing to explain biological arrow of time.
Darwinian weaknesses
Proposes variations take place at micro level (genetic, genotype) while selection takes place at macro (traits, phenotype)
Hard to see how gigantic changes could come about all at once and gradually. Individual genetic change usually have no survival value and therefore would be selected against.
Fossil data
Gaps, no clear it evidence of continuous evolution from one species to another
Eastern religions
Don’t believe in god but do believe in purposiveness
Life
Something we share even with bacteria. Power comes from consciousness. Universe evolved in possibility to make sentience possible.
Being looked at itself as separate from its environment, distinction made between life and nonlife, which dependently co create one another via self referential quantum measurement
God
Creates all life. Not an emperor in raven but infinitely creative principle of consciousness
Allotropic speciation
Small subgroup of original population becomes geographically isolated, geographical barrier prevents further interbreeding and gene pool restricted. Separates two species.
No convincing fossil records of gradual evolution from one species to another
Living cell
Self referential system consisting of quantum system and it’s measuring aid apparatus that makes available macroscopic ally distinguishable quantum possibilities for consciousness to choose from.
Through millennia of conditioning quantum behavior is suppressed except for quantum speciation events. Explains why, as evolution progresses, there is less and less proliferation of family, order, class, and phylum
Theory of punctuated equilibrium
Two time scales in biological evolution. One continuous and gradual, other rapid and abrupt
Level 1 learning
Learning by trial and error within a fixed context (Darwinian evolution)
Purpose
If purposiveness is interpreted as final cause, future is already determined. Doesnt mesh with idea that antecedent causes like chance mutation and environmental selection play a role.
Consciousness chooses life forms of greater complexity, then there is directionality in evolution.
Level two learning
Creative learning, ability to see new context
Gene mutations
Whether point mutations caused by radiation or chromosomal rearrangements that take place in sections of DNA when duplicate or recombined, are quantum phenomena
Point mutation
Radioactive agent produces superposition of quantum possibilities, probabilities for each possibility correlates to probability function of radioactive decay
Chromosomal reshuffling
Superposition of possibilities results because many of relevant quantum possibilities have same or nearly same energy, typically called “degeneracy”
