[MD] evolution.....MOQ v SOM

[gav]

was given two papers recently. one illustrates the SOM
take on evolution; the other is refreshingly
MOQcompatible. 

1. SOM
from 'successive reequilibrations as the mechanism of
cultural evolution' by robert l carneiro

i guess the title gives it away to an extent:
'mechanism': a key SOM clanger.

however this guy does comes up with some mildly
interesting stuff, on *dis*equilibrium.: "the most
salient feature of human history then is not stasis
but evolution....we must leave equilibrium theory
behind and enter the realm of disequilibrium theory"

he then brings in herbert spencer: an old, very SOM
chestnut with... 
"successive requilibrations [after peturbations
causing disequilibrium] would thus serve to increase a
society's structural complexity. If we follow Herbert
Spencer in regarding structural complexity as the
hallmark of evolution in general, we can say that
sociocultural evolution is the natural outcome of
societies undergoing successive reequilibrations as
they seek to adapt to the changing conditions of
existence. Or as Spencer himself put it, "Evolution
...is an increase in complexity of structure and
function....*incidental* to the... process of
equilibration"."

"Evolution then is no transcendant process, remote,
abstract and obscure. instead, it is recurring changes
of structure accomodating to function, accumulated and
projected over an extended period of time. Simple as
this process is in its essentials, it is all we need
to explain the major features of that long development
that began with tiny nomadic bands in the Paleolithic
and has led with ever-quickening steps to the vast and
complex nations of today."

so Robert wants nought to do with 'transcendant
process'. evolution and the rise in complexity and
variety it brings are entirely '*incidental* to the
process of equilibration'....
which means that they are incidental to the organism's
or society's RESPONSE to the CHANGED conditions of
existence. in other words they are incidental to DQ. 

funny how you can throw out the whole of experienced
reality and then proclaim that there are no
mysteries...

anyway something a bit better:
2. MOQ
>From self-reference to self-transcendence: the
evolution of self-organization dynamics.
Erich Jantsch

okay this is probably the most technically OTT paper
ever...but somehow it still works.
begins with a nice quote from martin buber:

"all real living is meeting. meeting is not in time
and space, but space and time in meeting."

profound stuff eh? if meeting is taken as a synonym
for experience and by association Quality...meeting
seems to suggest the direct apprehension/experience of
another....an authentic encounter with the numinous.

okay some excerpts:
"symbiosis is usually defined in structural terms,
that is to say, by the relations between two or more
entities such as organisms. if however we look at a
*symbiosis of processes* instead, we arrive at the
notion of *co*evolution. In a predator-prey relation
the entities of the prey species are destroyed but not
its *evolutionary process". on the contrary, both
predator and prey species benefit in a *dynamic* view
and expand their niches." 

nice *dynamic* take don't you think?

"evolution at all levels involves the freedom of
action as well as the recognition of ubiquitous
systemic interconnectedness - in short, the joy as
well as the meaning of life"

hands up who likes hedonism?

"the earliest life forms were by the far the best
adapted. if the meaning of evolution were just
adaptation and the increase of chances for survival,
as is so often claimed, the development of more
complex organisms would have been meaningless or even
a mistake. evolution however is about *creation* [DQ
latching], about life and not mere survival."

nice one erich.

"The self-reflexive mind is not restricted to the
organism whose dynamics it represents; it is truly
self-transcendent. it creates images of humanity in
macrosystems of various scope up to the ultimate
religious image of humanity-in-universe. with these
images arises the creative urge to become a force in
the further evolution of the macrosystems on earth and
beyond....*Responsibility* is the true spirit of the
self-reflexive mind, of self-transcendence in
evolution."

the ultimate ethos of the intellectual level?

and finally:
"the opening up of new levels of *anagenesis*
[step-wise evolution of the dynamics of
self-organization, bringing into play new levels of
systems....like the SQ hierarchy evolution arlo
described so well in individual v collective thread]
means new levels of indeterminancy, new degrees of
freedom. Indeterminancy plays at many microlevels and
macrolevels; the quantum-mechanical indterminancy,
which is usually recognized, is only one of them....up
till now, all [academic] attempts to find valid
formulations for *morphogenesis* [darwinian theory's
blind spot] at each level are, at best, based on a
view which considers the interaction of stochastic and
deterministic factors from an angle of view pertaining
to a single level only. all processes which impinge on
this level from adjacent levels are considered as
random. What is the meaning of *randomness* in the
context of multilevel evolution in which each new
level brings new ordering principles into play? How
random is the fluctuation which is introduced into a
system by one of its members or by an outsider if this
individual is itself the product of a long
evolutionary chain and of its own ontogeny?" 

"it seems we frequently confuse indeterminancy and
chance. Indeterminancy is the freedom available at
each level which, however, cannot jump over the shadow
of its own history. Evolution is the open history of
an unfolding complexity, not the history of random
processes. *****what emerges are the contours of a
world in which little (if anything) is purely random,
but much is indetermined and shaped by a creativity
that transcends the systems which are its
vehicles."*****

wow...that was a lot of typing for me. 



 



		
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