[MD] The MOQ's First Principle

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[Arlo to Ian]
I agree, but also think we have a whole series of onion-skins making up the
inorganic and biological too. I mean the biological level jumps from an amoeba
to a dolphin. Inorganic encompasses quarks to quartz.

[dmb]
Right, there are all kinds of distinctions to be made within each level. But I
think the idea of cutting things up into the four discrete categories rather
than a million of them or a continuum with none is that there appears to be a
key distinction in the "laws" they seem to follow.

[Arlo]
Certainly, did not mean to suggest otherwise. The MOQ gives us the breaks where
a new level was able to emerge from the complexity on the previous level. I'm
not suggesting that the continuum is "smooth" from quarks to Quantum Physics.
Only that _in addition_ to the emergentist "jumps" from one level to a
completely new level, each level in and of itself consists of a continuum...
and that sometimes the gradations within a level are important considerations
(and recognizing the that the emergence of a new level depends on the
historical evolution of complexity within the level... we don't jump right from
quarks to dolphins, a certain level of complexity had to be reached on the
inorganic level before the biological could emerge. Similarly, we did not jump
from amoebas to cities, a certain level of biological complexity had to be met
(through evolutionary movement via "balance") before the social level emerged
from the biological. Etc.)