[MD] Four levels of evolution

Dan Glover daneglover at gmail.com
Sun May 8 12:55:40 PDT 2016


On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 11:12 PM, A Serna <sabdel at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for accepting me into the discussion.I have only recently discovered Pirsig's books and read both with great pleasure I must say. It made me wonder about why he didn't continue publishing.  I did some search for his bio and I think I understand why, but nevertheless it leaves you wanting more of it, like a selfish want for more of his thoughts, more of his mind.  Like I said, selfish...From the numerous ideas that stroke me as brilliant and clarifying I wish to discuss the one about the Four levels or historical evolutionary steps.The analogy with computer hardware vs software is quite useful when trying to describe the never-ending question about the relationship of mind-world in the subject-object perspective of things.  Also his allusion to Carbon and how it is a kind of bridge that is in the biological (aka carbon based organisms) and the inorganic was a strike of brilliance.  But the point I am trying to discuss is that of time, more specifically rate of change. F
>  or significant 'evolutionary' changes to occur we need an inclusion into the Dynamic Quality, it is the vehicle of that change.  At the inorganic level this change and the Dynamic Quality processes that it needs, take billions of years.  Billions of years and unimaginable amounts of energy I have to add.  Comparatively to this, the Biological level takes millions, not billions of years for Dynamic quality to produce significant evolution.  Like when single-cell organisms gathered into more complex ones, and when some of them decided to grow teeth and have start biting each other.  The next level up, at the Societal level we need perhaps thousands of years, maybe even hundreds to get evolutionary changes.This brings me to the top level, and the main item of my discussion, at the Intellectual level the rate, of change. I am daring to suggest, is infinite, and it requires far less energy than the first, or any of the other levels.  The Intellect changes constantly, immediately,
>   only to propose another change right after.  The Static patterns of Quality and the Dynamic patterns have turned the other way.  Let me elaborate.  At the inorganic level the weight (for lack of a better word) of the Static patterns of Quality is almost insurmountable, that is why it takes billions of years for Dynamic patterns to emerge, survive and have an impact.  Then as we go through Biological, Society, Intellect; this weighting changes.  At the Biological level we still have a very heavy Static pattern, but it is easier by an enormous factor to impress evolutionary Dynamic changes than at the inorganic level.  At the Society level the weighting is more balanced, and it takes a little focus on either side of the scale to tip it.  I think this was the turmoil that Pirsig talks about, that un-concluded war of the 20th century between Society and Intellect, he proposed that the jury was still out on that one.But what if we have turned that corner already?  What if (the W
>  estern world) is at the Intellectual rung now?  The rate of change is infinite, in our 'old' and decrepit Western world language we would call it by the word of 'chaos' but that is not the case, it is the triumph (maybe) of the Intellect.  Take the internet of things for instance.  We can have individuals delving in pure intellect existence for part of their lives.  A soliloquy of interaction with intellectual entities of numbers, codes and signals, not with other humans.  The utmost achievement will be when the Turing test has been passed.  Artificial Intelligence independent of Society, Biology and Inorganic patterns or Quality.I am not a futurist or anything like that.  I just wanted to share a view of our modern times and journey with the aid of Pirsig... or with the aid of my little understanding of Pirsig I should say.Have a great day.A
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