Henry H. Lindner
An outline of the evolution of the Cosmos
with its hierarchical levels of
complexity
This is
the very first thing that I wrote, back in 1990. I decided one day that I
didn’t understand anything about this world, so I sat down and started an
outline of the evolution of the Cosmos and of all complexity within
it—the evolution that led to humans, language, civilization and
philosophy. When I started it, I thought that the building blocks of reality
were mass-energy and space-time (MEST), but upon reading Einstein’s
popular book “Relativity, The Special and General Theory”, I
realized that MEST consisted only of measurements, made by the observer, with
his rods, clocks, photomultipliers and other instruments. I realized that what
was called “theoretical physics” was just a collection of
observer-based measurement-prediction models. We had no theoretical physics. Without
a theory of the physical Cosmos that produced us, how could we ever understand
ourselves?
When
I combined Einstein’s principle of equivalence with Newton’s theory
of space, I quickly realized that gravity was easily explained by a theory of a
physical space—that space is the inertial and electromagnetic medium and
gravity is the flow of space into all Earth and all matter. This theory, in
fact, has been proven to reproduce the successes of General Relativity—it
is its physical basis. We require a theoretical physics that begins with a
theory of space and how it produces all the physical phenomena that we
observe—including the evolution of complexity that is outlined here. A
truly theoretical physics then forms the foundation for a restoration of natural
philosophy, and therefore for a shared valid belief system for all of
humankind.
I
have not tried to complete this outline since then because it covers everything
in the Cosmos—it is far too big a task. To flesh it out is the task of all
mankind, for the rest of human history.
SIGNIFICANCE
By describing the evolutionary origins of all
phenomena, and their hierarchical organization, this outline organizes all of
our knowledge and advances our understanding. It helps us avoid common
errors like ascribing consciousness to entities that don't have a nervous
system. It explains human consciousness as a natural product of
linguistic evolution. This outline could be used to reorganize our divisions of
knowledge and thus our university departments and specialties. Most
importantly, it creates a philosophical structure in which all sciences can
properly function. This outline is necessarily incomplete, for to complete it
requires the organization and inclusion of all knowledge about the Cosmos and
all its phenomena.
OVERVIEW
Space is not no-thing; it is a substance. It is the ground of
all being. This is the necessary implication of known physical phenomena
including gravity, inertia, and the fixed velocity of light. The Cosmos is
composed of space and of various motions in and of space. All subatomic
particles are various persistent motions in and of space. Space appears to flow
dynamically in into matter, like a fluid, causing gravity. Inert matter
like our Earth appears to be a spatial sink. Space also conducts
electromagnetic motions like an elastic solid. See A Theory of Space
and Motion.
In the Cosmos, space and its motions have become organized
into increasingly complex non-living, living, sentient, language-using, and
self-conscious entities. This evolutionary process is hierarchical--it is
composed of distinct levels of being; each level operating according to its
unique principles, and each level adding a new kind of organization of
lower-level entities and processes. Evolution is not just a theory of biological
change—it is the inherent process of Cosmic self-development from the
formation of the first particles to humankind’s development of language
and, eventually, philosophy.
Space and all entities that it produces, have an inherent tendency
to form more complex entities that are stable and persist. At every stage of
Cosmic evolution, higher-level phenomena (entities and processes) arise when,
under conducive environmental circumstances, lower-level phenomena combine and
interact in a new way that persists. Each new level thus arises from and remains
dependent upon lower-level processes.
The resultant higher-level entities and processes interact in
new ways that are unique to that level of being. Higher-level phenomena also
interact with lower-level and same-level phenomena in new ways.
From subatomic particles to self-conscious humans all Cosmic
phenomena are interdependent--consistent with and causally connected to one
another. The Cosmos is a whole, and we are a part of it. We are the Cosmos
become linguistically self-aware—a result towards which is must naturally
strive.
The primary levels of Cosmic evolution are:
PRESENTATION
At each hierarchical level, causal relationships are
identified according to the following scheme:
First-Order Principles - Why x happened -
Statements that, for each hierarchical level, define the most general observed
regularities that are useful in explaining historical and contemporary
phenomena.
Organizing Principles - How x happened -
Statements that summarize the less general, more concrete observed regularities
at the given level of existence. Organizing principles are derived from
first-order principles.
Characteristics - What x happened - An
historical summary of events at the given hierarchical level.
Please note that why, how, and what are
categories of human linguistic thought and are not actually separable Cosmic
phenomena.
COSMOGONY -- The question of the origin of the universe
The space and motions that comprise our universe are most
likely eternal, but we cannot rule out that they may have originated at some
time in the past. How or why the Cosmos exists cannot be determined and is
probably ultimately unknowable. All explanations of existence have to stop
somewhere—with some self-existing entity.
All observed phenomena in the universe can actually or
potentially be explained as resulting from space and its motions. Thus there is
no requirement to posit any supernatural (extra-spatial or extra-Cosmic)
being--except in an attempt to explain the origin of space itself. The only
ultimate Being of which we are undoubtedly aware is the Cosmos.
To posit an extra-spatial creator of space is to attempt to
explain something that is evident (the Cosmos) as resulting from something (or
someone) for which (whom) no other evidence exists. This attempt has so far
been utterly fruitless and will probably always be so.
ASTROPHYSICOCHEMICAL EVOLUTION
TIME: 14+ billion years ago to the present
ASTROPHYSICOCHEMICAL
PRINCIPLES
These are principles of the spatial Cosmos qua spatial.
They are inferred from the totality of our knowledge of the Cosmos.
SPACE AND MOTION
The Cosmos is space and motions in/of space. The ultimate
substance is a quantized-discrete space. All change is ultimately reducible to
motions and/or distortions in and of this space.
CAUSAL EVOLUTION
All spatial motions are produced by preceding contiguous
spatial motions. All effects are caused. All manifestations of
space act, react, and interact in ways which are regular and in accordance with
their inherent properties. Time is our perception of evolution--the causal
sequence of
motions and changes.
HIERARCHICAL EVOLUTION
Under appropriate local conditions, space and its motions
become organized into new structures which are hierarchically distinguishable
from the sum of their parts. These structures are stable and persistent
combinations of space and its motions. They act, react, and interact (ARI) in
new ways, displaying new properties and regularities.
ASTROPHYSICOCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY STAGES
Spatial Creation/Cosmic Inflation
Characteristics
Space
Space is the ground of all being in this Cosmos. It is a
hitherto unknown substance. It is not matter as we know it. It has
no mass. It appears to be composed of quantum cell-like units at the level of
the Planck scale, 10-33cm. The extension and qualities of the
spatial cells determine the size, strength, and possible organization of
motions within it; i.e. the fundamental constants (h, G, e, c) and the
evolution of hierarchical complexity (subatomic, atomic, chemical, biological,
neurological, etc.).
Motion
Energy is our measure of actual or potential motion in/of space. All motions
are uniquely, causally related to the local space. The fundamental spatial
motions are these:
Hadronic: (1) space consumption and creation--the strong nuclear force and gravity
Fluid-Dynamic: (2) space flow and mass motion--inertia, translation, and
rotation (3) space waves—high-frequency (neutrino-waves) and low
frequency (gravitational waves).
Electromagnetic: (4) space cell stress and rotation--electromagnetism
(5) space and electromagnetic structures—electrons and positrons (6)
space and electronic motion--electrodynamics
Evolution
Evolution is the causal Cosmic process of
change. Change is evolution. All change is caused—resulting
from the preceding state of affairs.
Time
Time is simply our word for our experience of Cosmic
evolution. We measure the time of a process or event by comparing its evolution
to a simple standardized repetitive causal process like that of a pendulum or
atomic oscillations.
The Cosmic Cycle
The simplest explanation for past and present apparent
expansion of the Cosmos is that the Cosmos undergoes cycles of spatial creation
followed by spatial consumption. These cycles produce Big Bangs and Big
Crunches, each inevitably giving way to the other.
Organizing Principles
The strong nuclear force and gravity
Electromagnetism
Particle Evolution
Characteristics
Particle condensation
Expansion and cooling of the Cosmos allowed the sequential
evolution of the stable particles--hadrons and electrons. The union of a proton
and an electron formed hydrogen, the simplest atom.
Nucleosynthesis
Space spontaneously self-organizes into hadrons—protons
and neutrons—which adhere to form nuclei. Hadrons are maintained by a
process of spatial consumption, and this same process may cause their adherence
in the nucleus.
Electrons
Electrons are electromagnetic wave structures. They do not
consume space; therefore do not create gravity.
Antiparticles
Unstable Particles
Neutrinos
These appear to be high-frequency longitudinal-compression
waves in space itself. Like light, they can be mathematically treated as
particles since their interactions with matter are particulate.
Organizing Principles
Spatial Fluid-Dynamics
Weak nuclear force
Atomic Evolution
Characteristics
Atomic Synthesis
As the Cosmos cooled to about 3,000 K (~300,000 years after
its the last Big Bang), negatively charged electrons combined with positively
charged nuclei to form stable atoms, hydrogen and helium.
Matter Era
The energy density of matter (mostly hydrogen and helium)
overtook the energy density of radiation. The hadronic mass became predominant
by a factor of one thousand.
Stellar Fusion
Hydrogen and helium clumped together by force of gravity,
forming galaxies and then individual stars. Gravitational contraction created
high temperatures within developing stars. Hydrogen began to fuse into
helium--creating solar energy.
Elemental Synthesis
Heavier atomic elements (carbon, nitrogen, silicon, etc.)
were formed by fusion as stars deteriorated in cycles of expansion and
superheated contraction.
Organizing Principles
The strong nuclear force
The strong nuclear force is maintained by the consumption of
space. It binds hadrons (protons and neutrons) together in nuclei. This force
is responsible for the energy released during nuclear fusion and fission.
Atoms: the nucleo-electronic
interaction
A highly complex interaction which binds negatively charged
electronic wave-fields to positively charged nuclei producing atoms.
Chemical Evolution
Characteristics
Planetosynthesis
In the Big Bang, much of the matter of the previous Cosmos
survived, including heavy elements. After inflation, this matter formed new
planets which were captured by newly formed stars. Only on cool planets were
complex chemical compounds able to form and persist.
Chemical Compounds
Atoms of various size combined in myriad ways to produce
elemental and molecular metals, liquids, solids, and gases. The amounts of
various elements available and the other aspects of the local planetary
environment determined the kinds of substances that could form and persist.
Organizing Principles
Covalent Bonding
The interaction of atoms to form compounds is determined by
the number of electrons surrounding the nucleus, particularly the number of
electrons in the outermost shell. Certain chemical combinations of elements
persist because they are more stable in the given environment. The combined
state is more apt to persist than the uncombined state.
Other Chemical Interactions
Other types of elemental bonding are hydrogen bonds, metallic
bonds, bonds in crystals, etc. Chemical laws determine the physical properties
of bulk matter as affected by molecular size, shape, and interactions; and
interactions of molecules with radiations and fields.
ASTROPHYSICOCHEMICAL
CAUSALITY
Determination
Gross determination of all events by causal regularities
(laws) inherent in space and its motions.
Randomness
The random motion of particles and atoms increased with
increasing temperature. Randomness is present in the most fundamental
interactions of all matter and from the very start of the Big Bang. As a
result, what has come to exist is the result of sufficient but not necessary
causes. (Another Big Bang with the same starting conditions would result in a
similar Cosmos but the location, mass, and number of resultant bodies would
differ.
Degrees of Freedom
A degree of freedom exists at this level as a result of the
variability due to randomness.
Teleology
That which occurred was the result of the interaction of the determinancy inherent in the fundamental elements (space
and its motions). No other telos or goal need be implicated to understand the
events.
ASTROPHYSICOCHEMICAL
MECHANISMS
TIME: ~3 Billion Years Ago - Present
BIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES
REPRODUCTION
Those complex (biochemical) forms which self-replicate are
more able to persist.
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONARY STAGES
Biochemical Evolution
Characteristics
Environmental
The phenomenon of life is apparently confined to Earth in this solar system due to its unique physico-chemical environment. Given the hundreds of billions of stars in this galaxy, and the hundreds of billions of other galaxies visible to our telescopes, we must consider it highly probable that there are billions of Earth-like planets in the Cosmos that are also supporting the evolution of living and language-endowed creatures.
Biochemical Synthesis
Molecules in the ancient Earth seas combined chemically to form simple biochemicals (amino acids, nucleic acids, glucose, etc.).
Polymerization
Polymers of these molecules formed which were stable and persisted - perhaps this occurred on the surface of clay or another conducive material.
Replication
At least one type of macromolecule, DNA, formed copies of itself and thus persisted in a new and unique way.
First Organism
The first entity that could be called "living" was probably a DNA polymer associated with amino acid polymers (proteins). These simple proteins catalyzed the chemical reactions involved in replication.
Organizing Principles
Chemical Laws
All the laws of chemical bonding and interaction that are
involved with living organisms are studied as Biochemistry.
Reproduction
Specialized macromolecules were most efficient - DNA became
the reproductive code for all forms of life
Procaryotic Cellular
Evolution
Characteristics
Cell Membrane
When, over millions of years, this DNA and its associated macromolecules
became surrounded with a continuous lipoprotein coating, becoming procaryotic
cells.
Cytoplasm
All biological processes within procaryotic cells are carried
out by organic molecules which are free floating within the cytoplasm or
attached to the outer membrane. There are no internal membranes and no
organelles except ribosomes.
Metabolism
The macromolecules within procaryotic cells perform the
simplest biological functions: absorption, excretion, metabolism, anabolism,
and reproduction.
Fission
Procaryotic cells reproduce by fission - splitting into two
new organisms. The DNA is replicated first, then the cell membrane splits.
Symbiosis
Procaryotic cells (bacteria, mycoplasmas) do not associate to
form multicellular organisms, but do form advantageous communities (blue-green
algae).
Organizing Principles
Homeostasis
Challenge
Evolutionary improvements at this level, and at all higher
levels, occurred when the existing life forms were challenged by change in
their environment; a change strong enough to elicit an adaptive response, but
not so powerful so as to destroy the life form.
Sustenance
Those biological forms which develop means to preserve and
protect their DNA, are more able to reproduce.
Adaptation
Those complex (biological) forms which best adapt to changes
in their environment are more able to survive.
Responsiveness
Those organisms which can learn to inhibit non-productive
responses and improve their productive responses are more able to sustain
themselves.
Symbiosis
Those organisms which can benefit from interaction with other
organisms are more able to survive and reproduce.
Symbiosis - Biological forms associate and interact with
various results.
Commensalism
Biological forms associate for mutual benefit, often on the
basis of complementary differences.
Amensalism
Biological forms associate where one form is benefited and
the other is unaffected.
Predation
Biological forms associate where one form is benefited and
the other is harmed.
Eucaryotic Cellular
Evolution
Characteristics
Incorporation
Eucaryotic cells originated as a community of procaryotic
cells. Specialized cells performing different functions associated for enhanced
survival. Eventually these cooperating cells were incorporated into a single
larger cell. Thus the eucaryotic cell is a society formed from specialized
macromolecules and procaryotic cells, i.e. Chloroplasts, mitochondria,
flagella, microtubules, etc.
Organelles
Organelles were specialized structures within the cell that
performed various functions: absorption, ingestion, digestion, excretion,
metabolism, anabolism, protection, structural support, circulation, motion, and
reproduction.
Organizing Principles
Specialization
Biological forms which become efficient at particular tasks
receive enhanced benefits from cooperation and thus are more able to survive.
Cooperation by a division of labor enhances survival.
Histologic Evolution
Characteristics
Symbiotic Aggregation
Multicellular organisms formed by symbiotic aggregation of
like and unlike eukaryotic cells.
Tight junctions formed between formerly free-living cells,
restraining their individual growth, development, and reproduction. This
aggregation of cells for mutual benefit allowed them to better survive and
reproduce as a group.
Cells that formed the different tissues of a larger organism
were specialized in their functions: absorption, secretion, excretion,
metabolism, information processing, protection, structural support,
circulation, motion, and reproduction.
Organs
Sexual Reproduction
Every cell in the multi-celled organism carries two
non-identical copies of DNA. Certain cells specialize for the reproductive
function.
Embryology
The organism is not reproduced in its final form but must
develop from a single fertilized gamete (sex-cell).
Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny
The development of the individual organism, from embryo
through maturity, follows a sequence similar to the evolutionary development of
the species. The single cell divides into the various specialized cells that
make up the organism.
Organizing Principles
Mutualism
Mechanisms of evolutionary change - aggregation (of molecules
and cells), symbiosis, incorporation, parasitism, mixing of genetic material,
sexual reproduction, and genetic mutation.
Specialization
Specialization and division of labor led to mutually enhanced
survival
BIOLOGICAL CAUSALITY
Determination
Gross determination of all events by regularities (laws)
inherent in space. But at this stage, higher-order laws (chemical and
biological) are primary in determining the sequence of events. These
higher-order interactions become manifest only in conducive circumstances
(Earth's seas of 3 billion years ago).
Randomness
A certain degree of randomness has not only contributed to
these conducive circumstances, but contributes also to the formation, location,
and structure of living entities.
Degrees of Freedom
As organisms become more complex, their range of adaptive
responses increases and they are less dependent on environmental circumstances.
The evolution of life can be seen as an evolution towards greater degrees of
freedom from astrophysicochemical determination.
Teleology
At the biological level of existence, a telos or goal can be
discerned. Biological organisms exist and strive to survive and reproduce
because this has proven effective in promoting the replication and thus
persistence of their DNA.
BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS
BIOLOGICAL PATHOLOGY
Death
Those organisms which die after reproducing undergo faster
genetic change and thus more rapidly adjust to changing conditions, and thus
more able to survive and reproduce.
All biological processes (reproduction, sustenance, etc) are ultimately dependent on the complex arrangement of
molecules within individual cells. Death occurs to a cell when that complex
arrangement can no longer perform its biological functions (metabolism,
absorption, secretion, etc.) and an irreversible process of disruption has
begun. Death occurs to a multicellular organism when the complex arrangement of
its cells can no longer perform its biological functions (respiration,
circulation), and an irreversible process of cellular disruption has occurred.
Programmed
All multicellular organisms which reproduce by gametes are
apparently programmed to die. This maximizes genetic change and the rate of
evolution.
Premature
Unicellular organisms reproduce by division and thus have no
programmed death. Both uni- and multicellular
organisms can die prematurely as the result of a pathological process.
Hereditary (Genetic)
Environmental
Non-infectious
Malnutrition
Maldevelopment
Poisoning
Overpopulation
Trauma
Neoplasm
Infectious
TIME: 2 billion years ago to present
The development in multicellular animals of specialized cells
(neurons) that rapidly convey and store information created a new level of Cosmic
complexity.
NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES
DIGITOANALOGIC INFORMATION PROCESSING
Those organisms which can gather complex information about their
internal and external environment, process that information, react
appropriately to that information and remember that information are more likely
to survive and reproduce.
ALGORITHMIC COMPRESSION
Organisms with complex neural systems that can organize
percepts of significant environmental phenomena so that entities, motions, and
causal sequences are accurately and rapidly comprehended are more able to
survive and reproduce.
NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONARY STAGES
Neurocellular Evolution
TIME: 2 billion years ago to present
Characteristics
Certain ectodermal (skin) cells evolved the ability to react
to environmental stimuli by alterations in the electrical potential across
their cell membranes.
These neurocells (and their unique
DNA) were incorporated into multicellular organisms where they served the
specialized function of sensing certain environmental parameters and provoking
adaptive action by effector organs.
Habituation
Excitability
Conductivity
Transmissibility
Sensation
Specialized organelles reacted to changes in temperature,
light, sound, pressure, odor, etc.
Reaction
Conduction
Electrical polarization and depolarization of specialized
conductive cells enabled the transfer of information throughout the organism.
Reaction
The organism could respond in a rapid, coordinated manner to
the stimulus by the use of efferent nerves and muscular systems.
Memory
Retention of learned information was made possible through
semi-permanent and permanent electrochemical and molecular changes within nerve
cells (mechanism still not understood).
Organizing Principles
Analogic Response
Digital Response
Neuroassociational Evolution
TIME: ~570 million years ago to present
Stimulus-response systems developed from simple one-celled
systems, to two-celled systems (afferent and effector neurons), to systems with
many intermediate neurons between the afferent and effector neurons.
Characteristics
Synapse
Electrical
Chemical
Ganglion
Brain
Information Processing System
Centralized information processing became possible using
digital (on/off depolarization) and analog (variation in cell polarization)
capabilities of intermediate nerve cells.
These information-processing systems (IPSs) enabled the
organism to make graded and varied responses to environmental stimuli. As the
number and complexity of intermediate (associational) neurons increased, so did
the adaptivity (intelligence) of the organism.
Organizing Principles
Neuronal Inhibition
Instrumental Conditioning Evolution
TIME: ~450 million years ago to present
Characteristics
In vertebrates, central nervous systems assured the survival
of large, complex organisms by allowing centralized control of internal
functions and of reactions to external stimuli.
Trial and Error
Enlarging brains carried out more complex digital and analog
information- processing tasks allowing highly discriminative responses to
stimuli.
Complex behavior could be genetically acquired (instinct),
and also could be learned (classical and operant conditioning).
Social behavior appeared among (and between) species.
Communication allowed exchange of information and was
necessary for social cooperation.
Primary Representational System
Animals with complex neural systems create and maintain
proto-concepts. These mental tools are algorithmic compressions of perceptions
of significant environmental phenomena.
Communication
Through the use of vocalizations, displays, and badges one
organism was able to inform another of its internal state, or to communicate
knowledge of the environment.
Cooperation
Under conducive circumstances, organisms discovered the
advantages of cooperation under a division of labor.
Society
Gains outweigh the disadvantages. Due to its enhancement of
survival and reproduction - its gains outweighed its costs.
Spontaneity
Much animal behavior is spontaneously generated from within
the organism, not a response to an environmental stimulus. Thus animals do not
only react, they also act. They show evidence of a will.
Imprinting
Latent Learning
Curiosity
Play
Organizing Principles
Insight Learning Evolution
Characteristics
Abstraction – proto-concepts
Insight Learning
Imitation
Tool Use and Construction
Motivation
Separation/Individuation
Development
Action
Emotion
Emotions developed in higher animals. They were the result of
complex information processing that evaluated a stimulus in the mental context
of the various instinctual drives.
Communication
Society
Organizing Principles
NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS
NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSALITY
Determination
Gross determination of all events by regularities (laws)
inherent in space; but at this stage, higher-order laws (biological and
neurological) are primary in determining the sequence of events.
Randomness
A certain degree of randomness has not only contributed to
these conducive circumstances, but contributes also to the formation, location,
structure behavior of neurological entities. As the sequence of events is
determined by higher-order laws, the amount of randomness increases as does its
quality. (An animal will react in a certain way to a stimulus if it is in one
motivational state, and will react differently if it is in another.)
Degrees of Freedom
Neurologic organisms do not only react to stimuli, they
initiate behavior. Experiments show that even if all inputs to the central
nervous system are interrupted, animals will make spontaneous movements. Thus
neurologic organisms play a separate and qualitatively unique initiating role
in the sequence of events. They manifest a degree of freedom from lower-order
causal laws.
Teleology
At the Neurobehavioral level of existence, a telos or goal
can be discerned. Neurobehavioral organisms exist and strive to survive and
reproduce because this promotes the replication and thus persistence of their
DNA.
NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PATHOLOGY
Neurological Pathology
Disorders of the neurological hardware
Psychological Pathology
Maldevelopment of behavioral
software, i.e. faulty programming. Usually caused by trauma such as lack of
mothering, abandonment, physical abuse, etc.
TIME: 1 million years ago to present
LINGUOCULTURAL PRINCIPLES
LINGUISTIC ALGORHYTHMIC COMPRESSION
Those humans which can use language as an information
processing tool and can create a digito-analogic
mental representation of experienced phenomena and their causes are more able
to survive.
LINGUOCULTURAL
EVOLUTIONARY STAGES
Protolinguistic Evolution
Characteristics
Confined to hominid species
The information processing capabilities of the human brain
reached a certain critical power which enabled humans to invent language; a new
and unique event in the Cosmos.
Only with the use of language did man's accomplishments begin
to separate him from other primates (complex tool-making, cooperation, expertise,
etc.).
The first and simplest words were probably just imitations of
sounds made by the indicated animal or activity (onomatopoeia) and variations
of preexisting primate calls.
Words for new objects often created by analogy to more
familiar objects
Words served as a mental tool to organize perceptions and
make them persist in memory - thus greatly improving man's efficiency and
cooperation.
Proto-language brought about the earliest tool-making
advances.
Ideas represented with words are called “memes”.
Memes are often organized into systems of ideas. Humans created complex memetic
models to explain their world. These early models are called
“religions”.
With the evolution of language, memes became the dominant
force in human life and behavior.
Concepts
Memory Control
Behavioral Control
Social Control
Tool Making
Bicamerality—linguistic thoughts were
initially heard as voices (See Jaynes’ Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown
of the Bicameral Mind).
Organizing Principles
Lexicon
Onomatopoeia
Metaphor
Metaphier
Metaphrand
Paraphier
Paraphrand
Analogy
Protolinguistic Pathology
Maldevelopment of linguistic information
processing—words can sometimes inhibit appropriate responses
Neurolinguistic Pathology
Disorders of the speech hardware
Genetic Disorders
Acquired Disorders
Psycholinguistic Pathology
Maldevelopment of behaviorolinguistic
software—concepts misrepresent the true nature and causes of things,
provoking maladaptive responses.
Autism
Linguistic Evolution
Characteristics
Early human mentality is concrete, thoughts take the form of
hallucinated voices (right side of brain speaks to left--bicamerality).
With language man could carry out complex learned tasks:
building a fire, making a knife - probably by simple hallucinatory repetition
of instructions.
The use of words became an extremely powerful tool to
organize man's perceptions and actions.
Survival of human species greatly increased by this quantum
increase in ability to store and manipulate knowledge
Predation (hunting animals or humans; taking other human's
goods) increasingly is replaced by cooperative enterprise with the rise of
agriculture.
Meme complexes (memeplexes) became a dominant force in human
affairs. Memeplexes are similar to genomes in that they compete with one
another for dominance. Memeplexes, like viruses, have weapons and defenses to
assure their survival. For instance, a memeplex the orders the killing or
enslavement of outsiders with a different memeplex would tend to assure the
survival and propagation of that memeplex.
Myth/Religion
RELIGION - The primitive, non-philosophical use of
language-based information processing to explain sensory evidence, calm
existential fears, fulfill wishes, and provide moral, social and political
guidance. Religions are a highly-organized form of memeplex. Because the
religious memeplex serves important, immediate personal and political needs, it
is tenaciously defended by its believers. They resist any application of the philosophico-scientific tests of truth – non-contradiction,
correspondence to evidence and coherence. Religious memeplexes
disable the mind’s rational/philosophical faculty and thus the
mind’s “immune system”. All religions are relatively
inaccurate, non-logical (contradictory) systems of belief.
Statism
The organization, by some dominant group, of various other
groups into a single super-group. This requires the imposition of a ideological
memeplex.
Technocultural Evolution
Culture evolves as men develop an increasingly complex
analogic representation of their experience.
Primitive religion arises as man ascribes all phenomena to
the few entities which he already comprehends, e.g. seasons, rain, and
fertility ascribed to the activity of some powerful animal or man.
Man worships that which he seeks to influence - that which is
crucial to his life - that which he cannot understand
Bicameral voices are believed to be those of gods and kings
Language enabled more productive cooperation of large groups of humans -birth
of agriculture and industry (Neolithic Revolution) (See Julian Jaynes)
Civilization is born when writing is invented allowing
greater organization and cooperation among men
Writing
The invention of writing introduces a new power to linguistic
communication, as ideas can be transferred without the presence of a speaker.
Organizing Principles
Syntactic structure
Persistence of successful memes and
memeplexes
Linguistic Pathology
Memeplexes False ideas are
destructive to the extent that they cause human beings to think and act in ways
that do not conform to physical or to human reality.
Religions
Myths
Ideologies
Simple Delusions
Technocultural Pathology
LINGUOCULTURAL MECHANISMS
LINGUOCULTURAL CAUSALITY
Determination
At this level there is still gross determination of all
events by regularities (laws) inherent in space; but at this level,
higher-order laws (neurological and psycholinguistic) are primary in
determining the sequence of events. Memplexes compete
with one another for survival. Ideas determine humans’ actions and
thoughts and humans are not yet capable of criticizing and improving the ideas
that dominate their society.
Randomness
A certain degree of randomness has not only contributed to
these conducive circumstances, but contributes also to the formation,
structure, and content of human language and behavior. As the sequence of
events is determined by higher-order laws, the amount of randomness increases
as does its quality. (A human will react in a certain way to a stimulus if it
has one interpretation of events, and will react differently if it has another
interpretation.)
Degrees of Freedom
Linguistic humans form word-concepts of internal and external
phenomena which allow them a more rapid and adaptive response to events. They
escape the more rigid neurobehavioral determination by their much greater
information-processing ability. A new behavior or technique, once acquired by
one individual, can be rapidly learned by others.
Teleology
At the Linguocultural
level of existence it is human society that promotes the replication and thus
persistence of the species DNA. The individual's self-preserving instincts are
subordinated to the welfare of the society and thus the gene pool. Individuals
are controlled by their society's memeplexes.
CONSCIOPHILOSOPHICAL EVOLUTION
Time: 6th Century B.C. to the present
CONSCIOPHILOSOPHICAL
PRINCIPLES
Consciophilosophical Information Processing
Those humans that self-consciously and deliberately use
language-based information processing to integrate all available sensory
evidence into an accurate and system of word-formulas that identifies the
causal structure of the Cosmos are more able to survive and pursue their
happiness.
CONSCIOPHILOSOPHICAL
EVOLUTIONARY STAGES
The Origin of Consciousness
Characteristics
The Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
The concrete, hallucinatory, mythic mentality of humankind
was dominant in the earliest civilizations (Sumerian, Egyptian, Babylonian).
This mentality began to breakdown as man became more
conscious (aware) of the external world and of himself
This origin of self-consciousness occurred as a result of
increasing knowledge, linguistic sophistication, and contact with other
societies with different hallucinatory control systems. (acquaintance with the
multiplicity and relativism of belief systems)
As the gods no longer spoke to man, he turned to various
magical rites in order to make the gods speak. He used different evocative
rituals to divine the gods' will and make decisions (augury, astrology, etc.)
Writing
Intercultural Contact
Political Instability
Survival Value of Deceit
Analog Self
Self-consciousness arose as man came to understand which
events in his world were caused by his own actions and which were the result of
natural phenomena or other individuals. Language thus permitted the creation of
a linguistic analog self or "I" by which each individual perceived
him/herself as an actor on the world stage and not just as integral part of the
natural and spiritual whole of reality. This complete differentiation of acting
self from background is also learned by language-using human children during
their cognitive development.
One's consciousness is increased by greater knowledge of self
through interaction with others, self-analysis, and/or professional analysis.
Hierarchical Mentation
Freedom
With the onset of conscious thought and deliberation, man
escaped the degree of determinism inherent in the physical, biological,
neurological, and linguocultural (memetic) levels of
existence. Mankind is now able to critically evaluate memes and memeplexes and
reject those that do not conform to Cosmic reality—that are inconsistent
with the evidence, with logic, and with philosophical rules of thought.
Man's freedom of will arose only to the extent that he
exercised his capacity to analyze the past and project the consequences of
alternative actions. Consciousness and freedom are not on/off phenomena, both
are increased as one's knowledge of self and environment is increased.
Choice
Responsibility
Meaning
Isolation
Stimulation of Appetites
Philosophy
Organizing Principles
Logic is the use of language in a way that conforms to Cosmic
regularities at the most fundamental level. The philosophical rules of thought
are the use of language to conform to higher, more complex causal
principles.
Syntactic Language
Consciousness arose as a result of the increasing
discriminatory power of language applied to all experienced space phenomena,
external and internal.
Knowledge
One's consciousness is increased by greater knowledge of
one's self and one's environment through education in the human and natural
sciences.
Philosophic Evolution
PHILOSOPHY - The conscious,
deliberate use of language-based information processing to represent all
available sensory data and integrate causal scientific theories of Cosmic
phenomena into a coherent and efficacious system of linguistic formulas. The truth
of every linguistic formula in the system is subject to rigorous and continuous
testing. Those formulas are considered conditionally true which
accurately correspond to all sensory and scientific evidence and which
logically cohere with all other formulas and which prove efficacious to
the human pursuit of knowledge and happiness. All sciences--physical,
biological, and human--are specialized areas within Philosophy. Philosophy
(with its sciences) is an objective, shared human enterprise. Humans pursue it
in order to increase their productivity, health, wealth, understanding, wisdom,
and ultimately, happiness.
In Ionia (Aegean Turkey), 6th century B.C., Thales
of Miletus made the first recorded attempts to explain natural phenomena as the
result of mechanistic cause and effect. As a result of the Persian conquest of
Ionia, the center of philosophy moved westward to Athens where Plato and Aristotle
identified the major questions of philosophy and applied philosophic analysis
to every area of life. Plato contaminated philosophy with quasireligious
idealism and authoritarianism. With the conquest of Athens by Sparta,
Alexander, and then Rome, philosophy retreated into quasireligious
sects. In Roman Stoicism and then Christianity, scientific philosophy remained
submerged. Only in the Late Medieval Renaissance and French Enlightenment did
philosophy again become prominent in intellectual life. The deterioration of
the French Revolution into totalitarian terror and Napoleon's subsequent
invasion of Europe resulted in the creation of authoritarian nationalism, and
cosmopolitan philosophy was repudiated. Throughout the 19th and 20th
centuries, philosophy remained hostage to quasireligious
ideologies - nationalism, socialism, fascism, capitalism, and communism. Only
in narrow fields of the physical and biological sciences did philosophic
progress occur. Some progress occurred in psychology, but ethics, politics, and
economics have remained hostage to the dominant ideologies: Capitalism and
National Socialism.
Characteristics
Once man had clearly distinguished himself from his
environment, he no longer attempted to explain natural phenomena as products of
some personality. He began to seek mechanistic explanations instead of
anthropomorphic ones.
This resulted in the breakdown of religious domination of
thought. Logical reasoning was applied to all aspects of life. Men asked
questions and sought naturalistic causes.
In Greek civilization, we find the first conscious, rational,
scientific attempts to explain the nature of man, the world, and the gods
(Milesian philosophers)
Greek Philosophers raised and analyzed all the essential
questions of philosophy--metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, politics, and
aesthetics.
Judaism and Christianity and their offshoots have suppressed
philosophical cognition, which has not regained the prominence it had in
ancient Greek thought.
Authoritarian systems of all kinds also suppress
philosophical cognition since it is the primary challenge to their hegemony.
Rationalism
Objectivism
Scientific Method
SCIENCE - An arm of philosophy which
concentrates on one discrete category of hierarchical Cosmic phenomena. It
seeks to construct formulas which identify significant phenomena and causal
relationships within its purview. It uses specialized tools and procedures
appropriate to its object of study. It gathers data by observation and
experiment. It integrates the data accumulated by forming linguistic and/or
mathematic formulas which are rigorously and continuously tested for correspondence
to phenomena and for logical coherence. Every science, in both its
working assumptions and its formulas, must be informed and criticized by
philosophy.
FORMULA - A meaningful combination of
linguistic and/or mathematic symbols. Philosophic formulas are those which are
an attempt to represent Cosmic phenomena and causal relationships. Scientific
formulas are given different names in accordance with the degree to which they
have been tested and accepted by scientists:
HYPOTHESIS - A formula which has
explanatory efficacy but requires further testing.
THEORY - A formula that seeks to
expose the cause of some observed phenomenon. A theory is better developed and
has more supporting evidence than a hypothesis.
LAW - A repeatedly tested and
universally accepted formula which has proved efficacious in all practical
applications.
PRINCIPLE - A formula which is
untestable but requires acceptance because it represents a fundamental and
necessary basis of Cosmic phenomena.
Secularism
Breakdown of belief in philosophical
and religious authority. Discovery of the efficacy of systematic observation
and experiment
Breakdown of belief in governmental
paternalism. Separation of government and economics. Separation of government
and religion. Realization of the efficacy of individual freedom and
responsibility. Application of science to production of energy and goods, made
possible by freedom from governmental interference in individual ownership and
control of property
Elimination of nationalist
and other collectivist belief systems. Full realization of efficacy of
individual pursuit of happiness in the framework of voluntary cooperation as
the basis of morality world-wide. Government limited to protecting individuals from
use of physical force/coercion by others.
Individualism
Consensualism
Organizing Principles
Logical Coherence
Objective Correspondence
Prediction
CONSCIOPHILOSOPHICAL
MECHANISMS
Consciophilosophical Causality
Determination
At this level there is still significant determination of all
events by regularities (laws) inherent in space; but at this stage,
higher-order laws (psycholinguistic and conscious/intellectual) are primary in
determining the sequence of events.
Randomness
A certain degree of randomness has not only contributed to
these conducive circumstances, but contributes also to the formation,
structure, and content of human language and behavior. As the sequence of
events is determined by higher-order laws, the amount of randomness increases
as does its quality. (A human will react in a certain way to a stimulus if it
has one interpretation of events, and will react differently if it has another
interpretation.)
Degrees of Freedom
With self-consciousness and philosophic information
processing, the individual attains a much higher degree of freedom that existed
at lower levels. The amount of freedom varies from individual to individual. A
human's degree of freedom (escape from being determined by his past and present
environment) is directly proportional to his degree of consciousness and the
effort he makes to use his intellectual capacity. His degree of consciousness
is partly determined by familial and societal influence. The individual can
increase his consciousness through intellectual education and through
extrafamilial and extrasocietal relationships.
Teleology
At the Consciophilosophical level
of existence, each human is aware of his unique desires and capabilities. Each
human strives for happiness according to his scale of values. His behavior is
no longer necessarily determined by neurobehavioral drives which evolved by
maximizing species DNA persistence. The society is, for the self-conscious
individual, now only a means to his pursuit of happiness.
Psychopathology
These disorders are the result of developmental deprivation.
The individual must pass through all preceding hierarchical levels in its own
development. Just as the fetus must pass through stages of growth that
recapitulate the evolutionary stages, so too the infant must pass through the
developmental stages of non-linguistic, then linguistic human evolution. The
inability to progress through all levels of neurobehavioral, linguocultural, and conciopsychological
growth prevents the inidvidual from achieving full
self-consciousness.
Neurosis
The repudiation of part or all of the self as the result of
parental and societal abuse; resulting in self-repression of desires, emotions,
and thoughts. Consciousness of self is inhibited and the individual must create
a false self in accordance with parental and societal models. All religions and
all non-scientific ideologies support neurotic disfigurement of the
individual's personality through their false, and thus unhealthy, doctrines.
Inasmuch as the individual is neurotic, he is non-conscious
and cannot make full use of the philosophical method. He has lost contact with
important aspects of his self and must adhere to false beliefs. He cannot be
fully objective. He must resort to fallacious argument in attempting to justify
his beliefs. But inasmuch as he is not neurotic he can use the philosophical
method to detect some of his false beliefs and neurotic tendencies. Escape from
neurosis requires both philosophic deprogramming and restorative experience of
his natural self in loving relationships with others.
Sociopathology
Some degree of neurosis is affects all individuals.
Societies differ as to the kind and degree of neurosis. This is the cause of
all self-defeating personal, social, and political behavior. Political
domination is the societal expression of the individual's inner domination by
the false self and its ideologies. As the natural neurobehavioral self has been
repudiated and is dominated by the false linguocultural
self, so the individual believes that society requires politico-ideological
control and coercion. This leads to the expansion of societal control to every
aspect of life. The agent of control is government.
War
The ultimate sociopathy—the negation of all values that
are required for human prosperity and mental development.
Coercion
Next to war in its power to destroy human values. Wherever
force is used, natural human relationships and development are perverted.
When allowed, certain groups or classes will attempt to
enslave the rest of humanity—to use them for their purposes. This
parasitism has taken many forms throughout history: violent slavery, feudalism,
tax-slavery, and today’s debt slavery to bankers by the mechanism of
fractional reserve banking.
Sado-Masichism
From parental coercion and control of infants and children,
to the state’s coercion and control of citizens, natural human
cooperation is replaced by a master-slave model.