We present a mathematical framework (referred to as Context-driven Actualization of Potential, or CAP) for describing how entities change over time under the influence of a context. The approach facilitates comparison of change of state of entities studied in different disciplines. Processes are seen to differ according to the degree of nondeterminism, and the degree to which they are sensitive to, internalize, and depend upon a particular context. Our analysis suggests that the dynamical evolution of a quantum entity described by the Schrodinger equation is not fundamentally different from change provoked by a measurement often referred to as collapse, but a limiting case, with only one way to collapse. The biological transition to coded replication is seen as a means of preserving structure in the fact of context-driven change, and sextual replication as a means of increasing potentiality thus enhancing diversity through interaction with context. The framework sheds light on concepts like selection and fitness, reveals how exceptional Darwinian evolution is as a means of 'change of state', and clarifies in what sense culture, and the creative process underlying it, are Darwinian.
We present a mathematical framework (referred to as Context-driven Actualization of Potential, or CAP) for describing how entities change over time under the influence of a context. The approach facilitates comparison of change of state of entities studied in different disciplines. Processes are seen to differ according to the degree of nondeterminism, and the degree to which they are sensitive to, internalize, and depend upon a particular context. Our analysis suggests that the dynamical evolution of a quantum entity described by the Schrodinger equation is not fundamentally different from change provoked by a measurement often referred to as collapse, but a limiting case, with only one way to collapse. The biological transition to coded replication is seen as a means of preserving structure in the fact of context-driven change, and sextual replication as a means of increasing potentiality thus enhancing diversity through interaction with context. The framework sheds light on concepts like selection and fitness, reveals how exceptional Darwinian evolution is as a means of 'change of state', and clarifies in what sense culture, and the creative process underlying it, are Darwinian.
Darwinism conceives evolution as a consequence of random variation and natural selection, hence it is based on a materialistic, i.e. matter-based, view of science inspired by classical physics. But matter in itself is considered a very complex notion in modern physics. More specifically, at a microscopic level, matter and energy are no longer retained within their simple form, and quantum mechanical models are proposed wherein potential form is considered in addition to actual form. In this paper we propose an alternative to standard Neodarwinian evolution theory. We suggest that the starting point of evolution theory cannot be limited to actual variation whereupon is selected, but to variation in the potential of entities according to the context. We therefore develop a formalism, referred to as Context driven Actualization of Potential (CAP), which handles potentiality and describes the evolution of entities as an actualization of potential through a reiterated interaction with the context. As in quantum mechanics, lack of knowledge of the entity, its context, or the interaction between context and entity leads to different forms of indeterminism in relation to the state of the entity. This indeterminism generates a non-Kolmogorovian distribution of probabilities that is different from the classical distribution of chance described by Darwinian evolution theory, which stems from a 'actuality focused', i.e. materialistic, view of nature. We also present a quantum evolution game that highlights the main differences arising from our new perspective and shows that it is more fundamental to consider evolution in general, and biological evolution in specific, as a process of actualization of potential induced by context, for which its material reduction is only a special case.
The aim of this article is to represent the general description of an entity by means of its states, contexts and properties. The entity that we want to describe does not necessarily have to be a physical entity, but can also be an entity of a more abstract nature, for example a concept, or a cultural artifact, or the mind of a person, etc..., which means that we aim at very general description. The effect that a context has on the state of the entity plays a fundamental role, which means that our approach is intrinsically contextual. The approach is inspired by the mathematical formalisms that have been developed in axiomatic quantum mechanics, where a specific type of quantum contextuality is modelled. However, because in general states also influence context -- which is not the case in quantum mechanics -- we need a more general setting than the one used there. Our focus on context as a fundamental concept makes it possible to unify `dynamical change' and `change under influence of measurement', which makes our approach also more general and more powerful than the traditional quantum axiomatic approaches. For this reason an experiment (or measurement) is introduced as a specific kind of context. Mathematically we introduce a state context property system as the structure to describe an entity by means of its states, contexts and properties. We also strive from the start to a categorical setting and derive the morphisms between state context property systems from a merological covariance principle. We introduce the category SCOP with as elements the state context property systems and as morphisms the ones that we derived from this merological covariance principle. We introduce property completeness and state completeness and study the operational foundation of the formalism
The aim of this article is to represent the general description of an entity by means of its states, contexts and properties. The entity that we want to describe does not necessarily have to be a physical entity, but can also be an entity of a more abstract nature, for example a concept, or a cultural artifact, or the mind of a person, etc..., which means that we aim at very general description. The effect that a context has on the state of the entity plays a fundamental role, which means that our approach is intrinsically contextual. The approach is inspired by the mathematical formalisms that have been developed in axiomatic quantum mechanics, where a specific type of quantum contextuality is modelled. However, because in general states also influence context -- which is not the case in quantum mechanics -- we need a more general setting than the one used there. Our focus on context as a fundamental concept makes it possible to unify `dynamical change' and `change under influence of measurement', which makes our approach also more general and more powerful than the traditional quantum axiomatic approaches. For this reason an experiment (or measurement) is introduced as a specific kind of context. Mathematically we introduce a state context property system as the structure to describe an entity by means of its states, contexts and properties. We also strive from the start to a categorical setting and derive the morphisms between state context property systems from a merological covariance principle. We introduce the category SCOP with as elements the state context property systems and as morphisms the ones that we derived from this merological covariance principle. We introduce property completeness and state completeness and study the operational foundation of the formalism
The ontological status of quantum mechanics remains suspended between two mutually exclusive grammatical categories: the continuous, reversible “Verb” of unitary evolution and the discrete, irreversible “Noun” of the measured state. This paper reconciles this tension by mapping the physics of time-evolution to the mathematics of Dedekind self-maps and Process Algebra. We demonstrate that while Hamiltonian flow preserves information perfectly (Von Neumann entropy S=0), the imposition of a measurement constraint generates significant entropy (S≈2.66) and an irreversible arrow of time. The findings reveal a structural isomorphism between the physical “collapse” of the wavefunction and the mathematical “Critical Point” of a Dedekind self-map. We propose that the “Noun” (particle/state) is not a fundamental entity but a “precipitation” generated at the limit of the “Verb’s” self-mapping process (Corazza, 2018). This reframes the observer not as an external agent, but as the structural locus of this critical transition.
This paper is intended to show the Schrodinger equation, within its structure, allows the manifestation of the wave function collapse within a very natural way of reasoning. In fact, as we will see, nothing new must be inserted to the classical quantum mechanics, viz., only the dialectics of the physical world must be interpreted under a correct manner. We know the nature of a physical system turns out to be quantical or classical, and, once under the validity of the Schrodinger equation to provide the evolution of this physical system, the dialectics, quantum or classical, mutually exclusive, must also be under context through the Schrodinger equation, issues within the main scope of this paper. We will show a classical measure, the obtention of a classical result, emerges from the structure of the Schrodinger equation, once one demands the possibility that, over a chronological domain, the system begins to provide a classical dialectic, showing the collapse may be understood from both: the structure of the Schrodinger equation as well as from the general solution to this equation. The general solution, even with a dialectical change of description, leads to the conservation of probability, obeying the Schrodinger equation. These issues will turn out to be a consequence of a general potential energy operator, obtained in this paper, including the possibility of the classical description of the physical system, including the possibility of interpretation of the collapse of the quantum mechanical state vector within the Schrodinger equation scope.
Abstract The transition from microscopic reversible dynamics to macroscopic irreversible thermodynamics in statistical mechanics, the transformation from pure states to mixed states during quantum decoherence, and the transition from quantum superposition states to classical definite states in quantum measurement have long been regarded as three independent fundamental physical puzzles. This paper demonstrates that the three processes share a unified mathematical root: the filtering, truncation or projection of system degrees of freedom renders the information carried by partial degrees of freedom unreconstructable within the reduced description framework, and irreversibility spontaneously emerges in the remaining description space. Based on the rigorous derivation of Hilbert’s sixth problem proposed by Deng et al., Zurek’s environment-induced decoherence theory, and the three-stage model of temporal relativity proposed by the author, this paper extracts the mathematical structure of the three types of physical processes and constructs an axiomatic unified framework. This paper further clarifies that various filtering operations are essentially equivalent to the selection of reference frames by the observation system; any descriptive subject with finite information bandwidth must select a reference benchmark, and the arrow of time is an emergent characteristic of this selection behavior under reduced description. This paper distinguishes between global information conservation and local unreconstructable information, emphasizing that the theoretical framework does not violate unitary quantum evolution, and proposes quantitative predictions verifiable by attosecond physics and superconducting quantum experiments.