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World Futures

The Ontological Roots of Human Science: the Message of Evolution—The Physics of Freedom (Choice)

András Balázs

Published Nov 8, 2007• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The original proposal of H. H. CitationPattee (1971) of basing quantum theoretical measurement theory on the theory of the origin of life, and its far reaching consequences, is discussed in the light of a recently emerging biological paradigm of internal measurement. It is established that the “measurement problem” of quantum physics can, in principle, be traced back to the internal material constraints of the biological organisms, where choice is a fundamental attribute of the self-measurement of matter. In this light, which is shown to be a consequence of Pattee's original suggestion, it is proposed that biological evolution is a gradual liberation from the inert unity of “subject” and “object” of inanimate matter (as “natural law” and “initial conditions”), to a split biological existence of them and, as a consequence, the “message of evolution” is freedom, rather than complexity in itself. Some classical philosophical systems are brought into context to show that the epistemologies of several strictly philosophical systems of the social sciences are well acquainted with the problem and their solutions support our conclusions.

DOI
10.1080/02604020701413019

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An "anti-system" ontology of quantum physics, as derived from two Einstein's conceptions of physical theories. Quantum physics as a theory of general relativity of experimental context

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In glaring contrast to its indisputable century-old experimental success, the ultimate objects and meaning of quantum physics remain a matter of vigorous debate among physicists and philosophers of science. This article attempts to shed new light on the debate. It relies upon two comments by Albert Einstein on his general approach to physical theories. I draw their consequences for the definition of a physical theory's ontology, and next for the ontology of quantum physics - i.e. what it may ultimately be about. The quantum ontology thus derived appears to be strictly limited to evolving experimental contexts and instantaneous measurement outcomes, which are to be understood, respectively, as mere potential measurement outcomes and actual ones. The notions of material body in particular and physical system in general are absent from this ontology, hence the vanishing of Schroedinger's cat and EPR paradoxes, as well as of the quantum measurement problem. Apart from its ability to clear up well-known conundrums, this ontology reveals what quantum physics may fundamentally be - i.e. its possible ultimate meaning - namely a theory of general relativity of experimental context. On this basis, I conclude with a new conception of objectivity in the sciences of nature.

arXiv:1908.07338•Jul 31, 2019•0 citations

OF THE QUANTUM MECHANICAL ’’AUTOMATA METAPHOR’’ OF THE LIVING STATE

Balázs, András

The symbol-matter problem of biological systems, posed clearly by H. H. Pattee, is followed up to its origin in a quantum mechanical framework. The two complementer descriptional mode (i.e. dynamical versus symbolic or quantum mechanical versus ''classical'') are defined as connected in a Copenhagen–type quasiclassical (h → 0) dynamics (internal time-dependent discrete projection operator formalism). The concept of natural symbol as constraint is described in the form of a quasiclassical wavefunction with classical measurement records as variables while the basic projectors are defined as a quasiclassical dynamical "bra" Hilbert vector acting on a quantum dynamical "ket" vector. The origin problem is touched necessarily upon, as a split between measurement record (so its quasiclassical wavefunction, natural symbol) and the quantum mechanical dynamical wavefunction. The concept of symmetry-restoring internal time process is introduced, following from compelling internal retrocausality of a time evolution (advocated several times elsewhere). While adopting basically the Copenhagen view, using some ideas of Everett and other aspects of non–orthodox formulations of quantum measurement, it is shown that the necessary imbedding of internal (-τ) time evolution into the split off external (+t) one and internal time ’’quantizations’’ (leading to a discrete total semigroup) results in a converging chain of quantum internal measurement transitions, similar to those introduced by H. P. Stapp in his symbolic (human mind-) model, ultimately leading to a model of an elementary, very special self-reproducing quantum automata, where the state transition functions are internally determined (programmed) from the very origin of their emergence. It is shown that only off-diagonal statistical matrix elements are to be used in the internal projectionally evoluting time–series (metabolism), ’’self’’-reproduction (diagonality) being the fixed point of the recursion of the internal state transitions of the proposed quantum mechanical automata model (’’metaphor’’).

Journal of basic and applied research international•Apr 26, 2015•1 citation

On a quantum mechanical system theory of the origin of life: from the Stapp-model to the origin of natural symbols

András Balázs

The Heisenberg–James–Stapp (quantum mechanical) mind model is surveyed and criticized briefly. The criticism points out that the model, while being essentially consistent concerning (human) consciousness, fundamentally lacks the evolutional point of view both onto- and phylogenetically. Ethology and other than Jamesian psychology is quoted and a quantum mechanical theoretical scheme is suggested to essentially extend Stapp’s frame in an evolutionary context. It is proposed that its central supposition, spontaneous quantum measurement can be better utilized in an investigation of the origin of the “subjective” process, having come about concomitantly with the chemistry of the origin of life. We dwell on its applicability at this latter process, at its heart standing, it is supposed, the endophysical nonlinear “self-measurement” of (quantum mechanically describable) matter, and so our investigation is extended to this primeval phenomenon. It is suggested that the life phenomenon is an indirect C* → (W*) → C* quantum algebraic process transition, where the (W*) system would represent the living state. Summarized also are our previous results on an internalized, “reversed”, time process, introduced originally by Gunji, which is subordinated to the external “forwards” time evolution, driving towards symmetry by gradual space-mappings, where the original splitting-up must have come about in a spontaneous symmetry breaking nonlinear “self-measurement” of matter in an endophysical World.

International Journal of General Systems•Oct 21, 2015•2 citations

Internal Quantum Measurements and the Growth of Information

Abir U. Igamberdiev

Introduction In the processes of adaptation, development and evolution, living systems interpret themselves in the environment resulting in changes of both. This leads to the growth of information via rescaling of internal time (heterochrony) followed by spatial reconstructions of morphology (heterotopy). The growth of information is based on perpetual changes in its interpretation in the changing world. Biological evolution involves the anticipatory epigenetic changes in interpretation of the genetic information which cannot be generally forecasted but can provide canalization of structural changes defined by the existing organization leading to predictable patterns of form generation. Social evolution is accompanied by unprecedented growth of the informational field that leads to progressive development of human society. In modern theoretical biology, the internal measurement concept was suggested as a background for explanation of the phenomenon of life (Matsuno, 1995). The quantum measurement represents the action of a measuring device on the measured system. The quantum measurement is an irreversible phenomenon exhibiting itself as a reduction of the potential field. It has also a relation to the irreversibility of time (Igamberdiev, 1993). The collapse of wave function is not equivalent to time until it does not generate a measurable duration, but when its pattern is repeated consistently, the clock can be set, and the system becomes organized in time. When the measuring device is a part of measured system, the measurement proceeds internally in relation to the whole system and the latter becomes more complex as a result of measurement itself. The aim of this study is to discuss the role of internal measurement in the growth of information in evolving systems. This can refer to biological evolution, social evolution, and as well to the cosmic evolution, which is represented in the phenomenon of expansion of the Universe. Internal Measurement and the Generation of New Information The internal measurement leads to an iterative recursive process which appears as the development and evolution of the combined system containing the measuring device and the measured object. The quantum measuring device can be organized in such way that it “encodes” the system in the course of interaction with the measured object, and makes it possible for the measurement to proceed in a regular way. In this case, such system can memorize the evolutionary complication of organization in a digital information-bearing subsystem and evolve further; in other words it contains an internal description memorizing the result of measurement. The logical precondition of the growth of information in this evolving process is the incompleteness of biosystem’s internal description, while the physical precondition is the uncertainty of quantum measurement. The evolutionary increase of complexity becomes possible when genotype appears as a system distinct from phenotype and is embedded into it, which separates energy-degenerate rate-independent genetic symbols from the rate-dependent dynamics of construction that they control (Pattee, 2001). Evolutionary growth of information becomes its own cause, a universal property of our world. The growth of information accompanies the appearance of measurable time that occurs in the systems performing quantum measurements in a regular way, with low dissipation of energy (Igamberdiev, 1993, 2004). These systems are modelled as hypercycles and can be defined as structures in which the subset of a substrate set of the catalytic system happens to be the matrix for generating and reproducing the set of catalysts itself (Igamberdiev, 1999). This definition keeps the main features of the original notion of hypercycle given by Eigen and Schuster (1979). The hypercyclic system is closed in the way that all of the catalysts needed for an organism to stay alive (representing an efficient causation according to Aristotle and forming organism’s spatiotemporal structure) must be produced by the organism itself, only relying on matter and energy from the outside (Letelier et al., 2011). When hypercycles appear in evolution, time becomes an independent measurable variable due to the internal reproducible changes. Hypercycle organizes irreversibility of quantum measurement into a measurable duration. Eigen’s hypercycle is a formalized representation of the autopoietic system of Maturana and Varela or Rosen’s (M,R) system (Leteiler et al., 2011). The system becomes an internal autonomous clock that distinguishes the past (memory), the present (life), and the future (anticipation based on the reproducible model), so the modeling, logic and digital information growth become possible within the system (Rosen, 1985). The hypercycle having own embedded description, becomes a structure that realizes computation in accordance with its internal logic defined by the embedded description. The latter has the property of incompleteness which is reflected in the fact that quantum correlations of the states of the system are associated with undecidable logic theories, i.e., they can potentially generate the statements not defined within the system. The undecidability can be interpreted in the sense similar to the Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, meaning that there exist propositions, expressible in the formal logic, which cannot be proven or disproven (Briegel et al., 2009). These propositions become the grounds of expansion of the system and its informational growth. From the quantum mechanical point of view, the emergence of a new statement results in acquiring a new error-correction meaning to support the internal quantum state (IQS) (Igamberdiev, 2004, 2007). The IQS keeps the system organizationally invariant. It is supported by the set of error-correcting commands that aim to keep IQS free from external demolitions. The error-correction information becomes an important part of the whole informational field. A new statement makes the system more complex (it leads to an increase of its informational content), with its all spatiotemporal organizational invariance be rescaled. In the course of evolution, an available element of a formal system (similarly to a word when used as a metaphor) can acquire another (in addition to already existing) value that contributes to formation of a new level of organization in the system. The logical basis of this action is the incompleteness of the existing formal system that allows assigning arbitrary values to the statements non-provable within that system, while the physical basis is the quantum uncertainty arising in quantum measurement. A new statement can arise from existing elements by acquiring the double function, however, for fixation of this new statement via expansion of existing formal system, some informational redundancy of the system is needed, which can be achieved by multiplication of some of its elements. Genome is a system which possesses an internal complementarity between the linear texts and their superposition. Relevantly to this, complementarity means that text and hypertext cannot be viewed at the same moment: they should be separated by a time interval. It is an example of uncertainty between the system and its embedding. Overlapping genes, alternatively splicing sequences, RNA and DNA editing, introns, and recombination according to molecular addresses are the features of this hypertext generating a potentially infinite number of language games. Genome as a complete language exists as a complementary set of its alternative combinations resulting in logical paradoxes which determine its temporal dynamics (Isalan, 2009). This superposition is a basis for ontogenesis, adaptation and evolution. Thus, the total “true” genome is a superposition of contradictory arrangements, which generate one single arrangement at a concrete moment of time. The pool of mobile genetic elements expands the combinatorial capacity of the genome by many times. An ambiguity in meaning is analogous to the quantum uncertainty principle in which it is impossible to define strictly the position and impulse of a particle simultaneously, or to fix certain energy in a very short period of time necessary for its registration. The question of a minimal size of the autocatalytic self-reproducing system and its composition has been discussed in several works (Sharov, 2009; Steel et al., 2013). Self-reproduction itself is a creative process of placing text in text with following self-growing of this joint structure. Any evolutionary change also begins from the placing of “text into text”. This is possible because genome is structurally adapted for realization of such a non-trivial function. Moreover, even a point mutation or deletion may be considered as generative if it is placed in the repeated (e.g., diploid) structure. The doubling is a premise of metasystem transition, which includes duplication of the original system and the establishment of control over multiple copies (Turchin, 1977). The evolutionary significance of gene duplication was considered by Ohno (1970) as a premise of neofunctionalization. The advantage of sexual reproduction is in the casual combinatorial generating of new statements from two separate texts that can acquire meanings, thus it resists evolutionary degradation. It becomes a prerequisite for growing of information and complexity (Igamberdiev, 2014). The combinatorial interaction of heterochronic texts generates a new system in which the internal time is rescaled in a new way that generally cannot be forecasted. The heterochronic duplication (via hybridization of temporally different organisms) generates more possibilities for the metasystem transition. Thus, the incompleteness of embedded set of symbols is the formal cause of evolution. The physical representation of this incompleteness is a quantum uncertainty in the course of measurement (Matsuno, 1992). It spans from the level of elementary particles to biological evolution and to the phenomenon of free will and consciousness. Growth of Information in the Expanding Universe The growth of information that we discuss here mainly in relation to biological evolution is relevant also to the physical space-time scales. The self-growing principle of quantum measurement has a property of intrinsic expansion of the informational field. The relationship between observable nature and a hidden “potential” nature is modeled, according to Kineman (2010), as an imaginary space-time domain geometrically represented as radial “Minkowski-space”. Despite of the fact that local space and time are normally represented as real numbers, the general relationship in this geometry is hyperbolic in accordance with the special theory of relativity. When mapped as a radial geometry, the space-time is seen to be intrinsically dynamic (expanding) and self-similar across all scales. The geometry has the properties of early and present acceleration. This representation eliminates the “light cone” and thus all regions in this model are the domains of existence and are observable over time. Nevertheless a domain of general, non-local reality is represented in the imaginary axes that exist simultaneously with measurable, local domains. The Universe in the concept of Kineman (2010) consists of the units called “holons”, which vaguely correspond to Leibniz’s monads. They possess simultaneous properties of location and non-location, as a point of non-differentiated whole appearing in a subject-object relation. The Everett’s interpretation of quantum mechanics works in these isolated domains but not between the domains, the same idea has been suggested by Matsuno (2012) for the individual biological systems taken as separate domains. The reality of superposition of the wave function is limited by the single monad and does not expand outside it, and in this sense monads do not have windows as originally proposed by Leibniz. Conclusion The growth of information is the basic property of evolving systems and it follows from the interaction between non-local and local domains in the course of internal quantum measurements. The internal measurement leads to an iterative recursive process which appears as evolution of the combined system containing the measuring device and the measured object. The system through measurement acquires the property of expansion, which is seen in biological evolution, social development, and at cosmic scales as expansion of the Universe. References Briegel, H.J.; Browne, D.E.; Dur, W.; Raussendorf, R.; Van den Nest, M. Measurement-based quantum computation. Nature Physics 2009, 5, 19-26. Eigen, M.; Schuster, P. The Hypercycle: A Principle of Natural Self-Organization. Springer, Berlin, 1979. Igamberdiev, A.U. Quantum mechanical properties of biosystems: A framework for complexity, structural stability and transformations. Biosystems 1993, 31, 65‐ Igamberdiev, A.U. Foundations of metabolic organization: coherence as a basis of computational properties in metabolic networks. Biosystems 1999, 50, 1-16. Igamberdiev, A.U. Quantum computation, non-demolition measurements, and reflective control in living systems. Biosystems 2004, 77, 47–56. Igamberdiev, A.U. Physical limits of computation and emergence of life. Biosystems 2007, 90, 340–349. Igamberdiev, A.U. Time rescaling and pattern formation in biological evolution. Biosystems 2014, 123, 19-26. Isalan, M. Gene networks and liar paradoxes. Bioessays 2009, 31, 1110-1115. Letelier, J.C.; Cárdenas, M.L.; Cornish-Bowden, A. From L'Homme Machine to metabolic closure: steps towards understanding life. Journal of Theoretical Biology 2011, 286, 100-113. Matsuno, K. The uncertainty principle as an evolutionary engine. Biosystems 1991, 27, 63-76. Matsuno, K. Quantum and biological computation. Biosystems 1995, 35, 209-212. Matsuno, K. Chemical evolution as a concrete scheme for naturalizing the relative-state of quantum mechanics. Biosystems 2012, 109, 159-168. Kineman, J.J. Relational self-similar space-time cosmology revisited. Proceedings of the 54th Meeting of the International Society for System Sciences. Waterloo, Canada, 2010. Ohno, S. Evolution by Gene Duplication. Springer, New York, 1970. Pattee, H.H. The physics of symbols: bridging the epistemic cut. Biosystems 2001, 60, 5-21. Sharov, A.A., 2009. Coenzyme autocatalytic network on the surface of oil microspheres as a model for the origin of life. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2009, 10, 1838-1852. Steel, M.; Hordijk, W.; Smith, J. Minimal autocatalytic networks. Journal of Theoretical Biology 2013, 332, 96-107. Turchin, V. Phenomenon of Science. Columbia University Press, New York, 1977.

ISIS Summit: The Information Society at the Crossroads•Jun 23, 2015•0 citations

Life and Quantum Biology, an Interdisciplinary Approach

A. Driessen

The rapidly increasing interest in the quantum properties of living matter stimulates a discussion of the fundamental properties of life as well as quantum mechanics. In this discussion often concepts are used that originate in philosophy and ask for a philosophical analysis. In the present work the classic philosophical tradition based on Aristotle and Aquinas is employed which surprisingly is able to shed light on important aspects. Especially one could mention the high degree of unity in living objects and the occurrence of thorough qualitative changes. The latter are outside the scope of classical physics where changes are restricted to geometrical rearrangement of microscopic particles. A challenging approach is used in the philosophical analysis as the empirical evidence is not taken from everyday life but from 20th century science (quantum mechanics) and recent results in the field of quantum biology. In the discussion it is argued that quantum entanglement is possibly related to the occurrence of life. Finally it is recommended that scientists and philosophers should be open for dialogue that could enrich both. Scientists could redirect their investigation, as paradigm shifts like the one originating from philosophical evaluation of quantum mechanics give new insight about the relation between the whole en the parts. Whereas philosophers could use scientific results as a consistency check for their philosophical framework for understanding reality.

arXiv:1109.2584•Acta Philosophica: rivista internazionale di filosofia•Sep 12, 2011•3 citations

Of Blind Men and an Elephant: The Schism of Physics and Philosophy and Non-Empirical Validation

Daniel F. Young

Great revolutions in the study of nature in the past century have brought forth an onslaught of philosophical complications to the clarity of the classical perspective to which natural science was espoused prior to the twentieth century. The objective, intuitive principles by which we determined the reality of the world were beset by the ontological implications that flowed out of quantum mechanics and relativistic law. Wary of philosophical problems, a great number of the physical sciences lodge themselves in the comfort of empirical dogmatism as its only means of progression. But in light of the success of quantum systems, the ambiguity that buds must be taken into greater consideration. This paper discusses the background, development, objections, and interpretations of quantum mechanics and concurrent ontological premises to argue that such a philosophical tenet is inherent to nature, and, as such, is capable of producing results and predictions consistent with its physical and mathematical counterparts. To do so, the properties of measurement and the premises of causality are treated in terms of their physical terminology and foundations. The frameworks of Carroll, Everett, Heisenberg, Popper, and others analyze established interpretations and abstractions of quantum mechanics; its ties to the metaphysical and ontological descriptions of an existing entity are explored by means of the contrived spacetime allegory, which in principle determines the parameters that bound real systems. It is evident that ontological accounts for physical phenomena are not only viable and admissible but are necessary as our ability to describe the universe surpasses our ability to test and quantify these descriptions. These realizations allow us to better understand our world and move beyond empirical data when it is technologically unattainable, enabling us to build on statistical bases and approach the structure of realism through its essence of ambiguity.

•Jan 1, 2020•0 citations
The original proposal of H. H. CitationPattee (1971) of basing quantum theoretical measurement theory on the theory of the origin of life, and its far reaching consequences, is discussed in the light of a recently emerging biological paradigm of internal measurement. It is established that the “measurement problem” of quantum physics can, in principle, be traced back to the internal material constraints of the biological organisms, where choice is a fundamental attribute of the self-measurement of matter. In this light, which is shown to be a consequence of Pattee's original suggestion, it is proposed that biological evolution is a gradual liberation from the inert unity of “subject” and “object” of inanimate matter (as “natural law” and “initial conditions”), to a split biological existence of them and, as a consequence, the “message of evolution” is freedom, rather than complexity in itself. Some classical philosophical systems are brought into context to show that the epistemologies of several strictly philosophical systems of the social sciences are well acquainted with the problem and their solutions support our conclusions.
In glaring contrast to its indisputable century-old experimental success, the ultimate objects and meaning of quantum physics remain a matter of vigorous debate among physicists and philosophers of science. This article attempts to shed new light on the debate. It relies upon two comments by Albert Einstein on his general approach to physical theories. I draw their consequences for the definition of a physical theory's ontology, and next for the ontology of quantum physics - i.e. what it may ultimately be about. The quantum ontology thus derived appears to be strictly limited to evolving experimental contexts and instantaneous measurement outcomes, which are to be understood, respectively, as mere potential measurement outcomes and actual ones. The notions of material body in particular and physical system in general are absent from this ontology, hence the vanishing of Schroedinger's cat and EPR paradoxes, as well as of the quantum measurement problem. Apart from its ability to clear up well-known conundrums, this ontology reveals what quantum physics may fundamentally be - i.e. its possible ultimate meaning - namely a theory of general relativity of experimental context. On this basis, I conclude with a new conception of objectivity in the sciences of nature.
The symbol-matter problem of biological systems, posed clearly by H. H. Pattee, is followed up to its origin in a quantum mechanical framework. The two complementer descriptional mode (i.e. dynamical versus symbolic or quantum mechanical versus ''classical'') are defined as connected in a Copenhagen–type quasiclassical (h → 0) dynamics (internal time-dependent discrete projection operator formalism). The concept of natural symbol as constraint is described in the form of a quasiclassical wavefunction with classical measurement records as variables while the basic projectors are defined as a quasiclassical dynamical "bra" Hilbert vector acting on a quantum dynamical "ket" vector. The origin problem is touched necessarily upon, as a split between measurement record (so its quasiclassical wavefunction, natural symbol) and the quantum mechanical dynamical wavefunction. The concept of symmetry-restoring internal time process is introduced, following from compelling internal retrocausality of a time evolution (advocated several times elsewhere). While adopting basically the Copenhagen view, using some ideas of Everett and other aspects of non–orthodox formulations of quantum measurement, it is shown that the necessary imbedding of internal (-τ) time evolution into the split off external (+t) one and internal time ’’quantizations’’ (leading to a discrete total semigroup) results in a converging chain of quantum internal measurement transitions, similar to those introduced by H. P. Stapp in his symbolic (human mind-) model, ultimately leading to a model of an elementary, very special self-reproducing quantum automata, where the state transition functions are internally determined (programmed) from the very origin of their emergence. It is shown that only off-diagonal statistical matrix elements are to be used in the internal projectionally evoluting time–series (metabolism), ’’self’’-reproduction (diagonality) being the fixed point of the recursion of the internal state transitions of the proposed quantum mechanical automata model (’’metaphor’’).
The Heisenberg–James–Stapp (quantum mechanical) mind model is surveyed and criticized briefly. The criticism points out that the model, while being essentially consistent concerning (human) consciousness, fundamentally lacks the evolutional point of view both onto- and phylogenetically. Ethology and other than Jamesian psychology is quoted and a quantum mechanical theoretical scheme is suggested to essentially extend Stapp’s frame in an evolutionary context. It is proposed that its central supposition, spontaneous quantum measurement can be better utilized in an investigation of the origin of the “subjective” process, having come about concomitantly with the chemistry of the origin of life. We dwell on its applicability at this latter process, at its heart standing, it is supposed, the endophysical nonlinear “self-measurement” of (quantum mechanically describable) matter, and so our investigation is extended to this primeval phenomenon. It is suggested that the life phenomenon is an indirect C* → (W*) → C* quantum algebraic process transition, where the (W*) system would represent the living state. Summarized also are our previous results on an internalized, “reversed”, time process, introduced originally by Gunji, which is subordinated to the external “forwards” time evolution, driving towards symmetry by gradual space-mappings, where the original splitting-up must have come about in a spontaneous symmetry breaking nonlinear “self-measurement” of matter in an endophysical World.
Introduction In the processes of adaptation, development and evolution, living systems interpret themselves in the environment resulting in changes of both. This leads to the growth of information via rescaling of internal time (heterochrony) followed by spatial reconstructions of morphology (heterotopy). The growth of information is based on perpetual changes in its interpretation in the changing world. Biological evolution involves the anticipatory epigenetic changes in interpretation of the genetic information which cannot be generally forecasted but can provide canalization of structural changes defined by the existing organization leading to predictable patterns of form generation. Social evolution is accompanied by unprecedented growth of the informational field that leads to progressive development of human society. In modern theoretical biology, the internal measurement concept was suggested as a background for explanation of the phenomenon of life (Matsuno, 1995). The quantum measurement represents the action of a measuring device on the measured system. The quantum measurement is an irreversible phenomenon exhibiting itself as a reduction of the potential field. It has also a relation to the irreversibility of time (Igamberdiev, 1993). The collapse of wave function is not equivalent to time until it does not generate a measurable duration, but when its pattern is repeated consistently, the clock can be set, and the system becomes organized in time. When the measuring device is a part of measured system, the measurement proceeds internally in relation to the whole system and the latter becomes more complex as a result of measurement itself. The aim of this study is to discuss the role of internal measurement in the growth of information in evolving systems. This can refer to biological evolution, social evolution, and as well to the cosmic evolution, which is represented in the phenomenon of expansion of the Universe. Internal Measurement and the Generation of New Information The internal measurement leads to an iterative recursive process which appears as the development and evolution of the combined system containing the measuring device and the measured object. The quantum measuring device can be organized in such way that it “encodes” the system in the course of interaction with the measured object, and makes it possible for the measurement to proceed in a regular way. In this case, such system can memorize the evolutionary complication of organization in a digital information-bearing subsystem and evolve further; in other words it contains an internal description memorizing the result of measurement. The logical precondition of the growth of information in this evolving process is the incompleteness of biosystem’s internal description, while the physical precondition is the uncertainty of quantum measurement. The evolutionary increase of complexity becomes possible when genotype appears as a system distinct from phenotype and is embedded into it, which separates energy-degenerate rate-independent genetic symbols from the rate-dependent dynamics of construction that they control (Pattee, 2001). Evolutionary growth of information becomes its own cause, a universal property of our world. The growth of information accompanies the appearance of measurable time that occurs in the systems performing quantum measurements in a regular way, with low dissipation of energy (Igamberdiev, 1993, 2004). These systems are modelled as hypercycles and can be defined as structures in which the subset of a substrate set of the catalytic system happens to be the matrix for generating and reproducing the set of catalysts itself (Igamberdiev, 1999). This definition keeps the main features of the original notion of hypercycle given by Eigen and Schuster (1979). The hypercyclic system is closed in the way that all of the catalysts needed for an organism to stay alive (representing an efficient causation according to Aristotle and forming organism’s spatiotemporal structure) must be produced by the organism itself, only relying on matter and energy from the outside (Letelier et al., 2011). When hypercycles appear in evolution, time becomes an independent measurable variable due to the internal reproducible changes. Hypercycle organizes irreversibility of quantum measurement into a measurable duration. Eigen’s hypercycle is a formalized representation of the autopoietic system of Maturana and Varela or Rosen’s (M,R) system (Leteiler et al., 2011). The system becomes an internal autonomous clock that distinguishes the past (memory), the present (life), and the future (anticipation based on the reproducible model), so the modeling, logic and digital information growth become possible within the system (Rosen, 1985). The hypercycle having own embedded description, becomes a structure that realizes computation in accordance with its internal logic defined by the embedded description. The latter has the property of incompleteness which is reflected in the fact that quantum correlations of the states of the system are associated with undecidable logic theories, i.e., they can potentially generate the statements not defined within the system. The undecidability can be interpreted in the sense similar to the Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, meaning that there exist propositions, expressible in the formal logic, which cannot be proven or disproven (Briegel et al., 2009). These propositions become the grounds of expansion of the system and its informational growth. From the quantum mechanical point of view, the emergence of a new statement results in acquiring a new error-correction meaning to support the internal quantum state (IQS) (Igamberdiev, 2004, 2007). The IQS keeps the system organizationally invariant. It is supported by the set of error-correcting commands that aim to keep IQS free from external demolitions. The error-correction information becomes an important part of the whole informational field. A new statement makes the system more complex (it leads to an increase of its informational content), with its all spatiotemporal organizational invariance be rescaled. In the course of evolution, an available element of a formal system (similarly to a word when used as a metaphor) can acquire another (in addition to already existing) value that contributes to formation of a new level of organization in the system. The logical basis of this action is the incompleteness of the existing formal system that allows assigning arbitrary values to the statements non-provable within that system, while the physical basis is the quantum uncertainty arising in quantum measurement. A new statement can arise from existing elements by acquiring the double function, however, for fixation of this new statement via expansion of existing formal system, some informational redundancy of the system is needed, which can be achieved by multiplication of some of its elements. Genome is a system which possesses an internal complementarity between the linear texts and their superposition. Relevantly to this, complementarity means that text and hypertext cannot be viewed at the same moment: they should be separated by a time interval. It is an example of uncertainty between the system and its embedding. Overlapping genes, alternatively splicing sequences, RNA and DNA editing, introns, and recombination according to molecular addresses are the features of this hypertext generating a potentially infinite number of language games. Genome as a complete language exists as a complementary set of its alternative combinations resulting in logical paradoxes which determine its temporal dynamics (Isalan, 2009). This superposition is a basis for ontogenesis, adaptation and evolution. Thus, the total “true” genome is a superposition of contradictory arrangements, which generate one single arrangement at a concrete moment of time. The pool of mobile genetic elements expands the combinatorial capacity of the genome by many times. An ambiguity in meaning is analogous to the quantum uncertainty principle in which it is impossible to define strictly the position and impulse of a particle simultaneously, or to fix certain energy in a very short period of time necessary for its registration. The question of a minimal size of the autocatalytic self-reproducing system and its composition has been discussed in several works (Sharov, 2009; Steel et al., 2013). Self-reproduction itself is a creative process of placing text in text with following self-growing of this joint structure. Any evolutionary change also begins from the placing of “text into text”. This is possible because genome is structurally adapted for realization of such a non-trivial function. Moreover, even a point mutation or deletion may be considered as generative if it is placed in the repeated (e.g., diploid) structure. The doubling is a premise of metasystem transition, which includes duplication of the original system and the establishment of control over multiple copies (Turchin, 1977). The evolutionary significance of gene duplication was considered by Ohno (1970) as a premise of neofunctionalization. The advantage of sexual reproduction is in the casual combinatorial generating of new statements from two separate texts that can acquire meanings, thus it resists evolutionary degradation. It becomes a prerequisite for growing of information and complexity (Igamberdiev, 2014). The combinatorial interaction of heterochronic texts generates a new system in which the internal time is rescaled in a new way that generally cannot be forecasted. The heterochronic duplication (via hybridization of temporally different organisms) generates more possibilities for the metasystem transition. Thus, the incompleteness of embedded set of symbols is the formal cause of evolution. The physical representation of this incompleteness is a quantum uncertainty in the course of measurement (Matsuno, 1992). It spans from the level of elementary particles to biological evolution and to the phenomenon of free will and consciousness. Growth of Information in the Expanding Universe The growth of information that we discuss here mainly in relation to biological evolution is relevant also to the physical space-time scales. The self-growing principle of quantum measurement has a property of intrinsic expansion of the informational field. The relationship between observable nature and a hidden “potential” nature is modeled, according to Kineman (2010), as an imaginary space-time domain geometrically represented as radial “Minkowski-space”. Despite of the fact that local space and time are normally represented as real numbers, the general relationship in this geometry is hyperbolic in accordance with the special theory of relativity. When mapped as a radial geometry, the space-time is seen to be intrinsically dynamic (expanding) and self-similar across all scales. The geometry has the properties of early and present acceleration. This representation eliminates the “light cone” and thus all regions in this model are the domains of existence and are observable over time. Nevertheless a domain of general, non-local reality is represented in the imaginary axes that exist simultaneously with measurable, local domains. The Universe in the concept of Kineman (2010) consists of the units called “holons”, which vaguely correspond to Leibniz’s monads. They possess simultaneous properties of location and non-location, as a point of non-differentiated whole appearing in a subject-object relation. The Everett’s interpretation of quantum mechanics works in these isolated domains but not between the domains, the same idea has been suggested by Matsuno (2012) for the individual biological systems taken as separate domains. The reality of superposition of the wave function is limited by the single monad and does not expand outside it, and in this sense monads do not have windows as originally proposed by Leibniz. Conclusion The growth of information is the basic property of evolving systems and it follows from the interaction between non-local and local domains in the course of internal quantum measurements. The internal measurement leads to an iterative recursive process which appears as evolution of the combined system containing the measuring device and the measured object. The system through measurement acquires the property of expansion, which is seen in biological evolution, social development, and at cosmic scales as expansion of the Universe. References Briegel, H.J.; Browne, D.E.; Dur, W.; Raussendorf, R.; Van den Nest, M. Measurement-based quantum computation. Nature Physics 2009, 5, 19-26. Eigen, M.; Schuster, P. The Hypercycle: A Principle of Natural Self-Organization. Springer, Berlin, 1979. Igamberdiev, A.U. Quantum mechanical properties of biosystems: A framework for complexity, structural stability and transformations. Biosystems 1993, 31, 65‐ Igamberdiev, A.U. Foundations of metabolic organization: coherence as a basis of computational properties in metabolic networks. Biosystems 1999, 50, 1-16. Igamberdiev, A.U. Quantum computation, non-demolition measurements, and reflective control in living systems. Biosystems 2004, 77, 47–56. Igamberdiev, A.U. Physical limits of computation and emergence of life. Biosystems 2007, 90, 340–349. Igamberdiev, A.U. Time rescaling and pattern formation in biological evolution. Biosystems 2014, 123, 19-26. Isalan, M. Gene networks and liar paradoxes. Bioessays 2009, 31, 1110-1115. Letelier, J.C.; Cárdenas, M.L.; Cornish-Bowden, A. From L'Homme Machine to metabolic closure: steps towards understanding life. Journal of Theoretical Biology 2011, 286, 100-113. Matsuno, K. The uncertainty principle as an evolutionary engine. Biosystems 1991, 27, 63-76. Matsuno, K. Quantum and biological computation. Biosystems 1995, 35, 209-212. Matsuno, K. Chemical evolution as a concrete scheme for naturalizing the relative-state of quantum mechanics. Biosystems 2012, 109, 159-168. Kineman, J.J. Relational self-similar space-time cosmology revisited. Proceedings of the 54th Meeting of the International Society for System Sciences. Waterloo, Canada, 2010. Ohno, S. Evolution by Gene Duplication. Springer, New York, 1970. Pattee, H.H. The physics of symbols: bridging the epistemic cut. Biosystems 2001, 60, 5-21. Sharov, A.A., 2009. Coenzyme autocatalytic network on the surface of oil microspheres as a model for the origin of life. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2009, 10, 1838-1852. Steel, M.; Hordijk, W.; Smith, J. Minimal autocatalytic networks. Journal of Theoretical Biology 2013, 332, 96-107. Turchin, V. Phenomenon of Science. Columbia University Press, New York, 1977.
The rapidly increasing interest in the quantum properties of living matter stimulates a discussion of the fundamental properties of life as well as quantum mechanics. In this discussion often concepts are used that originate in philosophy and ask for a philosophical analysis. In the present work the classic philosophical tradition based on Aristotle and Aquinas is employed which surprisingly is able to shed light on important aspects. Especially one could mention the high degree of unity in living objects and the occurrence of thorough qualitative changes. The latter are outside the scope of classical physics where changes are restricted to geometrical rearrangement of microscopic particles. A challenging approach is used in the philosophical analysis as the empirical evidence is not taken from everyday life but from 20th century science (quantum mechanics) and recent results in the field of quantum biology. In the discussion it is argued that quantum entanglement is possibly related to the occurrence of life. Finally it is recommended that scientists and philosophers should be open for dialogue that could enrich both. Scientists could redirect their investigation, as paradigm shifts like the one originating from philosophical evaluation of quantum mechanics give new insight about the relation between the whole en the parts. Whereas philosophers could use scientific results as a consistency check for their philosophical framework for understanding reality.
Great revolutions in the study of nature in the past century have brought forth an onslaught of philosophical complications to the clarity of the classical perspective to which natural science was espoused prior to the twentieth century. The objective, intuitive principles by which we determined the reality of the world were beset by the ontological implications that flowed out of quantum mechanics and relativistic law. Wary of philosophical problems, a great number of the physical sciences lodge themselves in the comfort of empirical dogmatism as its only means of progression. But in light of the success of quantum systems, the ambiguity that buds must be taken into greater consideration. This paper discusses the background, development, objections, and interpretations of quantum mechanics and concurrent ontological premises to argue that such a philosophical tenet is inherent to nature, and, as such, is capable of producing results and predictions consistent with its physical and mathematical counterparts. To do so, the properties of measurement and the premises of causality are treated in terms of their physical terminology and foundations. The frameworks of Carroll, Everett, Heisenberg, Popper, and others analyze established interpretations and abstractions of quantum mechanics; its ties to the metaphysical and ontological descriptions of an existing entity are explored by means of the contrived spacetime allegory, which in principle determines the parameters that bound real systems. It is evident that ontological accounts for physical phenomena are not only viable and admissible but are necessary as our ability to describe the universe surpasses our ability to test and quantify these descriptions. These realizations allow us to better understand our world and move beyond empirical data when it is technologically unattainable, enabling us to build on statistical bases and approach the structure of realism through its essence of ambiguity.