Ex:1. The Case for a Free Society

All along my journey in understanding Evolution, I have found myself sidetracked. Though in some sense, I believe that the subjects that sidetracked me have helped me further this understanding. There is something to be said for taking the long road to ones goal. More recently like so many others, it was the state of the economy and government which has sidetracked me. The concept of what Liberty truly means has introduced me to a philosophy of which I had always taken for granted. During this detour in my life I broaden what I already had an intuition for, and it subsequently taught me more about my own philosophy of the Dynamics in Evolution. For these reasons, I will plead my case for Evolution by pleading my case for a Free Society in my first example.

I'll begin by establishing the notion that Sovereign Nations are Evolutionary Systems. Do not mistake me for over generalizing what is a truly dynamic system. A Nation or Society is a collection of Evolutionary Subsystems. Meaning they all interact and influence one another accordingly. If we wish to understand a System fully, we would have to study it both from a macroscopic and microscopic point of view. For Instance, take a particular Subsystem of a System. To understand that particular Subsystem in full, we would have to understand how it reacts not only from the System from which it is contained in, but all other subsystems as well. This admittedly is a completely ludicrous undertaking. Alas we must simplify the problem enough to understand the basics of how a Evolutionary System is Dynamic. So while a Society may be a collection of Subsystems, we can begin by generalizing how Subsystems interact and exchange influence with their parent System, the Society. This will give us an understanding of how Subsystems interact and exchange influence between each other so that we may make more specific arguments in the future.

We must also establish what the source and type of energy that Societies utilize as an Evolutionary System. There are many, so we must isolate which best represent our argument. Currency is one form of energy in a society, but so is equity, securities and all other forms of monetary exchange. However our argument here is for a Free Society. Some may argue that money buys Freedom, I however do not believe that using money in this context of the argument is most suitable right now. If we were discussing Capitalism this may be a different story. A societies raw resources is another source of energy, but again this isn't the appropriate context. Resources may have more to do with how a society develops than how it is governed. Is governance a form of energy? Governance is not necessarily exchanged, but rather maintained. Governance is the ordered part of a Society in this context, so what is the exchange we are looking for?

The fact of the matter here is that there is no good conventional nomenclature for the representation of energy. I'd invite you to take a guess. Most of the time in passing conversation about this subject, I usually refer to this type of energy as Influence. While this sounds absurd or maybe too abstract, I did not come to that word so easily. In fact, most of the time when I talk about these ideas in conversation, I always tend to use the word Influence as a generalization, because it is anything but absurd. When we talk about a subsystem, in the environment of it's system, we talk about how it is influenced accordingly. How does the environment influence a system, or how does one system influence the next. So although there may be a better word for what I am arguing here, I will push forward to what I am used to, rather than make this post any longer than it has to be.

The last step is to pull it all together. To do this we will examine the argument from two perspectives. On one side of the argument, we will define the Evolutionary System to be society with a mostly centralized state with stringent boundary conditions. On the other side of the argument, we will consider a Society with a far less centralized state and more open boundary conditions. I have yet to explain how boundary conditions play a role with Evolutionary Systems, so consider this exercise and introduction to the topic.

With respect to the boundary conditions, the difference between the two societies is the flux of influence. For a centralized state to persist it must not allow outside influence to affect it's population. This says nothing for how it influences other systems in the same environment. When thinking about this, imagine a coffee mug, which is highly insulated. The temperature of the coffee inside tries to remain constant. If there was a magical internal source of heat which counteracted the heat lost through even these stringent boundary conditions (the insulation), then you would have the same type of system as we defined as the centralized state. The "magical heat source" being the centralized state in the society dictating how evenly distributed the influence (or heat) is throughout the system. So the boundary conditions tell us just how homogeneous the system will be, where more stringent boundary conditions give us a more homogeneous system than more open boundary conditions, which give us a more diverse system.

Just because a system is centralized, does not necessarily mean that it will forever be void of diversity. In fact, because of entropy a centralized state must forever combat natures tendency towards diversity. To do this, it's only option is to centralize itself even more. With each generation of the system, the state becomes more centralized and the tendency for more diversity are in constant competition. In other words, centralization of the state undermines itself. The more ordered a system is, the higher the probability of that system fracturing into smaller less centralized states. A real life example of this is the fact that there are more sovereign nations in the world today than there was fifty years ago. Fifty years ago, there were more sovereign nations than there was one hundred years ago. For some unknown reason, there is a common misconception that it is a natural tendency for the world to move towards more globalization, when in fact no where in the universe do we have multiple things spontaneous grouping themselves into one highly ordered system for any lengthy period. Even the most ordered structures in the Cosmos, black holes, deteriorate in time as they create the most entropy possible in their environment. Another example is this; In the first generation of automobiles, how many different choices did we have? One. In the second generation, what were our options? One brand, with a handful of color options. In the third generation, what did we have to choose from? Multiple brands with multiple colors. What do we have to choose from today? It is inevitable for any ordered system to breakdown into lesser ordered components. If you are a centralized state, then the faster to approach totalitarianism, the sooner you will undermine your efforts and fail.

On the other side of the argument we have our decentralized Society with open boundaries. It is interesting here to note that this side of the argument is the same as the centralized society which has recently failed. That is, when centralized societies fail, they reduce themselves into Free Societies. If they have not done this, then they have yet to fail. With open boundary conditions, a Free Society is allowed to feel the effects of the environment in which they exist. These effects influence the Society, and it adapts accordingly. Both good and bad are permitted through open boundaries. This both rewards and punishes the subsets of Society for all its doing. I say subsets of Society, because a Free Society is inherently a Diverse Society. A Diverse Society is an adaptable Society which will always reap the benefits of open boundary conditions.

The most efficient distribution of governance can be seen now in a Free Society. Again imagine the centralized state at the height of its existence. I have stated prior that it will always undermine itself and fail. The definition of failure is a reduction of the Society into many lesser centralized states. This creates a more diverse system, but it is the nature of the universe to exploit ordered systems until they pop into lesser ordered systems. This means that even lesser centralized states will inevitably undermine themselves and also fail. Every time this cycle completes a revolution (no pun intended), a centralized Society will be reduced into a more Free Society than what it was at the beginning of the previous cycle. This all happens because this is the effect that Entropy has on any System. It distributes governance to the most efficient distribution. With every cycle, Society learns little by little, that the most efficient distribution is the basic unit of Society. That basic unit is you.

The lesson of this is that anytime the universe throws you a problem, it is better to attack that problem from every possible vantage point than it is to make bets on any one centralized solution. The smartest person in the world may be able to guess weight of a man at the fair, but that person's guess will never be as good as the average of all the participants guesses. Until next time, safe travels.

3. Entropy, Energy and Diffusion

One of the arguments against evolution by those who don't wish to be labeled as monkeys is often the argument of entropy. More often you have to explain that you do not believe that human's are direct descendants of monkeys, than you have to explain the subtle nature of entropy. Though never in these arguments did I ever believe that I would be able to use their own argument against their point of view.

What most people know of entropy is a brash over generalization of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. "Things tend towards disorder, so how is it we could have highly ordered evolutionary structures in a universe which tends chaos?" To really understand this, you need to understand the fine print of the Law. Yes, systems tend towards disorder, but they also will order themselves if and only if they can create a higher amount of disorder from doing so. Moreover, the word disorder is not the proper nomenclature. Because a system which is ordered can breakdown into many ordered states, which is more disorder than what you started with. So with all semantics aside, what does this really have to do with evolution?

We can begin by assuming that entropy in an evolutionary system is the tendency towards diversity within a system. This is a direct analogue to what entropy is for a physical system, except we are missing the conduit for this type of exchange from order to disorder. In a physical system, diffusion is the definition for this exchange. Diffusion is the method for which energy is distributed throughout a physical system given some criteria. In an evolutionary system, diffusion also occurs, and the source and dispersion of energy is dictated by Entropy. Much like a physical system, energy in an evolutionary system must be distributed by the most efficient means possible.

The term energy has many faces. Thermal, electromagnetic, kinetic, gravitational, and on and on. How are we to understand which to use? This really depends on what we are studying. We would not use kinetic energy to describe a the flow of electrons in a circuit. So we must then define an exchange of energy in an evolutionary system. We could simply call it energy, but many smarter persons will confuse the definition with those that are given to us from physics. To find a suitable word, we must investigate further. What form of energy does an evolutionary system need to evolve?

Energy is really just a representation for something which is exchanged. Remember that in normal circumstances it is not created, nor destroyed but rather traded. In an evolutionary system, it is the same. Energy is needed for a system to order itself. Our sun is a great source of many different kinds of energy. Both gravitational and electromagnetic energy ordered our solar system to the point to where it could support life. In another case, our labor is energy. It is an exchange of our time, for some investment or collateral. With our labor we order our lives, upkeep our nests, save for our children's college tuition, which in turn is another investment. While these are rather abstract examples, they are examples none the less of what energy does. Evolutionary Systems need some form of energy to represent the exchange within itself and other influential systems. In the previous paragraph, I asked what form of energy does an evolutionary system need in order to evolve. If we are to make a generalized argument for evolution of any system, then we must have a generalized representation of energy. It really depends on what system you are studying. We really don't have any better word for the type of energy utilized by an evolutionary system than the word energy. Whenever I write a post and examine a particular system, I will plead my case for the type of energy associated with that system.

So an Evolutionary System is one with a degree of diversity within itself. That System is ordered by means of diffusion of energy. Ordering occurs according to the rule of entropy, where energy tends to be distributed throughout the system by the most efficient means.

For the next couple of posts I will focus on primarily examples of Systems. This will bring some of the language and ideas I'm using into focus for many of you. Until then, safe travels.

2. Evolutionary Systems

Throughout these posts I will be using the term "system" periodically. A definition of the word system is as such; A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole. This is not just a good definition for a word, but for an idea as well. Evolution is not something which only affects Biological Systems, but all systems of interrelated complex groupings. More importantly, no matter how unrelated one system is from the next, they evolve according to the same set of rules. This means that whether your system is biological, some social construct, or even an abstraction from society, it evolves.

Do you believe that all Human Beings are the same? Diversity within system brings about evolutionary changes. How can a steady state system ever evolve? The answer is simple, It can not. The very characteristic of a steady state system is that it does not change, that it is in fact at equilibrium. So an Evolutionary System must be a non-homogeneous system. Furthermore, if an Evolutionary System is non-homogeneous, then what system exists which does not evolve?

All systems have some degree of diversity. What makes this interesting is what governs that distribution of diversity. To answer this, we must understand why diversity is an integrable part of Evolution. Why must a system be diverse for it to evolve? While it is rather easy to say that reason being is that it is not a steady state system, no further argument can be made as to why. Diversity in a system represents the system's response to a given problem. The more diverse a system is, the more adaptable it is. This is not so much an argument for evolution, as it is an argument for basic survival. Now it can be said that the portions of a system which survive are the portions of a system in it's next evolutionary step. Still we are missing the trigger for which a system is forced to survive. So the diversity of a system is the potential for it evolve, given some triggering mechanism. This really is the long way of saying, Diversity in a system is the means of "Survival of the Fittest".

Another defining characteristic of a system is its population size. Without a given population size, diversity within a system is limited. What does this mean? As a population size grows, it allows for the existence of more diversity within a system. Furthermore, as a system's population grows to even higher degrees, the diversity within that system will bring about sub-systems. These sub-systems will be largely in part the same as it's parent system, except for some interrelated characteristics that it only shares with other members of the same sub-system. For example, the Human race is an evolutionary system which contains many sub-systems. Race, culture, preference in religion or politics. The members of all those sub-systems all have something in common. They are human. However, they have more in common with other members of their sub-system than they do with all members of their parent system. Let's take a look at another seemingly unrelated example. Ball-point pens, Felt-tip pens, pens with reservoirs are all sub-systems of Pens. Each has it's own solution to the same problem.

The next time you leave your house, or disconnect yourself from your cellphone, take a look around. Observe and define a grouping. Is it non-homogeneous (diverse)? Does it have a population size? If it's population size is small, how diverse is it? Is it contained in, or does it contain a sub-system?

Until next time, Safe Travels

1. An Introduction

What is evolution really? What do we know now? We have statistical evidence that suggests evolutionary process, but in the end the statistics can only describe the process in its current step. As many of us know, evolution is a process of many steps. I have in many ways devoted my life to understanding the Dynamics in Evolution. I want to know what truly governs this process from a more general view. What makes a system what it is? What predications can we make on a coming evolutionary step? Can a system be forced to evolve? I hope to answer many of these kinds of questions and establish a scientific method in proof of my claims. I will do this by observation, example, and what tools I have available from my knowledge of mathematics. It is my intent to explain the math I'll use to the best of my ability so even those without knowledge of the subject can remain involved in the arguments. This will be a journal of my observations.

I realize that this is an undertaking, one which I have already spent the better part of a decade pondering. While I realize that this format is not the best format in which too plead my case for Universal Evolution, I do believe it is a great place for me to start gathering my thoughts. Along the way, I will be adding some math to begin backing my ideas. However do not believe that what I am talking about here is scientific by any measure, because making it scientific is in fact my goal. I have spent much time tweaking my ideas, the philosophy, logic, but I can now start testing them with the tools mathematics has given me.

Please join me in an expression of introspection, I am almost certain you'll enjoy what I have to say. In my next post I will be discussing what I define as a system, so as to avoid arguing over semantics in the future. Until then, safe travels.