* P L E N I T U D E * a n d * U N I V E R S E *
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by: J. A. Mikes
In recent speculations the question of the 'breeding system' is freely addressed, to replace those of Fred Hoyle and others, like the harmonic-oscillator, the 'ever and forever existing', the infinitely expanding... etc. phantasy - universes. They leave the main question open, anyway, just extend it to the 'beginning' of any such system.
Recently the theory of "plenitude" has been revived in quite esoteric terms among the younger generation of post-quantum, (post-modern) physicists: a zero-sum and zero-information system of including, however, inseparably, all and any information, together with infinite number and quality of universes embedded (a new "Multiverse" view).
Not much has been said about characterizing the plenitude, not in many words. We have no excess to observational information beyond the physical boundaries of our universe, so all that is speculative. We use principles existing in our cognition, which - for sure - are insufficient to study the "beyond", draw conclusions within a human logic, - ditto - express all that in human language, which did not develop the symbols and words for "those" concepts and circumstances that may be. The only control we have in separating an entertaining science fiction from speculations within a rather scientific metaphysics is the conclusion: does it help in a reasonable explanation of our open problems? (- again: within our human considerations -).
So far the 'public' part. Less public is the hideous nature of 'physical concepts'. We got used to them in unconditional learning, through the narcotics of matching calculations, stories of experiments done by "trustworthy" scientists in the past and their theoretical explanations, mostly in form of the *(=)* sign in equations. Most of such experiments were theory-laden and driven: to justify earlier conclusions. Instruments, experimental scaling and adjustments (omissions?) were fit into the edifice of the physical sciences, without questioning the axioms, or harder questions, like: where did energy come from?" or "what IS it anyway? - especially: in a fixed amount?" or: "why is entropy growing", "are there atoms, or photons indeed, and how come they 'move' - e.g. photons running with light speed, ceaselessly and forever?" In the view of past millennia-long observations and their (ever changing) explanations they were considered as "givens of nature" - and duly accepted.
QM addressed some of such questions (in cases only phenomenologically though) and replied: there are paradoxes (some called complementarity) and 'we can live with them'.
Then again came genetical, biological and neurological advancement, all recycled into physical science - leaving the "somehow" open in a selective (see below) evolutionary view.
In PART - I, we will try to look at the 'broader' evolution, in Part - II we will try to see, what we may say about some of our physical concepts - if anything in the plenitude-view.
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To introduce a broader, new view of evolution, we have to review briefly the new idea of natural existence, the "Plenitude", then derive from it (briefly) the systems view of universes, ours and others in the Multiverse, to see them as a timeless fulguration in the plenitude (as seen from the plenitude-aspect), which, however, turns into a universe as seen from the inside of it, from within, in 'our' view. This aspect develops by 'observables' - complexities - into a system of a physical existence, with complexification into what we call 'life' - viewed in a projection into time and space by causality, both the tectology (buildup process of complexities) and the dissipation of such (completing the fulguration of the bang back into the dynamic invariance - as from the 'plenitude-view'). This history is the evolution. Charles Darwin discovered one segment of it: the buildup side of the terrestrial genetics.
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Our world (universe) is a system of complexities, which are the 'observables' of a symmetry break as differentiations in the invariance, in the invariant continuum of the plenitude. They complexify (turn into features) and re-dissipate into the infinite dynamic symmetry within the course of the process, called a (momentary) "bang" in the plenitude, and called (time-projected, as complexities) in the universe: the "evolution". The starting point in all of our considerations: it is the BRAKE and RESTORATION of the symmetry, rather than speculating about "what is the symmetry made of". Speculation about "the origin" of a hypothetical (explanatory) system is distant from any consideration that may want to claim scientific character in its conclusions at all, and has to be left untouched. According to the reader's mindset or taste, such further (distant) 'origin' can be a view as of the unlimited, or the infinite, or of a Creator, (who 'lived' forever in the infinite) or just about the big turtle. We do not go into this here, or anywhere else.
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'Substrate' to the 'process' is beyond our comprehension, maybe even postulating such is an anthropo-centric/morphic error. A suitable circumlocution may call 'substrate' an information, in a sense that it stands for "acknowledged differences" --- with arising questions, like:
We cannot assign a 'time factor' or a 'space factor' within the plenitude, nor does a 'causal view' fit in, since all of these would break the total and overall dyanmic symmetry of infinite variations (at least in their own aspects). The total invariance consists of a dynamics of variations - of interactions - "regarding all and any aspects", so that the process - in its timeless and spaceless continuum, can not show fixed, i.e. stationary features, the ones ready for an observation. A (timeless) 'causality' would also be just fictitious and unreal in the overall dynamics of change.
However... (but this is the story of the (big) bangs, - next).
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Such groupings (i.e. islands of an unusual quality) are exceptional in the overall invariance and dissipate back into it - whenever and however - they formed in the ceaseless fluctuation of the plenitude-groupings. They represent a peculiar state in the plenitude while in their fulguration, - (in their momentary existence).This was in the plenitude-view.
An assemblage of such 'identicals' develops a pattern in their 'inside', a complexity of character, a feature of discernible characteristics. We have to emphasize the view so different from its aspect: Looking from within the bulk of the plenitude (see above): the view is but a fulguration of changing associations, but looking from the inside of the island it is some observable "system" of complexity. From 'within' it is a world of its own.
We want to call such "island behavior" a BANG. The island itself: a UNIVERSE.
Let us go through some consideration about the 'bang-islands', (or: universes), especially with the happenings INSIDE the fulgurational grouping of components consisting of mostly matching characteristics. The reason for doing so is one particular such occurrence, which has been lately referred to in astrophysical cosmology as (our own) "Big Bang": the origination of the universe we inhabit, the only one we can (physically) observe - for now.
At the present level our of epistemic evolution we have no means to gather information about other universes: they are closed to our observational skills. We have no reason to assume that only "our type" of a universe may occur in the infinite variations of the plenitude, characteristics of the diverse universes may be unlimitedly different, "physical" systems (if we venture to apply this expression to 'them') of a variability exceeding for sure the most extreme, fantastic sci-fi.
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Complexity increases/decreases both in the extention (material) and time (movement), just as in the domain of ideation (sensitivity-thought), also with time 'assigned' as a working attribute.
Observers? the word may superficially point to the 'scientist', reading her instrument, but in fact ANY entity, any feature, absorbing information (and responding to it) IS an 'observer', ( at its own level of complexity) just as much as at our level the so called (human) consciousness.
In our anthropomorphic capabilities we need stationary patterns to observe, timed in congruence with the neuronal timing - the tool of material sensitivity, or, in a more speculative sense, mentally 'stationary' compositions for the thought. In fact (and generalization) nature is observer herself, sensing, responding to information.
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In our 'insider' bang-view of our universe, however, the same process is projected into a timed, spatially extended causal history, proceeding through stages of complexification and also the decomplexification, from a "(zero)starting point" to the "(zero) end point" including all the history of the universe. In the sense of the invariant change in nature the ups and downs are concurrent. In an insider (causal) sequence, however, we observe the processes as 'ordered', according to their character. As said: from the simple, to the complex, to the simple.
We have no way to decide at which stage of such history are we observing the universe NOW, at the stage of our "present" as we call it. We can identify 'levels' of complexities, some building up, some falling apart, others changing with questionable consequence. We can speculate about an explanation of the observed phenomena and interpret the findings with uncertainty.
The religious (mystical) view considered it all as one unit, created as such and serving some supernatural goal. This satisfied the eras of the non-skeptical minds. Then: the the "speculative" arose with growing skepticism. This is, when reductionist science came to the rescue: by chopping off the 'total' into layers, (strata?) and selecting the fragments as substantial units for studying, so components of lesser complexity could be identified and studied, all the way to a simplicity of ease or to axioms, studied no further.
The static view, both the mystical and the scientific, was ingeniously extended into a dynamic study in one segment: in the terrestrial biology by Charles Darwin, looking into the genetic process of the 'buildup side' of 'living' creatures in the carbon-water biospheric life. At his time this was exceptional, although not entirely outstanding: the Zeitgeist of science, the evolution of thinking came up close to develop such sentiments. In the subsequent time the Zeitgeist evolved further: now we have more holistic views and try to generalize the findings comprehensively into all of the domains we know of. In this respect the 'genetic' process is extended into 'inanimate' domains, as in cosmology to start with the "singularity" at the Big Bang and evolving into our universe with its physical system (and derivatives in other sciences). In the thought domain a growing sophistication had been observed - we rather call it evolution of the sensitivity, as said: observable all the way from (physical) particles and molecules into bio-molecules, through the living cell reactions,into animal (CNS) responses, to our consciousness and abstraction....(and further?)
We may still miss other domains, our epistemic evolution is far from a completion.
All this is at the complexification side of the bang-fulguration - expanded into details by temporal/spatial extension and chapters of consecutive (inside) occurrence. However: How about the dissipation, an equal component-part of the fulguration? It is there, all right. Science did not concentrate on its special study, but certain phenomena came forward - if not always characterized as such. In matterly studies we should mention the (mysterious = not yet solved) problem of the black holes. There may be other dissipative factors not yet systematically handled: the riddle of infiniteness in the universe, both in space (escaping our physical sensing) and in time (escaping our mental access).
In life sciences we are less developed: "death" has been poorly studied as part of the life-process, as the dissipative angle of the biological complexification. Death is the black hole of thought (maybe among others). It is a substantial part of biology and genetics, so far left out from a Darwinian based view of the "up"-evolution.
In our history of the "Big Bang" as extended/projected into temporal-spatial view, the dissipative angle is represented as an equal opportunity partner, in parallel with all the complexification - we just have to pay attention to it.
This means: the "extended evolution" is the combined complexification/dissipation story of our universe, a "zero-sum" history of our world. We discovered so far certain dimensions of it, we may be up to further discoveries in the future. Our present state is somewhere within the story from start to end, it is our human cop-out to consider our stage as the top of evolutionary perfection (i.e. the complexity). We may well be replaced by more evolved features - before the fulguration smoothens back into the infinite symmetry (invariance) of the plenitude.
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The plenitude attitude (behavior) is also present within the bang-island, of course, effecting the activity (propensity) of a redistribution of the island-feature into the invariance of the "open" plenitude and affecting its history. All this is said still in the view FROM the plenitude.
In Part II we will try to apply the consequences of this view, in (and from) the inside of the universe. What kind of temporal - spatial attitude may we expect from the complexities in the insider aspect of our quasi-stationary - observable - physical system? How can we 'translate' the plenitude-features into a universe-view? Posing the question this way is circular: in fact the plenitude is featured upon our inside limited observation - and is humanly extrapolated into the unlimited. The circularity is: we deal with information and behavior within the bang, i.e. the universe, and we postulate such conclusions for the plenitude, mixing into the timeless/spaceless and ceaseless invariant interchange our finite bang-VIEW of the the bang's statically observable complexities from the space-time-causal world, our physical system. All we want to consider here is the evolution, the zero-sum history of the universe, from assemblage of the bang to its disassembling into the 'open' plenitude. In this context: the difficulty is, how can we assign (translate?) the observations within the physical system to the speculative plenitudinal features - or vice versa?
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A "view" is more than just "as the observer looks at it": the observer is anybody (in fact: anything) that accepts information and responds in any kind. (In the sense, as said above: an electron 'observes' a positive charge or a vacant position in an atomic system, an acidic molecule 'observes' an alkali, a paramecium 'observes' the environmental changes for the "4 Fs of biology", a more complex animal is 'conscious' with its observations.
Complexities, symmetry-breaks represent stress. Observable, stationary differences. They tend to eliminate their being different and 'join the team'. If there is a way, they dissipate into a more equilibrated environment. (Cf.: the diverse entropy-negentropy theories).
Translation: potential energy performs work (movement) to get into a stable state if there are 'fitting' circumstances for expending that energy. All in the projection of a physical environment, explained (quantitatively) in time, space, cause. Additional explanations followed: mass, inertia, - the system grew into concepts of diverse aspects and applications.
Maybe the quotes are incorrect, but the facts do match: the bang represented all the symmetry-break for the universe. The generated complexity IS the total of the universe, although the insider 'view' formulated it as the process of 'evolution' in time and in space - arranged in the projection as a sequence from "simple" to "complex" and back again to "simple. When the time-view considered the 'beginning', all the complexity was concentrated without any dilution into space - translated as a 'spot' of high high heat (energy) content. When space got included, it distributed the complexities into extension, with less of them occurring in one segment of the observation, i.e. less complexity (heat, energy) showed up in a partial view, while the time factor was running. The "inflation" of the universe in modern cosmology is a natural consequence, when we consider a 'no-space' system developing 'space'. The 'inside' view has yet to adjust to such simple explanations. Our views are still very scanty.
With the inclusion of space: the 'view' of certain complexities got 'extension', which is translated into matter. A valuation of the "level" of complexity, a term we are not familiar with yet, (although several identification have been proposed), showed up in the extension-angle as mass, a physical concept so hard to handle.
The Einsteinian equation shows clearly the "aspect-difference" in the view of the symmetry-break (energy) and its extensional projection (matter) connected by phenomena viewed in space-time combination (the speed-angle).
There are some results in the 'extensional' observations for the dissipation: black holes can be considered as a way of dissipating (matterly) complexities. Dealing with the energy is harder: an explanatory concept, indeed an 'effect' is harder to study experimentally, if not only in its consequences. Reductionist science even 'codified' the 'constancy' of energy in the universe, in the first law of thermodynamics. Then the second law addressed the inequities of 'working' and 'not working' aspects, earlier, in the first 'reading' dreaming up the (right?) image: the "heat-death", - (later abandoned) - a visionary translation for the return into the infinite invariance.
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