Wednesday 24 September 2008

Mutually exclusive!!!!

Threads that sparked these thoughts

- Using emergence to elucidate emergence. Thoughts emerging or thoughts about emergence.
- What powers the rise of emergent properties?


Incompatible tendencies, that each in itself exerts its influence on an object, a common object, to opposite directions, unreconciled? Yet, despite their incompatibility, they are reconciled (they are forced to?) and their net effect on the object combined. Potential for emergence and emergent states chaotically derived. A dynamic structure, a precarious one, is established. The combined state, fragile as is, possess properties that neither of the pre-existing states has, a direct consequence of the incompatibility intrinsic within. However, the newly emergent state is as stable as the conditions in the surrounding environment permit and it will remain as such as long as these conditions are at force.

If for any reason these conditions cease to be, then the antagonistic alliance ceases too, bringing about the collapse ... Collapse? Is there anything here apart from a tentative connection, an outcome out of the different meanings implied by the use of the word collapse? The word collapse connected with the wavefunction collapse of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics? Whereas in that particular case I refer to the collapse of the precarious combination of incompatible, mutually exclusive states? The collapse of the emergent state? Leave for later.

The incompatibility angle is evident in fundamental issues in nature. What comes out of Jonathan CW Edwards mention of

"Moreover, in an ontological analysis the wave and position must play quite different roles, an issue beyond the scope of this paper."

In an ontological approach, the wave and position, the quite different roles they play, point towards wave and position being incompatible, mutually exclusive providing the grounds for an understanding of the uncertainty principle?

What the uncertainty principle is all about? As it is mentioned in Wikipedia

"... the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that locating a particle in a small region of space makes the momentum of the particle uncertain; and conversely, that measuring the momentum of a particle precisely makes the position uncertain."

Momentum and position incompatible? The dynamic combination of these two mutually exclusive quantities create a force field, and the focus, their combined actions instantiate, constantly shifting? Lying on chaotically developing trajectories? Eludes detection, measurement? Therefore the ensuing uncertainty?

and

"In quantum mechanics, the particle is described by a wave. The position is where the wave is concentrated and the momentum, a measure of the velocity, is the wavelength. Neither the position nor the velocity is precisely defined; the position is uncertain to the degree that the wave is spread out, and the momentum is uncertain to the degree that the wavelength is ill-defined."

A dynamically developing relationship which makes it impossible to precisely define position and momentum, even more it makes it a useless pursuit. The dynamic relationship renders it useless, more precisely a redundant concept, baggage carried by the collective human thought from a society dominated by the classical physics tenets, and as it entered the quantum era should be discarded.

Incompatibility is implied and in this extract by Natika Newton about the concept of person, in the Emergence of consciousness book. As I read in page 54,

"Note that the emergent experiential concept of a person as having both objective and subjective aspects is not itself objectively unifiable: objective and subjective (outer and inner) perspectives on the same entity are mutually exclusive, at least within our common perceptual framework. Nevertheless, we do experience 'personhood' in a unified way, at least when we do not try to analyse the experience."

The objective and subjective facets, the incompatible states interwoven chaotically and the conditions stipulation, under which such a combination instantiates 'personhood', inherent in the common conceptual framework? The conceptual framework responsible for the rise of our identity? The concepts we amass through our lives constantly influence our 'personhood'? Acquiring new concepts, discarding fallacious concepts, delving deeper into each and every concept in the 'common conceptual framework', directly affects the image we hold for ourselves?

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