The Emergence of Everything
The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became Complex, a book by Harold J. Morowitz, makes the case (assumed in FaerieMUD) that the periodic table of elements is an example of emergence comparable to the emergence of life or the emergence of mind. The book further argues that we know the "pruning principle" for the periodic table. (A pruning principle is something which Morowitz believes every example of emergence requires.) The Pauli Exclusion Principle is his candidate, and he argues we could learn much by seeking similar principles in examining other examples of emergence.
Since he is proposing a different solution to the problem we have been addressing in our consideration of Kurt Goedel and Steven Strogatz as well as periodic geometry, we include his suggest line of inquiry here:
<blockquote><i>Another feature of the exclusion principle is that it begins to illuminate how the whole may be different from the sum of the parts. For the exclusion principle has nothing to say about the behavior of an individual electron, yet it applies to a system of two or more electrons. The Pauli principle is a way of understanding why entities show in their togetherness laws of behavior different from the laws that govern them in isolation. Since the principle is nondynamical, it is as if the second electron knew what state the first electron was in: for a law of physics, exclusion has a curious and somewhat noetic character.<br><br>The previous argument is worth restating. The emergence of the periodic table has a special character. The pruning rule is apparently a deep principle of physics, but it is unrelated to the other laws of physics. Applying the rule and developing the consequences allow us much detailed information about the emergent higher hierarchical levels. A whole array of new phenomena come into play that did not previously exist. We can move from the properties of atoms to the properties of molecules and collections of molecules.<br><br>This emergence is so intriguing because it leads us to the enticing question of whether, at higher hierarchical levels, there are not other nondynamical principles that introduce new kinds of behavior. Since all of chemistry emerges from one nondynamical rule, might there be another rule that will illuminate biology, or a rule that will give insight into cognition? The existence of the Pauli principle, which totally organizes the chemical world, is a powerful incentive to look for such rules at higher hierarchical levels. This may be a most useful heuristic. Many years ago, physicist Walter Elsasser suggested that there must be such a principle for biology. The search for biotic laws may be a search for pruning algorithms.<br><br>The Pauli principle indicates that our reductionist systems are not formally closed systems, and within science itself there is room for new kinds of pruning that will illuminate the emergent transition between hierarchies. This approach opens the way to thinking about problems. At each stage, any new selection principles can be subject to experimental verification, so that it is not a case of "anything goes." Nevertheless, new approaches are out there to be tested. There is an incompleteness in our current science.<br><br>Of all the emergence criteria, I find the Pauli principle the most encouraging in terms of eventually understanding higher levels. At any level there may be a presently unknown selection that that will illuminate the hierarchical emergence in some way that we don't understand. That emboldens us to plunge ahead in our search for new laws of emergence that we have not dreamed of. If I were a betting man, I would suggest that emergence of mind will have at its deepest roots some such sort of selection principle.<br><br>This is all a bit frustrating, because I have no suggestions of how or where to look for a new rule, and must leave the task to the readers and others.<br><br>While the rules are quantum mechanics, and the selection criteria are governed by the Pauli principle and the formal emergence is the periodic table of the elements, all of chemistry emerges. At the root of this rule set is the covalent bond, which has been most extensively studied in the hydrogen molecule. Given two protons and two electrons and the rules noted above, the most stable states of lowest energy have the highest probability of the two electrons between the nuclei. This is the basis of the covalent bond, which exists between all nuclei where it is permitted by the rules of quantum mechanics.<br><br>This represents an enormous increase in possible complexity, for the 90 naturally occurring elements can now form into millions of possible chemical components that may exist in combinations, phases, and all the states of heterogeneous equilibrium. As long as the temperature is below 3000°, the evolving world is a world of chemical complexification.<br><br>Matter as we know it has emerged from the colossal explosion, the great condensing caldrons, and the enormous heat. These are repeated creations of the immanent God that follow from the laws of physics. Because of the Pauli principle, matter is informatic, and something akin to mind has already entered the universe. We now follow this through subsequent emergences. I repeat: matter is informatic.
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— Harold J. Morowitz, The Emergence of Everything
This suggestion is similar to that offered in Steven Strogatz's book, <i>Sync</i>, which argues that we know the math of one particular emergent phenomenon well and that we should pursue this example as the prototype for our understanding of emergence. Strogatz, however, chooses a different emergent phenomenon than that chosen by Morowitz.
— Scotus - 11 Jun 2003
