Hi again, Russel: I'm sorry, but you worked yourself up into an incomprehensible rant. Is evolution creative in your view or not? If it is, then there is little point debating definitions, as we're in agreement. If not, then we clearly use the word creative in different senses, and perhaps defintion debates have some utility.
Colin: There wasn't even the slightest edge of 'rant' in the post. Quite calm, measured and succinct, actually. Its apparent incomprehensibility? I have no clue what that could be.... it's quite plain... RE: 'creativity' ... Say at stage t the biosphere was at complexity level X and then at stage t = t+(something), the biosphere complexity was at KX, where X is some key performance indicator of complexity (eg entropy) and K > 1 .... This could be called creative if you like. Like Prigogine did. I'd caution against the tendency to use the word because it has so many loaded meanings that are suggestive of much more then the previous para. Scientifically the word could be left entirely out of any desciptions of the biosphere. The bogus logic I detect in posts around this area... 'Humans are complex and are conscious' 'Humans were made by a complex biosphere' therefore 'The biosphere is conscious' That assumes that complexity itself (organisation of information) is the origin of consciousness in some unspecified, unjustified way. This position is completely unable to make any empirical predictions about the nature of human conscousness (eg why your cortex generates qualia and your spinal chord doesn't - a physiologically proven fact). The same bogus logic happens in relation to quantum mechanics and conscsiousness: "Quantum mechanics is weird and complex" "Consciousness is is weird and complex" therefore "Quantum mechanics generates consciousness" I caution against this. I caution against using the word 'creativity' in any useful scientific discussion of evolution and complexity. cheers colin --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
