Richard Coren writes:
Francis Heylighen , Jef Allbright, et al:
Francis' recent letter points out that he is "developing a concept, currently named 'The Arrow of Morality' ", and dealing with "a real direction of progress in the universe, from simple to more complex , and "similar the principles of thermodynamics, that describe 'growth' at all scales'."
Francis was an initial reviewer of [my] book so I'm surprised that he seems to be reinventing the wheel.
There is a misunderstanding here: it is Jef Albright that I quote as saying that he is "developing a concept, currently named 'The Arrow of Morality' ", etc.
All should be reiminded that that there is no need to "develop" such a concept involving evolution and morality. In a recently (1998) published book it was PROVEN, empirically (and theoretically) that such a concept does exist, dealing with all these aspects, and exactly what it involves, and how it enters evoluton and morality. I recommend that, before expending too much energy, those interested in this effort should refer to
R. L. Coren, The Evolutionary Trajectory: The Growth of Information in the History and Future of Earth. (Gordon & Breach Publishers - 1998).
As I understand your book and Jef's approach I see no direct connection, except the idea of evolutionary progress, which can be interpreted in many different ways. Yours focuses on the growth of information and is basically an attempt to make a quantitative description according to your formalism of "logistic escalation". Jef's (which, as he later noted, follows in the traces of Robert Wright) is qualitative and emphasizes the growing scope of cooperation. It is a more "social-biological" view, while yours is "informational-mathematical". Of course, there is plenty of scope for cross-fertilization between both approaches, but they are definitely not the same thing.
For a first attempt at a classification of such different approaches towards the evolution of complexity, see my combined review of books on the subject (including Coren's and Stewart's, which is more in the vein of Jef's as I understand it):
Heylighen, F. (2000) Evolutionary Transitions: how do levels of complexity emerge?. Complexity 6 (1), p. 53-57.
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/Review_Complexity.pdf
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Francis Heylighen Center "Leo Apostel" Free University of Brussels http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
