Dear Pedro,
Most of us would agree that standard Western science does not give a complete answer to questions about life and mind. As we try to seek better foundations in general and for information science in particular, we may be able to benefit from knowledge resources which have not been fully exploited, those of the 'Past' and those of the 'East'. I myself have written a paper suggesting that a metalogical rejunction is possible in which logic recovers its original status as inclusive of all other disciplines. As Brian Josephson writes in the Abstract of one of his lectures, "Eastern mystics may have relevance to scientific understanding." Fritjof Capra explored such parallels in his important 1967 book The Tao of Physics. However, many interpretations of what mysticism is are possible. There is a further major caveat to keep in mind: there are different ways of understanding "what is missing" in science (see Terence Deacon's discussion of information) and what kind of additions could be made. On the one hand, we may legitimately associate quantum fluctuations with Indian (not Eastern) ideas of things continuously moving in and out of existence. On the other, as we have discussed in connection with Conrad's 'fluctuons' at least once in the FIS Group, it may NOT be correct to say that such fluctuations are or can carry meaningful information. Recent postings to the FIS list have been made by people associated with a project embedded in a major university (Cambridge, UK), the "Matter-Mind Unification Project", now the "Theory of Condensed Matter Group" which Josephson has directed. This effort has sought and still seeks to incorporate doubtful, self-confirming forms of Western thought and activity. Personally, I do not wish to be associated with the Circular Theory of Ilexa Yardley, in which "the core dynamic is the conservation of a circle", which is a misunderstanding of dynamics. I do not wish to accept nature as controlled by some "Master Algorithm", any more than I do Peircean Thirdness. I do not wish to be associated with paranormal phenomena, cold fusion and observer created reality, all of which are part of Josephson's project. A characteristic of this thought is its dogmatism of completeness, a theory of everything, in which things are linked by a "subtler dimension which we have identified with the Platonic realm" (Yardley). One might argue that the Tao is also a theory of everything that also sees things linked in a way different from that of, say, chemical bonds. The major difference is that understanding the Tao does not require abrogating science in order to replace it by a self-serving ideology. Deacon has characterized the 'homunculi' and 'golems', disguised as physical principles, that interfere with thought; 'wishful thinking' is the most charitable term that can be applied. Other FIS members may find these ideas harmless, perhaps even amusing. I consider them perversions of thought by people with an agenda of control. The one positive result of these postings has been to cause me to re-examine the assumptions in the logic of the included middle of Stéphane Lupasco. This as some of you know is the basis of my 'Logic in Reality' and its Principle of Dynamic Opposition (critical formulation by Lupasco ca. 1951). I conclude that no new and doubtful physical concepts need to be introduced to address the essential aspects of life, mind and information. That information has 'dual aspects' has been more or less explicit in everything I have tried to write in the last eight years. But these concepts are not simple; one cannot use the principles of quantum mechanics directly. Hence I do not expect to find a large audience nor, to be frank, a large market. I simply hope they may deserve some more discussion on the FIS list. Best wishes, Joseph
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