Process Cosmology --- a worldview for our time

[Gnomon]

Presentism is astounding: The frame rate is zillions of times per second or whatever is one second divided by the Planck time! The Poet Programmer must be coding on a natural quantum computer of the quantum fields, everything connected to everything via entanglement.

Since the making of the new 'now' utilizes all that came before, not just simply doing a single Planck time progression from the last 'now', the universe seems like to be of a growing block mode, in which the past is an amounting Eternalism and the present going forward is ever of Presentism.

Yes. The quantum computer of Nature has a frame rate (frequency) of 400 - 700 teraHz. So it can simulate Reality with astonishing accuracy.

This simulation of Block Mode Eternalism is limited only by the necessity for time to change from one frame to the next. We observers call each tick of the cosmic clock (oscillator) the Present. And the belief that we live our lives in that brief interval is called Presentism*1.

The Poet Programmer can even tune he/r computer to create Matter from Light Energy by slowing down the frequency*2. It's almost like magic. One prehensive lump of that miracle matter is the brain reading this post. Who could have imagined that a Bang of light in the darkness of pre-time could create Life and Mind?


*1. Process Philosophy :
Whitehead's cosmology is rooted in his philosophy of process, which posits that reality is fundamentally a process of becoming rather than a collection of static entities.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... +cosmology
Note --- his Reality is the flow, not the frames

*2. Is all matter just slowed down light? :
Therefore, since massless particles travel at the speed of light, you can see that electrons are born to be fast but are caught up in the molasses of their interactions.
https://www.quora.com/Is-all-matter-jus ... down-light

[Gnomon]

The primal Energy and Laws of the Big Bang is not living biological species, but it sounds like non-living force of some sort. How could the non-living evolve into the living?

That is indeed the question! My amateur philosophical thesis postulates that Life & Mind are highly-evolved forms of primitive Energy : the power to change form (a process, not a thing). The key to make sense of that conjecture is the 21st century discovery that Energy (negative entropy) is a form of Information (en-form-action), and vice-versa. The thesis and blog go into some detail to explain the Process of transformation from non-living to living & thinking. The link below gives a quick peek at how Whitehead's Process metaphysics compares to the Substance physics of Materialism.


Evolutionary Process and Cosmic Reality :
Process Metaphysics vs Substance Physics
https://bothandblog8.enformationism.info/page43.html

[Gnomon]

The DNA of the Universe . . . .
The Universe's own encrypted chain

The helical geometry of DNA is well-adapted to the reproductive functions of biological creatures. But the Organic Cosmos*1 itself may possess something similar to DNA, as encoded in its logical lawful structure*2 : its "own encrypted chain". From that perspective, the physical universe may be viewed as a Logical Creature. Physicist Max Tegmark has offered a unique way of thinking about the birth & maturation of our universe in terms of mathematical structure. He may even have borrowed some of his ideas from Whitehead's Process cosmology*3.

If the universe was "born" in a Big Bang, don't you think it's reasonable to determine its paternity? [reply="180 Proof;980276"] may think the very idea is blasphemous to his belief in the immaculate conception of Immanentism. As a True Believer in a virginal cosmos, He will rise to the defense of his Faith, with hysterical emoticons. :joke:

*1. Whitehead‘s Conception of the Cosmos as an Organic Unity :
The aim of this paper is to present and evaluate A. N. Whitehead’s philosophical position, according to which the dualism is a fatal fallacy at the heart of the modern scientific cosmology, and thus it should be considered as one of the causes of modern environmental and socio-economic crisis. First Whitehead’s criticism of mechanistic materialism in which dualistic feature of Western thought, called the bifurcation of nature, is rooted is summarized. It is shown that such division of the human mind and the cosmos does not leave any space for the self-being consciousness and life and that the attribute of independence of spirit results in the private worlds of experience and morality. Further it is argued that central motivation of Whitehead’s cosmology is to build up a system in which the aesthetic, religious and moral interests are in accordance with the natural science conceptions of the world. Whitehead's cosmology is interpreted as the transition from materialism to organicism and at the same time as shift from the static conception of cosmos to the dynamic one.
https://journals.phil.muni.cz/profil/article/view/19949

*2. The idea of a "universe DNA" refers to the concept that the fundamental laws and structures of the universe, like the structure of DNA, could be encoded in a way that determines its properties and behavior, potentially even allowing for a "reproducing" universe.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... iverse+dna

*3. Max Tegmark, a physicist and MIT professor, and Alfred North Whitehead, a philosopher and mathematician, are linked by their shared interest in metaphysics and the nature of reality, though their approaches and conclusions differ significantly. . . . .
Max Tegmark's "Mathematical Universe Hypothesis" (MUH) proposes that our physical reality is a mathematical structure, meaning that what we perceive as the universe is not just described by mathematics, but is mathematics, and therefore, concepts like DNA and life forms are mathematical structures themselves.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... egmark.jpg

[Gnomon]

This holographic dance of Everything
Spins out reality like golden string;
Each quantum bit precisely placed in space
To make the cosmic harmonies all ring.

[reply="180 Proof;980513"]'s ironic fairy tale of acausal (random) fluctuations as the First Cause, would cause the world to dance like a maniac, and makes empirical Science sound like wizardry. It describes Chaos, not Cosmos ; Dissonance, not Harmony ; Noise, not Signal. Plato conjectured that Cosmos emerged from a primal state of Chaos --- what I call Eternal Potential --- via the actions of a Demiurge (workman). Today, we define Energy as the ability to do work. And my thesis refers to the artisan/craftsman as EnFormAction : energy + form + actual occasions.

The physical world does indeed have random & chaotic properties*1. But on the whole, random events --- obeying the law of large numbers*2 --- average-out to produce the orderly & organic world we know & love*3. Chaos theory reveals why, despite low-level randomness, the world can be predictable enough for scientific purposes, to make practical use of the inherent logical structure. Even the speculative holographic universe theory must assume predictable causality*4. Besides, Quantum Theory postulates Acausality*5 only because the fundamental complexity makes the paths of individual particles hard to predict. But collectively (holistically) even quantum randomness is orderly and harmonious.


*1. Acausality :
The idea of acausality, true randomness, is a feature of many interpretations of quantum physics, including the so-called “orthodox” one, the Copenhagen Interpretation developed by the founders of quantum physics. This interpretation was developed by Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrodinger, and several other key physicists in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
https://quantumphysicslady.org/glossary/acausal/
Note --- True Randomness may be impossible. https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... impossible

*2. Law of Large Numbers :
The "randomness cancels out" concept is closely related to the law of large numbers, which states that as the number of trials or observations in a random process increases, the average of the outcomes will converge to the expected value (or mean).
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... ancels+out

*3. Chaos theory explores the seemingly random nature of complex systems, revealing underlying patterns, interconnectedness, and self-organization, suggesting that order can emerge from disorder.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... n+disorder

*4. The Holographic Universe: Implicit Order versus Holographic Projection :
Entangled qubits have a natural tendency to align together, and that alignment of information is what gives rise to the implicate order of a holographic world.
Note --- The resemblance to Bohm's theory of Implicate Order.

*5. At the time, Albert Einstein, also a founder of quantum physics, strenuously objected to the notion of acausality in the theory. He famously argued that “God does not play dice.” Einstein felt that if something in the universe appears to act randomly, it’s only because our understanding of it is not deep enough. He felt that there is always a cause.
Other, later, interpretations are completely causal or, at least, claim to be. This includes the Many Worlds Interpretation and the deBroglie-Bohm Interpretation. [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpret ... _mechanics]. In these interpretations, it may appear that quantum behavior is random; but this is an illusion. There is no true randomness. It should be noted that almost all the various interpretations of quantum physics rely on the same mathematical equations and create the same mathematical predictions. Their differences lie only in how they understand the physical reality that the equations describe.
https://quantumphysicslady.org/glossary/acausal/

[Gnomon]

But it cannot explain the origin of existence of the Earth and life, can it?

No. That's why I have pieced together my own philosophical theory of how the primal Energy (causation) and Laws (information) of the Big Bang could evolve into living and thinking beings.


Enformationism :
A philosophical worldview or belief system grounded on the 20th century discovery that Information, rather than Matter, is the fundamental substance of everything in the universe. It is intended to be the 21st century successor to ancient Materialism. An Update from Bronze Age to Information Age. It's a Theory of Everything that covers, not just matter & energy, but also Life & Mind & Love.
https://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page8.html

Process Evolution :
Alfred North Whitehead’s book, Process and Reality, is a philosophical thesis, not a scientific essay. But it challenges the philosophical implications of Darwin’s mechanistic theory of Evolution. Instead of a simple series of energy exchanges, the Cosmos functions as a holistic organism. Hence, the eventual emergence of subordinate living creatures should not be surprising.
https://bothandblog8.enformationism.info/page43.html

[Gnomon]

Presentism is astounding: The frame rate is zillions of times per second or whatever is one second divided by the Planck time! The Poet Programmer must be coding on a natural quantum computer of the quantum fields, everything connected to everything via entanglement.

Since the making of the new 'now' utilizes all that came before, not just simply doing a single Planck time progression from the last 'now', the universe seems like to be of a growing block mode, in which the past is an amounting Eternalism and the present going forward is ever of Presentism.

Yes. The quantum computer of Nature has a frame rate (frequency) of 400 - 700 teraHz. So it can simulate Reality with astonishing accuracy.

This simulation of Block Mode Eternalism is limited only by the necessity for time to change from one frame to the next. We observers call each tick of the cosmic clock (oscillator) the Present. And the belief that we live our lives in that brief interval is called Presentism*1.

The Poet Programmer can even tune he/r computer to create Matter from Light Energy by slowing down the frequency*2. It's almost like magic. One prehensive lump of that miracle matter is the brain reading this post. Who could have imagined that a Bang of light in the darkness of pre-time could create Life and Mind?


*1. Process Philosophy :
Whitehead's cosmology is rooted in his philosophy of process, which posits that reality is fundamentally a process of becoming rather than a collection of static entities.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... +cosmology
Note --- his Reality is the flow, not the frames

*2. Is all matter just slowed down light? :
Therefore, since massless particles travel at the speed of light, you can see that electrons are born to be fast but are caught up in the molasses of their interactions.
https://www.quora.com/Is-all-matter-jus ... down-light

[Gnomon]

The primal Energy and Laws of the Big Bang is not living biological species, but it sounds like non-living force of some sort. How could the non-living evolve into the living?

That is indeed the question! My amateur philosophical thesis postulates that Life & Mind are highly-evolved forms of primitive Energy : the power to change form (a process, not a thing). The key to make sense of that conjecture is the 21st century discovery that Energy (negative entropy) is a form of Information (en-form-action), and vice-versa. The thesis and blog go into some detail to explain the Process of transformation from non-living to living & thinking. The link below gives a quick peek at how Whitehead's Process metaphysics compares to the Substance physics of Materialism.


Evolutionary Process and Cosmic Reality :
Process Metaphysics vs Substance Physics
https://bothandblog8.enformationism.info/page43.html

[Gnomon]

The DNA of the Universe . . . .
The Universe's own encrypted chain

The helical geometry of DNA is well-adapted to the reproductive functions of biological creatures. But the Organic Cosmos*1 itself may possess something similar to DNA, as encoded in its logical lawful structure*2 : its "own encrypted chain". From that perspective, the physical universe may be viewed as a Logical Creature. Physicist Max Tegmark has offered a unique way of thinking about the birth & maturation of our universe in terms of mathematical structure. He may even have borrowed some of his ideas from Whitehead's Process cosmology*3.

If the universe was "born" in a Big Bang, don't you think it's reasonable to determine its paternity? [reply="180 Proof;980276"] may think the very idea is blasphemous to his belief in the immaculate conception of Immanentism. As a True Believer in a virginal cosmos, He will rise to the defense of his Faith, with hysterical emoticons. :joke:

*1. Whitehead‘s Conception of the Cosmos as an Organic Unity :
The aim of this paper is to present and evaluate A. N. Whitehead’s philosophical position, according to which the dualism is a fatal fallacy at the heart of the modern scientific cosmology, and thus it should be considered as one of the causes of modern environmental and socio-economic crisis. First Whitehead’s criticism of mechanistic materialism in which dualistic feature of Western thought, called the bifurcation of nature, is rooted is summarized. It is shown that such division of the human mind and the cosmos does not leave any space for the self-being consciousness and life and that the attribute of independence of spirit results in the private worlds of experience and morality. Further it is argued that central motivation of Whitehead’s cosmology is to build up a system in which the aesthetic, religious and moral interests are in accordance with the natural science conceptions of the world. Whitehead's cosmology is interpreted as the transition from materialism to organicism and at the same time as shift from the static conception of cosmos to the dynamic one.
https://journals.phil.muni.cz/profil/article/view/19949

*2. The idea of a "universe DNA" refers to the concept that the fundamental laws and structures of the universe, like the structure of DNA, could be encoded in a way that determines its properties and behavior, potentially even allowing for a "reproducing" universe.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... iverse+dna

*3. Max Tegmark, a physicist and MIT professor, and Alfred North Whitehead, a philosopher and mathematician, are linked by their shared interest in metaphysics and the nature of reality, though their approaches and conclusions differ significantly. . . . .
Max Tegmark's "Mathematical Universe Hypothesis" (MUH) proposes that our physical reality is a mathematical structure, meaning that what we perceive as the universe is not just described by mathematics, but is mathematics, and therefore, concepts like DNA and life forms are mathematical structures themselves.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... egmark.jpg

[Gnomon]

This holographic dance of Everything
Spins out reality like golden string;
Each quantum bit precisely placed in space
To make the cosmic harmonies all ring.

[reply="180 Proof;980513"]'s ironic fairy tale of acausal (random) fluctuations as the First Cause, would cause the world to dance like a maniac, and makes empirical Science sound like wizardry. It describes Chaos, not Cosmos ; Dissonance, not Harmony ; Noise, not Signal. Plato conjectured that Cosmos emerged from a primal state of Chaos --- what I call Eternal Potential --- via the actions of a Demiurge (workman). Today, we define Energy as the ability to do work. And my thesis refers to the artisan/craftsman as EnFormAction : energy + form + actual occasions.

The physical world does indeed have random & chaotic properties*1. But on the whole, random events --- obeying the law of large numbers*2 --- average-out to produce the orderly & organic world we know & love*3. Chaos theory reveals why, despite low-level randomness, the world can be predictable enough for scientific purposes, to make practical use of the inherent logical structure. Even the speculative holographic universe theory must assume predictable causality*4. Besides, Quantum Theory postulates Acausality*5 only because the fundamental complexity makes the paths of individual particles hard to predict. But collectively (holistically) even quantum randomness is orderly and harmonious.


*1. Acausality :
The idea of acausality, true randomness, is a feature of many interpretations of quantum physics, including the so-called “orthodox” one, the Copenhagen Interpretation developed by the founders of quantum physics. This interpretation was developed by Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrodinger, and several other key physicists in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
https://quantumphysicslady.org/glossary/acausal/
Note --- True Randomness may be impossible. https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... impossible

*2. Law of Large Numbers :
The "randomness cancels out" concept is closely related to the law of large numbers, which states that as the number of trials or observations in a random process increases, the average of the outcomes will converge to the expected value (or mean).
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... ancels+out

*3. Chaos theory explores the seemingly random nature of complex systems, revealing underlying patterns, interconnectedness, and self-organization, suggesting that order can emerge from disorder.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... n+disorder

*4. The Holographic Universe: Implicit Order versus Holographic Projection :
Entangled qubits have a natural tendency to align together, and that alignment of information is what gives rise to the implicate order of a holographic world.
Note --- The resemblance to Bohm's theory of Implicate Order.

*5. At the time, Albert Einstein, also a founder of quantum physics, strenuously objected to the notion of acausality in the theory. He famously argued that “God does not play dice.” Einstein felt that if something in the universe appears to act randomly, it’s only because our understanding of it is not deep enough. He felt that there is always a cause.
Other, later, interpretations are completely causal or, at least, claim to be. This includes the Many Worlds Interpretation and the deBroglie-Bohm Interpretation. [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpret ... _mechanics]. In these interpretations, it may appear that quantum behavior is random; but this is an illusion. There is no true randomness. It should be noted that almost all the various interpretations of quantum physics rely on the same mathematical equations and create the same mathematical predictions. Their differences lie only in how they understand the physical reality that the equations describe.
https://quantumphysicslady.org/glossary/acausal/

[Gnomon]

Non-duality is a Buddhist concept that refers to the fundamental unity of all things. My background is not in oriental philosophy, but based on post-quantum physics and Information Theory, I have come to view the world as essentially monistic (single substance). And the common essence of all things can be described as Information (EnFormAction : the creative power to give form to the formless). Perhaps the easiest way to grasp that concept is to view Generic (begetting) Information in terms of physical Energy, which is not a material substance, but a causal essence (E=MC^2).

Materialism is an ancient monistic philosophy (Atomism). But modern physics seems to view active Energy, instead of passive Matter, as the Single Substance of the physical world. Based on that primacy of Causation over Concreteness, we could easily assume that the world has been trucking along forever. Except that physical laws describe dynamic Energy as something that can be metaphorically "burned up", and converted to the ashes of Entropy.

On top of the second law of thermodynamics, we have astronomical evidence that the material world has evolved from a Singularity, which is a mathematical description of Infinity. So, our best science to date, implies that ballooning space-time emerged from formless & unbounded infinity-eternity. And that may be why Whitehead adopted the concept of an undefinable unitary deity, to explain the pluralistic reality we now know.

I just came across the article excerpted below, which interprets Process Philosophy in terms of Non-Duality. But it also takes an allegorical poetic stance instead of a dogmatic religious position. And, like Whitehead himself, it describes the creator of the world as a Poet, not as a King.


Non-Duality and Process Philosophy :
Alfred North Whitehead was considered by many to be an absolute genius of his time. Here was a man who was as gifted creatively as he was intellectually. He somehow managed to balance metaphysics — which many 20th CE. philosophers would commit to the flames — with mathematics, physics, and poetry. In fact, he was so good at metaphysics that his imaginative brilliance shone through in the empirical sciences. When one is reading Whitehead, there is a feeling that you are being thrown into a place of poetic rapture, and at the same time, attending to the undeniable facts of existence. When you look out at the world after reading Whitehead, existence is poetry. In fact, he defined God as being a poet: “Whitehead’s God is the everlasting world-soul whose values erotically lure each moment of finite experience toward the ideal of beauty (which is nothing other than the true and the good). This is not an omnipotent Creator deity. If anything is omnipotent, it is Creativity; God is a creature of Creativity like every other. God is the poet of the world, “with tender patience leading it by his vision of truth, beauty, and goodness.”
https://medium.com/@prestonbryant/non-d ... 4ba86bf484
Note --- Medium is a website for writers, not for contacting ghosts :joke:

Poetry :
The word "poetry" originates from the Greek word "poiesis," meaning "a making" or "creation," and the verb "poiein," which means "to make".
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... ek+meaning

[reply="PoeticUniverse;980714"]