Daniel Goldman

Musings on Thermodynamics, Complexity, and Evolution

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I’m an evolutionary theorist. Whether I’m a good one or not can be debated, but I am always interested in learning about existing theory on the topic, and hope to improve my own understanding, as well as contribute in some meaningful way to the development of our understanding of evolution.

However, I don’t care to view the topic from a single perspective, and I think that a lot of work can be done by integrating statistical physics and thermodynamics, with complexity theory, in order to not only better understand evolutionary dynamics, but also abiogenesis and its relationship to evolution. And honestly, I think I’m on to something! This article is a commentary on my own thought processes and hopefully it’ll be insightful to others interested in the topic. At the very least, this article will leave a written record of my thoughts, and perhaps someone else can expand on them in the future.

Background

Quite a while ago, I came across a discussion on work conducted by Jeremy England. The work was fascinating. England looked at the second law of thermodynamics, and used some tools from statistical physics to investigate how self-replicating systems might function in open systems.

Generally, the second law of thermodynamics is described in closed or isolated systems. The idea is that components of such a system tend to move towards increasing disorder. We can see how this idea plays out in a room in a house. As we go about our lives, a room gets messier and messier. To bring the system back to an ordered state, we need to do work. However, in an open system, exposed to a constant heat bath — the Earth is something like that kind of system — self-replicating systems are preferred. At least that’s my rough understanding of his work.

I started writing my own musings on the topic, and began reviewing other work that might give me further insight. This investigation led me to work conducted by Taeer Bar-Yam, et al. Their work is based on the concept of requisite variety, developed by cyberneticist W. Ross Ashby. Here variety is the number of possible states in the system. Using a multiscale varient of the law, developed by Yaneer Bar-Yam, the authors formulated an ”inverse second law of thermodynamics” which states that open systems exposed to a structured environment tend to yield to the order of that environment.

Identifying Commonalities

While the two groups of authors took very different approaches, it seems that in many ways the results are the same. The goal of this project is to see if it is possible to generate a unifying mathematical framework that relates the two concepts and a meaningful way, and also learning what can be accomplished with such a framework.

Observer Discrimination

An important feature of Ashby’s original work is that “a set’s variety is not an intrinsic property of the set: the observer and his powers of discrimination.” As stated earlier, Bar-Yam et al. (2018) rely on a multiscale variant.

Question: Is there an analog to the observer discrimination factor within England’s work?

Answer: Yes. The analysis of self-replication requires an understanding that it is “something that happens relative to an observer: only once a classification scheme determines how many copies of some object are in the system for each microstate can we talk in probabilistic terms about the general tendency for that object to affect its own reproduction, and the same system’s microstates can be classified using any number of different schemes.”

Misbehaving Components as Observers

Bar-Yem et al. suggest that when a component of a system begins to misbehave, it can be treated as part of the external environment. When talking about “observer” people often consider the observer to be human, but it shouldn’t necessarily be a conscious observer.

Question: Given that the misbehaving components are part of the external environment, can those components be seen as an observer and if so, how can we utilize it?

Answer: I don’t know!

Evolutionary Direction

Many people claim that evolution has no direction. Part of this gut reaction boils down to a rejection of a conscious director (a god), but a direction in no way requires consciousness. It just requires a gradient.

Question: Does a direction in evolution exist?

Answer: It seems reasonable. Both of the theories addressed in this commentary suggest that there are global pressures acting on evolving systems, and thus an overall gradient along which evolution flows.

Applications

I’m a fan of studying and developing theory for the sake of simply bettering our understanding. However, discussion of application is important as well.

Abiogenesis + Evolution: Starting with a more abstract use for these ideas, it seems that the work by England, Bar-Yam, et al. will go a long way to rejecting the claim that abiogenesis and evolution are two separate processes. While it is my conjecture, the results of this work seems to suggest that the two processes are really just different aspects of the same underlying dynamics.

Systems Development and Management: Ashby’s work focused heavily on systems theory and complex systems. Bar-Yam et al.’s work extends his ideas further, and an integration with England’s work in statistical physics could open up an a new understanding of how complex systems work, and how we can develop and maintain them.

Post-Government Future: I don’t know what the views of cited researchers are, when it comes to government, but I am an anarchist. Yes, I am probably a little biased due to this trait, but I think that a better understanding of complex systems will lead us towards a society that is managed voluntarily, rather than through the threat of violence.

Sources

Statistical Physics of Self-Replication
Self-replication is a capacity common to every species of living thing, and simple physical intuition dictates that…arxiv.org
The Inherent Instability of Disordered Systems
The Multiscale Law of Requisite Variety is a scientific law relating, at each scale, the variation in an environment to…arxiv.org

Redefining Homeroom in the American Education System

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One of the topics I wrote about in my essay, A Brief Discussion of Education, was the concept of redefining homeroom. These ideas are in many ways just suggestions. They’re good suggestions, but they shouldn’t be implemented by force. Above all else, school choice should drive changes in the education system, as educational decisions should be bottom up, not top down. And this discussion on homeroom really highlights that idea, especially in terms of education planning.« Continue »

If you Want Businesses to Treat you Well, Pay Them!

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This article is largely a rant about people simultaneously complaining about businesses putting advertisers first, while demanding everything for free. And while I use “you” in the article, I am not necessarily speaking to my readers. In fact, I hope that those who are reading this article, at least on Medium, are paying subscribers. The “you” to whom I refer is anyone who thinks that content on the internet should be free.

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How do Penguinists Tell Time?

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We measure time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and so on. The main calendar in use today is the Gregorian calendar, which counts from the estimated date of the birth of Jesus Christ. Obviously, Penguinists have little use for such a date. So how do Penguinists tell time? Heads up: there’s going to be a lot of technical stuff in this post.

Physics Stuff

The way physical laws work in the old universe and this one are the same, which is why TVNM was able to break into it. We have the same elements, and so the same basic time unit is used. Atomic clocks rely on cesium-133. Specifically, “the International System of Units (SI) has defined the second as the duration of 9192631770 cycles of radiation corresponding to the transition between two energy levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom (Scientific American).”

Basic Units of Time

But of course a “second” is a unit of time that humans have created, based on the length of our day. The Br’sqvur use derivatives of individual caesium-133 cycle, the dri, and multiples of it. However, Br’sqvur arithmetic works on a base 60 number system, rather than the base 10 number system that we use.

There are a number of advantages to base 60. Unlike with base 10, which allows easy division by 2 and 5, base 60 allows easy division by 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, 15, and 30. That’s one reason why time is almost base 60. There are 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour. In Br’sqvur time telling, the smallest unit generally used is the tik, which is 60 * 60 * 60 * 60 * 60 * 60 dri, or about 5 seconds. Next is the ark, which is 60 tiks, and the mi, which is 60 arks.

Dates

But what about actual days and how about dates? Well, one issue with using dates is that traveling near the speed of light warps time. If you’re only traveling about 1/4 the speed of light, it isn’t too bad, but if you get towards 3/4+ time dilation becomes very pronounced. It makes universal time keeping very difficult. Instead, every colony ship had its own calendar, counting up from the date that the colony was founded.

The calendar doesn’t work in days, but rather cycles. A day is meaningless in space, but work shifts and sleep cycles are pretty well defined for the Br’sqvur. Like with penguins on Earth, the Br’sqvur can sleep for quite a bit. How much? Upwards of 4 mi, which is about 20 hours! But they do get a lot done when they’re awake, and a full cycle is 12 mi, or about 60 hours. The cycle is one of the few units of time that does not follow the standard 60 multiple rule. Their “month” is 60 cycles and a year is 60 of those months.  On even larger scales, there are generations, eras, and epochs.

Table

Since all of this information can be a lot to take in, here’s a simple chart to keep track of everything!

Br’sqvur Time Earth Time
9192631770 dri 1s
1 tik 5 seconds
1 ark 5 minutes
1 mi 5 hours
1 cycle 2.54 days
1 month 152.4 days
1 year 25 years
1 generation 3 centuries
1 era 180 centuries
1 epoch 10.8 millennia

 

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Penguinism and Veganism

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The following article discusses veganism from Penguinist and scientific points of view. Penguinism does not have many cultural prohibitions, and does not forbid the consumption of meat. However, there are ways in which we can make our diets more sustainable.

I have wanted to write an article on veganism for a while, but a recent discussion with a practitioner of Yoga, along with various discussions and questions about the topic by fans of The First Church of Penguinism, convinced me to write a bit more.

Foundation

Penguinism has some elements in common with Buddhism and Hinduism, and so we can start our foundation with a discussion of two concepts from these traditions.

First Noble Truth. This concept is foundation to Buddhism. The idea is that life is suffering. Humans, animals, etc suffer from the moment they are born. However, it is true that we should not promote undue suffering. In Buddhism, one of the reasons why this is the case boils down to Maya.

Maya. The concept of Maya is fairly simple. Reality as we see it is an illusion. There is no real distinction between the self and the other. Therefore harming another is harming oneself. It also means that the distinction between plant and animal is not as valid as one might normally think. Of course, if we look at this statement scientifically, there are recognized differences, but it is very difficult to argue for veganism from a Buddhist or Hindu perspective, taking into account The First Noble Truth and Maya.

Sustainability. If there is no real distinction between the self and others, and if there is no real distinction between plant and animal, then biased selection of what to harm and not harm is invalid. So instead, it seems reasonable to adopt a policy of “do the least harm possible.” In other words, focus on sustainability overall.

Veganism

Veganism is often thought to be more sustainable, both in terms of nutrition and in terms of environmental impact. However, this may not be the case. While it may be true that a vegan diet can be more sustainable than living off of a factory farm industry, it is not the case that it is more sustainable than other non-vegan dietary and agricultural systems.

Health. While it is certainly possible to eat a healthy diet and be a vegan, it is far harder. A person has to rely on supplements for B12. The source is usually nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast is generally grown in large vats in a factory setting. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is certainly not a small scale process. People often get their B12 from this source without realizing it, as fortified foods use nutritional yeast as a major source of B12.

Bees. No topic of veganism would be complete without discussing bees. Industrial fruit production is heavily reliant on commercial bee keeping. Meanwhile, native bee populations have been heavily undermined by our current agricultural practices. The use of pesticides, for one, has caused a massive die-off. This die-off in turn has caused many farms to further rely on commercial bee keeping.

Local bee keeping is great. It provides a source for honey, which is a wonderful food stuff, as well as pollination for local plant communities. But commercial bee keeping does not keep the interest of the bees in mind. The main purpose of these large scale operations is to ship the colonies from one location to another, in order to pollinate farms. This practice is not sustainable, and it is certainly not vegan.

Hybrid Approaches. Some Penguinists might be pescetarians  and as I mentioned in a previous article, sushi is a sacred food to Penguinists, though largely because of the rice. But that brings me to an interesting point. The most sustainable method of rice production relies heavily on animals. I mentioned the Satoyama system before, which incorporates the entire landscape into agricultural production, and includes fish farming integrated with rice farming. Another common practice is to use ducks as a form of pest and weed control, as well as a source of fertilizer. This method works as an alternative to chemical based approaches. However, because adult ducks will damage the paddies, each year you need new ducks, which means that each year, the obvious option is to eat the old ducks.

There is also additional research which looks at a number of different agricultural practices and seeks to identify which one is the most sustainable. A study titled “Carrying capacity of U.S. agricultural land: Ten diet scenarios” suggests that while our meat based diet is certainly off the list, the study also suggests that veganism is less sustainable than a more diverse agricultural system. The study concludes that a lacto-vegetarian diet is the most ecologically sustainable. Interestingly enough, this diet is the primary diet consumed in India, especially by Buddhists and Hindus.

Conclusion

So it seems that from either a Buddhist and Penguinist perspective or a scientific perspective the answer is the same: veganism is not the way to go. Instead, we need to focus on agricultural policies which best utilize animals in a sustainable way. This means farming to grow fruits, vegetables, mushrooms and other fungi, and so on, as the primary food source, but using animals to control weeds, pests, etc and simply using the egg and milk, and the meat, as secondary and tertiary sources of nutrients respectively.

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The Rapture and YHWH’s Fleet

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What is the rapture? Is it some divine event where the righteous are freed from the sorrows of the mundane world? The Penguinomicon teaches us otherwise. In some ways, so does the bible.

We see evidence for the coming rapture, in stories of alien abductions. We must first ask ourselves, “who is it that is abducting these people?” It could be some random alien race. But that seems unlikely, especially with the influence that the Binini have on our local galactic group.

This information leads us to one conclusion: YHWH is making test abductions, in order to prepare for a wide scale abduction. Consider Revelation 7:14 (KJV): “And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Clearly this statement was a warning from Jesus. During his lost years, studying under !Erree (Lost Years 1), Jesus likely had learned a great deal about the ways in which YHWH tricked his worshipers into joining him, before abducting them and integrating them into his army.

We should therefore take alien abductions, and warnings in Bible verses like Revelations 7:14, very seriously. We must keep an eye on the stars, and be ready the moment YHWH’s fleet arrives.

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The Lost Years of Jesus Chapter I

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This story was told to me by, ǃErree, one of the few Binini to remain on Earth after the great catastrophe. It is the true(ish) story of Jesus, and his lost years, where he found out the truth of his cosmic heritage.

Many hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the Binini home world was still at relative peace, there was a very wise and ancient philosopher-scientist, Etʃʼama. This great sage was able to piece together enough of the universe’s history to decipher Sq’wak’s warnings regarding YHWH.

In his studies, he also learned of the Eternal Dishwasher, and of course the nature of reincarnation. He wished to ensure that, should he ever be reincarnated, his future incarnation would be able to continue to his work in defending our universe against YHWH.

How many times Etʃʼama was reincarnated, no one knows, but it was roughly 2,000 years ago that !Erree came across one such reincarnation. In Luke 2:52 it is said that “Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Half of that is the truth(ish). Indeed, Jesus did advance in wisdom and stature.

For in his lost years, Jesus took many trips to the sea. And it is there that he met !Erree and was told of his spiritual heritage. But Jesus did not grow in favor with YHWH. No. For in these years, he grew closer to understanding Sq’wak and closer to understanding the importance of peace…

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The Swastika and Cultural Imperialism

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Cultural imperialism is when a more powerful society attempts to assert its culture on others. Not all cultural exchange is cultural imperialism, of course. Culture is learned and shared patterns of behavior. Every time humans interact with each other, culture is exchanged. But when the dominant society is using its power to effect the change, then it is imperialism. Obviously Europe and “western society” is responsible for a lot of cultural imperialism.« Continue »