Dick,
Thanks for taking a look. I think the same thing holds for quantum theory.
Hard to tell if something is ultimately even 'there' or not. Heisenberg's
uncertainty principle or something like that. Did you ever get to read _The
Mind of God_ by Paul Davies? I think I sent you a copy once upon a time.
One of the most mind-stretching books I've read in a while, and definitely
formative to much of my current thinking. Regardless of first causes,
doesn't it seem highly unlikely that algorithms proliferate rather than
degenerate? Isn't there an equal chance that everything should start
degenerating at any moment, if we're being honest? You're the fractal guru,
if you were constructing the universe, how likely would it be to correctly
find all those nasty critical constants that are so interdependent as Davies
points out, by random process?
(Btw: I think we should get you down here for an overnight trip. I want to
set up a design agenda for the next year or two, and think a two day
marathon might be in order. This topic is highly relevant.)
I'm also going to post this to the evolution reflector and see if we can
carry this on over there.
Rick
Rick,
>The gem in the quote you sent me is of course:
>
>>Information theory shows
>>that it is fundamentally undecidable whether a given sequence has been
>>generated by a stochastic process or by a highly organized process.
>
>Which is obviously true, but has pretty serious consequences when you think
>about it. At least, I think it does... I guess I'd better think about it...
>
>--Dick Oliver ----------
> Cedar Science Center
> Wolcott, Vermont USA
>
>
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