Beyond the ‘Theory of Everything’ Paradigm: Synergetic Patterns and the Order of the Natural World

Brian D. Josephson (young scientists only); Host: Bo Peng

Category: Lectures

Date: 30 June 2021

Quality: HD

Beyond the ‘Theory of Everything’ Paradigm: Synergetic Patterns and the Order of the Natural World (2021) - Brian D. Josephson (young scientists only); Host: Bo Peng

Abstract

To understand a phenomenon properly it is necessary in the first place to understand the nature of the phenomenon. Physics presumes that everything can be understood in terms of some so far unrealised mathematical ‘theory of everything’. I argue instead that nature needs to be understood in terms of emergent functional structures, which over time coordinate with each other in ever more subtle ways, including the emergence of sign systems that make it possible for one system to impose conditions upon the behaviour of another. Crucial here is the availability of special structures that can contribute to stability on the basis of corresponding specialised capacities. We hypothesise that on such a basis it will be possible to understand not only physical laws but also the origin and evolution of life, and physical law being fine-tuned to life.


Recommended Readings:

Law without Law, by John Archibald Wheeler,
at https://psychonautwiki.org/w/images/3/30/Wheeler_law_without_law.pdf

Coordination Dynamics by Scott Kelso,
at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301949127_Coordination_Dynamics

Subtitles:

English subtitles of the presentation are available here: https://youtu.be/jo4voCA14HE