Deric's Cosmology Revisited in E-Prime

by Swinton Roof May, 1992

I, like others at M.A., have had some difficulty understanding Deric's presentation of his Cosmology. My expierience writing a serious paper about nano-technology in E-Prime, however, encouraged me to try the same with Deric's words. I suddenly found Deric's ideas making sense to me. The process of writing in E-Prime really does seem to clarify things for me, especially in murky meta-physical areas. I dont quite know how reading E-Prime affects the reader, however. Perhaps you can tell me. To do a proper version, I had to add a few terms to clarify things a bit, and I found some of Robert Pirsigs' ideas about 'Quality' useful also.

My apologies to Deric as I desire not to offend him or change his ideas so much as to amplify and validate his ideas. I feel the need to preface Deric's ideas with some definitions of my own. Note the use hyphenation to indicate when a plurality of terms reflect a single concept, while the same terms might have a different context when read singly and elsewhere.

SYSTEM: I (S.R.) define a SYSTEM as any collection which we consider as having a certain integrity or relatedness of parts. We always distinguish systems within a broader context and we require that systems have distinguishable sub-divisions or parts. Systems ( a la R. Pirsig ) generally have STATIC and DYNAMIC aspects, and appear to embody some sort of ORGANIZING-PRINCIPLE. We may characterize systems as having VALUE or QUALITY to the degree in which they conform to this organizing-principle.

EXPLICATE-ORDER: We experience all systems as having explicate-order because we expressly order the parts of a system in the very act of consideration. Explicate-order may manifest in various levels or ways since we always distinguish systems from within a broader context. This allows multiple unique views of a system. Primary distinctions lie within the above categories of 'static' and 'dynamic'.

IMPLICATE-ORDER: Implicate-order corresponds to ORGANIZING-PRINCIPLE. A system, which displays high 'quality', closely matches the 'implicate-order' behind its organization. Pure 'quality' occurs when the explicate and implicate merge or become indistinguishable. Formal symbolic systems generally have high 'quality'.

VARIABLE: I (S.R.) use the term 'variable' to refer to any value, condition, or quality of a system that varies or may vary.

RELATION: Comparison between any two variables or sets of variables.

FUNCTIONAL-RELATION: I consider 'variables' as 'functionaly-related' when a change in one always results in a corresponding change in the other, such that repitition always produces the same result. I admit that we may have difficulty verifying real-world relations repetitively, but I also mean this definition in a non-rigorous sort of way.

PARAMETER: I use the term PARAMETER to refer to any 'variable' of a system which we can willfully control to observe how the rest of the system 'variables' respond. In a certain sense, then, we describe 'parameters' as 'temporarily-fixed-variables'.

With the preliminaries out of the way, I now attempt to reframe Deric's statements. Please note that E-Prime will not always directly translate, especially since "IS" truncates or eliminates some explicit meanings, and some questions and statements simply dont exist in E-Prime. I capitalized any useage of BEING-VERBS. Single quotes enclose terms which we intend to have special or pre-defined meaning.

............................................................................ DM: = Deric SR: = Deric in E-Prime via Swinton ............................................................................

DM: I agree with Fuller's definition of Universe as the totality of human experience.

SR: I agree with Fuller's definition of Universe as the totality of human experience.

DM: My own operational definitions ARE as follows:

SR: My (D.M.) operational definitions follow here:

DM: The most fundamental ground state IS Chaos, where no, pattern, matter, space or time yet exists. Yet Chaos also manifests in all of these.

SR: I (D.M.) define 'Chaos' as fundamental experience beyond distinctions. Pattern, matter, space, time etc. represent abstractions whereby we order experience. When these distinctions fail us, we describe conditions as 'chaotic'.

DM: Randomness IS a function of parameters. Attractors establish parameters. Thus Order may BE manifest from Chaos. The most fundamental Order IS Implicate.

SR: Some 'systems' ( see S.R.'s defns. ) exhibit sensitivity to small changes in 'parameters' such that some or all variables of the system appear to loose their 'functional- relatedness'. We call such behavior 'random'. I say "appear to loose" because results may only appear un-repeatable due to limits in our ability to make small distinctions between initial 'parameters'. We associate this phenomenon with 'The Butterfly-Effect'. Oftentimes when we apply parameter-changes from all possible directions, such system behavior, while 'random', nonetheless tends to cluster around what we call an 'attractor'. 'Attractors' thus establish critical areas which imply some hidden order amidst 'randomness'. We call this 'Implicate-Order'. 'Attractors' appear as 'Explicate-Order' emerging as a fundamental distinction amidst 'Chaos'.

DM: Order involves periodicity, hence recursion. Recursion defines information. Periodic order conveys minimal info; quasi-periodic order encodes max info through metarecur- sion.

SR: We order 'systems' by making distinctions or categories of abstracted 'variables'. We may sometimes then recursively apply similar distinctions to these categories etc. etc. When able to apparently continue this process ad infinitum, we have established 'periodic-order'. The success or failure of this process yields some information about the system under consideration. 'Periodic-order' conveys only a minimal amount of information because it implies the ability to produce a short-hand-notation or contraction of the whole ordering-process into one defining loop repeated over and over again. We call failure of this ordering-process 'a-periodicity'. 'Quasi-periodic' refers to situations where the ordering process meets with limited success, whereupon recursion can continue only if the ordering distinctions change as steps in the process continue. The broader-context of a 'system' ( see S.R. defns. ) helps define new 'ordering-distinctions'. If we call various 'system' views 'meta-levels', we may say 'quasi-periodic-order' involves 'meta-level-recursion'. This somewhat wordy explanation attempts to express the situation where repeated shifts in focus or meaning allow one to decode more information about a system. For simplicity's sake we may say that we have encountered ( or produced ! ) a system with max-info-encoded- quasi-periodicity.

DM: Synchronicity gives information meaning. The meaning of info IS pattern. Pattern IS metaphysic.

SR: We recognize 'pattern' as an experienceable 'explicate-order' within a system. Since we 'pattern' or 'order' a system from within the 'broader-context' we call it meta-physic. The 'pattern' represents a projection of 'explicate' process and does not physically inhere within the 'system'. I (S.R.) relate this process of 'information-gathering via pattern recognition' to the term 'meaning'. 'Synchronicity' relates to 'recognition or similarity of pattern' across distinct yet simutaneously considered 'systems' or across sub-sets within a 'system'. 'Pattern' recognition across disparate systems relates to 'Implicate-Order' within some broader'system'.

DM: Explicate pattern IS structure. Structure enfolds logistics. Spacetime IS a function of logistics as energy transfer.

SR: When we experience the 'explicate-ordering-process' with a 'system' we say the 'system' has 'structure' or we have 'structured' the 'system'. Since the above process usually invites a certain amount of 'logistics' or 'book-keeping- short-hand', we realize that 'structure' enfolds 'logistics'. We usually mean 'structure' as a 'static' aspect of systems, but this actually depends on the degree of 'quasi-periodicity' involved in defining the system. Systems defined within a 'Matrix' of 'Space-Time' have 'functionally-related' features whose changes always involve energy-transfer as the medium-of-exchange.

DM: Logistics IS elegant function. Function orders logics of process. Functional logics include synergetics, fractals, and tilings. Process determines systems.

SR: 'Logistics' aims at elegant or simplified 'book-keeping'. 'Repeatable-functional-relationships' simplifies 'logistics'. This 'functionality' forms the basis of a logically-ordered- process. 'Explicate-Order' reveals 'Functionality'. Examples of 'high' functionality include synergetics, fractals, and tilings. Process determines systems.

DM: Systems ARE subject to evolution. Systems evolving through spacetime comprise the physical. The most basic system IS the photon; both info and structure.

SR: Systems which involve more than trivial periodicity may evolve. We classify sytems evolving through 'space-time' as 'physical'. At man's current state of development, the 'Photon' represents the swiftest and most basic medium of information exchange between systems. Viewed as a 'system' a series of 'photon- exchanges' conveys information via some 'explicate-ordered- process'.

DM: The Forces of Newton and the gravity of Einstein ARE functions, that IS, relationships between systems. The evolution of the metasystem has developed galaxies of stars, including supernovas whose evolution produced elements necessary to form planets, one of which developed humans, whose bodies consist of the same star-stuff.

SR: The 'Laws of Physics' as defined by Newton and Einstein express 'function-relatinships' between systems within a broader 'meta-system' the 'Physical Universe'. 'Physical Universe' has evolved galxies of stars, including supernovas whose evolution produced elements necessary to form planets, one of which developed humans, whose bodies consist of the same 'star-stuff'.

DM: Human bodies ARE biological systems structured through fractal and geodesic logic according to the logistics of human enviromental requirements, that IS, the universe.

SR: We can use the 'high functionality' of fractals and geodesics to elegantly describe human bodies in terms of the 'logistics' of enviromental requirements in 'Physical Universe'.

DM: Synchronicity IS basic implicate causality; attractors ARE teleology; metarecursion IS system diagnostic; meaning IS the implicate-explicate hologram. Definition IS always recursive. Mind IS the meaning of Universe.

SR: I'm tiered, it's late, and I dont understand the above. Too many ISes.

B. Deric Morris (c) 01/15/92
Swinton A. Roof (c) 05/09/92