Bridging the Gap between Life and Physics (eBook)

Ron Cottam grew up in Cheshire, in the north-west of England. At school he studied mathematics, physics and chemistry, and went on to gain a bachelor’s degree in applied physics and electronics and a PhD in the acoustic physics of II-VI and III-V compounds at the University of Durham, UK. He was invited to the University of Leuven in 1972 to start a new research activity in shape-memory alloy ultrasonics, and in 1976 became responsible for the music-recording facility in HiFi Home, Brugge. He established Sound Stuff – a study bureau in acoustics and music recording facility – in 1979, and worked as an independent in recording-studio design and recorded-music production until he joined the Department of Electronics and Informatics (ETRO) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 1983. From 1984 until the 2011 he has been ‘campus medewerker’ for the microelectronics R&D company IMEC vzw in ETRO, working on chemical sensors, integrated optical components, and most recently as leader of the Living Systems Project in the LAMI laboratory of ETRO. He currently continues research work in the Living Systems Project at the VUB as ‘vrijwillige medewerker’. Ron has an impressive publication record (see attached).Willy Ranson received the Telecommunication Engineer degree in 1975 from the University of Leuven, Belgium. He was Assistant Professor in the Department of Microwaves and Lasers at the University of Leuven until 1983, when he joined the Department of Electronics and Information Processing (ETRO) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Since 1989 he has been a member of the Inter-university Micro-Electronics Center (IMEC) in the VUB. Willy has participated in projects and contracted research on such diverse topics as planar antenna structures, high frequency wave-guides, chemical sensors, biological applications for breast cancer detection, optical information processing for parallel computation, CO2 laser applications, microelectronic process technology and revolutionary information and revolutionary computation theories. He is currently Senior Researcher in charge of the processing technology lab of LAMI and is a founder member of LIFE (Living Systems). His current research contributions are in the areas of CO2 laser modulation, millimeter imaging systems, micro machines for ultra-rapid DNA screening, fast enforcing technologies for protein engineering and Evolutionary Living Systems, sensing, imaging and modulation functionalities and operating in the electromagnetic spectrum ranging from the microwave range up to the far-infrared, covering the 30 GHz to 30 THz range. Willy is (co)author of more than 140 publications in international refereed journals and conferences (attachment).

000 Preface00 Foreword0 Contents1 Setting the Stage Introduction to the area of work. Specifically addressing briefly, the following: Universal analysis versus synthesis in conventional science Determinism and complexity Logic and rule-based argument Complementarity and visualizability Modelling and machines Raison d’être of the following chapters2 Opening the Curtains Setting out the initial conditions for the work. Specifically addressing: Collections and sets, the difference between them and whether their contents are externally accessible Logic and rationality, as the terms will be used here: Brenner’s Logic In Reality and its relevance Systems and their general properties Probability: classical versus Dempster-Shafer probability3 Partial Everything The concept of Universal existence as partially-defined quasi-quantum particles. Analogue and digital with respect to transfer functions Complexity and the relevance of Robert Rosen’s description of complexity Approximation in the analogue and digital domains The overriding nature of partiality in existence and definition4 Just In Time Computation as a descriptive device ‘Just In Time’ reactivity in living systems Conventional versus chaotic computation Data versus information Computational partitioning Phase spaces and their importance Mathematics and time in living systems5 A Fishy Business Query-reflection computational processing Development of a multiply-reactive computational model ‘AQUARIUM’ as a query-reflection processor The inclusion of new data and computational ‘sleep-time’ Query propagation slowdown and the computational barrier Representation in AQUARIUM of an organism6 And Yet It Moves Modelling living systems and previous models directly relevant to this work Static and dynamic aspects of life Robert Rosen’s (M,R) systems One gene, one protein, one level of organization? Redrawing Robert Rosen’s (M,R) model Maturana and Varela’s autopoietic systems James Grier Miller’s book Living Systems Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis’s operator hierarchy Ehresmann & Vanbremeerschs’ memory evolutive neural systems (MENS) Thomas Sebeok and Thure von Uexkülls’ approach to biosemiotics Chris Langton’s ‘life at the edge of chaos’7 Seeing the Wood… … for the trees Introduction to the concept of scaleIvan Havel’s concept of scale Tree-structures and their problems Hierarchy in its traditional context Model hierarchy as the parent of traditional definitions of hierarchy Emergence and slaving in a model hierarchy Complex regions of a model hierarchy Inter-level transit and quantum error correction8 Two’s Company Complementarity Complementary duality Hierarchical duality Generalized emergence Birationality Birationality in models, paradigms and logic9 Really Reality Duality again: in entropy and life Birationality again and entity-ecosystem modelling Model hierarchy and Rosen’s (M,R) systems A modified approach to reality10 Under the Hood Abstraction in modelling Top-down or bottom-up? Entity-ecosystem rationality pairs Embodiment of living systems Using Robert Rosen’s (M,R) systems in a model hierarchy11 Thinking Things Hyperscale in living systems Dual hyperscale in a model hierarchy Metascale in living systems Intelligence, sapience and wisdom12 Making a Difference Ivan Havel’s categories of reality Charles Peirce’s categories of experience The derivation of information Information in less-than-hierarchical systems External sources in setting up information13 Two into One The neural implications of birational hierarchy Neural hemispheres and the corpus calossum Karl Pribram and complementarity in neural processing Fear-learning as a multiple processing strategy Sleep and AQUARIUM14 Mind Matters Relating together energy, awareness and consciousness Awareness versus consciousness and David Bohm From awareness to consciousness Energy and awareness Stasis-neglect and habituation A birational derivation of consciousness ‘Unconscious’ awarenesses? Coda: dual consciousness after corpus calossum sectioning15 Bridging the Gap Bridging the gap between life and physics Solid state physics as a useful exemplar Crystal-like appearances in biomolecules Electron properties in the solid state: the Kronig-Penney model Electron band structure as a hierarchy of states Linking life and physics in terms of hierarchy Cross-modelling between life and physics Scales versus Brillouin zones16 Closing the Curtains Summary of the journey through the book Conclusions and prospectiveReferences Acknowledgements Index