Science and the Nervous System

[daylen]

The holographic principle can seem paradoxical at first, but it does make intuitive sense considering life is not completely random. Reality has redundant degrees of freedom and physics has taken advantage of this by encoding symmetries into formal systems. Prediction would not be possible if reality was at maximum entropy (completely random), and the past would probably not look like the future. Language would be obsolete if a [nearly] closed system could not be described by an encoding with a complexity proportional to the boundary of that system. The apparent order of our reality is in some sense what gives it meaning.

[intellectualpersuit]

What is the current level of entropy compared to maximum entropy?

I am one or two Wheaton levels below the holographic principle in physics. I am trying to build up my understanding to that point from the ground up, all I got to today was confirming what I thought was space is space, haha not even to space time yet.

[daylen]

What is the current level of entropy compared to maximum entropy?

I haven't the slightest idea.

[Stonis33]

This post is truly so informative and gains my knowledge.

[7Wannabe5]

to maintain the body's homeostasis, the brain continually maps the state of the living body in structures that regulate the organism's life; and as the body's state changes, so does its neural map. Damasio calls this continually changing neural map of the organism the "protoself" and sees it as the nonconscious forerunner of the "core self" that is experienced with the emergence of primary or core consciousness. Since the mapping of the body as protoself is tied to the maintenance of the life process, it is evident that life and consciousness are indelibly interwoven. In the terminology of the Santiago theory, we many say that the mapping of the body as protoself is the cognitive activity out of which consciousness emerges.- The System View of Life: A Unifying Vision - Capra and Luisi

Nearly all of these inaccurate predictions (regarding impending apocalypse) are rooted in a failure to grasp a central ideal of ecology, the principle of homeostasis. One of the crucial ways in which any living system-a cell, an organism, an ecosystem, or a planet-differs from nonliving matter is that living systems respond to change with efforts to maintain balance. The little fence lizards that show up on summer days in my garden show homeostasis in action; in the morning, when the ground is cold, the lizards scamper over to the nearest patch of sun to warm up; by the time the day has become warm, the lizards are cooling off in the shade. This is the basis structure of homeostasis: negative feedback-countering cold with heat or heat with cold, or any other extreme with its opposite-works to keep a system within the range of conditions it needs for survival. It does not always work, for the lizards or for anything else, but its effects must always be taken into account*...

...In Oregon, where I lived until recently, much of the long and fertile Williamette Valley has been used for years to grow grass seed for the lawn-improvement market. When the housing bubble imploded, the market for grass seed plunged, while the market for wheat has been boosted by shortages. As a result, farmers up and down the Williamette are planting wheat instead of grass. Other agricultural regions that have concentrated on specialty products are finding good financial reasons to return to staple food crops; once again, this is homeostasis at work. -The Ecotechnic Future
- Greer

Perhaps I am just restating the obvious, but in developing the OP's analogy, I think it may be important to examine how the mechanisms of homeostasis differ in the two systems. For instance, maybe the global economy is more like a widespread colony of cold-blooded lizards than a warm-blooded human body.



*Feel compelled to note that these effects ABSOLUTELY have already been considered in the realm of global climate change. Negative feedback mechanisms not adequate at current levels. Positive feedback mechanisms quite possible as levels continue to increase. Of course, one could continue with tiny hope for unknown unknown.