bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) (11/03/88)
In article <2211@datapg.MN.ORG> sewilco@datapg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) writes: > Life, and thus evolution, is merely random exceptions to entropy. There is an emerging theory on the evolution of complex stable systems. (See for example Ilya Prigogine's book, _Order out of Chaos_.) The mathematical theory of fixed points, and the related system-theoretic idea of eigenfunctions and eigenvalues suggest that stable, recurring modes or patterns may emerge naturally from any system when "the outputs are shorted to the inputs". Consider for instance, the map whose name is "The Laws of Physics and Chemistry". Plug in some atoms and molecules into this map (or processor) and you get out atoms and molecules. By the Fixed Point Theorem, one would expect there to exist a family of atoms and molecules which remain untransformed by this map. And this family could have arbitrarily complex members. DNA comes to mind. (Crystals are another example of a self-replicating, self-healing structure). So the "random exceptions to entropy" may not be entirely random. They may be the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the system. The Mandelbrot Set has shown us how exquisitely beautiful and complex structures can arise out of simple recursion and feedback loops. --Barry Kort