Sorry. I thought you were referring to a more universal theory of evolution, that would expand on Darwin's biological focus, to a more general understanding of how the primitive proto-physics of the Big Bang has matured into current cosmic-scale, macro-scale, and sub-atomic physics. That incremental process of Emergence*1 has now progressed to the point of producing, not just more complexity, but the astonishing emergence of novelty, including meta-physical Minds, and "non-physical" Consciousness.↪Gnomon
Maybe "cosmic evolution" would have been a more appropriate term to use? The concept itself is that every "thing" within the universe/cosmos evolves via some form of selection that is fully natural. Back in my twenties, I upheld physicalism and causal determinism with a "naturalistic pantheism" worldview - held for ontological reasons. Things have since then changed for me. But the concept I've just outlined intrigued me back then - as it still does, though now within a different ontological frame of mind (one of non-physicalism and of a partially determinate indeterminism). — javra
Darwin saw a parallel, with "Selection" by human minds, in the workings of Nature. Both are Natural in the sense of A> a teleological act by a physical organism, and B> a mathematical computation of inputs & outputs. — Gnomon
I would be interested in an update, that attempts to explain Natural Selection on a cosmic scale. — Gnomon
Yes. My use of "teleology" in the quote was ironic. Darwin's term "natural selection" was probably intended to avoid any interpretations of super-natural intervention. But his model for how natural selection works was based on examples of artificial (human) selection. Yet, what was supposed to distinguish Natural Selection from Artificial Selection was the assumption that teleological foresight of a sentient being was un-necessary. However, Darwin later admitted that Random Chance was not a reasonable alternative to some kind of Intentional Causation*1.In his "On the Origin of Species", I don't recall Darwin mentioning natural selection to necessarily incorporate "a teleological act by a physical organism", or by any other type of psyche whatsoever for that matter (this being strictly limited to artificial, rather than natural, selection). — javra
In my Enformationism thesis, life-from-non-life was the core mystery to be explained by any new Cosmology. Materialism has nothing to offer on that front. And Spiritualism is tainted with millennia of religious & philosophical debasement. So, my amateur proposal is based on the ubiquity of generic Information at all levels of cosmic ontology : Matter, Life, & Mind. In the thesis & blog, I have been exploring that angle for several years. But the diverse roles of Information, in the development of a simple Singularity into a complex Cosmos, are usually viewed in isolation, rather than in conjunction --- as a whole system.Yes, so would I. My own criteria for accepting any novel idea in this regard to me seems rather simple: does it manage to ontologically explain how life and its biological evolution evolved from nonlife and its here assumed cosmic evolution - this rather than merely supposing that it somehow did. If yes, then I'll bite. — javra
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