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The Emergent as Probe A Natural Context of
the minim ‘It’s not about me’ by the Druid Finn 1. Premise: Emergence as Event Nature
does not unfold as a seamless flow but as a series of random emergent
events. Every identifiable phenomenon — a photon, a bacterium, a human,
or a galaxy — appears as a bounded, therefore identifiable realness quanta,
constrained by conditions that hold it in place for a brief interval. To
appear is already to be confined, identified and real, and consigned to
extinction. 2. The Emergent Defined Each
emergent functions as a random probe: a temporary, structured configuration
as experimental set that tests the adaptive possibilities afforded by its
environment. ·
Particles probe interactions: a
photon tests pathways through matter, a quark tests
confinement within hadrons. ·
Organisms probe survival strategies:
a bacterium tests antibiotic resistance, a human tests cultural and
technological adaptations. ·
Civilisations probe modes of
organisation: Athens tested democracy, the Maya probed calendrical time, Rome
probed empire. ·
Stars probe nuclear stability:
some stabilise as long-lived main-sequence stars, others collapse into black
holes. The
emergent is therefore less an “end product” than a trial-run, a random
probe of what might be (and, if successful, is) possible under given
constraints. 3. The Logic of Probing Why does
nature proceed by random walk probing rather than by intentionally producing
stable, eternal forms? ·
Randomness rules input. The
cosmos is not a closed book with fixed outcomes but a field, indeed an ocean
of stochastic momentum, i.e. energy packets. ·
Constraints define outcomes. Each
emergent is shaped by limits: Planck’s constant for photons, gravity for
planets, DNA repair mechanisms for organisms. ·
Differential (meaning random)
iteration ensures continuity. By producing vast numbers of random, thus
unpredictable emergents nature maximises the chance
that some will persist, at least for a while, thereby sustaining
(self-necessary) continuity. Thus,
probing is not an accident but the central logic of natural emergence
resulting from the drive to continuance. 4. The Lottery of Life To
increase its survivability, the procedure plays like a lottery: it
runs ever-increasing numbers of (self-terminating) probes, all of them
expendable. ·
On Earth today there are about seven million (expendable)
species, each serving as a platform for probing survival. ·
Each platform deploys vast numbers of expendable
units — individual organisms — none of which endure, but all of which
contribute data momentarily to the ongoing continuance test. ·
Humans are but one platform among millions.
Our billions of individuals are expendable units, probing strategies of
survival, culture, and adaptation. The logic
is clear: the procedure invests in quantity and variation, because continuity
requires both upgrade and redundancy. The failure of one unit, species, or
even planet does not end the emergence procedure; it simply marks the limits
of viability. 5. The Experimental Set Each
emergent is an experimental set, a hypothesis posed by the Universal Procedure
self-continuing by means of random walk: ·
“Will this cluster of quarks hold together?” ·
“Will this DNA sequence confer survival?” ·
“Will this social structure endure external
pressure?” Some
succeed. Most fail. In the end all fail. Subatomic particles decay in
fractions of a second, most species vanish without trace, civilisations
collapse into ruins. The losses are not wasted — they chart the terrain of
what cannot persist. 6. Survival as Continuity, Not Conservation What
persists is not the emergent but the procedure itself, which carries
on by iterating through new probes. Continuity is achieved not by conserving
identities (mere addresses) but by generating new trials. The lottery never
ends; the tickets are endlessly printed, then discarded. 7. Critique of the “End-State” Illusion Human
narratives — religious, political, even scientific — often imagine a final
state: salvation, utopia, or a Theory of Everything. But if nature operates
by continuous, automatic, blind probing, there is no end-state. There is only
the lottery of iteration, endlessly testing new possibilities under
shifting constraints. To live
truthfully is to accept oneself as one, once-off ticket in this cosmic
lottery: real for a moment, expendable in the longer sweep, yet indispensable
as part of the ongoing draw. 8. The Minim Restated Thus the natural context
analysis confirms the minim: “It’s not about me.” Because
“me,” or any emergent, is a probe, not an end. The significance of any
emergent lies not in its permanence but in its function as a bounded
experiment in adaptation, one expendable unit among countless millions in
nature’s lottery. |