Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

   Post 109.   August 23, 2020 continued . . . .

  Theory of Enformed Systems

   Meta-Physical Information  

 The article states that “TES is an ontological theory of systems that applies at all levels of complexity, ranging from the prephysical through the physical to the biological”. My own thesis could also be described that way, except that I prefer to use the philosophical term “Meta-physical”7 , instead of the neologism “Pre-physical”, in reference to things that are a> conceptual or theoretical as opposed to b> perceptual and empirical. And Consciousness falls squarely into slot <a>. Moreover, I try to avoid the term “spiritual”, because it has too much pre-scientific baggage of primitive assumptions. In place of “spiritual”, I prefer “mental”, because I believe that all things spiritual exist only in the subjective minds of believers. I don't demand objective empirical evidence for subjective concepts, but I do require that they withstand fair & balanced skeptical critique. Faith is not off-limits to rational analysis. The article claims that, “the parsimony and trans-disciplinary applicability of this theory make it a strong candidate to provide the scientific paradigm for the next century”. I can't argue with his confident claim, because I have made similar paradigmatic assertions in my own writings on similar topics.

Watson breaks down the scope of his Theory of Enformed Systems into three categories : a> Psychological Experience; b> Parapsychological and psychic phenomena; and c> Non-experiential, radically related phenomena. Category <a> is also applicable to my thesis. But <b> & <c> are more parsimon-iously explained in conventional terms of Faith & Belief & Magic. Yet <c> includes certain topics that are covered in my thesis, such as “Life, Evolution, and Morphic Resonance”. That's simply because I think they are directly related to the effects of mundane Enformation8 in the world. “Life” may be objectively non-empirical, but it is definitely subjectively experiential. “Evolution” is a theory, not a thing, but I think by adding causal Information to the theory, it will be more understandable. “Morphic Resonance” is sometimes regarded as a reference to a mysterious Vital Force in the world. But I have a different take on that evocative term : it's merely one of the many forms of Enformation that create new forms from old.

The author says that “all these phenomena share a common root”. And I agree, except that Enformy is a branch of the Information tree, not the ultimate foundation. Another branch is what I call EnFormAction,  the energies & forces of the world. Enformy is simply the systematizing “algorithm” that opposes the disorganizing effects of Entropy in the evolution of our universe. Watson calls it “the universal, conserved, organizing principle”. He even goes on to say that, “at prephysical levels to organization, enformy is expressed as curiosity, mental creativity, life per se, and the evolution of species”. In other words, Enformy/EnFormAction is responsible for the emergent immaterial metaphysical qualities of the cosmic organism. So, Watson notes that “the enformy posit obviates the need for self-organizing”. Which means that dead matter doesn't spontaneously evolve into living matter. Instead, that phase transition is the result of inputs of transformative EnFormAction in the form of causative Energy. Moreover, “’self-organizing’ is self-contradictory because it relies on self-reference”. And that is also true of the whole universe, which could not have organ-ized itself from a static mathematical (potential) Singularity into a living Multiplicity of evolving forms.

                    Post 109 continued . . . click Next

Meta-Physical
is Mental

7. Meta-Physical :  the non-physical properties of living organisms, including animation (life), sensation (sentience), and mind (thinking & feeling.

8. Enformation :
   When spelled with an “E” it denotes the active (verbal) act of enforming.

Theory of Enformed Systems  
Comprehensive theory of Consciousness

Don Watson

Psychiatrist, Neurologist

“A hypothetico-deductive paradigm of holistic systems”