Chapter 17 Evolution of information

This stagnation point is comparable to the point in which an information element feels too restricted in a stable organization. It is at the same time the point where the abstract being feels best the restrictions imposed by the choices made in the consecutive externalizations (instantiations).

Creations of animals exhibit some function (a bird nest), creations of man exhibit already behavior (a machine, a computer virus). The next step is the creation of living externalizations which express themselves in a way which is not programmed (mechanisms which are able to create by themselves).

In this chapter we will concentrate on consecutive externalizations triggered by the first reason. The choices (mappings) used in such externalizations differ. Therefore this kind of externalizations cause the changes responsible for the evolution of information.

Once an externalization is more or less stable, it is basically the second reason which dominates and causes the "normal" propagation. This multiplication of the most useful externalizations allows to gather the bulk of the experience which is required to trigger a new externalization of the first kind.

17.4 Desire to change the mapping.

Remember the politician dreaming about starting a new party based upon the experiences gained in the current party.

Remember the engineer dreaming about starting over the project and base a new project on the experiences gained in the current project.

Engineers hate the long way out. This should mean that they have to finish the project, let the resulting product live and only start a new concept when the product is worn out and does not longer fit the needs. They often prefer to start the whole thing over using immediately the experience gained by the current attempt.

The new externalization takes only form when tasks are assigned to elements which specialize themselves. Before that stage, many configurations are considered without externalizing them.

The politician suffers from the consequences of some unfortunate initial choices in the process of externalizing his ideas. At first, he can try to convince the rest of the party to change course but there is not much chance. The entire party is built upon these choices and they cannot be changed without destroying the political party.

In silent moments (insulation), the political leader imagines the party based upon a different set of choices and with all his experience built in the choices to start with. When the result looks attractive, the politician will come back to this idea more frequently and seek ways to insulate himself from the party to be able to enjoy this thoughts. When these thoughts grow strong enough, he will decide to maintain one day this insulation and prepare the creation of a new political party.

It is important to remark that the resign of the political leader not necessary implies the destruction of the party. The party can live its own life after the resign of the founder (in a number of cases, the party will not survive).

A founder of a company can decide to withdraw to create a new company while the company exist.

A founder of a political party can decide to withdraw to create a new party while the party exist.

A cell in a body can decide to insulate itself to create a new body while the body still exist.

A molecule in a cell of a body can decide to insulate to create a new cell while still belonging to a cell and while the cell is part of a body (propagation of cells within an existing body).

The more abstract (more elementary) the level in which the propagation takes place, the larger the difference between the externalizations of the information. More fundamental choices cannot be reconsidered at an external level.

There is a difference between a company created as a daughter of a large company and a newly founded company created by a former employee of a large company.

A computer program needs regular adaptation to fit the changing needs of the users. By these improvements, new versions of the program are created. Adding new features to an existing program is sometimes difficult because the program was not designed for it; the changes do not fit in the structure of the program.

After a number of updates, the program is entirely redesigned taking all requirements into account. Although the experience gained by the first program is integrated in the new program, the new program is not a direct offspring of the first. It is not a modified version of the first but it is a new externalization of the abstract information completed by the experience abstracted from the earlier externalizations..

A production technique is very young and has almost no "mass" (collected energy) compared to information of biological life. Yet, a production technique can be taught to a worker and control the movements of the worker when applied.

Older structures are used as breeding ground in which the newer externalizations express themselves. By this, the elements of the breeding ground do not have the same evolutionary background as the structures using them to express themselves and to gain experience.

17.10 Tree of manifestation.

The use of elements which do not have the same evolutionary background to build new bodies makes it difficult to draw a tree of manifestations in which the propagations at every level are indicated.

I have no insight in this tree of manifestation. It could for example be that some subatomic particles (neutrons) are really old and primitive compared to other subatomic particles (electrons). It may also be that some atoms, or groups of atoms have a different evolutionary background than others.

\mysection{ Less indurated matter.