| Autor: |
Wong ML; Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC 20015.; Sagan Fellow, NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218., Cleland CE; Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309., Arend D Jr; Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309., Bartlett S; Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125., Cleaves HJ 2nd; Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC 20015.; Earth Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.; Blue Marble Space Institute for Science, Seattle, WA 98104., Demarest H; Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309., Prabhu A; Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC 20015., Lunine JI; Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853., Hazen RM; Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC 20015. |
| Abstrakt: |
Physical laws-such as the laws of motion, gravity, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics-codify the general behavior of varied macroscopic natural systems across space and time. We propose that an additional, hitherto-unarticulated law is required to characterize familiar macroscopic phenomena of our complex, evolving universe. An important feature of the classical laws of physics is the conceptual equivalence of specific characteristics shared by an extensive, seemingly diverse body of natural phenomena. Identifying potential equivalencies among disparate phenomena-for example, falling apples and orbiting moons or hot objects and compressed springs-has been instrumental in advancing the scientific understanding of our world through the articulation of laws of nature. A pervasive wonder of the natural world is the evolution of varied systems, including stars, minerals, atmospheres, and life. These evolving systems appear to be conceptually equivalent in that they display three notable attributes: 1) They form from numerous components that have the potential to adopt combinatorially vast numbers of different configurations; 2) processes exist that generate numerous different configurations; and 3) configurations are preferentially selected based on function. We identify universal concepts of selection-static persistence, dynamic persistence, and novelty generation-that underpin function and drive systems to evolve through the exchange of information between the environment and the system. Accordingly, we propose a "law of increasing functional information": The functional information of a system will increase (i.e., the system will evolve) if many different configurations of the system undergo selection for one or more functions. |
