|
Hey guys,
Thanks. Well said
Dan. I make an effort myself to keep things looking up. It's not
that difficult most of the time because I think there are some good reasons to
feel realistically optimistic. There is it seems to me however something
inherently heavy in speaking about the living and any other state of being
be it non-living or dead. But I think too that this has probably long
haunted our psyches, that life and it's negation could be so intermingled.
That maybe they could even shake hands as it were.
I like your favored hypothetical scenario of
Earth's original emergence Dan. Of the various scenarios that strike me as
plausible that has to be placed among them. Even this is perhaps literally
sunnier than my own. My imagining of the thing is actually very similar
only I put the thing at depth and pressure cook it. I also view closure as
a dynamic phenomenon and one of function. I suppose this is what allows me
to recognize Rosen and seek to draw insight from him. I guess it's what
I'm saying when I speak of the act of establishing, achieving an example of this
closure. You know I've actually wondered about the simultaneous emergence
of autotrophs and heterotrophs. I intuit (which can be wrong) that they
most often do and most likely did. But do they necessarily have
to?
You both asked for me to clarify what I intend by
influence or apparatus and the induced emergence of life in a cup. I am
deliberately being vague but I also don't really think that the specifics of the
influence or apparatus are as important as the effect we wish to achieve in the
overflowing cup. Also, I seem to be presently conflicted in this
regard. I have most recently been reminded by Tim that we should consider
the shoulds. Robert expressed reservations himself. Our fears or
reservations in this area must be ancient. We have now the gray goo but we
have also Frankenstein's monster and the golem. In fact I think our
reservations of our own attempts at induced emergence are complex and
manifold. Here there may be the interplay of fantasy and well-founded
hesitation. So really I feel compelled to a democratic spirit in
this. What are some of the oughts and ought nots of
experimentally induced emergence? Why should we and why should we
not? This may strike you as strange but I think among the innumerable and
weighty reasons why we should is that I think it would make a great pedagogical
device. If there were not several text book examples in say 50 years
I think I would be surprised and disappointed. And if Robert Rosen's
name and work is not among those mentioned along side then I think that would be
a waste or a shame.
I tell you though, I'm excited about being alive at
this time. There seems to be so many pieces in place for us to really
amplify our view of the universe through a living lens. Oh, Dan I'm a big
fan of water too. I'm off to work. Good way to start the day.
Thanks guys.
David
|