From: jimruttshow8596
Terrence Deacon’s work, particularly in his book Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter, explores the fundamental emergent properties of reality, from the origins of life to consciousness, by emphasizing the critical role of constraints [00:03:41].
Absence as a Core Idea
A central concept in Deacon’s argument is “absence” [00:06:08]. He posits that absence is implicitly present in almost everything we do in the sciences, yet it has not been fully integrated into physical theories or theories of mental experience [00:06:26]. This includes concepts like purposes, meanings, and values (teleology) [00:06:51].
Deacon introduces the term “constitutive absence,” suggesting that the meaning of words, for instance, is not in their physical sound but in what they are not [00:07:30]. He argues that everything about us is with respect to absence – the possibility of not being there, and our interest in things linked to what they are not [00:07:43]. This difficulty in dealing with absence in scientific theories extends to understanding consciousness and undirected yet purposive processes [00:08:29]. The historical struggle with the concept of zero in mathematics, and the resolution of Zeno’s paradox through calculus, serves as an analogy for understanding how to work with “infinitely small divisions” and “absences” in complex systems [00:09:03].
Constraints, Form, and Organization
Deacon posits that “constraint” is the flip side of “organization” or “form” [00:31:35]. Forms or symmetries exist because certain variations or features are not expressed [00:31:40]. For example, a triangle’s form is defined by all the ways it could have been but isn’t [00:31:50]. He proposes reversing conventional thinking by considering form not as something added, but as something removed [00:32:31]. Any regularity, whether a symmetry, a habit, or a waveform, can be described in terms of what is absent [00:33:17].
The notion of constraint was first encountered by Deacon in the work of Claude Shannon, who used it to describe how information in a channel relies on “constraint on the possible variety of signals” [00:30:13]. Later, Michael Polanyi argued that living processes are unique because they involve chemistry that prevents certain other kinds of chemistry from happening [00:30:51]. Thus, the organization that emerges in life is the result of what is not being allowed, minimized, or prevented [00:31:08].
Three Layers of Emergence
Deacon introduces a hierarchy of emergent processes based on the concept of constraints:
Homeodynamics
Homeodynamic processes are “orthograde,” meaning they tend to happen spontaneously or “with the flow” [00:39:32]. They generally lead to an increase in entropy or maintain a constant, unchanging state, like an object moving at a constant velocity in empty space or a system at thermodynamic equilibrium [00:40:07]. The underlying dynamics do not change, tending towards homogenization [00:40:21].
Morphodynamics
Morphodynamic processes are “contra-grade” [00:42:16] – they go “against the flow” of orthograde processes and generate order or regularity [00:35:30]. Examples include whirlpools, convection cells, and snow crystals [00:41:34]. These processes arise when energy flows through a system, generating order by balancing contra-grade interactions [00:42:02]. However, morphodynamic processes are “self-undermining” because they rapidly consume the raw materials and dissipate the gradients that enable their existence, leading to their eventual disappearance unless “frozen” (like a snow crystal) [00:47:01]. Morphodynamic processes are rarer than homeodynamic ones [00:46:29].
Teleodynamics
Teleodynamic processes represent a higher order of emergence than morphodynamics [00:42:50]. They involve the juxtaposition and balancing of morphodynamic processes in such a way that the system maintains and reproduces its own order, preventing its dissipation [00:43:05]. This results in an “end-directedness” or “purposive” quality, where the system is oriented towards an “absent end” – something that does not yet exist but is being generated (e.g., self-repair, reproduction) [00:43:43].
The autogen thought experiment provides a concrete example:
- It combines two morphodynamic processes: reciprocal catalysis (generating more of itself rapidly) and crystal/capsid formation (self-assembling structures) [00:50:53].
- Reciprocal catalysis produces molecules needed for capsid growth, while capsid growth constrains the diffusion of catalysts, maintaining their interaction [00:54:36].
- This creates a self-reinforcing, co-dependent system where morphodynamic processes “balance each other out” and “keep each other from disappearing” [00:57:29].
- The overall system creates a “higher order constraint” – the constraint of their relationship to each other [00:57:47]. If broken, it tends to self-repair or produce more copies [00:57:12].
Teleodynamic processes are about “constraints that preserve each other” and “amplify themselves,” leading to their spread when they occur [00:47:38]. Life is the most prominent example of a teleodynamic process, constantly working against its own tendency to dissipate and go out of existence [00:45:24].
Information and Constraints
Deacon links the concept of information to constraints, distinguishing between three ways information is understood:
- Shannon Information: Focuses on the engineering problem of transmitting data. Information is defined by the “constraints on the possible variety” of a signal [01:04:10]. It measures the amount of message carried, independent of meaning or usefulness [01:05:02].
- Boltzmann Entropy: Relates to the physical entropy of a medium. Noise in information transmission is due to “Boltzmann effects” or the degradation of the physical medium, which loses constraints over time [01:09:01].
- Bateson’s “Difference that Makes a Difference”: Gregory Bateson defined information as “a difference that makes a difference” [01:12:41]. For Deacon, this phrase has a double meaning: a difference that matters [01:13:54]. Something matters if it’s necessary for a system to “keep existing” [01:14:10].
Only teleodynamic systems, which are organized around their “future possibility of maintaining itself,” can distinguish aspects of the world that “matter” for self-maintenance (useful, supportive, dangerous, avoidable) [01:14:38]. This leads to a “normative character,” where things are implicitly good or bad, right or wrong [01:15:01]. To interpret information and relate it to something absent (like the work that produced a snow crystal), a teleodynamic process is required [01:15:39].
Sentience and Consciousness
Deacon defines “sentience” broadly as the ability of a teleodynamic system to be “differentially reactive” to its environment in a way that maintains itself and increases its probability of persistence and reproduction [01:20:10]. This simple awareness of “what’s good for me and what’s bad for me” is built into the system’s teleodynamic nature [01:20:30]. He distinguishes this “vegetative sentience” (like plants reacting to light or nutrients) from “subjective sentience” (involving a full representation or model of alternatives, as in animals with brains) [01:22:05].
Consciousness, then, is understood as a nested teleodynamic process: “a teleodynamic process of a teleodynamic process” [01:31:36]. Each neuron and cell is teleodynamic, trying to maintain itself [01:33:29]. Nervous systems are networks of these teleodynamic units, operating at a higher order to make predictions and discern useful/dangerous aspects of the environment [01:31:56]. This explains how consciousness, which makes things unconscious, is a process of constantly resolving contra-grade dynamics to reach a state of unity and balance [01:46:15].
Light on the “Hard Problem”
Deacon argues that the “hard problem” of consciousness, which questions why physical processes give rise to subjective experience, is akin to Zeno’s paradox [01:52:22]. The more we analyze physical details (neurons, synapses), the further away the experience seems to be [01:51:59].
However, just as Zeno’s paradox was resolved by understanding absence (zero), the hard problem can be approached by recognizing that “absences matter” [01:53:34]. Our experience is defined by these systems of constraints that generate new kinds of work and new kinds of constraints [01:54:34]. The brain’s work is not merely about switch settings or synaptic weights, but about dynamic processes and the morphodynamics of regions of the brain that generate constrained, organized activity [01:45:05].
Consciousness, and indeed life itself, is an emergent process where new absences are generated from old ones, creating fundamentally new and different forms [01:58:40]. We are not merely the physical stuff (which constantly changes) but “this dynamical system of constraints that keeps itself in existence” [01:56:42]. This “being is doing” principle, where “doing is work,” highlights that work is always the constrained dissipation of energy, which in turn generates new constraints, leading to new kinds of work [01:57:05]. This recursive generation of constraints and work is the essence of the emergence problem [01:57:42].