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Does evolution affect physics?
by mycall 8y ago
Does evolution affect physics?
- epistasis 8y agoThere's two different things called physics: first there's the set of concepts, equations, techniques, and models that we as humans use to understand the world. Second, there's the way the actual physical world works. As a human endeavor to have our brains predict things about the physical world, physics has to "run" on the human brain. In that sense, evolution shapes the physics that humans can conceive and understand. Evolution doesn't change what actually happens physically, so it doesn't affect physics that way.
- Radim 8y agoThe tricky part is that your first "physics" (human models) is also a part of the physical world. The human concepts and equations affect what humans do, which changes the physical world. There's a bit of a feedback loop. Concepts, ideas, equations and models absolutely do change the world, in a very real and physical sense. They do not (probably) affect the fundamental laws of physics, though.
- okket 8y agoA good example of such a feedback loop are computers. It is impossible to think of modern physics without them, on the experimental side at least. Another example are computers themselves. You can't build computers without computers, so they are already kind of building themselves, with us humans using as evolutionary slaves/hosts.
- whatshisface 8y agoComputers are involved in the practical side of modern physics, but not in the conceptual side. When it is demonstrated that an algorithm will produce a trust-able result, no reference is made to any "real" aspect of computers. Instead, the algorithms are designed based on symbol manipulation and could just as well be carried out by a platonic physicist writing notes in the Mediterranean sand. The specific details of how computers are actually made impacts the implementation but not the results.
- JamesBarney 8y agoAlso referred to as the map and the territory.
- cjohansson 8y agoNo it's other way around. Physics sets the foundation for what's possible within evolution. Physics is the foundation for all other sciences.
- Radim 8y agoIn the general sense of "evolution" (moving between states): absolutely! That's pretty much what physics is. For an extreme example, see Wolfram's theory in New Kind of Science, a (controversial) hypothesis about how laws of physics evolve via cellular automata, simple programs producing complexity. Even outside of this example, much of what we consider as "our universe" (macroscopically observable patterns and laws) evolved through micro-interactions. It was only last century that matter was discovered to be nothing special, just denser clumps of energy. If you mean evolution in the strictest biological sense, i.e. a cat deciding to change the universal speed of light… unlikely. Though the connection between consciousness and physical world (objectivity, solipsism) is still a contentious and unsettled area.