This post is a follow on from the previous one which used the word intelligence to denote the 5th force of the universe. For those that have just joined, here is the back story so far.
For the past 15 years, David Jones (a colleague who is also retired) and I have been meeting for lunch on a fortnightly basis. During these lunches we solve the world problems of the day and then settle on to cosmology. David has taken on the task of revising the ‘standard model’ of the Big Bang and I have been trying to expound my theory of there being a 5th force of the universe -- the force of intelligence. This force is present at the fundamental level of quantum mechanics and is as pervasive as the forces of gravity and electromagnetism.
We come up against the usual problem of trying to describe new concepts using ordinary everyday language -- trying to give new meanings to old words. This was a problem that Ludwig Wittgenstein, an early 20th century philosopher, grabbled with and failed to succeed. He considered his philosophical works a waste of time, gave away his vast family wealth and became a reclusive and taught school in some remote part of Norway. He had a similar view of Bertrand Russell’s work, Principia Mathematica. Bertrand was Ludwig’s PhD supervisor at Cambridge.
Wittgenstein's view of philosophy was that it floundered at the meaning of words and the use of language. According to him, we communicate by using mental pictures of what we mean. We need those mental pictures in order to communicate. In trying to describe something new like the 5th force of nature, using words like consciousness or panpsychism or intelligence immediately brings a lot of baggage with it and different kinds of images in the mind of the listener. In order to free oneself from old images new words need to be coined and new mental pictures to go with them.
A candidate word for the 5th force of the universe is LOGOS. In ancient Greek philosophy and early Christian theology, Logos represented divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning. Its usage here in cosmology is free from the philosophical and religious contexts but does give it the flavour of a force of nature that has intelligence and consciousness properties,
Drawing a picture of this 5th force of nature is challenging but it can be placed alongside the other forces in the table below:
We now come to the problem that Wittgenstein so clearly stated when it comes to describing something entirely new, “whereof we can not speak, we must pass on in silence.” And it is reminiscent of the first few lines of the Tao Te Ching “The TAO that can be spoken of is not the TAO itself. A description of the TAO would require a duplication of the TAO.”
LOGOS, the 5th force, embodies the total intelligence of the cosmos. It is the emergence of properties of matter from subatomic particles, quantum mechanics, to atoms, to molecules, composition of rocks, molecular biology of living things, stability of chaotic systems, the red spot of Jupiter, the lifting of consciousness to the rapture of poets, the feeling of awe and oneness with the universe. Its wonder and manifestations are one and the same.
Like gravity it operates at the cosmological level but it also operates at the quantum level. Does it explain the fundamental problem of the ‘observer effect’ in quantum physics -- the double slit experiment? When there is no observer, the atoms fired one at a time form the inference pattern of waves
but when an observer is present, they form two bands as they pass through the slits -- waves/particles..
The best mathematical description of LOGOS so far is that made by Wissner-Gross and his equation for intelligence: F = T ∇ Sτ. In his equation, F is a force that acts so to maximise future freedom of action. It acts with some strength, T with the diversity of possible accessible futures, S, up to some future time horizon, Tau. In the words of Wissner-Gross: “Intelligence should be viewed as a physical process that tries to maximise future freedom of action and avoids constraints in its own future.”
Like the diagram of the space-time continuum of Einstein, the force field of LOGOS encompasses the cosmos by connecting everything in a quantum entanglement.
We are accustomed to living in the electro-magnetic force field with sunlight, radio waves of all lengths, infrared (heat) waves, X-rays, microwave towers, bluetooth. We use electromagnetism in our electric motors, smartphones, computers and electric toothbrushes without giving them a second thought. The force field of LOGOS pervades our culture, the arts, our sciences and every aspect of our intellectual life. It is present from the quantum world to the vastness of the cosmos.
It has been described that certain individuals like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk are able to bend reality -- they are hooked into this force. This is probably how the mystics contemplated the universe from time immemorial.
Maybe with the force of LOGOS we will not need dark energy and dark matter to prop up our current understanding of how the universe works.
That is LOGOS, the 5th force of the universe described in a nutshell. Having given the 5th force a word and some concepts, this becomes the beginning of the story and further discussions will evidently follow. (I can also hear the mutterings of dissent from the scholars of the Classics and maybe software programmers but hopefully they can see the problem of assigning the right word(s) to this force.)
Personally I’ll continue to use ‘the force of intelligence’ and sometimes consciousness when talking about the 5th force as outlined in the Table above. I also intend to go through the Tao Te Ching and pick out some insightful descriptions for the 5th force of the universe.
Now like Wittgenstein, it is time to “pass on in silence”