Susan Oyama has some fascinating insights into developmental systems and biological evolution, specifically looking at genetic programming and the ontogenesis of information.
She explores the reflexive interactive relationship between organism and environment, such as how environmental features become embedded in genetic information and “manifest” as genes, and reciprocal selectivity between environment and organism, relating to both inherited and acquired characteristics, ie information/ programs.
Lots of interesting thoughts on the fundamental processes of life: constancy, change, and variability. And their evolutionary/developmental role.
She also explores the how biological constraints “generate” information, controls, and regulatory systems, rather than there being a guiding genetic principle to their development.
And much more.
Relating to our conversation about energy manifesting in forms of matter,
“The gene is a vehicle of constancy.”
Gene is information, information is order, order is pattern, pattern is repetition, repetition is constancy
Design is pattern. In-formation as shaping or animating.
Constructive to think of information as a manifestation of physical form, of shape.
Which, at its essence, is geometric.
Geometry is spatial,
And spatial is relational.
When I think of information, I think of syntax, of order, which determines a sequence of value-point, the meaning of which is determined by the sum of these values, as well as the order of the points, and the relationships between any one point.
When i think of syntax, I think of statements strung together.
Then I think of how that statement can be further reduced to abstract symbolic logic, while retaining the intention.
The logic of the statement is determined by the total symbols, as well as the order in which they appear in a sequence.
We can further abstract these symbols to on and off, 1 and 0.
01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101110 00101110
The information contained relates to the total characters/points, and the relationship to all other characters. The sum and order.
But the “rules” are what result in the pattern. This could be random numbers. The only thing that makes it information is that we apply a set of rules to translate into something meaningful.
The rules require us to perform repetitive actions. Every time I was to refer to “man”, i must use the characters “m-a-n” in that order/sequence.
By using different combinations, i am not preserving the integrity of the pattern, and not creating structure, or order.
Something like that
As it relates to genetic information,
You can see the energy manifesting in matter. You can see the vibrations, the wave form, the repeating geometric structure.
The environment is buzzing with energy, with an energy force.
The constancy of that force manifests as repetition, as frequency, as Hertz.
This repetition is order. In the same way that a sine wave is repeating. Or a transmission signal has a repetition to the communication protocol, be it Morse Code or something more complex, such as UDP or TCP etc.
A crystal’s geometric form is determined by the repetition of relationships between its atomic parts.
The environmental energy force that’s acting on physical matter requires a constancy to impress and form and shape.
This constancy is an equilibrium
It’s a resonance
I just think it’s interesting…
How does information make its way into DNA.
How are genes encoded? What is the rhyme?
I know it’s a vastly complex biochemical process…. but it’s not random.
The environment impresses itself into the organisms DNA. Nature leaves her trace in every organism, and it never leaves. The environment of our ancestors is embedded in our DNA as information.
It’s not random in the sense that, chaos does not generate information.
William Dare 