The philosophy of consciousness, ‘deep’ teleology and objective selection

Summary

Forces and selection procedures work together to shape the states of a system, with forces influencing the past and selection determining the future state. The performance of various procedures improves when teleological elements are included, as demonstrated through examples in cognitive science and generative art. It is proposed that selection can function systematically without consistently violating physical laws, and the implications for consciousness philosophy are explored.

Study at a glance

Abstract

We consider systems in which forces and selection (or ‘reduction’) procedures cooperate to determine present states. Forces work on the immediate past of a system and determine a set of possible states. Selection works in the immediate future and selects one of these states as the actual state of the system. Selection can be constrained in terms of a criterion not reducible to the forces operating on the system. It is shown that the performance of different types of procedures increases when this type of teleology is inserted. This is illustrated with an example from the cognitive domain and with examples that belong to the context of generative art. More fundamentally, it is conjectured that, given the complexity of our universe, selection can operate systematically without leading to replicable violation of physical laws. The relation between selection and the philosophy of consciousness is discussed.