The philosophy of consciousness, ‘deep’ teleology and objective selection
Advances in Consciousness Research April 12, 2001 Philip Van Loocke
A framework is proposed in which systems are shaped by both forces acting from the past and selection procedures acting from the future. Forces determine a set of possible states, and selection, guided by a criterion not reducible to those forces, picks the actual state. This teleological insertion improves performance in cognitive and generative art examples. It is conjectured that, given the universe's complexity, selection can operate systematically without violating physical laws. The relation between selection and the philosophy of consciousness is discussed.