Artificial Cosmogenesis: a New Kind of Cosmology

Vidal, C. 2012. “Artificial Cosmogenesis: a New Kind of Cosmology.” In Irreducibility and Computational Equivalence: Wolfram Science 10 Years After the Publication of A New Kind of Science, ed. H. Zenil.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.1407

Abstract: This paper introduces foundations for a new kind of cosmology. We advocate that computer simulations are needed to address two key cosmological issues. First, the robustness of the emergence of complexity, which boils down to ask: “what would remain the same if the tape of the universe were replayed?” Second, the much debated fine-tuning issue, which requires to answer the question: “are complex universes rare or common in the space of possible universes?” We argue that computer simulations are indispensable tools to address those two issues scientifically. We first discuss definitions of possible universes and of possible cosmic outcomes – such as atoms, stars, life or intelligence. This leads us to introduce a generalized Drake-like equation, the Cosmic Evolution Equation. It is a modular and conceptual framework to define research agendas in computational cosmology. We outline some studies of alternative complex universes. However, such studies are still in their infancy, and they can be fruitfully developed within a new kind of cosmology, heavily supported by computer simulations, Artificial Cosmogenesis. The appendix [section 9] provides argumentative maps of the paper’s main thesis.

Keywords: artificial cosmogenesis, cosmic evolution, computational cosmology, digital physics, Drake equation, Cosmic Evolution Equation, robust- ness, fine-tuning, multiverse.

Black Holes: Attractors for Intelligence?

Vidal, C. 2011 Black Holes: Attractors for Intelligence? Presented at the Kavli Royal Society International Centre, "Towards a scientific and societal agenda on extra-terrestrial life", 4-5 Oct 2010.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.4362
http://student.vub.ac.be/~clvidal/writings/Vidal-Black-Holes-Intelligence.pdf

Preliminary version. Comments and criticisms are welcome. Thanks!
- More fascinating open questions at:
http://evodevouniverse.com/wiki/Research_on_SETI,_black_holes,_XRB_and_star_lifting

- News report at:
http://news.discovery.com/space/super-civilizations-might-live-off-black-holes-110430.html

The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has so far been unsuccessful and demands additional methods. To achieve this, we introduce a two-dimensional metric for civilizational development, using the Kardashev scale of energy use and the Barrow scale of inward manipulation. We advance energetic, societal, scientific, computational, and philosophical arguments that black holes are attractors for intelligence. An application of the two-dimensional metric leads to a simple, consistent and observable hypothesis to test the existence of very advanced civilizations. We suggest that some already observed X-Ray Binaries may be unnoticed advanced civilizations, scoring high on both the Kardashev and Barrow scales. The appendix provides an argumentative map of the paper's main thesis.

Keywords: SETI, black holes, Kardashev scale, Barrow scale, star lifting, XRB

Metaphilosophical Criteria for Worldview Comparison

Vidal, C. 2012. “Metaphilosophical Criteria for Worldview Comparison.” Metaphilosophy 43 (3): 306–347.

http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~clvidal/writings/Vidal-Metaphilosophical-Criteria.pdf

Philosophy lacks criteria to evaluate its philosophical theories. To fill this gap, we introduce nine criteria to compare worldviews, classified in three broad categories: objective criteria (objective consistency, scientificity, scope) subjective criteria (subjective consistency, personal utility, emotionality) and intersubjective criteria (intersubjective consistency, collective utility, narrativity). We first define what a worldview is and expose the heuristic used in our quest for criteria. After describing each criterion individually, we show what happens when each of them is violated. From the criteria, we derive assessment tests to compare and improve different worldviews. These include the is-ought, ought-act and is-act first-order tests; the critical and dialectical second-order tests; the mixed-questions and first-second-order synthetical third order tests; and the we-I, we-it and it-I tests. Then we apply these criteria and tests to a concrete example, comparing the Flying Spaghetti Monster deity with Intelligent Design. As another application, we draw more general fruitful suggestions for the science-and-religion dialog.

Keywords: cognitive values, cognitive axiology, evaluation standards in philosophy, philosophical criteria, worldview assessment, worldview comparison, coherent worldview, comprehensive worldview, scope of philosophy, mission of philosophy, definition of philosophy, task of philosophy, philosophical method, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Intelligent Design, science-and-religion dialog.

Computational and Biological Analogies for Understanding Fine-Tuned Parameters In Physics

Vidal, C. 2010. Computational and Biological Analogies for Understanding Fine-Tuned Parameters in Physics. Foundations of Science 15, no. 4 (6): 375-393. doi:10.1007/s10699-010-9183-x. http://arxiv.org/abs/1002.3905.

Argumentative maps:
Problem: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~clvidal/pics/CRT%20-%20CompuBio%20FT.pdf
Solution: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~clvidal/pics/FRT%20-%20CompuBio%20FT.pdf
See the annex of Vidal 2008a for more details on argumentation mapping.

In this philosophical paper, we explore computational and biological analogies to address the fine-tuning problem in cosmology. We first clarify what it means for physical constants or initial conditions to be fine-tuned. We review important distinctions such as the dimensionless and dimensional physical constants, and the classification of constants proposed by Levy-Leblond. Then we explore how two great analogies, computational and biological, can give new insights into our problem. This paper includes a preliminary study to examine the two analogies. Importantly, analogies are both useful and fundamental cognitive tools, but can also be misused or misinterpreted. The idea that our universe might be modelled as a computational entity is analysed, and we discuss the distinction between physical laws and initial conditions using algorithmic information theory. Smolin introduced the theory of "Cosmological Natural Selection" with a biological analogy in mind. We examine an extension of this analogy involving intelligent life. We discuss if and how this extension could be legitimated.

Keywords: origin of the universe, fine-tuning, physical constants, initial conditions, computational universe, biological universe, role of intelligent life, cosmological natural selection, cosmological artificial selection, artificial cosmogenesis.

Fine-Tuning, Quantum Mechanics and Cosmological Artificial Selection

Vidal, C. 2009c. Fine-tuning, Quantum Mechanics and Cosmological Artificial Selection. Foundations of Science, no. Special Issue on the Evolution and Development of the Universe. Response to commentaries by (Greben 2009) and (Vaas 2009): 310-323 (preprint).

First, Greben criticized the idea of fine-tuning by taking seriously the idea that “nature is quantum mechanical”. I argue that this quantum view is limited, and that fine-tuning is real, in the sense that our current physical models require fine-tuning. Second, I examine and clarify many difficult and fundamental issues raised by Vaas' comments on Cosmological Artificial Selection.

Two Purposes of Black Hole Production

Vidal, C. 2009d. Two Purposes of Black Hole Production. Foundations of Science, no. Special Issue on the Evolution and Development of the Universe. Commentary to Crane (2009): 274-276 (preprint).

Crane emits the speculative conjecture that intelligent civilizations might want and be able to produce black holes in the very far future. He implicitly suggests two purposes of this enterprise: (i) energy production and (ii) universe production. We discuss those two options. The commentary is obviously highly speculative and should be read accordingly.

Analysis of Some Speculations Concerning the Far-Future of Intelligent Civilizations

Vidal, C. 2009e Analysis of Some Speculations Concerning the Far-Future of Intelligent Civilizations. Foundations of Science, no. Special Issue on the Evolution and Development of the Universe. Commentary on (Stewart 2009): 344-348 (preprint).

I discuss some of the speculations proposed by Stewart (2009). These include the following propositions: the cooperation at larger and larger scales, the existence of larger scale processes, the enhancement of the tuning as the cycle repeats, the transmission between universes and the motivations to produce a new universe.

An Enduring Philosophical Agenda. Worldview Construction As a Philosophical Method

Working paper (2007)

Is there such a thing as a philosophical method? It seems that there are as many philosophical methods as there are philosophies. A method is any procedure employed to achieve a certain aim. So, before proposing a method, we have to tackle the delicate question: “what is the aim of philosophy?”. At the origin of philosophy, there is a questioning about the world. The worldview approach developed by Leo Apostel elegantly explicit those fundamental questions. As we answer them, we come up with a worldview. Using this framework, this paper consider answering this enduring philosophical agenda as the primary aim of philosophy. We illustrate the approach by pointing out the limitations of both a strictly scientific worldview and a strictly religious worldview. We then argue that philosophical worldviews constitute a particular class of possible worldviews. With the help of three analogies, we give guidelines to construct such worldviews. The next step is to compare the relative strength of philosophical worldviews. Precise evaluation standards to compare and confront worldviews are proposed. Some problems for worldview diffusion are then expounded. We close with basic hypotheses to build a comprehensive philosophical worldview.

Keywords: coherent worldview; comprehensive worldview; metaphilosophy; philosophical agenda; philosophical method; science and religion; scientific worldview; speculative philosophy; systematic philosophy; task of philosophy; theological worldview; Weltanschauung; worldview.

The Future of Scientific Simulations: From Artificial Life to Artificial Cosmogenesis

Vidal, C. 2008a. The Future of Scientific Simulations: from Artificial Life to Artificial Cosmogenesis. In Death And Anti-Death, Volume 6: Thirty Years After Kurt Gödel (1906-1978). p285-318, ed. Charles Tandy. http://arxiv.org/abs/0803.1087.

Updated argumentative maps:
Problem: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~clvidal/pics/CRT%20ACosm.png
Solution: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~clvidal/pics/FRT.png

This philosophical paper explores the relation between modern scientific simulations and the future of the universe. We argue that a simulation of an entire universe will result from future scientific activity. This requires us to tackle the challenge of simulating open-ended evolution at all levels in a single simulation. The simulation should encompass not only biological evolution, but also physical evolution (a level below) and cultural evolution (a level above). The simulation would allow us to probe what would happen if we would “replay the tape of the universe” with the same or different laws and initial conditions. We also distinguish between real-world and artificial-world modelling. Assuming that intelligent life could indeed simulate an entire universe, this leads to two tentative hypotheses. Some authors have argued that we may already be in a simulation run by an intelligent entity. Or, if such a simulation could be made real, this would lead to the production of a new universe. This last direction is argued with a careful speculative philosophical approach, emphasizing the imperative to find a solution to the heat death problem in cosmology. The reader is invited to consult Annex 1 for an overview of the logical structure of this paper.

Keywords: far future, future of science, ALife, simulation, realization, cosmology, heat death, fine-tuning, physical eschatology, cosmological natural selection, cosmological artificial selection, artificial cosmogenesis, selfish biocosm hypothesis, meduso-anthropic principle, developmental singularity hypothesis, role of intelligent life.

Getting Things Done: the Science Behind Stress-Free Productivity

Heylighen, F., & Vidal, C. (2008). Getting Things Done: The Science behind Stress-Free Productivity. Long Range Planning 41, no. 6: 585-605. doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2008.09.004.

In 2001 David Allen proposed ‘Getting Things Done’ (GTD) as a method for enhancing personal productivity and reducing the stress caused by information overload. This paper argues that recent insights in psychology and cognitive science support and extend GTD’s recommendations. We first summarize GTD with the help of a flowchart, and then review the theories of situated, embodied and distributed cognition that purport to explain how the brain processes information and plans actions in the real world. The conclusion is that the brain heavily relies on the environment to function as an external memory, a trigger for actions, and a source of ‘affordances’, disturbances and feedback. We show how these principles are practically implemented in GTD, with its focus on organizing tasks into ‘actionable’ external memories, and on opportunistic, situation-dependent execution. Finally, inspired by the concept of stigmergy, we propose an extension of GTD to support collaborative work.

Keywords: personal productivity, personal information management, time management, task management, praxeology, situated and embodied cognition, stigmergy, information overload.

Evo Devo Universe: Towards a Biological Paradigm for Cosmology

Poster. Won the Best Poster Prize at the 401. WE-Heraeus-Seminar. Evolution and Physics - Concepts, Models and Applications (21-23 January 2008 at the Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, Germany).

The underlying paradigm for cosmology is theoretical physics. However it could be extended by including insights from evolutionary developmental biology.
Indeed, the general adaptive evolution is a process allowing to produce ordered structures. More specifically, we can distinguish ITAL-evolutionary processes which are contingently adaptive and developmental processes which produce systemically statistically predictable structures.
By analogy with the evolutionary development of two genetically identical twins, would two initially parametrically identical universes each exhibit unpredictably separate and unique evolutionary differentiation over their lifespan, and at the same time, a broad set of predictable developmental milestones and shared structure between them?
More generally, can we model our universe as an evolutionary developmental system?
Cosmologist Lee Smolin introduced a theory of Cosmological Natural Selection (CNS) to tackle the difficult fine-tuning problem in cosmology. It is a daring attempt to apply natural selection to the largest possible time and space scale: the universe.
According to his theory, black holes give birth to new universes by producing the equivalent of a Big Bang, which produces a baby universe with slightly different physical laws and constants. This introduces variation, while the differential success in self-reproduction of universes via their black holes provides the equivalent of natural selection. This leads to a Darwinian evolution of universes whose laws and constants are fine-tuned for black hole generation, a prediction that can in principle be verified. We explore this biological approach to cosmology and a possible extension of this theory.

What is a worldview?

Vidal, C. (2008b) Wat is een wereldbeeld? (What is a worldview?), in Van Belle, H. & Van der Veken, J., Editors, Nieuwheid denken. De wetenschappen en het creatieve aspect van de werkelijkheid, 71-85. Acco, Leuven.

The first part of this paper proposes a precise definition of what a worldview is, and why there is a necessity to have one. The second part suggests how to construct integrated scientific worldviews. For this attempts, three general scientific approaches are proposed: the general systems theory as the endeavor for a universal language for science, a general problem-solving approach and the idea of evolution, broadly construed. We close with some remarks about the limitations of a purely scientific worldview.

Le cerveau et Internet: Etude critique d'une analogie.

(In French) Vidal, C. (2005b) Le cerveau et Internet: Etude critique d'une analogie. (Maybe) to be published in Leroux, Y. (ed.) Mondes Numériques.
http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~clvidal/writings/Vidal_2005b_Cerveau_internet.pdf

Abstract: This work is a critical analysis of the fascinating analogy between the brain and Internet. The aim is to examine how this analogy can be a powerful heuristic, for different purposes. We start with a quantitative and structural point of view, with the comparison of the web, the physical internet and the brain [1]. The second part [2] study more specifically the two ways of the analogy. From the brain to Internet [2.2], to see how the study of the brain could give us new ideas to develop the future of Internet. And from Internet to the brain [2.3], to examine how studies about the Internet could help the development of cognitive science. A controversial (because pre-scientific) hypothesis is proposed from this analogy [2.3.2]. The last part [3] takes the analogy in a broader sense, as an utopia to approach the future of society. Questions about the status of this "global brain" as a major transition of evolution, and about its consciousness are briefly discussed.

Keywords: web, internet, brain, analogy, global brain, superorganism

Le Commentaire Ouvert

(in French) Vidal, C. (2005a) Le Commentaire Ouvert. Initially a work for a Ph. D. Project for DOCSI.

The open commentary feature is a very efficient way of scientific communication. We propose here an historical and critical review of this feature, that started with the journal Current Anthropology. Then, we analyze the position of open commentary in the process of publication. On what, when, where and by who should the commentaries be made? Two types of commentaries are distinguished; open peer commentary, and open commentary. Having cleared the pros and cons of both, we conclude by suggesting ways to an ideal open commentary.

Keywords: open commentary, open peer commentary, peer review.

La Logique du Paradoxe (Translation)

Priest, G. (1979) La Logique du Paradoxe, Philosophie n°94, juin 2007. Initially published in 1979, The Logic of Paradox, Journal of Philosophical Logic, 8. Translation : Clément Vidal, Introduction : François Rivenc.

Note: You can ask me if you want me to send you the paper by email.

Georg Cantor et la découverte des infinis

(In French) Vidal, C. (2003) Georg Cantor et la découverte des infinis. Master Thesis in Philosophy, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~clvidal/writings/Vidal_2003_Georg_Cantor_infinis.pdf

The great mathematician Georg Cantor (1845-1918) has made the striking discovery that there exist several powers of infinity. How did he arrive to this conclusion? This work is intended to be an historical, mathematical and philosophical introduction to that discovery. Historical, with a brief overview of the paradoxes of infinity before Cantor [I]. Mathematical, with the introduction of the minimal mathematical tools to prepare Cantor's work [II]; the core of the work is in part [III], where the two proofs of the existence of different infinities are presented. The famous diagonal proof is studied in details, with possible objections (for ex. by Wittgenstein). Part [IV] is dedicated to the philosophical aspects of Cantor's views; and part [V] expose the main limits of the original Cantorian set theory, together with an introduction to more modern approaches of the study of infinity.

Keywords: infinite, Cantor, cardinal, diagonal argument, Wittgenstein.