Abstract
The difficulty of accounting for ubiquitous, coherent order in a Universe considered by many to be ruled by random, entropic decay cannot be understated. Can the evident complexity found throughout our finely tuned Cosmos simply be the byproduct of aimless, uninformed interactions between inert substances leftover from the Big Bang? Likewise can the complex emergence/evolution of biological life on Earth be explained by similar dynamics if augmented by genetic mutation and natural selection? I will argue that this overly positivist/reductionist ontology does not hold for an orderly Universe underwritten by linear, irreversible time (as defined by Prigogine). If the Universe is no older than 15 billion years, without Information-guided process the natural order as we know it could not and would not exist; only non-discernible chaos and endless episodes of error catastrophe would persist. Information therefore plays an essential role in underwriting the emergence of coherence and self-organizing process. The genesis of looping, autocatalytic feedback networks that give rise to order can be traced back to the accumulation of a ‘Universal Systemic Memory’. It is postulated that systemic memory/information can be stored dynamically within A) The vibratory spectrum of substances themselves, and B) The highly ordered wave-structure of the quantum vacuum. Universal, Information-driven process/evolution appears to be the rule and not the exception.
John C Maguire