Yockey, Cytochrome C and Buddhist Cosmology
The universe
is very sensitively tuned to allow life to exist. If certain physical and chemical
constants were just a fraction out from their observed values, life could never
have arisen. There is, for example, an extraordinary series of coincidental physical
conditions which led to the high cosmic abundance of the element carbon, the basis
of all life.[Hoyle 1983]. This can't be accident, but is it necessarily design?
Life
seems to be somehow actually required by the universe, in the same way that a
fundamental particle needs an observer's mind to turn it from potentiality to
reality.
According to some cosmologists, the universe began as a quantum fluctuation
in the limitless Void (Hartle Hawking cosmology). In the absence of an observer,
the evolving universe remained as a 'multiverse' - a coherant quantum superposition
of all logically possible states.
Throughout its early history the universe
continued to develop as an immense superposition of probabilities. Not only was
the structure of the universe superposed, but all logically possible states of
matter, physical constants, properties and laws were simultaneously present and
evolving into ever increasing diversity.
Quantum theory states that any physical system remains in a superposed state of all possibilities until it interacts with the mind of an observer. Both quantum theory and Buddhist teachings on shunyata suggest that as soon as an observer's mind makes contact with a superposed system, all the numerous possibilities collapse into one actuality. At some instant one of these possible alternative universes produced an observing lifeform - an animal with a nervous system which was sufficiently evolved to form a symbiotic association with a primordial mind. The first act of observation by this mind caused the entire superposed multiverse to collapse immediately into one of its numerous alternatives.
That
one alternative version of the multiverse was not just the first configuration
to be inhabitable by mind. The fact that it was the first configuration also guaranteed
that it was the only configuration. All uninhabited alternative universes, ranging
from the nearly-but-not-quite habitable few, to the anarchic and unstructured
vast majority, were instantly excluded from potential existence. According to
the participatory anthopic principle the evolving multiverse was thus always destined
to resolve itself into a sufficiently ordered state to allow itself to be observed.
The early multiverse can perhaps be thought of as a massively (infinitely?)
parallel quantum computer which explored all of possibility-space until it was
able to generate a living body, which became the habitation of an observing, sentient
being. At that moment the multiverse collapsed into the actuality of that one
alternative environment. This theory is known as the Participatory Anthropic Principle
and was first put forward by the physicist John A. Wheeler in 1983.
But where
did the observing mind come from? Buddhist philosophers claim that minds are primordial
and exist before entering their physical environment. In the early stages of its
evolution the universe was, of course, uninhabitable for animals and humans.
But
according to B. Alan Wallace [Wallace 1996], highly advanced Buddhist and Hindu
contemplatives speak of experiencing other realms, or dimensions of existence
that transcend this gross sensual realm which they call kamadhatu. They report
the existence of rupadhatu, a form realm that is unperturbed by many of the changes
in the gross physical cosmos. And beyond this is the arupyadhatu, a formless realm
that is completely unaffected by the stages of cosmic evolution. All three of
these realms are said to be inhabited by sentient beings. When the gross physical
dimension of a cosmos is uninhabitable, sentient beings reside in the rupadhatu
and arupyadhatu or in other inhabitable cosmoses. Humans cannot dwell in the rupadhatu
and arupyadhatu, though these realms are accessible to a human mind that has been
highly refined through meditation.
The bottom line of the participatory anthropic
principle is that minds can exist independently of matter, and they create their
actual environments from the potentialities around them. But isn't this all just
pure metaphysical speculation? Well maybe not. The participatory anthropic principle
makes potentially verifiable statements about the early history of the universe,
the speed of evolution and the occurrence of extremely unlikely evolutionary steps,
including the first appearance of life itself.
Two-speed
evolution
The series of events needed to make the universe habitable by sentient
mind, up to and including the evolution of animals complex enough to support sentience,
would have proceeded at the maximum possible rate and efficiency (almost by definition
- because the myriad strands of the superposition were essentially racing against
one another for 'winner takes all').
Because
a myriad parallel universes were simultaneously evolving, the most highly improbable
combinations of chemical and cellular building blocks needed to bring about living
organisms would inevitably appear, even if the probability of them doing so in
an 'ordinary' universe were infinitesimally small. This could explain the appearance
of such extremely unlikely structures as Yockey's cytochrome C.
- Sean
Robsville