The Physics of Meaning

Where does our understanding of the world come from? Somehow we create meaning which allows the world to cohere into a comprehensible reality. Our minds are amalgamations of stories which are made up metaphors for seen or unseen forces of nature that compel us. There is definite physical causation at work behind the scenes, and our stories spawn from this. I’m not a physicist, but I have an understanding of physics such that I can do a back flip… not many physicists can do that. I’m not a cognitive scientist, but I’m using a cognitive structure to write these words which is observable to a degree if introspected upon. Many of the points to follow are either obvious or have been said before, and a quick search will find supporting information. Art is built upon well worn channels of symbol and meaning and so to look for the objective underlying physical laws that ultimately give rise to such seemingly incorporeal phenomenon is a very interesting challenge at least.

Here is a rough sketch of what seem to be an interesting truth that the most exquisite examples of phenomenology, which seem to be irreducible, nonetheless emerge from totally objective codes of nature. (further explanation will be needed before this makes valuable sense)

In the same way that fractals branch naturally based on simple mathematics (the four fundamental forces of nature plus any others yet to be discovered) to form a complex geometry that has micro similarity that resembles the macro structure, we see this tendency to spontaneously organize in many other systems, such as rivers and vasculatures in the body, trees, etc. These all have a flow that organize into a trunk or river and then branches in a predictable way that fills space optimally. There is a simple law behind this where, thermodynamic ‘life’ that is free to move will organize itself into channels that promote a more efficient flow (look up ‘constructed law’) Things that move seem to shift side to side and in doing this will locate the currents and in adding to the movement further establish the channel. Some law must also govern the branching that is seen in these systems.

Is the neuronal structure and activity in the brain patterned in accord with this law? Does the emergence of consciousness flow from this also? – our subjectivity is a sparking phenomenal branching flourish emerging from a less spectacular stem, common among all living things, that responds unwaveringly to the facts of the environment. Patterns of activity strengthen into habit, that amount to time and energy saving programming. It all starts with the most basic influences on life within a particular environment and definite perimeters of that environment. The rising of the sun, sets the autonomous life form in motion. It tends towards sustenance and away from noxious stimulus, in a more or less refined manner based on capacity for reflex. Knowledge structures and narrative structures are predictably arranged similarly, with all narrative structure deriving from life’s movement towards sustenance and away from noxious stimulus, and culture is nothing more than the canopy emerging atop a millennia of day/night cycles – rustling to and fro by the winds of nature, fully determined and optimal for what it is. All things are set in motion by the heat of the sun (followed by the myriad of other innate and environmental influences) and arrange themselves into hierarchies of efficient flow, responding perfectly to resistance, and the substrate composition of accumulated infrastructure, such as knowledge, archetypal memes and technology.

Habitual interactions with the world reenforce the pathways of the brain and the electro-chemical patterns of activity proceeding continually atop the established structure. All of this engraving of patterned flow works similarly to the fractal hierarchical branching seen in so many other flow systems. Narratives are wired into the brain along these channels of patterned activity. There are core themes of symbolism and metaphor that develop hierarchically from the beginnings of life and evolve to become the inescapably recognizable templates of understanding (these are the ‘archetypes’, which are our most basic and primal objects of meaning that have been wired deeply within us throughout our evolution). And all of the colour and variation that expands from and elaborates upon the narratives are tied to the most basic physiological mechanisms – the drives of hunger, thirst, sex, fatigue, social acceptance etc. These drive will vie for centre stage within consciousness and become the stimulus for branching, to pull the story this way and that. We all follow the core archetypes commonly, and as we individually shoot off into derivative variations with novel interactions of character, dialogue, plot line, we create the collective canopy of all possible stories. The drives are prehistoric entities that make their voice heard regularly, require tribute for satisfaction, causing scene changes. Meanwhile, currents of all interconnected themes play out in parallel.

Our narrative structures work very simply – there are core narratives such as – ‘good vs evil’ (life vs entropy, the power and optimism of the sun vs the cold ignorance of the dark) – playing out at every moment, day after day. There is the narrative of romance (about finding comfort in the cold and dangerous dark). There is the comedy (stemming from those instances where the rustling in the bushes triggers the fight or flight mechanism, and as we realize the danger is not a lion after all, we experience a relief response that turns the physiological excitation into laughter… or the comedies based on our ‘bodily functions’). We’re wired to perfectly respond to nature’s selection pressures – the pressures being the evil mirror image of our overcoming self. We would surely wither without the disorder we evolved within – hence a possible origin of our modern crisis. Without the resistance of a challenge, comfortable in our boxes, we stagnate – we will manufacture problems to fill this void. Every story, as elaborate as it may become, is just a post hoc invention stemming from basic themes that give meaning to our unconscious free-fall into the future.

It is difficult to lay claim to authorship of ideas. Simple laws determine the unfolding of ideas beyond our willing them into existence… they truly belong to nature. Our originality, as amazing as that illusion may be (our ego ever craving the recognition of significance), is not really ‘original’ since we are responding in total, to the activity of nature. We are a conduit for the unfolding of all forces – emerging from the source code of the universe. (unless of course there is a good argument for free-will that allows for original authorship)

There are some who will say that yes, this is all just a big movie, made up of all stories in the world interacting, but that it is rude to point out the fact that we are sitting in a theatre – it disrupts the suspension of disbelief. Consider though, like in Plato’s allegory of the cave, we may become so involved in the narratives that we grow totally disconnected from the reality of the situation. Ignorance of underlaying truth can be hazardous. It is reasonable to acknowledge the life which is not secure enough to become engaged in fiction, is fatiguing or, security without entertainment is bland.

It is important that we understand the mechanisms involved in building the theatre or the camera, or that ultimately build the person who is able to get lost in the structures of metaphorical truth, if only to open the possibility of more engaging narratives.

What is the ‘source code’ responsible for the playing out of all things? These process start off by influencing the most basic levels and then propagate outwards and upwards to manifest even the most complex and refined phenomenon such as thought, consciousness and the narrative structures of culture. In the pursuit of truth we look for these source codes.