Critique of Chaos

Critique of Chaos is a conceptual polemic aimed at those the text dubs 'ontological anarchists'-today's advocates of metaphysical chaos and confusion, of chance and indeterminacy. In place of a philosophy of disorder, a pancomputational realist interpretation of existence is proposed and defended. This realist vision is marshaled against the computational anti-realism of philosophers like John Searle and Hilary Putnam. Such a pancomputationalist theory relies in particular on the most fundamental insight of Stephen Wolfram's ongoing research into the nature of computing-that rules themselves give rise to intrinsic randomness. In this way, a Pythagorean view of existence is articulated to delimit the true meaning of randomness and the concepts put forth in the name of 'complexity theory' (the butterfly effect, attractors, fractals, etc.) and Quantum Mechanics in particular. The significance of entropy and the fundamental role of incomputability are explored. The manner in which the basic programs of reality are encrypted is outlined along with the possibility of deciphering those fundamental names. In the end, the ultimate future of the computation of the universe is explored via an engagement with John Smart's 'transcension hypothesis'. Table of Contents §1. Introduction: A Critique of Chaos §2. Pythagorean Preliminaries §3. Against Materialism §4. The Anti-Realist Interpretation of Computation: A Rejection §5. Programming 'Constraints' §6. Not Fractal §7. The Meaning of Attractors §8. Randomness §9. The Significance of Entropy §10. The Truth of Pseudo-Randomness §11. An Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics §12. The So-Called 'Butterfly Effect' §13. The De-Encryption of the Names §14. Incomputables: On 'Speculative Computation' §15. The Importance of the Planck Level §16. Autoevolution: The Convergence and Homology of Code §17. The Big Break §18. The Transcension Hypothesis