Biological, cultural, and individual evolution

"Booming, buzzing confusion":
Its role in biological, cultural, and individual evolution

Some reflections on The Story of Evolution and the Evolution of Stories, Spring, 2009 (in progress).  With thanks for everyone's participation in story evolution ...

The long, wide perspective

Space	Time	Inquiry

Our perspective is distinctly limited, both in space and in time.  Point isn't that there are not stories nor that nothing has meaning.  Point is instead that

•  
  • meaning and stories are themselves products of evolution - we create them
  • both meaning and meanings/stories are not fixed but rather continue to evolve
  • both meaning and meanings/stories are constructions and hence deconstructable (interpretable)
  • deconstruction (interpretation) of meaning/stories can create new meaning and hence contribute to the ongoing evolution of both meaning and meanings/stories

 Evolution times three 

Divergence, convergence, skyhooks and stories

Biological Cultural (literary, artistic, etc)  Individual originally no goal, no skyhook exploring/creating possibilities originally no goal, no skyhook exploring/creating possibilities? originally no goal, no skyhook? exploring/creating possibilities? random change, history dependence, differential persistance random change, history dependence, differential persistance random change, history dependence, differential persistance tree like with some lateral spread  more lateral spread but still tree like tree like? alternating divergence/convergence - periods of "blooming, buzzing confusion" present, not noticed alternating divergence/convergence - periods of "blooming, buzzing confusion" present, sometimes noticed alternating divergence/convergence - periods of "blooming, buzzing confusion", often noticed minor later role for story earlier significant role for story? major early role for story? story can both contribute to/detract from ongoing exploration/creation story can both contribute to/detract from ongoing exploration/creation story can both contribute to/detract from ongoing exploration/creation

New Terrain: Evolution Inside the Brain

The brain	The constraint	The opening ("crack")

The "blooming, buzzing confusion" is itself a rich source of new possibilities, well worth cultivating ("Against Method," "Against Interpretation")

That's the story to date .... with the inevitable cracks

"Living with the cracks is part of being, well, reasonably healthy" ... Hustvedt

"the idea is that we are made up of fragments that we try to pull together into a coherent "self." ... kcofrinsha

"The theory of evolution, like the authors and their works, is a continuous loop… a steady stream of information moving slowly, waiting to be observed – summarized – reobserved – resummarized and so on." .... eawhite

"what new things are possible through evolution is more interesting than analyzing the way things came to be the way they presently are. This moment in history is one way that things have happened, but it could have been infinitely otherwise, and will become infinitely otherwise ... sustainablephilosopher