Variations in variation and selection: The ubiquity of the variation-and-selective-retention ratchet in emergent organizational complexity, part II: Quantum field theory
Foundations of Science 8 (3):283-293 (2003)
| Abstract | If the general arguments concerning theinvolvement of variation and selection inexplanations of ``fit'' are valid, then variationand selection explanations should beappropriate, or at least potentiallyappropriate, outside the paradigm historisticdomains of biology and knowledge. In thisdiscussion, I wish to indicate some potentialroles for variation and selection infoundational physics â specifically inquantum field theory. I will not be attemptingany full coherent ontology for quantum fieldtheory â none currently exists, and none islikely for at least the short term future. Instead, I wish to engage in some partiallyspeculative interpretations of some interestingresults in this area with the aim ofdemonstrating that variation and selectionnotions might play a role even here. Ifvariation and selection can survive in even asinhospitable and non-paradigmatic a terrain asfoundational physics, then it can surviveanywhere | |||||||||
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