FUZZINESS
By Romana Annette, 06/18/2007
Fuzziness in the context of this essay is not about hairy objects, but about
Fuzzy Logic, as it pertains to uncertainty and probability. While we might
want to believe that reality is totally-determined in a linear fashion, reality,
ourselves, and even God would be impossible without Fuzziness.
As human beings, we ourselves are derived from Fuzziness. Charles Darwin
did not like this idea, as he crafted his Theory of Evolution. People forget
that he was a Protestant minister, who wanted Evolution to be based on his
preconceived notions. No living organisms exist in isolation, and all
organisms are part of complex, interactive eco-systems. There is no such
thing as Survival of the Fittest; it is actually the Survival of the Most Diverse.
DNA is the chemical basis of life as we know it; however, I will not touch
upon the scientific and philosophical basis for why it does what it does,
because such explanations take up many volumes. DNA molecules are nondeterministic and Fuzzy, which means they can produce infinitely diverse
kinds of organisms.
We are all defined by our DNA, but our DNA is a recipe, not a blueprint.
Our DNA consists of active genetic components, and semi-inactive
components that date back millions or even billions of years. Gestation is
the Fuzzy process that creates new individuals; however, even without the
introduction of mutations, it is guaranteed to produce individuals who are
unique, rather than a copy of someone else.
Even seemingly binary attributes, such as a person’s chromosomal sex, are
still Fuzzy. Intersexed persons are not rare; however, even those people in
the majority, who are functionally male or female, can have secondary
characteristics, including intrinsic identity, that can blur the lines.
Our Universe was borne out of chaos, a chaos that was the absence of form,
but not necessarily the absence of subjectivity. Chaos is a necessary
ingredient of Fuzziness; it allows for the destruction of habitual forms and
the creation of new forms.
Without Fuzziness, our Universe would just be a huge patch of sameness,
without the possibility of distinctions, devoid of life.
Ideas of Fuzziness began in the 1920’s and 1930’s, when perplexing
observations popped up as researchers developed sub-atomic physics, such
as the occurrence of random outcomes that exhibited only a few discrete
values.
Werner Heisenberg was credited with the Uncertainty Principle, that one
cannot know both the position and the momentum of any sub-atomic particle
at the same time. This was followed by the work Erwin Schrödinger, Niels
Bohr, and others in the development of Quantum Mechanics, where matter
exhibited both the characteristics of particles and waves at the same time,
while following rules of probability.
Science seemed to have become highly philosophical, which caught the
attention of Process Theologian Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947,) as he
developed his ideas about Process Theology, which had been influenced by
the New Thought philosophers David and Horatio Dresser. Whitehead
realized the Quantum Mechanics had philosophical problems, but he was
unable to devise a better theory.
So, the existence of Fuzziness has been obvious for a long time, but it begs
the question why the Universe is Fuzzy in the first place. Fuzziness can arise
in a system if it is over-defined, such as is the case for DNA, where the
process that creates an organism must filter out all but five percent of the
available genetic code.
Fuzziness can arise if there are simply too many components to construct a
linear model. Our bodies consist of trillions of individual cells, so Fuzzy
Logic, rather than linear logic, must be used to describe the operation of our
bodies.
However, over-definition is apparently, at first, not a problem at sub-atomic
levels, so there has been a constant search for other mechanisms.
Superstring Theory, a development of the 1990’s, creates a plausible
mechanism for the source of the Fuzziness. In Superstring Theory, the four
dimensions that we see in our space-time continuum are not all that is; there
have to be at least seven other dimensions to bind matter, energy, gravity,
and all other constituents of the Universe into one unified model.
So, ordinary matter, even at sub-atomic levels, can be said to be overdefined in the sense that the addition of more physical constants from other
dimensions creates equations of state that have more than one solution for a
given situation.
Multiple solutions for the same situation are the basis of Fuzziness. This
allows for an Objective Reality filled with matter, energy, stars, planets,
galaxies, black holes, and so forth. The objective Universe is in a state of
constant motion and transformation; however, while it is highly nondeterministic, outcomes not allowed by the laws of physics cannot occur.
DNA is the bridge from Objective Reality to Subjective Realty. Evolution
can create limitless kinds of organisms, and, in turn, organisms can devise
all sorts of ways to manipulate Objective Reality. In this case, Fuzziness
gives rise to novel outcomes, such as plants, animals, people, houses, cities,
cars, television sets, sexuality, marriage, divorce, war, and so forth. None of
this can be predicted by simply examining the raw atomic and molecular
constituents.
It should be noted that many people feel that Objective Reality is just
mindless stuff happening, and is therefore irrelevant. This ignores the fact
that Objective Reality should be considered sacred, since it supplies the
important elemental basis of all the rest of reality.
The search for God in Objective Reality has proven to be fruitless, leading
many to assert that God does not exist, at least not in an objective sense.
Philosophically, a purely subjective God is a lot more plausible, but
arguments can get lost in unprovable semantics. Many people only want a
God who can manipulate celestial fireworks, rather than a God possessing an
infinite love and compassion, who helps us lead and enjoy our own lives.
People shiver that the subjective nature of God might also be Fuzzy.
Whitehead speculated that God had a lot to do with Subjective Reality, so it
is only a small leap of logic to suggest that God and Subjective Reality are
an essential unity. Suddenly, God becomes extremely elusive and is no
more knowable than any other philosophical concept.
Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000) carried this idea even farther with his
concept of panentheism. In panentheism, God is omniscient in the sense of
knowing what has happened, but the future is Fuzzy, so God cannot
concretely foresee future outcomes. However, if God is the ultimate enjoyer
of reality, there can be no enjoyment of pat outcomes. So, God embraces all
outcomes with a kind of perfect Love, simply stated as the Love of God.
John F. Haught (1942 - ) has added an interesting consequence of Fuzziness.
Science Fiction has explored the consequences of time travel, especially in
relation to creating and avoiding paradoxes. However, when Fuzziness is
factored in, no historical events can repeat themselves, because all of history
was filled with non-deterministic options. To avoid a new kind of paradox,
time travel would have to create a new timeline, since history could never
repeat itself anyway.