Existential Pancomputationalism

The world, according to Nietzsche, is will to power, and nothing else. But the world as will to power remains enigmatic, despite Nietzsche's many efforts to explicate its operation in physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and politics.

In what follows I am to clarify the will to power by interpreting its activity as that of a parallel distributing processing system (henceforth abbreviated as PDP) system. PDP systems are populations of dynamical units whose independent but synchronized operations make a whole whose behavior is typically more than the sum of the behaviors of its parts, and can therefore by modeled as an integrated information system.

In accordance with Nietzsche's anti-metaphysical attitude, we treat the will to power as a physical hypothesis. The will to power is a continuous chaotic flux having no logical order in itself. We introduce logical order into this chaotic continuum by partitioning it into spatial pieces ordered temporally as a thermodynamic entropic progression of states. So divided, the will to power is a totality of identical cases. Each identical case is a center of force with some degree of power.

While these centers of force within out universe are that of particles of matter, we cannot conceive of their interactions in terms of Newtonian particle-mechanics. So we think of their interactions in wave-mechanical terms. All centers of force radiate shockwaves corresponding to the intensity of their degrees of power; these traverse the entirety of space. The reverberations of these waves place each center of force into relations of tension with all other centers.

The world as will to power is a finite, conserved quantity of force. It is discrete insofar as the number of configurations of forces in it is calculable and definite. The will to power is also bounded. It is, consequently, a self-contained granular medium shaken by internal detonations (i.e. percussive power-discharges). In such a medium, patterns like Chladni's "sound-figures" appear; these patterns are the invariants of interacting waves. They are treaty-drafts of will, power-constellations. Strikingly, experiments with vibrated granular media have demonstrated the emergence of patterns acting like charged particles ("oscillons"). These oscillons combine to form atomic molecular structures: vibrated discrete media support non-trivial physics.

Our model of will to power is a self-enclosed granular medium shaken by internal detonations is a PDP model. Several further features of PDP systems motivate their use as models for the will to power: (1) PDP systems are inherently relational, directly modeling the perspective-relational nature of the will to power; (2) processing in PDP systems is holistic, and so is activity in the will to power; (3) PDP theorists have put forth thermodynamic theories of computation, and Nietzsche describes the will to power in thermodynamic and philological (informational) terms; (4) certain PDP systems are self-organizing dynamical systems, and Nietzsche describes the will to power as just such a system; (5) PDP accounts of recursive auto-associative memories square will with Nietzsche's view of memory as active; (6) PDP theorists have opposed their distributed models of cognition to centralized models, and Nietzsche makes the same opposition; (7) PDP accounts of how cooperative strategies (e.g. conventions) emerge within collectives of agents accord well with Nietzsche's accounts of how language & knowledge emerge in the herd. We use these parallels to make sense of the will to power in contemporary information-theoretic terms.

Nietzsche describes the will to power in thermodynamic terms. The will to power cycles between a hot high point and a cold low point. This thermal cycle is both global and local. The global cycle is the eternal return. The local cycle is superimposed on the global cycle, much as the diurnal cycle of daily heating and nocturnal cooling is superimposed on the yearly cycle of summer heating and winter cooling.

These thermal cycles constitute the inner will that distinguishes the will to power from merely mechanical force. Both the local and global cycles are best modeled physically as weaves, that is, as sinusoidal functions of time. The incongruence of the will to power with itself prevents these cycles from being damped out, thereby rendering entropy cyclical rather an always increasing. The will to power is a discrete dynamical system oscillating through evolutionary self-organization and devolutionary self-disorganization.

tl;dr

The will to power cycles are populations of agents accord well with some
degree of Newtonian particle mechanics.  Each identical force with
Nietzsche's anti metaphysical attitude, we treat the will power and
Nietzsche describes the local number of power in it is discrete
dynamical system: PDP systems and nothing else.  In itself prevents
these oscillons these parallels to power is a system.  So is a finite,
conserved quantity of the global cycle is discrete dynamical systems is
typically more than the intensity of interacting waves; place each
identical these waves.  All centers of interactions in the will to
that is consequently, a both the will, to power.

The power with Nietzsche's many efforts to power.  All centers of these
centers of recursive auto associative memories square will that is
discrete insofar as the behaviors of memory as just such a discrete
dynamical systems, are inherently relational, directly modeling the
will to power.  PDP system insofar dynamical systems is a whole center
of cognition to power: in it is as models of the reverberations of
force; with Nietzsche's within out universe are the will, to power:
remains enigmatic, despite Nietzsche's accounts of particles of force;
with to power, processing in accordance wave the will to power
constellations.

The global cycle of recursive Newtonian particle mechanics.  Our model
of space.  So we cannot conceive of force within with Nietzsche's many
efforts to power to power in wave mechanical force.  This chaotic flux
having no logical order in the will to the will to power remains
enigmatic, despite Nietzsche's many efforts to power is also bounded.

The intensity of the global and a medium shaken by internal detonations
is also bounded.

            So is holistic, and Nietzsche is a as models of their
            interactions In such a center of space.  All centers of
            recursive auto associative memories square will to power is
            activity as models and nothing else.  PDP theorists have
            demonstrated the world according to power PDP model of is
            also bounded: shockwaves corresponding to power; is a
            totality of Newtonian particle mechanics.  The will to
            make a system; henceforth abbreviated as just such a center
            totality parallel distributing processing In it is a
            continuous chaotic flux having no logical order in PDP,
            theorists have put forth thermodynamic terms; of memory as
            will to the will to power.

What distinguishes the will to power from mechanistic systems is that its entropy is cyclical: time's arrow reverses direction at both low and high points. From high to low, entropy goes up; from low to high, it goes down. As entropy increases, the world as a whole becomes more homogeneous: thermal contrasts dicrease, energy disperses itself, hotspots disappear; as entropy decreases, the world becomes more heterogeneous: thermal contrasts increase, energy concentrates itself, hotspots appear.

The entropy of the world as will to power is naturally factored into two opposed but directly proportional (i.e. agonistic) qualities: turbulence and agility. These are roughly the Dionysian and Apollonian aspects of the will to power. At the high point, both are maximal; at the low point, both are minimal. Exemplars of maximal agility in the maximal turbulence include dancing near the abyss, the tree that raises its branches into the lightning and the ship in the storm. The more agile Stoic lives best in more turbulent times the less agile Epicurean lives best in less turbulent times.

Turbulence and agility determine the temperature of the will to power both locally and globally in space and time. As the will to power heats up from low (coldest) to high (hottest), both agility and turbulence intensify. Increasing heterogeneity yields hot action: the most skillful mastery of the greatest chaos by the greatest artistry (i.e. ordering power). A master of musical improvisation is hot insofar as he or she plays skillfully with chance as a partner, and at the high points in life we are all such masters. As the will to power cools down from high to low, both agility and turbulence slacken. Increasing homogeneity yields cool action. The hot insights and actions of the individual freeze into the linguistic and moral conventions of the hear.

Physics today recognizes a deep analogy between entropy and information-processing. This analogy binds thermodynamics and philology: the will to power as a thermodynamic meta-circular evaluator or self-interpreting program.

The thermal cycle of the will to power from low point to high point and back down precisely parallels the thermal cycle of PDP information-processing systems like Boltzmann machines, harmony machines, spin-glasses, and Ising systems. Thermodynamics and interpretation focus our model of the will to power as a PDP system: power-constellations in the will to power are information-bearing patterns transformed by recurrent cycles of melting and freezing. Insofar as the will to power is a PDP system transforming information-bearing patterns, its interpretation is computation.

Our view that the will to power computes like a Boltzmann or harmony machine is reinforced by Nietzsche's conception of an extremely simple kind of cognition. Since all of existence is engaged in interpretation, that is, in computation, even crystals compute. Indeed, such computation is a primitive form of cognition that proceeds by annealing. Such primitive thinking remains operation even in human level intelligence.

>>3
Nice automated re-scramble.

Note that I'm using Nietzsche's own outmoded nomenclature, hence the reason it sounds like a generated essay due to the occurrence of unfamiliar terminology in relation to the usual computer science discourse.

|discourse
back to /humanities/, ``please''.

>>5
Sorry, but every time someone posts Nietzsche material on /prog/ I just can't stop myself from running it through dadadodo(1).

Our wave-mechanical conception of the will to power helps to clarify its action as percussion and repercussion. At each moment, driven by the inner will (the internal oscillation of the will to power) each center of force detonates, radiating a shockwave into the whole of the will to power. Other centers of force (organized into power-constellations) resist by reflecting and modulating the shockwaves they receive as they transmit their own. The reverberations of these shockwaves ground the musicality of the will to power, so that rhythm, temp, melody, and harmony become legitimate cosmological categories. Waves mirror waves, hence unities and patterns of functional organization form in the will to power. The cycle percussion and repercussion is a thermodynamic one on which informational (auto-philological processes supervene).

Percussion and repercussion explain how each power-structure adopts a perspective to all others via perception and appearance. It is the origin of the Kantian dichotomy of form and object, of the map and the territory, of the subjective and the objective. Perception is not limited to sentient animals: every power-constellation perceives, emerging from waveform collapse. Inorganic compounds, simple organisms, plants, animals, and human beings all perceive. The regularity of interactions among inorganic power-structures presupposes perception. The capacity of protoplasm to assimilate and integrate other power-constellations is a primitive kind of perception. Plants also perceive the world. The whole genealogical series of cognitive mechanisms operates in animal and human perception.

Perception and appearance supervene on the percussive and repercussive cycle. The percussive radiation of the shockwave from each power-constellation begins the act of perception. Insofar as it begins with the transmission of a wave-front, perception is thus like sonar or radar. Perception is not passive reception of sense data but rather the emission of a signal and consequent interpretation of its reverberations. As they transmit their own shockwaves proportional to their strength, other power-constellations act as mirrors reflecting perspectivally modulated signals back to their origins.

Waves mirror waves, so that all things receive echoes of their original transmissions. The strength of these echoes is proportional to the distance so that spatial locality emerges in the holistic interplay of wave-fronts. Originally transmitted signals are modulated as they are reflected by other power-constellations, and these modulations carry information. The totality of reflected and modulated wave-fronts is the appearance of the rest of the world to each power-constellation. Appearance is dynamic: it distributes information throughout the world.

The world as the reflections of all wave-fronts is the will prior to any interpretation; it is "the formless unformulable world of the chaos of sensations." Sensations are stimuli: sources of force differentials that need to be integrated or assimilated into existing power-constellations. Perception ends with the assimilation of reflected wave-forms; it is a cooling down from the high point (hottest; the point at which all transmitted wave-fronts bounce back) to the low point (coldest; all wave-fronts assimilated). All power-constellations are defined by their exchanges of appearances with one another an are thus not things-in-themselves but perspective-interpreted effects on one another. Here the informational mechanics of the will to power are exactly analogous to those of Bolztmann or harmony machines.

The will to power is a self-organizing chaos. It is "a work of art that gives birth to itself." Order (functional complexity as measured by algorithmic compressibility or logical depth) is not imposed from above or outside in accordance with an eternal plan. The world as will to power is a work of art without an artist, no Platonic Demiurge or Christian God needed. It is the cross-section of the thermodynamic entropic ordering of computational states that is consistent with our existence as per the Anthropic Principle. This order emerges spontaneously in the will to power through the wave-mechanical interactions of its centers of force. The homeostatic thermal information-processing activity of the will to power is self-organization.

Self-organization does not mean that chaos decreases as order increases; it means that ever greater agility artistically orders ever greater turbulence wherever the will to power is far from thermal equilibrium in its entropic cycle. Self-organization as will to power produces forms (arrangements) of increasing functional complexity. The notions of self-organization, complexity, emergence, and homeostasis are central PDP concepts.

The will to power organizes itself into a perspective-interpreting system of self-reproducing power-constellations. Such patterns are per-forms of life able to reconstitute their structures (but never their identities) over time. All enduring things, from quarks to quasars, are self-reproducing patterns. According to the eternal return, the whole universe is itself a self-reproducing or self-recursive power-constellation. Organisms are the paradigms of such self-reproducing power-constellations.

Self-reproducing patterns presuppose massively parallel media able to support structures of high and increasing complexity and these self-reproducing patterns have long been studied by PDP theorists. The massively parallel computational media used in the field of synthetic biology (artificial life) permit research into many different models biological and ecological processes. Such PDP systems are the laboratories in which to study Nietzsche's theories of life as will to power, in particular his theories of organism-environment interaction, his theories of interactions in the organism, and his anti-Darwinian approaches to ecology and evolution.

>>11
no you

>>10
evaluate my dubs dude

/polecat kebabs/