Name: Anonymous 2012-11-13 0:18
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.
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.