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Intended Evolution: How Selection of Intelligence Guides Life Forward
210Overview
In Intended Evolution, authors Dongxun and Bob Zhang introduce a different perspective on the theory of evolution: Life is not only selected by nature but intentionally interacts with it, learning how to better its future. They explain that applying this idea to generally accepted principles of biology can have startling results in your ability to affect your own health-and even your evolution.
According to the theory of intended evolution, organisms gather information through sensory experience and use that knowledge to effect change in themselves and their environments. The authors propose that organisms use this saved information to make choices projected to enhance their survival. It is through experience, choices, and action, within a given environment, that life changes itself from moment to moment and determines what changes are needed for future generations.
Because of humans' unique ability to understand how our own evolution functions, we can effect changes within ourselves to influence and enhance our health and fitness, even to lengthen our lifespan.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781632990181 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | River Grove Books |
| Publication date: | 04/15/2015 |
| Pages: | 210 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.48(d) |
About the Author
Dongxun Zhang is the creator of both the theory of intended evolution and the Intended Evolution Fitness system. Zhang is a doctor of acupuncture and oriental medicine (DAOM). He was one of the earliest licensed acupuncturists in Texas and has run an Oriental health clinic in Austin for the past 25 years. In 1997, he was recognized by the Sixth International Traditional Chinese Medicine Conference with the Yellow Emperor award.
Bob Zhang was born in China and moved to the United States at the age of ten. He went to middle school, high school, and college in Austin, Texas. He is married and has two children.
Editor David Kincade holds BS degrees in biology and economics and an MS in Oriental Medicine (MSOM). He practices Oriental Medicine in Austin, Texas.
Read an Excerpt
Intended Evolution
How Selection of Intelligence Guides Life Forward
By Dongxun Zhang, Bob Zhang, David Kincade
River Grove Books
Copyright © 2015 Dongxun Zhang and Bob ZhangAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63299-018-1
CHAPTER 1
THE THEORY OF INTENDED EVOLUTION
A VARIETY OF EVIDENCE AND OBSERVATIONS HAS LED TO THE conclusion that the complex life-forms we see today, including humans, evolved from simpler forms over time. Darwin's evolutionary theory, natural selection, basically states that in a population of organisms within a particular environment, those that are most fit will live longer, produce more offspring and, over time, flourish and dominate the population. In this way, those best able to survive in their environment are "selected" by nature.
Over time, natural selection has been updated, with a number of variations, to reflect new scientific findings, including those from the field of genetics. The genetic material of an organism can be thought of as the basis of selection, and, in one prominent version, random changes in the genome (mutations) are said to create the variety of individuals from which nature selects survivors. In this model, random mutation and the environment (the selector) are the drivers of our evolution.
But, according to the theory of intended evolution, it is an organism's internal intention to perceive, organize, save, and intentionally act on information from the environment that "drives" that organism to adjust and change internally. Before going further, we would like to say here that we are using the term theory in the general, and not scientific, sense in our discussions.
We believe evolution is an active, two-sided process through which life can intentionally change internally, and is therefore "shaped" by the environment, and not only passively selected by it. Therefore, an organism's intentional activities are the context for life's internal changes, such as manipulation of physiological processes including alteration of genetic material and evolutionary changes in form and function.
J. B. Lamarck, a contemporary of Darwin whose ideas competed with Darwin's, also proposed that an inner life force existed and that changes were based on what organisms did or needed to do. We propose that both concepts have merit and that, without an internal force, or intentional drive, activity that has been described as differentiating life from nonlife would be unlikely to occur.
Intended evolution's proposition of an internal, intentional force clearly parallels certain aspects of historical ideas such as vitalism, or the existence of a life force. A full discussion of this concept or of Darwin's and Lamarck's work is beyond the scope of this book; however, intended evolution is not meant to replace these important ideas but, rather, to pull them together and to elaborate on and recontextualize them.
Furthermore, understanding the importance and influence of intention, intelligence, and what we describe as life's basic process, the information cycle, may lead to potential insights into various areas of the biological sciences.
THE FORCE OF INTENTION AS AN ACTION POTENTIAL
By intention, we mean the potential to determine action (e.g., change or movement) on one's own initiative rather than only under the influence of some outside force. Living creatures can determine their actions, whereas nonliving objects cannot do so. For instance, a microbe can react to stimuli, but a rock can only be acted on by gravity, friction, or other natural forces. The term intention implies perception, intelligence, and potential action and is also interrelated to each of those factors. Whether the word intention, as opposed to some other descriptor, is the best fit may be an open question because these definitions tend to be circular. Generally, intention seems the most appropriate term to describe many of the characteristics normally used to differentiate life from nonliving things.
Historically, the term life force has been loosely defined as the vital or creative force in all organisms that describes their consistent behavior pattern, which differs from inanimate objects and is responsible for growth and evolution. Intended evolution's intentional force is an "action potential" toward a particular state or direction. When it is associated with what we think of as observable life, it is not unlike the relationship of the force of gravity with mass. The force of gravity itself cannot be seen, but the effects of its field can be observed as the mass of an object. Similarly, although we cannot observe the intentional force directly, we can observe the effects of the force in living things.
Therefore, we suggest that there is an intrinsic force of nature that is entangled within—or an emergent attribute of—the currently described natural forces that allows the emergence of life. This force has the attribute of being intentional in nature when combined with other preconditions of life and gives living things the properties that differentiate them from inanimate things. Speaking generally, we believe this is what gives living things the attribute of organizing or integrating themselves versus the tendency toward disorder or entropy.
We know that life cannot survive, nor could it have even come into existence, without the availability of certain building blocks, or prerequisites, such as water and carbon. We can think of these necessities as detailed levels or patterns of organization such as an atom of carbon or a molecule of water or, in a larger, combined way, like lakes or rivers. The most basic patterns of information form higher and higher ordered patterns, such as those described by the global water or mineral cycles or other ecosystem processes. Life on Earth somehow originally emerged amid these systems when conditions were right; it then expanded and evolved.
We believe the intentional force, when combined with other preconditions to life, provides a potential for action, or in our terms, it provides an action potential. This creates life's consistent pattern of behavior, or its ability to choose to change as distinct from nonlife, which changes not by choice but only when it is acted on by the other universal forces. Put simply, living things can affect their own futures.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF BASIC INTENTION WITH OTHER NATURAL FORCES
This does not imply that life operates contrary to natural laws, such as physics or chemistry. In fact, the opposite is implied: Since intelligent life emerged entangled within these forces, it is part of them, works within them, or, we could say, knows their rules. Therefore, like a fish intrinsically "knows" or "uses" the properties of water the best it can, emergent or simple life learned to use the basic forces for its own benefit when possible.
Life can choose to initiate an interaction with them and is able to affect possibilities at points where enough flexibility exists. By this, we mean, for example, that although life cannot necessarily cause or reverse chemical reactions, it can affect certain future chemical states if enough flexibility exists and it has enough energy at its disposal. An example is that when a system is close to a phase transition, it may be possible for life to choose the system's direction. Flexible situations are therefore very useful for life, both internally and in interactions with its environment.
Life, which we think of as anything that can intentionally interact with its environment to affect its own future, can choose from variable outcomes given access to enough energy for a given circumstance. Energy is the currency of change, so to speak, and any intentional change depends on it. This includes an organism simply retaining its internal structural equilibrium against external environmental forces. According to this viewpoint, it is the organism that constantly guides its own internal change on the basis of singals or information that it perceives from the environment. Furthermore, in some cases, the organism can also make changes in the environment to fit itself.
From this perspective, life is not separate from the rules of the universal forces that make it up. Instead, it is part of the fabric of these rules that are described by science and that, we could say, follows them but also uses them for its own benefit.
Potential for action is consistent with living things' observed ability to interact with their environment as well as other commonly noted attributes of life. We say action potential because this force, like gravity, is ubiquitous and may manifest only as preconditions are met. Therefore, a given state may have potential for action that is not activated until one or more preconditions are met.
For example, it can be observed that an organism may not react immediately to a given stimulus until other factors also come into play. Furthermore, in higher animals, an action potential may be a controlled intention that may not be acted on or only partly acted on. For example, a deer noticing a predator will let its flight potential build or dissipate while monitoring the situation. Perhaps potential turns to action only if the predator shows certain signs of approaching. Intentionality, therefore, is active in nature, and implies a potential for future change of state or direction. Looked at in this way, intentionality also implies predictions or projections based on accumulated information, by which we mean an estimate or forecast of a future situation or state. This concept will be clarified further in the next few chapters.
A PERSPECTIVE ON INFORMATION
As we will explain here and additionally in chapter 3, by information we mean what is conveyed or represented by a particular arrangement or sequence of conditions or things. With respect to living things, the sequence entails the experience of variable internal states over time, which change based on information patterns from the environment. Representations of these changes are then saved, sorted, and filed for future use. Therefore, information used by a life-form consists of saved representations of its experiences of environmental information patterns, which it later uses to represent the external environment. Perception is the internal comparison, or interface, of information from the environment with the saved representations of previous experiences.
As an organism accumulates or internalizes information through experience, it can project future outcomes on the basis of these past experiences. Action potentials can build or lessen on the basis of each new bit of information being used to update projections about the future. Before turning potential into action, an organism chooses between possible projections that match outcomes deemed to satisfy the current expression of its basic intentional drive (what it is intending at that time). Therefore, one of life's basic functions is to accumulate internal representations of useful information about the environment. These, and the ensuing statements, will be elaborated on in the next two chapters on information and a discussion of information processing.
A PERSPECTIVE ON KNOWLEDGE AND INTELLIGENCE
Organisms perceive information from their environment by applying previously acquired information or knowledge when deciding what to do, thereby exhibiting intelligence. We call knowledge the information gained by experience, and intelligence is the ability to use knowledge in the analysis of current perceptions. This analysis entails the internal arrangement of saved representations to form timed potential events, such that a projected outcome is available to be attempted. In other words, organisms formulate action potentials based on their previous knowledge or experience.
A basic activity of life is to use its knowledge base to make intelligent projections about future outcomes. These projections are then used to make choices about potential actions. Furthermore, the outcomes of those actions are perceived as experiences and are saved as new or updated knowledge. The circular nature of this process will be addressed in the next chapter.
* * *
The currently accepted versions of natural selection differ from the theory of intended evolution in that the former are focused on the external selection of random changes, whereas intended evolution proposes that internal changes can also be intentional in nature and based on intelligent interactions with the environment. Natural selection then acts on both these types of internal change. In a way, Darwin's ideas also implied an internal component, in that he described natural selection in the context of "a struggle for life"; struggle implies will and intentionality. We are putting forward that the intended evolution framework is the missing piece that Darwin alluded to at the conclusion of The Origin of Species.
Finally, intended evolution theorizes that the role of the intentional force in evolution increases in importance with complexity. In advanced life-forms, the impact of their intentional actions can become a significant factor in their own evolution. It is possible that a new phase will begin—or has already begun—in which our internal intention and drive become the main components of modern human evolution.
CHAPTER 2THE INFORMATION CYCLE
THE THEORY OF INTENDED EVOLUTION SUGGESTS THAT THE processes attributable to life, including evolution, are best described as being intentional in nature. In this chapter, we propose that living things have a continuous cycle of intentional activity for which an action potential is the underlying driving force. The complex nature of the workings of intelligent processes makes discussion on the topic challenging. However, the purpose here is not an exhaustive discussion about the workings and no special or novel knowledge about intelligent processes is implied. Rather, we hope to simply formalize a process for the purposes of discussion.
When we say continuous cycle of intentional activity, we use the term cycle for illustrative purposes only; there is no implied limitation to flow characteristics: no beginning or end point. Rather, we hope that discussing the upcoming topics in terms of an action potential flowing through a cycle is helpful.
THE ACCUMULATION AND ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION
Any life-form, even a single-celled organism, experiences its environment by gaining information through internal change, or perception. When we say accumulation of information, it means internal change that leads to a subjective recognition of patterns. Life intelligently organizes the available information, which we could call knowledge, in order to project and effect possible outcomes of future events. For a given situation, available projections are evaluated, and a choice of action can be made, and then carried out. This in turn is a further perceived experience or interaction used to update previous knowledge, which continues the cycle.
We simply propose that knowledge is gained when experience of incoming information (changes in internal states) is repeated again and again, forming recognizable patterns. Representations of these patterns are then somehow stored, depending on how they affect the organism. For example, concepts like the relevance, repeatability, reliability, usefulness, and relationship to other (previous) knowledge are probably utilized. The point we are making has more to do with our idea of the process being intentional and intelligent than any rule set or mechanism of storage. We might also call this memory; we chose knowledge because this term implies purposely organized or sorted information as opposed to a random recollection of past data. How life internally organizes relevant information (e.g., the DNA molecule) is obviously complex and little understood.
Finally, we will often use the term information cycle as a way to discuss any organism's ongoing interaction with its environment going forward.
ENERGY AS THE CURRENCY OF CHANGE
Before moving on, we want to briefly mention the energy used by life as somewhat distinct from other patterns. We view what is commonly referred to as energy as the currency of change and believe that life uses it purposely in its processes. Having access to reliable energy sources is obviously a big factor in how the environment shapes evolution. It is not surprising that life views information about energy sources and usage as important since it is a basic need to bring about desired changes or even just to maintain an organism's current form in a changing environment.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Intended Evolution by Dongxun Zhang, Bob Zhang, David Kincade. Copyright © 2015 Dongxun Zhang and Bob Zhang. Excerpted by permission of River Grove Books.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Preface,INTRODUCTION,
PART I UNDERSTANDING INTENDED EVOLUTION,
CHAPTER 1 The Theory of Intended Evolution,
CHAPTER 2 The Information Cycle,
CHAPTER 3 Memory, Perception, and Projection,
CHAPTER 4 Core Stability and Degrees of Flexibility,
CHAPTER 5 Choices and Actions,
CHAPTER 6 Core Integrity and Cooperation,
CHAPTER 7 Remodeling,
CHAPTER 8 Anticipation and Projected Intentions,
CHAPTER 9 Human Intelligence,
CHAPTER 10 Changing the Rules: Human Evolution,
CHAPTER 11 The Life Cycle: Why Do We Die?,
PART II INTENDED EVOLUTION IN EVERYDAY LIFE,
CHAPTER 12 Technology: The Modern Human's Evolution?,
CHAPTER 13 Regarding Modern Health and Disease,
CHAPTER 14 Regarding Modern Sports and Fitness,
CHAPTER 15 Longevity and Life Span Extension,
CHAPTER 16 Mind—body Medicine,
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