Daniel Park

Evolution, Alpha Predation, and the Principle of Mediocrity Evolution, the mechanism which brought about ordered complexity as far as emergent life is concerned on Planet Earth allows Man to rise as the alpha species, a Superspecies, if you will. My definition for Superspecies is simple. Any biological life that can violate laws 1 and 2 of Thermodynamics, not in the physical or ontological sense of biology but in the mental sense, with their inventive minds. This is a precise description for the purpose of energy conservation. (However, we may soon be able to violate entropy physically as well through nanobot technology and genetic engineering.) Others may simply call this Sentience, or Intelligent Life or perhaps, Communicative Life. We, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, or Man, Doubly Wise, is Earth’s alpha predator. In the Animal Kingdom it is said that we are the king of the beasts. Why should Mother Nature allow a species to evolve in such a way as to completely outpace, out compete, and out evolve all other life in our closed ecosystem? Is that not risky of the indecipherable evolutionary mechanism? Humanity could destroy the balance of life on the planet in calamitous fashion just as easily as an asteroid or a mega volcanic eruption. Does this not jeopardize the cyclical balance we see all throughout nature? Is it possible that she can take the chance because she is not threatened by us? Are we her grand design? Humankind is uniquely situated in that we sit at the apex of heightened consciousness in our observable universe. Part of becoming self-aware necessitates the discovery of duality that exists between observer and observed, or mind and matter. Duality of quantum mind and quantum object results in the unique interplay that mind has with nature. The realization of consciousness in physics allows us to see how special our perch truly is. We may yet still discover someday how truly special it is that we are and this is in strict defiance to the principle of mediocrity. We are currently, in our own known universe, its greatest masterpiece. We are an alpha form of consciousness and this has given us the ability to dominate without destroying balance (so far, so good). The question of Alpha Predation in its historical context, finds itself rooted in the Abrahamic. “I AM.” The ultimate in thought, form, and expression, the ‘64,000’ prefix or affix. So accordingly, the “Is God jealous?” question finds its way into this book. It has been cited by atheists such as Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins. Cite: The perceived weakness of jealousy argument is flawed and could be enumerated on in many ways but I’ll stick to the science. We’ll answer it in a moment but first we need to take a detour on the evolutionary trail for further explanation. Life is a system of organized chemical interactions bound to the laws of electromagnetism and in particular, the laws of chemistry. For that matter, it is like a Mouse in a Maze. The mouse finds its way in the maze of life, only to find that finding the exit to the maze puts it right back into the entrance of the maze. When a closed or circuitous path exists for the transient property of energy to flow, life happens. Not over night, but it must exist in all manner of various forms across the universe when the conditions arise long enough for energy to find these circuitous paths. Life as a whole is also said to be a (momentary) violation of entropy .It is its anti-force, if you will. Note: The randomness of an entropic event at the level of a cellular nucleus (citation needed) is thought to be 1.82 bits per base pair for each chromosome that averages out to have 247 Mbp (mega base pairs). Ordered complexity is thought to arise in particular, because of gravity’s role in nature. It is the glue for the argument (pun) Cite Lee Smolin that the gravitational seed is anti-entropic and from its roots has sprung the evolutionary tree in which we have arisen from. Gravity is resultant from the laws of physics and plays a foundational role in the ordered complexity of evolution. Nonphysical laws seed the ‘inherent ’properties of quantum mechanics. Gravity is then instrumental in its role as the binding agent that forces atoms to interact, becoming molecules and so on. Even complex atoms do not come to be without its role in fusion and even supernovae explosions. Nothing evolves without it and we would probably be a formally equilibrated quark gluon soup if not for it. Note: Ignoring the fine tuning of the fundamental constants, are the actual capabilities of quantum mechanics that need no fine tuning for their apparent forces to be understood. Indeed, alpha predators do sit atop all their respective food chains/ ecosystems, and even the Standard Model’s energy hierarchy scale leaves the door open for an ‘alpha’ force theorized as Supersymmetry. An obvious question might be, “What does God have to be jealous of?” If we are made in the image of the Creator, is this not a question of qualia? Nothing in the laws of physics precludes life in the form of emotionless automata from happening, but the experientiality of the moment envisaged as the qualia of emotional content seems to me, a strong argument for the reality of time and why we have evolved to be ‘jealous primates’.