Do you think memory is inherent in nature?

Question

My question is intended to be one beyond a vague philosophical idea. Self organizing systems in nature seem to indicate a type of memory.

Answer 1

rather than memory, more like resonance.

notice how the pond ripples when a stone enters it, the waves travel through the medium of water to produce what would appear to be a memorized pattern of events. very noticeable, very repetitious.

this "memory" that you refer to in all of nature (that includes us, now) is just this: a resonance pattern of energy (behaviors) passing through a medium (nature).

the pond does not have to remember to ripple, it simply allows the energy to ripple the pond. we (as a part of nature) think, do, and remember in this same way. we are simply the medium for which energy moves through.

Answer 2

When I strip "memory" down to its bare essentials, it seems to look like this:

1. One system leaves a "mark" on another system. This can be as simple as a rock smashing into a tree, or as complex as a collection of photons trigerring a chain of neurons to fire in your brain.

2. The mark lasts for "a while." A mark that vanishes immediately, is not a memory.

3. The system can "sense" the mark in some way. An invisible mark is not a memory. By "sense," I don't mean the system must be "sentient" (or even "alive," for that matter). I mean only that the mark somehow affects how the system acts and evolves over time.

I can't think of any other essential characteristic. Looked at that way, the tree has a memory of the rock that hit it, because that essential moment in its past is now having an effect on its present, as it adjusts its growth around the scar.

I like to look at biological evolution as a big memory system too. Millions of events in nature, over billions of years, have left their "mark" by selecting the genes that work. In some sense then, our genes carry a memory of the natural history of the world. If that history had been different, our genes today would be different too. We carry the "imprint" of that history.

So yes, I believe that, when looked at this way, memory is inherent in nature. But it also seems to mean that maybe memory doesn't necessarily imply sentience or self-awareness or even consciousness; which seems odd because of how closely we connect those concepts when we think about HUMAN memory.

On the other hand, maybe that's just a matter of degree. Maybe sentience and self-awareness and consciousness, are just the names we apply when a system's "memory bank" becomes sufficently complex.

Answer 3

I think you're referring to overall system memories. . cool.

But the driving factor, to me, seems to be fitness and natural selection. Ecosystems, for example, are self-perpetuating only when external factors don't change. So, as for species diversity and balance, those only seem to be constant for a short time (as in human lifespan).

Anyway, you could also say that a species' or ecosystem's memory is in its genes. Although environment plays an important role, the similarity of body plans up through ecosystem and even biome relationships can be attributed to the interaction and expression of genes in that particular environment.

Genes and natural selection seem to be the "memory" factors. But I don't think it's going to stay that way. Humans are just starting to really interfere, what with genetic manipulation and nanotechnology. (Pollution has been messing up natural systems for a long time, but it hasn't significantly altered how organisms reproduce and metabolize.) The next emergent controlling factor in the memory you talk about is going to be technology. . .

Read Ray Kurzweil's book The Singularity is Near - it's an awesome look at how nano, pico and femto-technology is going to change the world as we know it.

Answer 4

i don't believe is a matter of memory but of instinct,
"systems in nature" are different and therefore have their own instincts.

nature is really not that complex, we humans have actually showed how simplistic it is by using it to our advantage in many methods, including medicine. nature is too simplistic to possess memory.

Answer 5

Yes. However, the amount of information gained and retained varies among each living creature (obviously varying in humans as well).Blame it on the chromosomes.

By the way, you are beautiful.