Human Evolution Session I Matter-Universe A multidisciplinary anthropic focus

MATTER  What is the image of matter in Science today?  Is matter the primordial cause of all that exists?  A generalised expectation of science is: “Matter is the ontological principle which produces the universe (and all its content, including life and man).”  The reference to matter as the primordial cause confers on science its explanatory unity. 2

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MATTER What is matter in itself? Empirical evidence shows that:  Energy and mass are related to each other.  The behavior of matter cannot be fully described only by one of the conventional concepts like particle and wave.  There are four fundamental interactions (or forces): gravitation, electromagnetism, the weak interaction, and the strong interaction which cannot be yet explained in terms of another interaction. 4

MATTER What is matter in itself? Throughout history, the ontological idea of matter has responded to differentiated models. The fact that these models can be construed by the human mind (even when there is still a lack of empirical evidence, as occurs with string theory) shows the open, hypothetical, not closed character of the idea of matter in scientific knowledge. 5

MATTER-UNIVERSE 6

Speculative theories on the universe are, of necessity, joined to theories on matter. If the universe is an evolutionary product of the organisation of matter, how has this evolution been produced? What is the origin of matter? What states have constituted its organisation? 7

MATTER-UNIVERSE Dynamic and evolving in time, matter produces the universe. However the universe, once it has been produced, creates structural conditions determining subsequent states of the self-organizing matter. 8

MATTER-UNIVERSE The universe’s primordial energy produces different kinds of radiation and particles, vibrations and corpuscles in wave-corpuscle unity. The primordial universe is matter in a variety of evolving states. 9

MATTER-UNIVERSE fermionic matter A world of differentiated entities is born by self-organizing fermionic matter: an atom, a molecule, a cell, a living organism, a rock, a tree, an animal, a human person. Vibration and corpuscles of fermionic matter do not dissolve among them in a single unity. 10

MATTER-UNIVERSE bosonic matter Vibration and corpuscles also produce bosonic matter. Bosonic matter tends to dissolve in unitary vibration fields and the particles lose their individuality and differentiation. Bosonic niches and fields are spread throughout the universe. Special phenomena of quantum coherence, superposition and EPR-effects have been described as states of bosonic matter. 11

MATTER-UNIVERSE bosonic matter A co-existent world of bosonic and fermionic matter is evolving according to the ontological laws of nature always under conditions of the four natural forces: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force 12

MATTER-UNIVERSE and human mind 13

MATTER-UNIVERSE and human mind M-U is a construction of human mind in science Science aims to represent the features of a real M-U system. Is M-U a mere speculative construction of the human mind? Do scientific ideas about M-U correspond to a real existing world? 14

MATTER-UNIVERSE and the human mind Human mind tests its representations of reality:  Are they capable of explaining the facts, the real experience?  Real experience is phenomenological experience: physical, biological, psychical experience.  They constitute in general the explicandum of science. 15

MATTER-UNIVERSE anthropic properties Science postulates matter-universe as the primordial explicandum of all entities – physical, biological, psychical – evolving in time. Matter-universe should be anthropic because it must contain all ontological properties to make man evolutionary possible. 16

MATTER-UNIVERSE anthropic properties  M-U produces an anthropic universe where a living being can be at home.  M-U produces entities with independent bodies and individual behavior.  M-U produces a world which contains holistic phenomena creating bosonic niches inside a system of fermionic entities.  M-U evolves to produce human reason that will look for the last explanation of itself in the universe. 17

MATTER-UNIVERSE views 18

MATTER-UNIVERSE views REDUCTIONISM  A unilateral view of the universe’s system.  A world from the one-side perspective of fermionic matter.  A determinant role for cause-effect series between differentiated entities.  A deterministic world.  Are life and human person to be understood. as robotic machinery?  Does reductionism offer an anthropic explication? 19

MATTER-UNIVERSE views A BALANCED M-U VIEW A balanced view of wave-particle, field and differentiated entities, fermionic and quantum bosonic causation, determinism and indeterminism, holistic interaction levels, experimental facts and theoretical speculation. Has this balanced view sufficient explanation power towards a scientific understanding of life and human person? 20

MATTER-UNIVERSE theoretical problems A SUFFICIENT OR AN INSUFFICIENT UNIVERSE? Is it a closed universe without external references sufficient for explaining its factual reality? Is it an open universe with external references insufficient to found itself as a consistent reality? There are rational-scientific arguments for both ultimate hypotheses. The ultimate view of the universe entails metaphysical consequences making future anthropic visions possible. 21

MATTER-UNIVERSE theoretical problems A SINGLE UNIVERSE OR A MULTIVERSE SYSTEM Experimental evidences speak for a single universe (standard cosmological model) Theoretical speculation considers the M- Theory for matter’s origin and the multiverses theory for macro-physic evolution. In both cases: What about a closed or an open universe? What about metaphysical and anthropic consequences? 22