Evolutionary tree of Concepts from the Big Bang until now.
Copyright Allan Webber (BSc, Grad Dip Ed Admin), 2017

The remarkable thing about concepts

 The remarkable thing about concepts is that on this planet humankind is the first to realise there is such a thing as a concept. And further we know they have a recognisable reality.

Memory, awareness and intelligence alongside many other concepts all evolved while others such as happiness, anger and emotions which are only in their earliest stages have reality only through their impact on our physical reactions.

We have no difficulty accepting they exist and that they can be labelled, classified and distinguished one from the other. But none of these were eternal; they arose in this universe at different times of its evolution.

If a concept has a beginning different from the creation of our universe then there would have been a time when it didn't exist but I believe that cannot be the case for it is in breach of conservation principles. Each concept must have been able to become real at an earlier stage or at a different location in the universe if the physical conditions were right.

Concepts may be a human construct but none the less they were and will remain there in the universes potential resources from the beginning to the end of time.

However this is only a paradox when the definition of any concept is given a meaning that limits the range of experiences covered. Awareness for instance could be considered as conditional on existence but from then on is inherent in everything. However rocks would have a very different form of awareness to all living things including bacteria. Some of the paradox is not intrinsic it is purely due to the way the concept is perceived and recognised by humankind.

This enigma over awareness is equivalent to the dilemma at the instant the universe began as an extremely intense explosion. Yet there was either an equivalence of energy etc in the pre-universe or the conservation principle is fallible. We cannot be so cavalier with this principle since there is every reason to believe it is the one guide that reconciles everything that has ever happened.  So that energy pre-existed and that is the paradox.

One way to resolve the seeming contradiction is to recognise what is different is the existence in the pre-universe of aspects such as space and time which are essential for humans to detect and measure any event.

The recognition of a class of events in which space, matter, energy and time don’t apply can provide relief from the enigma of our origin but to offer a meaningful contribution to science any such classification has to be confined by adequate discipline. To this end there is already an existing means we can compare.

There is a vast body of human experience that is accepted without question yet there is nothing of a physical nature that offers evidence that it exists. Their existence is their only proof. Numbers and geometric shapes fall into this category. No one has ever possessed a one or a two or a triangle, all we have ever had is something with those properties. Significantly you don’t have to buy the pattern for such things in order to use them. They are innate, everywhere present yet intangible. They are concepts.

In order to deal with this class of intangible attributes in a scientific way we need to define their bounds and these will inevitably distinguish them from the class with attributes able to be measured in space-time.

Concepts, including familiar ones such as number and geometric patterns, share common properties of applying equally to every point of space-time in our universe. So when and if you ever go to Mars, Alpha Centauri or the edge of the Universe every concept is still accessible. And if you could go back or forward in time they would likewise be there unchanged. This universal accessibility is not true of mass and energy where historical local factors such as gravity and quantum mechanics can determine their presence.

 It is to this type of universal experience that I refer when applying the label eternal zone to the realm where concepts are.

And from the human perspective the evolution of concepts isn’t about their creation point but about the space-time values when they were first detectable in a tangible form in our universe.

But as stated earlier total compliance with the conservation principles should be one of the overarching regulators of eligibility.

A significant consequence of the conservation principle is eternal zones inevitably interact with zones of other type. From the viewpoint of these other zones the processes or contents of any eternal zone is accessible at every conceptual instance occurring within it; it is this that makes the accessed zone eternal.

Now concepts such as awareness, existence and memory fill a niche in our universe that parallels that of number and geometry and patterning; each fits within the bounds of one or more disciplines in which order and definition are dominant.

However although we have no difficulty in associating number and geometry with every instant of our universe the requisite eternal trait is not obvious in the case of  awareness, memory, choice and evolution etc.

Evolution is a conceptual process that also fits into the class of an eternal zone. The evolutionary process can take place within any organic, non-organic or pre-universe system; it is eternal. Its fundamental requirements are mechanistic compliance with both conservation and continuity principles together with an eternal mechanism for transitioning across bounds that limit continuity.

The width and colour of lines that make up the tree give, through colour changes, a rough guide to the time of first creation and by width the stage of development.

We would be foolish to believe that this tree ends with the evolution of beings able to conceive and understand concepts even though the ability to have a concept of concepts suggests a pinnacle.

Like concepts, evolution also evolves and history tells us it will take the universe into understandings beyond he peak abilities of humankind.

In the table below I set out some of the important factors related to the evolution of concepts. For an evolutionary model to have substance it needs to be able to identify those changing things that allow new designs to emerge. At each stage new zones of interaction with the universe are exposed and expanded. I have tried to identify enough of these factors to show the principle identifiers of each phase of conceptual development. 

The flow of evolution seems always towards greater engagement with the hidden aspects of the universe. Even in our enlightened times we still recognise there is much that is unknown. Dark energy and dark matter as well as the true nature of space-time, matter and light (electro-magnetic phenomena) suggest that nature still has room for expansions outside our ability to comprehend.

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