Nothing is the same. No thing is the same. Everything is itself and one of a kind.Corita Kent, Jan Stewart (2008): Learning By Heart, quoted in Brander (2022)
This is because every thing is complex (made up of numerous components) and entangled (connected to numerous other Systems).
In other words: Every thing is defined by its internal and external
connections. Thus what it is is a complex pattern.This is complementary to the insight that
An
attractor defines a stable system.
Everything exists because of what it really is.A note I made some years ago while stoned. I’ve wondered ever since what it meant.
What it really is: a complex pattern. But this pattern not only defines the thing – the connections that form the pattern are causal connections, which means they cause the thing to be, they bring it into existence.
So everything literally exists because of what it is.
Once we’ve understood that, nothing should take us by surprise.
Which makes this the ultimate
Deflationary
Explanation.Of course only for the big metaphysical question. When
it comes to concrete things, we haven’t really explained anything yet.
This is down to concrete causal connections – see e.g. DeLanda’s
analyses of assemblages.
References
- Brander (2022), “Living systems grow from simple seeds”