DAVID BIRNBAUM METAPHYSICS
DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY
Potentialism’s Intermediate Dynamic:
Complexification+ > Quantum Jump
David Birnbaum, metaphysicist and private scholar, set out on an audacious odyssey in 1988 to redefine modern cosmology as we know it. What he gave the world was a metaphysics for the 21st century: Potentialism. The Quest for Infinite Potential is the unifying cosmic drive – the reason for how things are – and the path for what they will become as the universe grows.
In 1988, Birnbaum released Summa Metaphysica I (Ktav, 1988), followed by Summa Metaphysica II and III (New Paradigm Matrix, 2005; New Paradigm Matrix, 2014). See www.SummaMetaphysica.com. Birnbaum laid out a simple formula regulating existence and the evolution of the cosmos:
Simply put, Infinite Quest for Infinite Potential (shorthand: Q4P for Quest 4 Potential) inexorably seeks after its own inherent extraordinary potential (shorthand: E+).
So the now-iconic formula is: Q4P∞ → E+.
This formula describes the basic overarching mechanics of Potentialist cosmology. It states that there is an inherent drive in the universe, the Quest for Infinite Potential (Q4P). This is the drive that causes everything in the universe to achieve increasingly higher levels of Complexification – complexity/sophistication/variety/wondrousness. (The shorthand notation for Complexification is C+). C+ does this in an ordered, intentional fashion as it continues towards its end-goal of Extraordinariation (E+). Too many terms? You can handle it.
That is, Q4P∞ > C+ > E+.
– or Quest for potential > Complexification > Extraordinariation
E+ is the horizon-goal state of ultimate complexification. E+ is more than just mechanical complexity. E+ is an overarching conceptual level of complexity in every sense – mechanistic, intellectual, emotive, spiritual, beautiful…. it is infinite in every conceivable frame of reference.
But before we get to E+ there are Quantum Jumps as intermediate steps. (The shorthand notation for a Quantum Jump is QJ). More terms? YES! Concentrate. The Big Bang was an example of a QJ; so was the emergence of molecules from atoms; so was the emergence of multi-cellular life from single-cell organisms.
Therefore, a fuller mathematical model governing the Potentialism process, incorporating the intermediate stage of C+ > QJ, would be:
Q4P∞ → C+ → QJ → E+.
So now we have a pretty comprehensive formula. This follows the Potentialism model on a finer detail of scale. Meaning, not just on the overarching level of Q4P > E+, but also the intermediary, second-tier level of C+ > QJ.
Q4P gives direct rise to what Birnbaum refers to as Complexification+ (C+), which in turn give rise to Quantum Jumps (QJ), which are building-blocks on the road to the horizon-goal of E+. Deep breath. No one ever said that cracking the cosmic code was a ‘walk in the park’.
Complexification (C+)
Complexification is defined as the ongoing rise in the complexity/sophistication/variety/wondrousness of the gamut the universe. C+ can be witnessed in terms of simple, mechanistic/physical terms – such as two hydrogen and an oxygen atom combining to form water (an intrinsic complexity event) or when a cell divides (a multiplicative or extrinsic complexity event). However, Complexification covers far more than mechanistic complexity. C+ is used to denote the myriad of ways outside of the mechanistic in which complexity can increase.
As an example, consider two pieces of music. Our first piece is written entirely in one key, so it is harmonically sound. The notes are all standard lengths, but random. There is nothing integrally incorrect with this piece, but it, arguably, doesn’t sound much like music. Our second piece may be, perhaps, a moving sonata – emotion evoking and transcendent beyond what is printed on the sheet music because of this. Both pieces, on paper, look the same – but one is unarguably more sophisticated, but on a mechanistic level they are identical. This is the meaning of Complexification+. C+ not only accounts for the mechanistic complexity of the sheet music, but also for the complexity of the emotion/harmony/transcendence which it evokes, the so-to-speak ‘beauty’ of the piece itself. It eludes physical science to explain what makes the sonata more complex than the random piece – but it is humanly self-evident that it is more extraordinary, to put it mildly. We have just examined Complexification (C+) on the route towards Extraordinariation (E+).
Thus, C+ necessarily encompasses more than the mechanistic alone. Like Extraordinariation, it is the sum of its mechanistic, intellectual, emotive, spiritual and beatific qualities – both the qualitative as well as the quantitative (see www.Extraordinariation.com).
Quantum Jumps (QJs)
Quantum Jumps are the consequences of Complexification. They demonstrate increased C+ in myriad quantitative and qualitative forms. C+ is the intermediate ‘drive’, the handmaiden of overarching Infinite quest for infinite potential (Q4P).
QJs express complexity in fundamentally new, never before seen expressions. QJs also introduce a fundamentally higher, “game changer” level of complexity. Finally, QJs are episodic. Focused critical mass is reached – and the new QJ platform is effected.
Whereas, C+ occurs continuously/ongoing, a QJ happens only intermittently as focused critical-mass is achieved in one area or another, e.g. the ignition of the universe via the Big Bang, the emergence of Life, the emergence of Primates; the human ability to create and alphabet – and write. QJs are ‘triggered’ only intermittently, typically rarely and generally quite dramatically.
To explain QJs, it is easiest to illustrate them. Imagine a universe where only atoms exist. Without molecules, there is no life. Even seemingly universal water itself – a combination of oxygen and hydrogen atoms – cannot exist. In such a universe, the complexification we take for granted cannot exist at all. At one point, in our distant past, an atoms-only universe – was the universe. Before the atoms-only universe, there was an era where even atoms did not exist yet. As you can imagine, that universe itself was fundamentally different – radically simpler, radically less complex. But QJ events, in the form of first atom creation, then molecular creation, gave rise to a universe where more complex forms could coalesce.
This the nature of QJ events. They are game changers, new ‘platforms’, opening up the universe to unfold in new directions and levels of complexity almost impossible to even imagine until they occurred. QJs both follow and shape the scientific rules governing the universe. Meaning, their realization becomes an add-on of sorts to the Laws of Physics.
They are an expression of the increasing maturity of the universe, and indeed of Physics itself, all driven by the overarching Quest for Potential of cosmic evolution – as it marches-onward ever forward towards the horizon-goal of Extraordinariation (E+).
As mentioned though, QJs, like C+, are driven by more than mechanistic design – they are an expression of all levels of complexity. As such, they encompass such universal phenomena as the creation of language, music, reason, emotion, altruism. While some of these phenomena are not quantitative, they are all self-evident in their existence and perfectly qualitative.
The 20th century Randomness/Atheistic cosmology schema dismally failed to handle the bulk of the key questions facing science. It is the metaphysical nature of 21st century Potentialism itself which allows Potentialism to smoothly and seamlessly explain the myriad aspects and layers of reality. See www.SummaCoverage.com.
Complexification (C+) > Quantum Jump (QJ)
As noted above, intermediate dynamic C+ > QJ is tucked within the broader embrace of Q4P > E+. C+ > QJ is an ongoing cause > effect interplay of Complexification+ > Quantum Jumps. This ‘intermediate level’ dynamic governs existence and defines how it evolves.
As noted, C+ > QJ is under the greater aegis of Q4P > E+, the overarching drive of everything within the universe. C+ and its consequent QJs are the visible evidence of that eternal Quest for Potential. All are components of the universe’s cosmic tool kit which lets it seek out and strive towards its eternal and inexorable quest for Extraordinariation (E+).