"Things exist by virtue of their mutually consistent relationships" (Geoffrey Chew).
"The bootstrap hypothesis is one of the most profound systems of Western thought" (Fritjof Capra).
The Bootstrap Philosophy
The term "bootstrap" has basically two meanings:
Self-support, i.e., to sustain oneself solely through one's own efforts and resources. It is what we can call "bootstrap self-sustaining" (or static).
Creation from scratch (or from a few essential elements) and improvement, progress, evolution of a system by itself, by means of its own effort and its own resources, without external help. It is what we can call "bootstrap evolutionary" (or dynamic).
Borromeo Rings
Triquetta
Valknut
Continuous Valknut
5 intersecting tetrahedra
4 flaps of a cardboard box
4 linked arms
3-knife platform
These two types of bootstrap are closely related. A self-sustaining bootstrap system can evolve from its own ordered resources that make it self-sustaining.
In the bootstrap evolutionary, if we consider that we start from zero, we are faced with a paradox, because a system cannot be built from itself, if the system does not exist initially. It is the classic problem of the chicken and the egg, a problem in which time is transcended and in which cause and effect are the same thing.
To get out of this paradox, the solution consists in starting from something very small and simple (a mini-system) and relying on itself (on this initial nucleus) to expand it progressively (in an increasing spiral process) until finally having built the complete system. This mini-system is sometimes interpreted as a "seed" that bears fruit as it evolves.
In engineering, the evolutionary bootstrap is used all the time. Perhaps the paradigmatic example is the construction of a bridge. It starts initially with a thin cable (initial mini-system), which is linked to a thicker cable, which in turn supports a third one, etc., until the complete bridge is built.
Other examples of bootstrap evolutionary, i.e., evolution from a minimum essential core, are:
The set of natural numbers, since it is generated from the one, adding one. The one is the source of all numbers.
The Fibonacci sequence, because from two numbers (0 and 1) the whole series is generated with the help of the rule of the sum of the two preceding numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. 13, ...
The Big Bang, the great explosion that created the physical universe from a primordial element.
The concept of bootstrap evolutionary is very powerful, because it is a recursive process, which is one of the techniques (or dimensions) of creativity.
The bootstrap theory in physics
The bootstrap theory, proposed by physicist Geoffrey Chew in the 1960's, is a general philosophy of nature, a global paradigm, a way of approaching and explaining the complexity of reality. And it is also a unifying physical theory, since it attempts to unify quantum and relativistic physics.
The general and philosophical aspects of the bootstrap theory are:
Dependence.
In nature there are no independent entities. An isolated entity has no meaning in the universe, it cannot exist. All natural phenomena are interconnected. An explanation of an isolated phenomenon is not possible without an understanding of the whole.
Dynamic network.
Nature is a dynamic network of interrelated processes. Things are what they are because of the way they relate to other things.
No reductionism.
Nature cannot be reduced to its fundamental components, so the classical idea of the fundamental "bricks" or building blocks of nature is discarded. The metaphor of creation is not that of the pyramidal building, constructed from its fundamental blocks, but that of a progressively developing network, where the part appeared at the same time as the whole. It is, therefore, a non-reductionist theory, contrary to the classical Cartesian-Newtonian model.
Consistency.
The network is globally consistent. It is this consistency that determines the structure of the network. Things exist by virtue of their mutually consistent relationships. Nature must be understood through global consistency.
Part-whole union.
The properties of one part of the network are determined by the properties of the other parts. No one part of the network is more important than another. There is unity in diversity and diversity in unity. The local is connected to the global.
Cause-effect union.
There are no cause-effect relationships, or cause-effect is confused, or everything is both cause and effect. There is no determinism. If there were a cause-effect relationship, cause would have "advantage" or priority over effect.
Matter-consciousness union.
Taken to its ultimate consequences, for consistency to work on a global level, the dynamic network must also perforce include human consciousness. Matter and consciousness are part of an indivisible whole.
In quantum physics, the bootstrap theory has the following characteristics:
There are no fundamental particles. It is the "democratic" model of particles.
There is no fundamental entity, law, constant or equation. Nature cannot be reduced to fundamental entities.
There are no particles, only processes. This view is similar to that of modern string theory: the different modes of vibration of strings are interpreted as particles.
No a priori concepts, such as space-time, are assumed. In the reductionist model of reality there are independent objects in a space-time frame. In the bootstrap model, space and time must be consequences of the relations between particles. In the absence of matter, space and time would not exist, they would be meaningless.
The bootstrap theory claims the introduction of new dimensions, beyond space and time.
It uses Heisenberg's scattering matrix (introduced in 1943). The components of the matrix represent interaction probabilities between particles. In practice, only certain interactions are of interest, with which models of approximation to reality are elaborated. The theory uses the global self-consistency and symmetry requirements of the S-matrix to derive the properties of the particles and their interactions.
A fundamental aspect of the theory is the concept of order. The language of topology is used to establish the different categories of order in subatomic interactions, a topic contributed by Gabriele Veneziano.
The bootstrap theory of quantum physics produces the characteristic results of quark models (the constituents of protons and neutrons), without the need to postulate the existence of any physical particles. It is a physics of quarks without quarks, of processes without particles or particles seen as processes.
Regarding its possibilities for the theory in the future, Chew believes that it will allow the basic principles of quantum physics, human consciousness and the classical conception of space-time to be deduced. And that as the theory progresses, the network of relationships will become more precise, clearer or less fuzzy.
For Chew, the inclusion of consciousness in the theory is fundamental. "Taken to its logical extreme, the bootstrap conjecture implies that the existence of consciousness, along with the other aspects of nature, is necessary for the self-consistency of the whole" [Chew, 1968].
Something similar was posited by Gregory Bateson with his idea of the "connecting pattern": the structural and ideal link that governs both natural and mental forms; mind and nature (the external world and the internal world) necessarily constitute a unity.
Arguments in favor of Chew's bootstrap theory
quantum theory.
According to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics, quantum entities are not isolated particles but probability patterns in a context that includes the human observer and his consciousness.
Non-separability.
There are particles that have not been observed in isolation, such as quarks. It is also not possible to isolate the magnetic poles, they are always united, there are no monopoles.
The neutron-proton relation.
In beta decay, a neutron in the atomic nucleus is converted into a proton and an electron. From this point of view, it is natural to think that a neutron is composed of a proton and an electron. But when the positron or anti-electron (positively charged electron) was discovered, Heisenberg pointed out that a proton could be considered to be composed of a neutron and a positron. It follows then that neutron and proton are closely related: they are symmetrical to each other.
Quantum entanglement and nonlocality.
In 1964, John Bell published a theorem stating that if there is a world separate from its observation, it is necessarily nonlocal. This has been demonstrated experimentally. Non-local means that it transcends space: one part of the universe is instantaneously correlated with any other part of the universe [Bell, 1964].
The origin of Bell's theorem was the famous EPR (Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen) paper, published in 1935, which questioned the "fantastic action at a distance" that was a basic principle of quantum physics.
The theory of implicate order, by David Bohm.
The bootstrap theory has much in common with David Bohm's "implicate order theory," so much so that Chew believes a future merger of the two theories is possible. According to Bohm's theory, there is a deep, ordered, unmanifest ("folded" or "implicate") source responsible for all surface ("unfolded" or "explained") phenomena, where each part exists and operates in the context of an indivisible whole.
Both theories are based on a view of the world as a network of dynamic relationships.
Both consider the notion of order to be fundamental and use topology to classify categories of order.
Both use matrices to represent transformations.
Both recognize that they must include consciousness.
For this fusion to occur it would be necessary to consider that the dynamic network of interrelated processes of the bootstrap theory is a consequence or manifestation (the explained order) of that deep order (the implied order).
String theory.
In string theory there are no particles. There are only vibrating strings (or membranes). The different modes of vibration of strings we interpret as elementary particles. The strings "inhabit" a world of 11 dimensions: the 3 spatial, time and 7 extra dimensions that are "folded" and that are unobservable with our current technology.
Monads.
The bootstrap philosophy has much in common with Leibniz's monadology. Leibniz spoke of monads with specular relations between them, like mirrors reflecting other mirrors. Leibniz's monadic realm is a self-sustaining bootstrap realm.
Eastern philosophy.
The bootstrap philosophy has analogies with Eastern mysticism, which is based on the belief in the unity of the universe and the interrelationship between all phenomena, including consciousness.
Since the Vedas (about 5,000 years B.C.) −the ancient people of India− there is a view that the world is a reflection of something happening in a higher (or deeper) dimension. The Vedic texts speak of a unified field of "pure consciousness" that permeates all of creation. The Rig Veda speaks of Brahman, "the unborn in which all things reside".
According to the Vedic tradition, the realm of the Hindu God Indra − the king of the gods or devas and chief god of the early Vedic religion (pre-Hinduism)− is the place where the web that connects the entire universe originates.
According to Buddhism, things and beings are generated in mutual dependence, nothing exists by itself, nothing is independent. Indra's net is a metaphorical entity described in the Buddhist text "The Garland Sutra" or "Avatamsaka Sutra", a voluminous Mahayana Buddhist text, which some consider to be the most sublime revelation of Buddha's teachings. According to this text, the mind, the universe and the Buddha are one and the same. This book describes the "wondrous web" of energy that connects all things in the cosmos. It describes a cosmos of infinite realms that contain each other. This web appears suspended above its palace or abode. It is an infinite web, extending in all directions, where at each of its intersections is a shining jewel. Each jewel reflects the image of all the other jewels in the net, in an infinite process of reflection, thus uniting the particular with the totality. The Indra network symbolizes the cosmos and the interrelationships between all its elements. Each element sustains and defines all the others. The cosmos is an organism that creates, sustains and defines itself. The cosmos is a network, without center or whose center is everywhere. The cosmos has a holographic structure.
Fritjof Capra, in his book "The Tao of Physics" [1987], points out the parallels between quantum physics and "The Garland Sutra" . He also saw a connection between the bootstrap hypothesis and Indra's network. Capra describes Chew's theory in "Unusual Wisdom" [Capra, 2003].
The bootstrap technique in computer science
The bootstrapping was used in early computers when there were no source languages or compilers (or assemblers); there was only machine language. The process for building a program was as follows. A small assembly program was initially built directly in machine code, which converted a few source code instructions into machine code. This program was rewritten in its own language, to take into account new source code instructions, and reassembled. And so on, in a spiraling process of continuous evolution, until a complete assembly program was finally available. From the assembly language, higher level languages could be built in turn.
Today, in computer science, the term "bootstrap" is applied to:
Writing an interpreter of a language in the language it interprets. It is also called a meta-interpreter or meta-circular interpreter. For example, a Basic interpreter written in Basic.
Write a compiler for a language using the language itself.
Define a complex language from a simple initial language.
Booting a computer or operating system from a simple initial software load. This boot process is called "booting" or "boot". And the initial boot program is the "boot loader", whose only function is to facilitate the loading of the operating system kernel.
Develop a complete programming environment from a simple one. For example, a simple starting environment can be a very simple text editor and an assembler program. Using these two tools, an integrated environment can be developed that includes a complete editor and a compiler of a high-level language.
But certainly, at a conceptual level, the bootstrap philosophy applies to so-called "spiral development," a philosophy that is universal, not just applicable to computer science.
The bootstrap technique in artificial intelligence
The "Seed Artificial Intelligence" −abbreviated "Seed AI", in English "artificial intelligence seed" or "AI seed"− is an idea and a term coined by Eliezer Yudkowsky. It is an AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) or a type of strong AI, an AI capable of emulating human intelligence. It is based on an evolutionary bootstrap [Good, 1965]:
From a few initial elements, with minimal intelligence, a software system can evolve autonomously, recursively improving its intelligence. Even, having succeeded in improving, it is able to optimize its performance.
The system must be able to "understand" the purpose or objective that is reflected or manifested in the source code and rewrite new code to evolve and more effectively reflect that purpose.
It is a kind of Big Bang or intelligence explosion. With many iterations, such AI can surpass human cognitive capabilities.
It differs from machine learning in that the latter requires interaction with an external environment. A Seed AI system evolves only on the basis of code.
The Seed AI is currently a very active field of research. A successful implementation of Seed AI would produce a technological singularity. The key to success lies in creating the right initial conditions. Several organizations are pursuing the goal of achieving a system with this technology. "The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence" (SIAI) is the most prominent and of which Eliezer Yudkowsky is a co-founder. Others are: "Artificial General Intelligence Research Institute" −creator of the Novamente, an integrated architecture for AGI−, Consolidated Robotics, OpenCog and Adaptive AI.
Cosmic bootstrap
Paul Davies talks about the concept of "cosmic bootstrap". Paul Davies is a physicist, cosmologist and astrobiologist at Arizone State University, where he directs "BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science". He also directs "SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Post-Detection Taskgroup". Asteroid 1992OG was officially renamed Pauldavies in his honor. In addition to his many accolades and awards, he received the 1995 Templeton Prize for his work on science and religion.
According to Davies, the universe is not a machine made up of independent, locally interrelated parts. The universe is an entity that functions at a global level, where everything interacts with everything at a non-local level, thanks to deep mechanisms or general laws that manifest themselves at all levels of the universe: quantum particles, atoms, planets, galaxies, etc. The universe is self-sufficient, self-generating, self-organizing, self-feeding, without "external" intervention. The evolutionary bootstrap of the universe had its origin in the Big Bang, with an enormous explosion of energy that gave rise to the celestial bodies. This energy emerged from the vacuum, so at this level the principle of conservation of energy does not apply.
For Peter Atkins −avowed atheist and advocate of Richard Dawkins− the universe is self-explanatory, it created itself by a process of cosmic bootstraping: "Space-time generates its own dust in the process of its own self-assembly" [Atkins, 1994]. Atkins thus shares Paul Davies' idea.
The underlying issue, the key question, is: How did the universe come into being? Did it arise out of nothing or was there a Creator? For Stephen Hawking, the universe created itself out of nothing; the laws of physics suffice to explain everything, including the issue of the appearance of life on Earth; spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing. In his book "The Grand Design" he denies, despite its title, that there is a Designer. Paul Davies agrees with Hawking. There is no need to invoke anything supernatural to explain the origin of the universe and life.
Hawking is wrong. Physical laws are just descriptions of phenomena. The law of gravity does not explain gravity. It governs the principle of downward causation. There are deep principles and manifestations governed by physical laws. At a deep level everything is interrelated because they share the same principles.
According to John Wheeler and his "Participatory Anthropic Principle" [1983], the universe seems to have been designed for life and for man. There is a surprising fine-tuning of the physical constants. If just one of these constants were slightly different, life would not be possible. The universe is participatory in the sense that the observer is necessary to collapse the wave function of quantum particles. For John Barrow and Frank Tipler [1986], the universe appears (or exists) only if someone observes it. The universe cannot exist without life in it.
The bootstrap philosophy, universal paradigm
The bootstrap philosophy (in its two meanings) is a universal paradigm that connects science and humanism. Everything is self-sustaining in equilibrium and everything evolves: planetary, family, social, biological, etc. systems.
This philosophy promises to transcend conventional disciplinary distinctions and seeks to use a unified language to describe the various aspects of the multifaceted and interrelated structure of reality. In addition to the aforementioned topics, we can cite:
Society.
We are what we are by virtue of our relationships with others. Workers support society, and society supports workers. Parents support their children, and children support their parents (acting as a bonding element), etc.
Business.
A bootstrap business is a business that is undertaken with no or very few resources −basically with little or no capital − and using only basic home means (telephone, garage, etc.). This type of business makes you develop creativity to overcome the scarcity of means and to be able to make the business evolve.
Time.
We are what we are now, in the present, because we are sustained by our past and our future.
Consciousness.
Consciousness is a bootstrap system. It connects the particular with the universal and connects inner world and outer world.
MENTAL and the Bootstrap Paradigm
According to the principle of linguistic complementarity, "no language can fully describe its own description or interpretation process" [Löfgren, 1991]. That is, a language cannot represent or describe its own semantics. This is a restriction that bears some analogy with Gödel's second theorem: a formal axiomatic system (including the arithmetic of natural numbers) cannot prove its own consistency. [see Applications - Mathematics - The True Meaning of Gödel's Theorem].
Therefore, the process of creating MENTAL has been of the bootstrap evolutionary type:
We started from the hypothesis of the existence of universal semantic primitives, looking for the smallest possible set.
Once identified (after an iterative process of trial and error), the primitives themselves have the ability to be extended to create first order and higher order derivatives, as well as all kinds of expressions (applications and new languages). The result is a conceptual Big Bang, since from a few concepts (the universal semantic primitives) the whole universe of possible expressions is generated, Ω, including specific and generic languages (logical, modal, fuzzy, etc.), as well as applications for the different domains that require a formal language: mathematics, computer science, physics, artificial intelligence, etc.
In turn, the result, the defined language itself, is also of type bootstrap self-sustaining because:
All primitives are interconnected and mutually sustaining. Each depends on the others. Isolated primitives have no value.
No one primitive is more important than another.
It is a reductionist language, but at the same time holistic.
It includes consciousness. The universal semantic primitives are archetypes of consciousness.
MENTAL is also the natural "seed" for the "Seed AI" technology, being the bootstrap language itself [see Applications - Artificial Intelligence - MENTAL, an Artificial Intelligence Language]. And it is also the "universal seed" capable of evolving into all kinds of complex expressions.
Addenda
Origin and uses of the term "bootstrap"
In English, "to pull oneself by the bootstraps"−which could be translated as "to pull oneself up by one's own bootstraps"− is a familiar idiomatic turn of phrase. It comes from the fact that boots usually have loops or straps at the top by which they are pulled to put them on. This phrase actually means an impossible and absurd action.
Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Baron von Münchhausen was a German baron who in his youth served as a page to Antony Ulrich II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and later enlisted in the Russian army. He served in it until 1750, taking part in two military campaigns against the Turks. Upon returning home, Münchhausen supposedly told several incredible stories about his adventures: riding on a cannonball, traveling to the moon and pulling himself out of a swamp by pulling his own pigtail, etc. Rudolf Erich Raspe published the work "The Surprising Adventures of Baron Münchhausen", creating a literary character somewhere between extraordinary and anti-hero, with a philosophical message radically opposed to the prevailing rationalism of the time.
In 1786, Gottfried August Bürger translated Raspe's stories back into German and expanded them with new contributions from popular folklore. He published them under the title "Baron Münchhausen's Wonderful Travels by Land and Sea". Today Münchhausen is recognized as a myth of children's literature.
The term "bootstrap" was popularized in the 1950s by Robert Anson Heinlein's science fiction story "By His Bootstraps" (1941), first published in the magazine "Astounding Science Fiction" under the pseudonym Anson McDonald. It deals with time travel and its paradoxes. It is available on the Internet.
Dr. Douglas Engelbert −computer pioneer− used the term "bootstrap" to refer to the technique used by lumberjacks to climb trees to cut the highest branches. They use a lasso around the body and trunk of the tree. Engelbert founded the Institute "The Bootstrap Alliance", aimed at "improving to improve" with the notion of a "bootstrap loop", a feedback loop where output becomes input.
Richard Dawkins, in his book "The River of Eden" [2000] uses the concept of bootstrap to explain how cells differentiate: "Different cells receive different combinations of chemicals, which produce different combinations of genes, and some genes turn other genes on or off. The bootstrapping continues until we have the full repertoire of different kinds of cells."
In electronics, bootstrapping is a positive feedback circuit.
The symbols of bootstrap
Perhaps the best symbol that best reflects the self-sustained bootstrap is a net formed by the diagonals of a dodecagon, where the vertices represent the elements and the diagonals the relationships or connections between them. Vertices can also be related to themselves.
The image that best symbolizes the bootstrap evolutionary is a growing spiral. The spiral symbolizes:
The union or connection of the infinitely small with the infinitely large, zero with infinity.
The dynamics of life, the openness, evolution and continuous progress, the creation and expansion of the world and of consciousness.
Evolution (from the center outward) and involution (return to the center).
The union of the simple and the complex, balance and imbalance, order and change, temporary and permanent, expansion and contraction, static and dynamic, space and time.
The two states of consciousness associated with the linear (left hemisphere) and the circular (right hemisphere).
There are two types of spirals: the Archimedean (linear growth) and the logarithmic (exponential growth). The logarithmic spiral has the remarkable property that its growth does not change its shape. The logarithmic spiral is similar to itself at any scale. The logarithmic spiral is the symbol of the bootstrap evolutionary because the growth is increasing as more resources become available.
Spiral of Archimedes
Logarithmic spiral
Ouroboros is sometimes used as a symbol for bootstrap. But this symbol is rather the symbol of consciousness, the universal symbol of the union of opposites.
Ouroboros
The Pearls of Indra
Indra's network of pearls is a metaphor used by Buddhist doctrine to illustrate the interdependence of all things and all phenomena in the universe.
It is a network of silk strings that expands to infinity in all directions and contains at each intersection a pearl of great brilliance that reflects each of the pearls of the network like an infinite mirror.
The book "Indra's Pearls: The vision of Felix Klein" explores the patterns created by iterating conformal functions of the complex plane (called "Möbius transformations") and their connections to symmetry and self-similarity. These patterns were first glimpsed by Felix Klein, but today's computers have made it possible to visualize and explore them in detail. The book shows the connection between geometry, number theory, abstract algebra and computation.
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