Sloman, Aaron. “Construction kits for biological evolution.” In The Incomputable , pp. 237-292. Springer, Cham, 2017.
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This is part of the Turing-inspired Meta-Morphogenesis project, which aims to identify transitions in information-processing since the earliest proto-organisms, in order to provide new understanding of varieties of biological intelligence, including the mathematical intelligence that produced Euclid’s Elements . (Explaining evolution of mathematicians is much harder than explaining evolution of consciousness!) Transitions depend on “construction kits”, including the initial “Fundamental Construction Kit” (FCK) based on physics and Derived Construction Kits (DCKs) produced by evolution, development, learning and culture. Some construction kits (e.g. Lego, Meccano, plasticine, sand) are concrete using physical components and relationships. Others (e.g. grammars, proof systems and programming languages) are abstract , producing abstract entities, e.g. sentences, proofs, and new abstract construction kits. Mixtures of the two are hybrid kits. Some are meta-construction kits able to create, modify or combine construction kits. Construction kits are generative: they explain sets of possible construction processes, and possible products, with mathematical properties and limitations that are mathematical consequences of properties of the kit and its environment. Evolution and development both make new construction kits possible. Study of the FCK and DCKs can lead us to new answers to old questions, e.g. about the nature of mathematics, language, mind, science, and life, exposing deep connections between science and metaphysics. Showing how the FCK makes its derivatives, including all the processes and products of natural selection, possible is a challenge for science and philosophy. This is a long-term research programme with a good chance of being progressive in the sense of Lakatos. Later, this may explain how to overcome serious current limitations of AI (artificial intelligence), robotics, neuroscience and psychology.