Summary

This little series of blog postings tries to discuss the topic of

• A Common Layering of the Universe, or, in other words,
• An Order of Creation.

The following blog postings are currently available within this series:

• We are all Brothers and Sisters, an “Order of Creation” is bullshit
  see https://areasharpa.blog/2024/04/01/layers-planes-tiers-wtf/.
• A more scientific discussion about why we COULD or why we COULD NOT split the universe into layers
  see (THIS POSTING) https://areasharpa.blog/2024/04/06/protocols-and-interfaces-wtf/.
• An idea, why the discovery (invention?) of abstraction layers in the Information Sciences of the 20th century could have incented the discussion about the Layers of the Universe, freshly
  Introduction: see https://areasharpa.blog/2024/04/07/layer-mania-wtf/,
  Protocols and Interfaces: see https://areasharpa.blog/2024/04/14/software-protocols-and-interfaces/.
• A philosophic summary: see https://areasharpa.blog/2024/04/17/layer-mania-ii/.

Introduction

Please don’t be shocked. This posting will be about some philosophy.

This is not a blog posting about science of nature, nor about science of technology, it could even be interpreted as a religious posting.

Hence, this posting is a temporary contradiction (let’s say an exception according to Heisenberg) to my principle about keeping this blog an agnostic blog.

If you cannot accept this, then please ignore this posting 🙂 .

Dear Reader!

In my last post (https://areasharpa.blog/2024/04/01/layers-planes-tiers-wtf) I thought about the layers of the universe.

With a kind of reasoning – which was more a religious reasoning than a scientific one – I came to following

Conclusion:

[…]This MUST make us think that all this LAYERING OF THE UNIVERSE is bullshit eventually.[…]

ok, this time I will take my time and try to be more systematic, more evidence based.

Objects and Services

Starting from an “Objects & Interactions” model, we have claimed that it was a general pattern that the objects (better material objects) of the universe provide and use services to each other.

Finally a material object is any subset of matter that is perceived as a single entity and a service can be broken down to the exchange of matter, energy and/or information between (or among) two (or more) material objects within a given NOW and HERE (this is a guess).

BUT:

A “service” is a human interpretation, also the “using” and “serving” that are performed by objects are such human interpretations.

But no worries, the terms “object” and “interaction” might be more general than “using” and “serving” objects, but they are human interpretation, too.

The only real things are matter/energy and space/time, according to physics (this is a rough simplification).

ANYWAY:

If we now want to identify a chronological sequence and generally assert:

FIRST the service exists BEFORE it can be used,

and if we want to assume a direction in evolution according to which there is a DEVELOPMENT from the lower creature to the higher creature, then we come to the FOLLOWING GUESS:

Apparently there is an order of creation according to which the lower creature has to exist before the service can start. It (the lower creature) is subordinate to the higher creature, so one could divide the entities into different layers according to their order.

PRO Order of Creation

This idea of an order of creation is supported by our own way of working and thinking.

If man creates something, then he does this according to a plan, usually.

In his fantasy, the human creator will have an idea of the result and he will break down the creation into single steps, so he can start with the first, most simple, most basic steps and improve from step to step, until the final result is visible to everybody.

So we come to an idea of an order of creation. An example of such an order – I’m fantasizing now – could look something like the next picture.

Looking at this layered picture, one could create the idea, the lower layer can exist without the upper layer, but the upper layer cannot exist without the lower layer.

This can create ideas like the idea of a creation in steps – let’s say 7 days – or an evolution of the universe.

CONTRA Order of Creation

Well. It fits well to our perception of reality, when we assume an order of creation, but do we have arguments, some CONs, that would oppose this opinion?

• Looking at children, as they play
  
  When looking at the games of children, one can state, that this is our original way of how we learn: we just take what we find – our toys that were provided by the parents – and use it in the playground – where we have been set by our parents – to just “play around”.
  Doing some random experiences. Growing our “model of the universe”, which is located in our brains and senses. Exercising our skills WITHOUT A CONCRETE GOAL, JUST FOLLOWING OUR CURIOSITY. Just growing.
  
• The roles of “user” and “provider” are not fixed
  
  most of the time, mankind “uses” the services of the planet, but in the end the role will change and man will “provide” nutrition to the other creatures.
  Also, as a child I will “use” the services of the parents, but later the parents will “use” my services, which I will provide.
  
• Species go extinct
  
  One argument against a rigid and static order of creation is the fact that sometimes species go extinct, but somehow life itself is flexible and adaptive, so it – life itself – can survive.

A little History of Layering

Well, my own “layering mania” may derive from the fact that I was a simple electrical engineer, when I started to work as a programmer, and all this layering was new for me.

First time I heard of the term of an “INTERFACE”, it was with plugs for wiring information exchange. RS-232 interface, audio connector, and so on.

Hence, let’s try to understand cautiously where this “layer mania” comes from.

This will lead us to the actual topic of “Protocols & Interfaces”, eventually.

I will continue with this topic, next weekend.

Have a nice week,

Yours Christoph