In an earlier post, I mentioned in passing the possibility of conversations without human involvement. At this stage I cannot follow this theme as far as I would like, as I have more issues to explore first, but it might be helpful to indicate something of what I mean.
When two computers communicate and exchange data, it is not a conversation. The reason is conversations imply change. (See my post about generative conversations.) The data they process is still stored as bits and the computer hardware remains unchanged. However, human beings reading the results of such electronic communication might be changed in some way by what they read. They might act upon the meaning they read into the data on the screen, for example.
Unlike computers, living organisms are not divided into hardware and software. In a human being for example, would the software in the computer parallel the genetic code or the person's thoughts?
Now imagine an encounter between two non-human living organisms. They might both learn from the encounter, in the sense that the encounter might have implications for future behaviour. Some encounters might confer a selective advantage or disadvantage to the organisms. Encounters between organisms open up new possibilities which can be exploited over time, perhaps over generations.
I hope to show or at least suggest these encounters, particularly complex encounters between multiple species in an ecosystem, can over long periods of time be generative in the full sense of Kahane's typology.
It may even be possible to argue something similar happens between living organisms and non-living objects or media. Indeed it might even be possible between non-living things. I will explore this in more detail at a later date.
The first chapter of Genesis describes a conversation between God and creation. I don't believe this was ever intended to be an accurate account of creation. But I wonder whether the overall picture of a conversation might be a helpful model?
I mention this because at a later date I will explore how God might interact with creation. Is God present in all conversations? Or are some conversations left to find their own way? Answers to these questions will depend upon how we think about God. I'll leave it there for now.
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