I’ve had some ideas that have made me feel somewhat less confused about what “meaning” means.
Consider a gene in an ancient bacterium, in a time before there were any other kinds of cell. It seems to me that even then, this gene still meant something. But what exactly? The protein perhaps? That’s definitely part of it, but there also seems to be a meaningful difference between this gene and other genes. Maybe this protein specifically detects Na+ ion concentrations. It seems reasonable to consider this part of the meaning of the gene. But wait, this gene happens to have a mutation that makes it detect K+ ions instead. Is that the true meaning? And what does it even mean to “detect” something? As I keep asking myself these sorts of questions, the picture that emerges looks like this:
The meaning of something is due to its ability to cause its own existence.
This gene exists because it is part of a reproducing bacteria species
In particular, this gene exists because the bacteria which had it were better able to reproduce themselves.
And the content of this gene’s meaning lies within the causal mechanism by which it contributes to this.
Specifically, that this gene exists more because it responds in different ways to different Na+ ion levels.
The mutated instance of the gene does not yet have an additional meaning; the fact it “detects” K+ ions is simply happenstance.
However, if this bacteria is better able to replicate because of this ability, the gene will acquire a new meaning due to this ability.
What about the meaning of something artificial, like a piano?
A given piano exists because humans like the concept of the piano; it’s meaning is as a meme.
If there was a happy accident in the development of the piano, leading to a specific feature, that feature acquired meaning once the inventor decided to intentionally keep that feature because of a specific quality it had.
This idea of meaning also seems to hold up well when considering colloquial usage of the word, which I didn’t expect. For example, one of the most meaningful events that you can experience is having a child, which straightforwardly is a way in which “you” can exist more. More generally, people consider life to be intrinsically meaningful. Something which often causes people to feel as if everything is meaningless is realizing that they will die, or that the universe itself will eventually die.
Some ways in which I’m still dissatisfied with this are:
What exactly is existence?
How does it make sense that even imperfect copies count as existing more?
As I’m of the belief that it’s only in hindsight, as a sentient human looking back at a theoretical bacterium and it’s genes and formulating human meaning, that the gene has meaning, I’d like to offer an alternative word to consider which might make things easier in some ways.
This couple of sentences: “Consider a gene in an ancient bacterium, in a time before there were any other kinds of cell...this gene still meant something. But what exactly? The protein perhaps?”
What if we changed it slightly to this: “Consider a gene in an ancient bacterium, in a time before there were any other kinds of cell...this gene mattered. But why? A specific protein perhaps?”
A word that often gets substituted as a synonym for “meaning” is “mattering”, as in “Don’t I mean anything to you?” or “Don’t I matter to you?” Logically speaking, as I advocate for real literal interpretations of things at times like this, if “Meaning” requires sentience to make/understand/perceive it (which I believe it does), “Mattering” doesn’t, if you take the idea of “Mattering” as very literal.
For instance, the reason the hypothetical Apple that fell off the tree and onto Newton’s head, didn’t fall right through Newton to the ground, is because the Matter that Newton was made of interfered with the Matter the Apple was made of and diverted it’s path after colliding with it. In a very real sense, the Apple mattered to Newtons head.
It didn’t ‘mean’ anything to the Apple, or to the physical matter of Newton’s head, but as a sentient observer, it meant something to Newton and now to us as we think about it. I’ve found that this switch works really well in terms of thinking about all kinds of other phenomenon, and it was really my departure from Facebook several years back that caused my thinking along these lines.
Like many people I’ve struggled with the complications of social media and feeling ‘less than’ other people, who all seem to have better lives than mine. I think digital media in general amplifies this sense of alienation many people feel as they spend more and more time with social media instead of face to face interactions.
I was wondering why I felt so bad so often, and didn’t really feel all that close to my friends anymore. As I thought about it and wrote about it, I discovered this switch in my thinking when I used different words for my experiences. I found that I still ‘cared’ about these people, that I often thought about them, and that they still meant something to me, but in a very literal sense they ‘Mattered’ very little to me. I used to take martial arts with some of them, but had stopped training and so my physical Matter no longer collided with their physical Matter when we grappled or punched and kicked each other, the vibrations of the air which the sound of their voices caused which reverberated in my ears was non existant now as we didn’t talk, and the amount of light that bounced off of them and into my eyes was confined to tiny photos or videos on their profiles.
In every sense of the word, their Matter was no longer in my life in a way that they “Mattered” very much, although the memories and our correspondence still meant something to me. I still cared, but they were no longer physically present in my life.
It works in many ways to think about why things matter, and it helps separate out animate from inanimate object relationships, but also to understand how we use inanimate objects as proxies for real physical presence. I might mean a lot to the woman of my dreams, but if I don’t matter enough to her, the meaning I have to her is of a particular type, and very possibly platonic. If we matter to each other, if we touch and talk, smell each other and send cards, flowers and love notes to each other, then it is the physical touch which ‘matters’, not the thoughts, hopes or dreams. Those mean something. The mattering has meaning, but meaning matters very little I think.
On the other hand, if I dislike Bob just a bit, I don’t really want to matter to him, so I evade him, don’t shake his hand or pat him on the back, and don’t give him a birthday card on his birthday. If it becomes the case though that he makes me mad enough, I might decide to punch him, therefore ‘mattering’ to him. My physical form interacts with his physical form in a way that carries meaning to his conscious mind.
It also explains why we become attached to our possessions; a car we drive every day for years might matter more to us than the girlfriend we’ve been involved with for a few months, even though we might care more about the girlfriend in many important ways, she might mean more to us, but the car matters more. The favorite shirt we’ve had for 10 years has mattered to us for that long, so that when it gets a hole in it, it’s difficult to throw out, and we don’t want to part with it. The things that matter most to us I believe are people, places, and things, while the things which mean the most are our concepts of them.
Can things which matter to us not mean anything to us? I think so. The sidewalks, telephone poles, streets and buildings we mindlessly walk on, pass by, or try to avoid running into everyday matter very much to us, but if we don’t think about them, they are often meaningless to us. When was the last time, pre-pandemic, you really contemplated how important toilet paper was to you? The thought that the stores might run out of it caused people to panic and hoarde it, as it’s importance was suddenly realized. Then it’s matter meant something, but after the pandemic when it’s readily available, it will still matter to us at very important times, but it probably won’t mean that much to us anymore.
People too, can matter to us, without meaning anything important. I’ve spent a fair amount of time helping out supposed friends with rides, coffee, and concerned conversation, only to realize that even though I was attempting to show my care for them by making time and space to matter to them, my efforts meant very little to them. What does that mean to me now? I try to be very careful about the people I attempt to matter a lot to.
What makes sense to me as well, is the idea that inanimate objects, and “non-intelligent” life forms, as well as atoms and molecules and maybe quantum particles, outside of human perception, also interact with each other. It’s easy to think of them mattering to each other as they bounce around and off each other, interacting in various ways based on their physical composition’ like billiard balls on a pool table, or the infamous tree that falls in a forest when no ones around. These are examples of non-human objects interacting physically with each other, mattering quite a bit as they sort of mindlessly navigate the world of physics, but I don’t think they mean anything to each other.
I am wondering what you think of this as it applies to the bacterium and the gene scenario, not the piano or the experience of having a child. I think human endeavors create meaning and so it makes sense to use this word when discussing human culture, but I still am cautious about using the word ‘meaning’ in relationship to events and objects which exist and relate outside of human perception.
P.s.I have read a little on Black holes and the idea that matter has ‘information’ attached to it. But I’m not really clear on what that means, aside from helping to explain how it allows for general relativity and the laws of thermodynamics to be preserved when attempting to explain what happens to things that fall into a black hole, if and when they come back out as Hawking Radiation. I’m curious if this is where the idea of the gene having meaning comes from?
I’ve had some ideas that have made me feel somewhat less confused about what “meaning” means. Consider a gene in an ancient bacterium, in a time before there were any other kinds of cell. It seems to me that even then, this gene still meant something. But what exactly? The protein perhaps? That’s definitely part of it, but there also seems to be a meaningful difference between this gene and other genes. Maybe this protein specifically detects Na+ ion concentrations. It seems reasonable to consider this part of the meaning of the gene. But wait, this gene happens to have a mutation that makes it detect K+ ions instead. Is that the true meaning? And what does it even mean to “detect” something? As I keep asking myself these sorts of questions, the picture that emerges looks like this:
The meaning of something is due to its ability to cause its own existence.
This gene exists because it is part of a reproducing bacteria species
In particular, this gene exists because the bacteria which had it were better able to reproduce themselves.
And the content of this gene’s meaning lies within the causal mechanism by which it contributes to this.
Specifically, that this gene exists more because it responds in different ways to different Na+ ion levels.
The mutated instance of the gene does not yet have an additional meaning; the fact it “detects” K+ ions is simply happenstance.
However, if this bacteria is better able to replicate because of this ability, the gene will acquire a new meaning due to this ability.
What about the meaning of something artificial, like a piano?
A given piano exists because humans like the concept of the piano; it’s meaning is as a meme.
If there was a happy accident in the development of the piano, leading to a specific feature, that feature acquired meaning once the inventor decided to intentionally keep that feature because of a specific quality it had.
This idea of meaning also seems to hold up well when considering colloquial usage of the word, which I didn’t expect. For example, one of the most meaningful events that you can experience is having a child, which straightforwardly is a way in which “you” can exist more. More generally, people consider life to be intrinsically meaningful. Something which often causes people to feel as if everything is meaningless is realizing that they will die, or that the universe itself will eventually die.
Some ways in which I’m still dissatisfied with this are:
What exactly is existence?
How does it make sense that even imperfect copies count as existing more?
Is there a measure for existence?
What exactly is causality?
This seems to require a notion of causality deeper than the Pearlian description of causality for Bayes nets.
Tl;Dr: the last 2 paragraphs asks a question.
As I’m of the belief that it’s only in hindsight, as a sentient human looking back at a theoretical bacterium and it’s genes and formulating human meaning, that the gene has meaning, I’d like to offer an alternative word to consider which might make things easier in some ways.
This couple of sentences: “Consider a gene in an ancient bacterium, in a time before there were any other kinds of cell...this gene still meant something. But what exactly? The protein perhaps?”
What if we changed it slightly to this: “Consider a gene in an ancient bacterium, in a time before there were any other kinds of cell...this gene mattered. But why? A specific protein perhaps?”
A word that often gets substituted as a synonym for “meaning” is “mattering”, as in “Don’t I mean anything to you?” or “Don’t I matter to you?” Logically speaking, as I advocate for real literal interpretations of things at times like this, if “Meaning” requires sentience to make/understand/perceive it (which I believe it does), “Mattering” doesn’t, if you take the idea of “Mattering” as very literal.
For instance, the reason the hypothetical Apple that fell off the tree and onto Newton’s head, didn’t fall right through Newton to the ground, is because the Matter that Newton was made of interfered with the Matter the Apple was made of and diverted it’s path after colliding with it. In a very real sense, the Apple mattered to Newtons head.
It didn’t ‘mean’ anything to the Apple, or to the physical matter of Newton’s head, but as a sentient observer, it meant something to Newton and now to us as we think about it. I’ve found that this switch works really well in terms of thinking about all kinds of other phenomenon, and it was really my departure from Facebook several years back that caused my thinking along these lines.
Like many people I’ve struggled with the complications of social media and feeling ‘less than’ other people, who all seem to have better lives than mine. I think digital media in general amplifies this sense of alienation many people feel as they spend more and more time with social media instead of face to face interactions.
I was wondering why I felt so bad so often, and didn’t really feel all that close to my friends anymore. As I thought about it and wrote about it, I discovered this switch in my thinking when I used different words for my experiences. I found that I still ‘cared’ about these people, that I often thought about them, and that they still meant something to me, but in a very literal sense they ‘Mattered’ very little to me. I used to take martial arts with some of them, but had stopped training and so my physical Matter no longer collided with their physical Matter when we grappled or punched and kicked each other, the vibrations of the air which the sound of their voices caused which reverberated in my ears was non existant now as we didn’t talk, and the amount of light that bounced off of them and into my eyes was confined to tiny photos or videos on their profiles.
In every sense of the word, their Matter was no longer in my life in a way that they “Mattered” very much, although the memories and our correspondence still meant something to me. I still cared, but they were no longer physically present in my life.
It works in many ways to think about why things matter, and it helps separate out animate from inanimate object relationships, but also to understand how we use inanimate objects as proxies for real physical presence. I might mean a lot to the woman of my dreams, but if I don’t matter enough to her, the meaning I have to her is of a particular type, and very possibly platonic. If we matter to each other, if we touch and talk, smell each other and send cards, flowers and love notes to each other, then it is the physical touch which ‘matters’, not the thoughts, hopes or dreams. Those mean something. The mattering has meaning, but meaning matters very little I think.
On the other hand, if I dislike Bob just a bit, I don’t really want to matter to him, so I evade him, don’t shake his hand or pat him on the back, and don’t give him a birthday card on his birthday. If it becomes the case though that he makes me mad enough, I might decide to punch him, therefore ‘mattering’ to him. My physical form interacts with his physical form in a way that carries meaning to his conscious mind.
It also explains why we become attached to our possessions; a car we drive every day for years might matter more to us than the girlfriend we’ve been involved with for a few months, even though we might care more about the girlfriend in many important ways, she might mean more to us, but the car matters more. The favorite shirt we’ve had for 10 years has mattered to us for that long, so that when it gets a hole in it, it’s difficult to throw out, and we don’t want to part with it. The things that matter most to us I believe are people, places, and things, while the things which mean the most are our concepts of them.
Can things which matter to us not mean anything to us? I think so. The sidewalks, telephone poles, streets and buildings we mindlessly walk on, pass by, or try to avoid running into everyday matter very much to us, but if we don’t think about them, they are often meaningless to us. When was the last time, pre-pandemic, you really contemplated how important toilet paper was to you? The thought that the stores might run out of it caused people to panic and hoarde it, as it’s importance was suddenly realized. Then it’s matter meant something, but after the pandemic when it’s readily available, it will still matter to us at very important times, but it probably won’t mean that much to us anymore.
People too, can matter to us, without meaning anything important. I’ve spent a fair amount of time helping out supposed friends with rides, coffee, and concerned conversation, only to realize that even though I was attempting to show my care for them by making time and space to matter to them, my efforts meant very little to them. What does that mean to me now? I try to be very careful about the people I attempt to matter a lot to.
What makes sense to me as well, is the idea that inanimate objects, and “non-intelligent” life forms, as well as atoms and molecules and maybe quantum particles, outside of human perception, also interact with each other. It’s easy to think of them mattering to each other as they bounce around and off each other, interacting in various ways based on their physical composition’ like billiard balls on a pool table, or the infamous tree that falls in a forest when no ones around. These are examples of non-human objects interacting physically with each other, mattering quite a bit as they sort of mindlessly navigate the world of physics, but I don’t think they mean anything to each other.
I am wondering what you think of this as it applies to the bacterium and the gene scenario, not the piano or the experience of having a child. I think human endeavors create meaning and so it makes sense to use this word when discussing human culture, but I still am cautious about using the word ‘meaning’ in relationship to events and objects which exist and relate outside of human perception.
P.s.I have read a little on Black holes and the idea that matter has ‘information’ attached to it. But I’m not really clear on what that means, aside from helping to explain how it allows for general relativity and the laws of thermodynamics to be preserved when attempting to explain what happens to things that fall into a black hole, if and when they come back out as Hawking Radiation. I’m curious if this is where the idea of the gene having meaning comes from?