The Law of Combinatorial Outcome


A further law derived from natural processes is the Law of Combinatorial Outcome. This is seen in various guises and under different names in the sciences, humanities and arts but it is a commonly expressed idea.  It is the decision rule law that balances cost against benefit prior to deciding upon a particular course of action but is more than the simple case of The Selfish Gene immortalized at the genetic level by Richard Dawkins [1981, 1982, and 1989]. It is the workings of the law as seen in Evolution, in society and in consciousness. It is the yet to be understood workings of the stock market.  The law relates to what happens when an action is to take place. All possible interactions can be considered in combination before a response is made. This consideration will determine whether or not, a particular action will take place. The outcome will then be performed. Because of the complexity of the solution, the end result may appear as an emergent phenomenon and, indeed, this is the law that probably will provide an understanding of both complexity and emergence. The Law of Combinatorial Outcome can be stated as: when an action is to be taken, a decision rule is set up within the system, which examines all possible interactions and results in a determination that causes a specific action to occur.

A large number of phenomena occurring within natural systems can be regarded as following the Law of Combinatorial Outcome. For example, in the conscious mind decisions seem to be taken by combining all experience contained in the mind [as physical links in the brain] to assess the next action.  The future action may be how to respond to a question or whether or not to jump off of a sinking ship, but the working of the brain appears to operate in the same way viz: what in my mind pertains to the future action, combine this knowledge to come to a decision that is a logical conclusion [more often will maximize benefit and minimize cost in one form or another].  This does not negate free will because it is a combinatorial process.  The human brain has about 10 billion neurons [Cohen and Stewart, 1994, page 147].  Even if there were, say, only 1000 neurons in the brain then there are 21000 possible combinations that could be considered by the mind prior to deriving an action. This same concept applies to potential genetic variation.  There are approximately 30,000 known genes in the human genome which gives 230000 possible theoretical combinations to influence development. These figures provide more than enough ‘space’ to account for natural variation and free will as logical and physical attributes of nature.
 

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