---
title: "Incomplete Nature"
chunk: 3/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incomplete_Nature"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:32:47.944742+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Thermodynamic work ===
A thermodynamic system's capacity to do work depends less upon the total energy of the system and more upon the geometric distribution of its components. A glass of water at 20 degrees Celsius will have the same amount of energy as a glass divided in half with the top fluid at 30 degrees and the bottom at 10, but only in the second glass will the top half have the capacity to do work upon the bottom. This is because work occurs at both macroscopic and microscopic levels. Microscopically, there is constant work being performed on one molecule by another when they collide. But the potential for this microscopic work to additively sum to macroscopic work depends on there being an asymmetric distribution of particle speeds, so that the average collision pushes in a focused direction. Microscopic work is necessary but not sufficient for macroscopic work. A global property of asymmetric distribution is also required.

=== Morphodynamic work ===
By recognizing that asymmetry is a general property of work - that work is done as asymmetric systems spontaneously tend towards symmetry, Deacon abstracts the concept of work and applies it to systems whose symmetries are vastly more complex than those covered by classical thermodynamics. In a morphodynamic system, the tendency towards symmetry produces not global equilibrium, but a complex geometric form like a hexagonal Benard cell or the resonant frequency of a flute. This tendency towards convolutedly symmetric forms can be harnessed to do work on other morphodynamic systems, if the systems are properly coupled.
Resonance example: A good example of morphodynamic work is the induced resonance that can be observed by singing or playing a flute next to a string instrument like a harp or guitar. The vibrating air emitted from the flute will interact with the taut strings. If any of the strings are tuned to a resonant frequency that matches the note being played, they too will begin to vibrate and emit sound.
Contragrade change: When energy is added to the flute by blowing air into it, there is a spontaneous (orthograde) tendency for the system to dissipate the added energy by inducing the air within the flute to vibrate at a specific frequency. This orthograde morphodynamic form generation can be used to induce contragrade change in the system coupled to it - the taut string. Playing the flute does work on the string by causing it to enter a high energy state that could not be reached spontaneously in an uncoupled state.
Structure and form: Importantly, this is not just the macro scale propagation of random micro vibrations from one system to another. The global geometric structure of the system is essential. The total energy transferred from the flute to the string matters far less than the patterns it takes in transit. That is, the amplitude of the coupled note is irrelevant, what matters is its frequency. Notes that have a higher or lower frequency than the resonant frequency of the string will not be able to do morphodynamic work.

=== Teleodynamic work ===
Work is generally defined to be the interaction of two orthograde changing systems such that contragrade change is produced. In teleodynamic systems, the spontaneous orthograde tendency is not to equilibriate (as in homeodynamic systems), nor to self simplify (as in morphodynamic systems) but rather to tend towards self-preservation. Living organisms spontaneously tend to heal, to reproduce and to pursue resources towards these ends.  Teleodynamic work acts on these tendencies and pushes them in a contragrade, non-spontaneous direction. 

Evolution as work: Natural selection, or perhaps more accurately, adaptation, can be considered to be a ubiquitous form of teleodynamic work. The othograde self-preservation and reproduction tendencies of individual organisms tends to undermine those same tendencies in conspecifics. This competition produces a constraint that tends to mold organisms into forms that are more adapted to their environments – forms that would otherwise not spontaneously persist.
For example, in a population of New Zealand wrybill who make a living by searching for grubs under rocks, those that have a bent beak gain access to more calories. Those with bent beaks are able to better provide for their young, and at the same time they remove a disproportionate quantity of grubs from their environment, making it more difficult for those with straight beaks to provide for their own young. Throughout their lives, all the wrybills in the population do work to structure the form of the next generation. The increased efficiency of the bent beak causes that morphology to dominate the next generation. Thus an asymmetry of beak shape distribution is produced in the population - an asymmetry produced by teleodynamic work.
Thought as work: Mental problem solving can also be considered teleodynamic work. Thought forms are spontaneously generated, and task of problem solving is the task of molding those forms to fit the context of the problem at hand. Deacon makes the link between evolution as teleodynamic work and thought as teleodynamic work explicit. "The experience of being sentient is what it feels like to be evolution."

==== Emergent causal powers ====
By conceiving of work in this way, Deacon claims "we can begin to discern a basis for a form of causal openness in the universe." While increases in complexity in no way alter the laws of physics, by juxtaposing systems together, pathways of spontaneous change can be made available that were inconceivably improbable prior to the systems coupling. The causal power of any complex living system lies not solely in the underlying quantum mechanics but also in the global arrangement of its components. A careful arrangement of parts can constrain possibilities such that phenomena that were formerly impossibly rare can become improbably common.