The Causal Quantum Connection

The concept of a causal cosmos has been extensively defined by Lee Smolin within the theory of Loop Quantum Gravity (4). The major elements of an information-based causal cosmos also support this author’s decision/information-based theory of evolution. The major elements of such a cosmos include the following propositions-

Time and causality are synonymous- there is no notion of a moment of time; only processes and decisions that follow one another by causal necessity.
A causal universe may be modelled by the transfer of information, creating a network of information transfers between nodes. The nodes can represent volumes of space at the Planck level or at a more abstract level- intersecting decision points.
Is time therefore an emergent property of information transfer?


Non-locality can be explained by an evolutionary network. Because all points are simultaneously connected, it is perhaps possible for information to take short cuts and link events simultaneously across the network.

A network model as applied in both LQG and D-Net is also capable of explaining and predicting other anomalous features of the universe such as chaos. It’s important to note that although a chaotic system cannot evolve in the traditional sense because the system and environmental changes are too erratic and unpredictable for adaptation to occur in realtime, such systems have been shown to exhibit underlying determinism, based on the phenomenon of strange attractors. Although somewhat speculative, these underlying deterministic patterns existing within chaos and randomness may be more accessible via a theory of decision networks.

The universe can therefore be modelled as the outcome of a form of computational process, but one which can evolve in time as a consequence of the information flowing through it, guided by a network of decisions. Information input/output is therefore a form of story; the narrative of which is a flow of causal processes represented by flows of information but without an ending- just the continuous evolution of a self-organising cosmos with life in all its manifestatiions, as the main actor.

The universe of events is above all a relational universe and the most important relationship is causality. Events may have more than one contributing cause and an event may contribute to more than one future event. The universe therefore has time built into it from the beginning, with time and causality being synonymous. Processes and decisions follow one another by causal necessity. One way to describe such a universe is by information states and it is therefore possible to create a network of information transfers between the decision points or nodes of those states.
Roger Penrose’s Twistor Theory also defines a network of causal relationships between spacetime events without needing to specify locations in space, by mapping geometric objects of space-time into geometric objects of a 4D complex space.

Evolution can therefore be modelled as a process of causal information flows or transfers that are self-organising, guided by a network of decisions as in a neural network, each neuron representing a decision node which fires and transfers information only when a particular decision threshold is reached. Evolution uses the decision network for extracting the most useful information in a particular context, aggregating and sifting events such as genetic mutations and transferring the result once a decision threshold has been reached.

The latest theories of quantum gravity, in particular LQG, have a number of concepts in common with D-Net as mentioned previously. LQG defines space, not as a background stage, but a network of relationships that connect events and processes in the universe, evolving in time. In this model, based on quantum angular momentum or spin networks, the universe is purely a dynamic network of relationships without a spatial coordinate framework. Spin networks therefore do not live in space- they generate space and quantum information This is the same type of model on which general relativity is also based, which is not surprising as LQG is a quantized version of GR.
D-Net is predicated on a similar network of relationships, mirroring the information flows driving evolution, in the same way that a social network selectively exchanges information between members.

In the LQG model, the topological braiding patterns of its spacetime nodes can encode quantum particles. In the D-Net model, braids encode the quantum logic operations driving its decision processes.

Evolutionary decision networks and LQG spin networks can therefore be defined within a common conceptual framework, both representing causal information flows with their nodes acting as mediators of the flow. Evolutionary networks however operate at a more abstract level but are still dependent on the relationship between the system and its environment, which evolves over time allowing the spin network to create a more intricate entity- a spin foam. Similarly, a decision network evolves over time, modelling the evolution of a system in time, creating the analogue of a spin foam- a ‘decision foam’.

In LQG, each observer has only limited and partial information about the universe, each with a different view that needs to be reconciled with all other observer’s perspectives. In the D-Net model, each system’s evolution also has to be reconciled with all others, to build a composite view of the universe’s evolution; but each system must interrelate with all others. It is also a consistent theory because the different evolutionary states of the system are correlated. The decision outcomes of each system are correlated with those of all other systems, as are the observer’s partial information frameworks in LQG. Context dependence is also central to the mathematical formulation of the theory- the context of the history of the observer. It resolves the paradox of quantum superpositions by making it a consequence of one’s point of view or decision states related to the Wheeler de Whitt equations or a superposition of evolving entities.

It can also be shown that superposition-based quantum networks can be based on the classical perceptron model of multilayered, feedforward neural networks and the algebraic model of evolving quantum structures as described in quantum gravity. (ref-) The main feature of this model is its evolution from particular neural topologies to a quantum metastructure which embodies many differing topological patterns. Using quantum parallelism, evolutionary training is possible on superpositions of different network topologies. As a result, not only classical transition functions, but also the topology of the quantum metastructure becomes a subject of evolutionary training.
This suggests that decision networks also can be considered as candidates for this model in the same way- as topologically evolving quantum networks.

D-Net also helps solve the conundrum of Everett’s Many Worlds Interpretation of the universe. In the LQG model the universe gradually unfolds and is continually presented with alternate pathways of development or splits in histories. In the Many World’s Interpretation, instead of the universe splitting each time a decision is made by the observer, the quantum decision processes in the brain create new divergent pathways through a different sequence or networks of events in a Hilbert quantum space, creating new observer dependent worlds, but not new physical universes. By adding decision processes to the mix, D-Net can help explain how each divergent path is selected.
The decision processes of D-Net can therefore be linked to the quantum processes of spacetime in a quantized theory such as LQG. The uncertainty of information flowing through the network is also consistent with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle and is also at the heart of Frieden’s information action principle. In addition D-Net helps solve the problem of future time travellers returning to the past. The travellers would reach their destination but then travel through different spin or decision networks, avoiding the risk of tangling with present states.

To understand complex systems such as people or cultures we need to know not just their causal histories as in LQG, but also their evolutionary histories; why they took the evolutionary paths they did. Physical events alone and the information they generate do not fully encompass the complexity of life. Complex entities like people and cultures are processes unfolding in time. A full understanding of life’s emergence can only be fully understood by understanding their evolutionary decision pathways- the network connections between events.

D-Net reflects the central role of the evolving system, creating pathways through evolutionary events in spacetime. It is therefore consistent with LQG in terms of combining information from a vast number of decisions over evolutionary time, reflecting the context and history of the system- its evolutionary options and choices.
In the evolutionary model, the system is not only an integral part of the evolving universe- it eventually subsumes it.

In LQG a set of questions can be specified about the history of the universe and the probabilities of the different answers computed. The questions or decision options in a sense bring the reality into existence. This is precisely the premise of Frieden’s theory and also D-Net. According to Smolin it is possible to construct a pluralistic version of quantum cosmology in which there is one universe but many histories or mathematical versions of what an observer can see. It is consistent only when two observers ask the same question and agree on the answer. In LQG, there exists one world seen as a jigsaw or overarching composite structure by many different observers; not multiple worlds as seen by one final observer from outside it. The universe in this model therefore contains many different consistent histories, each of which can be brought into existence by asking the right set of questions and measuring the information outcomes. This could describe an infinite set of quantum worlds, each of which corresponds to part of the world seen by a particular observer at a particular place and time in the history of the universe.

Asking the right questions however presupposes making the right decisions on what questions to ask. This corresponds to the role of the observer as postulated in D-Net. Life as the set of multiple observers expands and evolves to become co-existent with the universe; an Omega or Universal Consciousness. D-net therefore ensures that the right decisions are made to ensure that the universe maintains its integrity and life realises its full potential. As life and the universe merge into one co-existent sentient entity, the universe is enabled to reach its full potential.