(t/e) the Combinatorial Hierarchy- an Approach to Open Evolution*

A unified scientific philosophy based on evolutionary principles which can provide a framework within which physical, cosmological, biological and cultural evolution are described in the same terms could help meet the planetary crisis we face. The combinatorial hierarchy approach to basic discrete and sequential physical processes, which incorporates the essential evolutionary features of conserved information and selection in the presence of a random, novelty-producing background is proposed as a candidate for this framework, and briefly explained. Recent work shows that many aspects of particle physics and cosmology can be systematically understood in this way. A normative principle, based on the derived fact of a fixed past and uncertain future characterized by responsible moral choice is proposed as consistent with--but not derivable from--this philosophy. Submitted to the symposium on "The Evolution Vision." Is there a pattern connecting physical, biological and sociocultural evolution? San Francisco, California, January 3-8, 1980. Sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. * Work supported in part by the Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC03-76SF00515, and in part by an Alexander von Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Award.