Hello! I am David Obon, an evolutionary thinker and systems theorist from Barcelona.
I am interested in recomposing the unity of knowledge and discovering new relationships that allow us to understand the world from a more integrated perspective.
I hold a PhD with international mention in complexity theory from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. My interdisciplinar investigations have been published in different media, and have led me to teach and give lectures at international universities.
After completing my thesis laying out the foundations for a non-reductionist unified theory of architecture based on the sciences of complexity, I continued my research trying to reveal the reasons for the unique developments of our species (especially the evolutionary reasons why we have become a lineage of prodigious builders). In this exploration I discovered a new way of understanding the unpredictable and intricate ways nature has of enhancing the creative capacity of a system and how this enabled the acquisition of new and adaptive capabilities.
With the support of scientists from different disciplines, this hypothesis led to a broader and more exhaustive exploration in which the developments of the different domains of knowledge (biology, neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, economics…) could be framed in a common theoretical framework. This high consilience together with the evidence of the fit with a broad interdisciplinary scientific data have led to the proposal for a new Unified Evolutionary Synthesis that, he believes, has much greater explanatory and predictive capacity than the current Modern Synthesis.
My research has been published in three books, the last of which contains this far-reaching evolutionary hypothesis: the prime mover of evolution is a self-organized dynamic based on fundamental selection of innovation capacity.
In a nutshell:
As the cosmos expands and cools, it engenders new structures that enrich the reservoir of combinatorial dynamics. The more complex the cosmos is, the greater is its potential for innovation. The innovation capacity of a particle is less than that of an atom; that of an atom smaller than that of a molecule; that of a molecule smaller than that of a star; that of a star smaller than that of a planet; that of a cold, dry and small planet (without water or a burning heart) smaller than that of a humid planet, animated by geothermal forces and tempered by continuous heat of its star. The innovation potential of this latter ─the number of states in which it can organize its atoms─ is virtually infinite. After billions years of evolution, our universe has reached such a high fertile creative state that things as wonderful as life can emerge.
Life arise by exploring the inexhaustible innovation capacity of the carbon-based compounds ─because self-reproduction with novelty generates “search engines” for new emergent properties─, and it continues fostering structured innovation as evolution goes because adaptability is inextricably linked to efficient change (Creative Overcome Theory). Lateral genetic transfer between prokaryotes or sexual reproduction between eukaryotes are paradigmatic examples of biological innovation mechanisms. Since the rate of innovation is linked to complexity, evolution selects societies of innovation because the innovation potential of a collective is much higher than the isolated individual one. Cooperation, altruism and synergy are all biological phenomenon intertwined by the logic of innovative complexity. Diversity enriches the combinatorial reserve fuelling more novelty. It is a self-catalytic phenomenon: novelty begets novelty.
In cultural dynamics, innovation capacity grows much faster because our cumulative capacity for culture and the intentional exchange of ideas facilitated by language generates a Lamarckian-type evolution. Nature finds in cultural evolution a new faster route ─alternative to genetics─ to increase the complexity and adaptability of our species. Since innovation continues to be a main selection factor, consciously or unconsciously, human societies promote creativity in the different domains (technological, educational, economic, cognitive…). Artists, poets, scientists, designers ─creative creatures all of them─ far from being mere evolutionary accidents, embody the deep essence of nature.
