Non-Local Action in Assembly

Penrose's claim that assembling quasicrystals requires examining the state of the pattern many atoms away, implying that global structure guides local assembly

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Thinkers (1)

thinker

Roger Penrose
introduces
Mathematical physicist who wrote a foreword to a combined reprint of Schrödinger's works.

Claims (1)

claim

Assembly of quasicrystals requires examining the state of the pattern many atoms away, meaning global structure must guide local assembly — a clear case of non-local action.
supports
Penrose's claim, endorsed by Alexander, that quasicrystals demonstrate non-local causation in morphogenesis

Concepts (2)

concept

Quasicrystals
associated_with
Naturally occurring crystalline alloys with long-range orientational order without translational symmetry, requiring non-local action in assembly; used as evidence that standard local explanations fail
Global Structure
associated_with
The large-scale organizational pattern of a system whose preservation defines wholeness-preserving transformations

Quotes (1)

quote

In assembling the pattern, it is necessary from time to time, to examine the state of the pattern many atoms away, if one is to be sure of not making a serious error when putting the pieces together.
supports
Penrose's statement about quasicrystal assembly, used as evidence that non-local action is required in natural morphogenesis

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

actionconcept0.751
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Not-Separatenessconcept0.716
The property that a living whole is at one with the world, not separate from it; the center melts into its surroundings, the boundary is fragmented or incomplete, and there is a profound connection rather than isolation—perhaps the most important property of all
Intentional Actionconcept0.714
Central explanatory target: behavior constrained by prior intentions and contextual constraints that emerge from cognitive reorganization.
Action Selectionconcept0.714
Choice of policies minimizing expected free energy to realize preferred future states.
process, not designconcept0.710
The idea that the life of a building comes from the process of its creation, not from a preconceived design on paper.
Placement (primary move)method0.709
Primary move: positioning elements as an act of division and distinction, the first gesture that defines the spatial field.
Collective Actionconcept0.708
Coordinated behavior of multiple components required to achieve non-linearly separable outcomes.
non-trivial compositionconcept0.706
Composition where a whole cannot be meaningfully decomposed into its original parts, central to Schrödinger compositional theory