Epistemological characterization of observer knowledge in open-ended evolutionary systems

Determine a tractable epistemological characterization of observer knowledge embedded within open-ended evolutionary systems under theory selection, specifying formal conditions and procedures for knowledge use and acquisition when novel possibilities continually arise and theories must be revised or replaced.

Background

Traditional epistemic logic and Bayesian frameworks presuppose a fixed, fully listable state space and common knowledge, which are incompatible with innovative, unbounded change. Open-ended evolutionary processes generate genuinely novel possibilities that force theory revision, making the classical cause-and-effect calculus inadequate.

The paper motivates the need for a new framework by emphasizing that innovation and emergent novelty disrupt completeness and consistency assumptions. Hence, a formal, tractable characterization of knowledge use and acquisition for embedded observers operating under theory selection in such open-ended contexts remains unresolved.