Environmental Recursion Analogy
Sounds like a boring title, I know, but this is yet another of my many mental masterbations that I thought somebody might find more interesting that this weeks quiz, if not I dont care, my talent (if I have any) is in words, not cute little drawings...
I've been studying cell structures, and the functions of microbiological organisms recently (ok well, just today, but thats enough to get me thinking). And something marvellous occured to me, approaching a unified philisophy to the nature of life and being and purpose. If not a reason for living, at least a more all encompassing explanation, just like all things in science save I'm just talking rhetoric here.
At the most basic level of our beings are cells, and within that there are molecules, atoms, quarks, and then quantum (particles/strings). And above cells, there are tissues that compose organs, that are part of a system, that form a body and ultimately a full human being, a single indistinct organism. There are many of these creatures that bind together within companies, governments, organizations, and more commonly families. All structures composed of relatively identical parts with different functions contributing to the whole. And these groups combine to form countries, which combine to form the whole of human life on this planet, which is but one planet of many planets in this galaxy that could contain life, which is but one of many galaxies that could contain planets that contain beings.........and on back down the recursive spiral.
Cells are a very interesting topic of study, and if you buy into the "theory" of evolution, or at the very least, the reality of biological adaptation, you can see quite plainly that our lives as humans mimic the stumblings of our biology on a higher scale. First there were single cell organisms, that had to do every function necessary to survive entirely on their own, much like the first humans. These cells multiplied over time, and specialized, supporting each other and performing different functions, allowing higher forms of life through specialization. These evolved into many variants, some which failed to survive and some that managed to adapt to our ever changing environment. This is much the same way early humans gathered into tribes, divided responsibilities, and ultimately lead to it being possible for humans to spend time doing more than surviving, like inventing the wheel or discovering fire or agriculture or space travel (huge leaps there, I know, stick with me). Cells pass on their information via DNA, a set of coded instructions that is identical generation to generation, but over a period of many many generations, somehow manages to adapt to its environment to allow the system as a whole to become more resilient to threats and difficulties encountered. This occurs through free radicals, or freak mutations in the dna of cells that is not according to the original plan. There are cells that exist wholly to destroy free radicals, to keep the systems as a whole moving along their original plan, but from time to time these free radicals overtake the original instructions, they survive this effort to preserve conformity and instead become the new standard to which conformity is required. This should be an obvious analogy but I'll keep spelling it out, the DNA being the sum of knowledge, morality, and justice passed on from generation to generation among humanity. The free radical police taking the form of police in the literal sense, as well as the media and more passive forms of control. This satisfactorily seperates the wheat from the chaff, and trys to make sure that if the system undergoes a revolution, that it does so justifiably. But cells do not know what truth is, and they do not recognize concepts of truth, beauty, love or hate. These are human engineered concepts invented to explain something that continues to mimic cells exactly, the single-minded impulse to survive at any cost. Survival, and completion of their function, as well as reproduction, are all that cells know how to do. When you cut down to the core of humanity, its all we are really truly impelled to do, subconsciously. History has shown us that Truth, Beauty, and Love do not always prevail. As a matter of fact, they almost never do, as Treachery, Power, and the Early Bird seem to be far more common factors in the major shifts in our world system. So for the purpose of this outlandish proposal, set aside your herculean concepts of what the world according to disney is and read on ;0). This then, agrees with the unpopular but still prevalent idea that the natural state of mankind is war. What we have that is identifiably unique as humans is consciousness, but it is a consciousness composed of far simpler intelligences. Computers are composed wholly of "organs" that only understand how to make simple changes to sequences composed of ones and zeroes, and yet a well built computer will not be considered to be such a simple and inflexible system. While computers are a crude example, it is nonetheless an analogy to how the sum total of our bodies contribute to what we refer to as consciousness, intelligence, and what defines us as a higher being. It is the structure of our brain cells, the amount of them, the way their free radicals have triumphed over the ages out of necessity, how human society has insured the smart, if not the honorable or decent, are the ones most likely to survive. Human beings are cells in this world, cells that form the organs of groups, groups that accomplish a purpose and spread their beneift among their cells, and to other cells in exchange for benefit among themselves, and for the ultimate purpose of overall survival and propagation. Recursive structures are everywhere in nature, and we reflect them in the way we create organizations, instructions, and just about anything we can create tangible or otherwise that can be considered to have form and structure.
So getting to my POINT, now that I have loosely established all of this.
We are heading to where cells are now. The system of humanity will ultimately resemble the system of the human. In modern times, are bodies are unbelievably complex organisms, the contents and function of which we still, after 200 years of continuous advances, do not fully understand. Our bodies are a fantastic example of an extremely complex and flexible system that WORKS, and WORKS UNIVERSALLY. It is more complex than any functional societal structure humanity has ever been able to create, and is historically far more successful at standing the test of time and change. We have come a long way from single celled organisms, but I still think our race as a whole in this context is at the monkey stage, at best. We are conscious, functional, and we have begun to form groups. But in all our macroscopic arrogance we fail to realize that there are 10 trillion living beings composing our selves that are way ahead of us. We emulate them, but we do so feebly, without the billions of years they have had to refine their processes and cast out the inefficient and self destructive. Ultimately, we are headed where they are, but I wonder where they will go in that time? The secret to mankinds achievement as a whole may very well lie in this analogy, as best as it can be applied to our existence. And what about when the earth is no longer an organism, but an organ, forced to cooperate for survival and mutual benefit with another unknown organ. Will they destroy each other out of desperation for survival, out of fear of the unknown? Will they find a way to work together and create something greater? Will they someday no longer be organs, but cells. Miniscule parts of something far greater, to which then this grandiose analogy might finally crash down on the heads of all humanity on earth that still naively believes that they are the final form of conscious life, and that the structures they build do not crudely resemble their very own compnonents.
Yeah, I'll stop there
You get the point...
Right?
I've been studying cell structures, and the functions of microbiological organisms recently (ok well, just today, but thats enough to get me thinking). And something marvellous occured to me, approaching a unified philisophy to the nature of life and being and purpose. If not a reason for living, at least a more all encompassing explanation, just like all things in science save I'm just talking rhetoric here.
At the most basic level of our beings are cells, and within that there are molecules, atoms, quarks, and then quantum (particles/strings). And above cells, there are tissues that compose organs, that are part of a system, that form a body and ultimately a full human being, a single indistinct organism. There are many of these creatures that bind together within companies, governments, organizations, and more commonly families. All structures composed of relatively identical parts with different functions contributing to the whole. And these groups combine to form countries, which combine to form the whole of human life on this planet, which is but one planet of many planets in this galaxy that could contain life, which is but one of many galaxies that could contain planets that contain beings.........and on back down the recursive spiral.
Cells are a very interesting topic of study, and if you buy into the "theory" of evolution, or at the very least, the reality of biological adaptation, you can see quite plainly that our lives as humans mimic the stumblings of our biology on a higher scale. First there were single cell organisms, that had to do every function necessary to survive entirely on their own, much like the first humans. These cells multiplied over time, and specialized, supporting each other and performing different functions, allowing higher forms of life through specialization. These evolved into many variants, some which failed to survive and some that managed to adapt to our ever changing environment. This is much the same way early humans gathered into tribes, divided responsibilities, and ultimately lead to it being possible for humans to spend time doing more than surviving, like inventing the wheel or discovering fire or agriculture or space travel (huge leaps there, I know, stick with me). Cells pass on their information via DNA, a set of coded instructions that is identical generation to generation, but over a period of many many generations, somehow manages to adapt to its environment to allow the system as a whole to become more resilient to threats and difficulties encountered. This occurs through free radicals, or freak mutations in the dna of cells that is not according to the original plan. There are cells that exist wholly to destroy free radicals, to keep the systems as a whole moving along their original plan, but from time to time these free radicals overtake the original instructions, they survive this effort to preserve conformity and instead become the new standard to which conformity is required. This should be an obvious analogy but I'll keep spelling it out, the DNA being the sum of knowledge, morality, and justice passed on from generation to generation among humanity. The free radical police taking the form of police in the literal sense, as well as the media and more passive forms of control. This satisfactorily seperates the wheat from the chaff, and trys to make sure that if the system undergoes a revolution, that it does so justifiably. But cells do not know what truth is, and they do not recognize concepts of truth, beauty, love or hate. These are human engineered concepts invented to explain something that continues to mimic cells exactly, the single-minded impulse to survive at any cost. Survival, and completion of their function, as well as reproduction, are all that cells know how to do. When you cut down to the core of humanity, its all we are really truly impelled to do, subconsciously. History has shown us that Truth, Beauty, and Love do not always prevail. As a matter of fact, they almost never do, as Treachery, Power, and the Early Bird seem to be far more common factors in the major shifts in our world system. So for the purpose of this outlandish proposal, set aside your herculean concepts of what the world according to disney is and read on ;0). This then, agrees with the unpopular but still prevalent idea that the natural state of mankind is war. What we have that is identifiably unique as humans is consciousness, but it is a consciousness composed of far simpler intelligences. Computers are composed wholly of "organs" that only understand how to make simple changes to sequences composed of ones and zeroes, and yet a well built computer will not be considered to be such a simple and inflexible system. While computers are a crude example, it is nonetheless an analogy to how the sum total of our bodies contribute to what we refer to as consciousness, intelligence, and what defines us as a higher being. It is the structure of our brain cells, the amount of them, the way their free radicals have triumphed over the ages out of necessity, how human society has insured the smart, if not the honorable or decent, are the ones most likely to survive. Human beings are cells in this world, cells that form the organs of groups, groups that accomplish a purpose and spread their beneift among their cells, and to other cells in exchange for benefit among themselves, and for the ultimate purpose of overall survival and propagation. Recursive structures are everywhere in nature, and we reflect them in the way we create organizations, instructions, and just about anything we can create tangible or otherwise that can be considered to have form and structure.
So getting to my POINT, now that I have loosely established all of this.
We are heading to where cells are now. The system of humanity will ultimately resemble the system of the human. In modern times, are bodies are unbelievably complex organisms, the contents and function of which we still, after 200 years of continuous advances, do not fully understand. Our bodies are a fantastic example of an extremely complex and flexible system that WORKS, and WORKS UNIVERSALLY. It is more complex than any functional societal structure humanity has ever been able to create, and is historically far more successful at standing the test of time and change. We have come a long way from single celled organisms, but I still think our race as a whole in this context is at the monkey stage, at best. We are conscious, functional, and we have begun to form groups. But in all our macroscopic arrogance we fail to realize that there are 10 trillion living beings composing our selves that are way ahead of us. We emulate them, but we do so feebly, without the billions of years they have had to refine their processes and cast out the inefficient and self destructive. Ultimately, we are headed where they are, but I wonder where they will go in that time? The secret to mankinds achievement as a whole may very well lie in this analogy, as best as it can be applied to our existence. And what about when the earth is no longer an organism, but an organ, forced to cooperate for survival and mutual benefit with another unknown organ. Will they destroy each other out of desperation for survival, out of fear of the unknown? Will they find a way to work together and create something greater? Will they someday no longer be organs, but cells. Miniscule parts of something far greater, to which then this grandiose analogy might finally crash down on the heads of all humanity on earth that still naively believes that they are the final form of conscious life, and that the structures they build do not crudely resemble their very own compnonents.
Yeah, I'll stop there
You get the point...
Right?