Conclusion
“Two dangers threaten the universe: order and disorder.” ~ French philosopher Paul Valéry
This universe is one of many in an eternal cycle of cosmic creation. As the natural sciences show, its fabric is ordained.
Physics
Physics begets chemistry. Chemistry defines biology. Biology circumscribes life. By this cascade of energy to animate matter, all that manifests is intertwined.
As energy encompasses existence, physics focuses on characterizing energy. Following constructal law, one modus operandus of energy is economy. Matter is a slow-motion product of energetic relations.
“Nothing happens until something moves.” ~ Albert Einstein
That matter is made of energy is indisputable. Energy is nothing more than an abstraction which may be measured by its effect on matter – a tidy circularity. Energy is the cogent immateriality by which the fabric of materiality is woven.
Physics has proven that Nature is a façade for a noumenal reality. From there are the strange mechanics which generate existence.
Attempting to understand the roots of phenomena has demonstrated that our 3-dimensional (3d) vista provides only a partial picture. All facets of modern physics expose a universe with extra dimensions (ed) beyond spatial 3d.
Nonlocality is a fundamental facet of actuality. Subatomic particles are often entangled, responsively changing synchronously. This too indicates a holistic dimensionality (hd) beyond the experiential 4d of spacetime. It also shows something even more fundamental about Nature as a ruse.
“Nature functions by integration.” ~ François Jacob
Entanglement demonstrates that spacetime itself is an emergent property: an outcome of interconnected interactivity at every level of existence. Phenomena appear via bottom-up, moment-by-moment fabrication into a tight weave of manifestation.
The long-sought unified theory of physics – from the quantum to the cosmological scale – can only evolve from the realization that everything is entangled. The geometry of spacetime, and all the energy that flows through it, are defined by this web.
Physics has already progressed to the point of realizing that its formulas yield only approximations. The elemental remains empirically elusive because it lies beyond phenomena.
Ultimately, science is an interpretive exercise of observed events. Intuition is as essential as mathematics to propelling physics forward.
“Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of Nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable.” ~ Albert Einstein
Self-organization from non-equilibrium driving forces has been observed at both the molecular and cosmological levels. Coherence is the only possible explanation for the order in Nature – the natural, fundamental force from which phenomena arise. This is most poignantly true of life, which, in its statistical impossibility, clearly lies beyond random chance.
Chemistry
Chemistry susses the relations between species of matter. Grounded in the relative solidity of atoms and molecules, chemistry – at first blush – appears to validate empiricism; but chemical reactions readily happen where they should not, as the tentacles of quantum mechanics touch all phenomena. The classical laws of chemistry render interstellar space too cold for organic molecules to form. Yet they do, prodigiously so.
The exercise of matter involves vibrancy within an energy economy. The stability of chemical compounds relies on discrete tolerances to energetic disturbances.
This energy reactivity/stability yin-yang is manifest in the elements of royalty in organic chemistry: carbon and nitrogen. Carbon is the most flexible element for molecular combination, and so is copiously employed as a manifest information conduit. Contrastingly, nitrogen’s inherent stability renders it a cornerstone for cellular structures.
Life
Chemistry seemingly defines biology, but the gap between inorganic and organic chemistry is more than carbon combinations and nitrogen backbones. Life is infused with vital sparks of consciousness.
Operationally, organisms need energy (metabolism), animation (movement), and the ability to perpetuate (reproduction). Metabolism may be understood within the confines of classical chemistry. Animation and perpetuation require something more.
Movement involves a plan to achieve its aim of translocation: a fluid interaction between the instant state of structural composition and the energy for an incremental change to achieve the intended next state. Movement illustrates how life relies upon memory. Reproduction is a penultimate product of remembrance: replication as a means for perpetuation.
In contrast to physics, life is about using information well: intelligence. Energy is essential yet incidental.
The phenotypes and behaviors of organisms are statements of memory in form and function. Even the simplest organisms are organized with specialized structures and pathways attuned to specific tasks.
While these structures and pathways ultimately exist as chemical compounds, they are organized according to a plan. The plan itself is an embedded memory, as is the pattern that comprises the life cycle.
DNA and its accoutrements provide a physical manifest of life, both as a memory and oracle: of what may be along with what has been. Every cell carries the memory of its evolution, going back toward its historical origination. Life experiences are encoded epigenetically: a remembrance passed to offspring.
Knowing the steps behind affords ready adaptation: an evolutionary plan of action based upon the experiences of the past. The biochemical database of life – genetics – provides a practically unlimited vocabulary of expression; hence the unimaginable variety of life on Earth.
Plants are particularly adept at manipulating their own genes, and at understanding the genomic processes of other organisms. They do so by comprehending the codes of coherence – a feat matched only by viruses in nuanced understanding.
Genetics is essentially selfsame for all organisms. Its homogeneity afforded cellular interdependence among the vast diversity of life forms, which is exactly how life evolved: interdependently.
Without genic compatibility, the coordination necessary for multicellular life would be lacking. Incompatible genetics would have resulted in a much different world – one with evolution stymied.
By homogenizing the language of life, viruses were the agent of organic harmony: the simplest life acting as the most profound.
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Spokes of the Wheel continues with Book 2: The Web of Life.
