Notepad
A collection of thoughts, problems, solutions
Requirements for Ideal Organisms4/12/2017 Every living organism satisfies a few common properties. I want to list them here as a sketch of a possible theoretical foundation for creating life (not necessarily organic life, but artificial life, as some say), based on principles of networks. Organisms are a collection of networks of unit cells (of the same or differing archetypes). Within the network, there is an exchange of substances between cells within a sub-network, and between cells of differing sub-networks. Example: The human body is comprised of several networks, or tissues, of a certain kind of cell. Skin cells, for example, are connected to each other, forming a network. Another network would be that of neurons which allow electrical impulses (energy) to flow through the network. Yet, it is the blood that the circulatory system contains that conveys nutrients to all cells. The circulatory system allows for exchange of chemical messengers between networks as well, providing the foundation for the interconnected system. For a system to mimic an organism, it must share something analogous to the circulatory system i.e., a controlled flow of all substances necessary for the support and communication between networks. This general notion of a circulatory system will be called `nutrio'. The system must also be open - allowing for matter/energy external to the organism to interact - directly or indirectly with various networks within the organism. Example: All living things consume nutrients from the external world. The transfer of substances from the external world must be controlled by the presence of gates or channels. Such gates or channels control the flow into (and out - to be discussed later) the organism. Example: All functional organisms control the influx of external material. When such control is lost, this usually means death or disease. Implications: If there is transfer of some substance without proper channels, the system does not satisfy the requirements. For example, a desktop computer cannot regulate the flow of thermal, chemical, or mechanical energy. In this state, it requires an ideal external environment. The very notion of a cell involves an internal environment that remains stable in a variety of external environments. Hence, there is a notion of stability that every organism must satisfy which is encoded in the requirement above. The substances imported from the external world must always be organized or utilized in a certain way. Again, if this is not true, there is death or disease. Implications: The organism must stably redirect and modify the flux of substances into the organism. I will continue to add and revise. NOTE: An ideal organism (a collection of networks of cells coupled with a nutrio) is one that is always able to redirect energy and matter while maintaining stability. This is obviously idealistic, since the stability of a system depends on the scale of energy. Need proof? Consider the fact that no matter how robust a material may be, and no matter how we augment our own bodies, there is no chance that either would survive explosions involving energies comparable only to the birth or death of large stars. -4/12/17 1/11/18 It has been a while since I have added to this post. However, new studies have given me additional insight. First, I have begun reading "The Puppet of Desire", by Jean-Michel. It is a brilliant piece of work which summarizes Rene Girard's mimetic theory. it does away with psychology being a science of 'the individual' and instead embraces it as a science of the relationship between the 'self' and the 'other', hence "Interdividual Psychology". Secondly, my brief studies in category theory can be applied with little effort. The beauty is not just how well-formulated and supported it is, but also how it reflects phenomena in other fields. Matter is comprised of particles bound together by universal interactions. Biological systems, as described above, also require an interaction between parts to become a whole. While mimetic theory is much more than just a connection between arbitrary parts (I am not giving it full justice here), I do think that mimetic theory lays the philosophical foundation for the mathematical framework one needs to understand how networks give rise to collective, system-level phenomena - like consciousness. This seems to confirm that my emphasis on the existence of the nutrio and gates governing flows across the boundary of the organism is on track; for it is the interaction between the parts that constitute all we need to know about the system. While this is obvious for some, many have disagreed with the idea on a philosophical level. For example, maximization/minimization of energy as a guiding principle for all systems seems to be obvious, but many dispute it. I think it is in the max/min principle that the guiding interactions are given full control. Perhaps the most trivial or zeroth-order formulation of the influence of the interaction upon the system, in its effort to guide and unify parts, is the max/min of energy principle. The Hamiltonian formalism seems to confirm this.
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Al DanielsHi. I'm a currently a PhD student at the Vermont Complex Systems Center. I prefer not to use social media platforms, so I occasionally share my thoughts here! Archives
December 2018
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