2
1 Morphogenetic Universe
some of which in due time heated up sufficiently to ignite nuclear fusion. The largest
clumps, overzealous in this activity, exploded, sacrificing themselves to create the
heavy elements indispensable for complex chemistry on cooler chunks of matter.
Some of these had the good fortune to be placed in a fairly constant orbit around a
moderately burning thermonuclear energy source, and eventually, as a miracle we
still do not understand, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms managed to
combine under benevolent stars into self-replicating structures that started to evolve
toward ever increasing complexity.
Neither good luck nor thorough planning are required to create variety and complexity, one just needs to wait. The first source of complexity is symmetry breaking
in its numerous forms: it may act to eliminate variety before recreating it on another
level. Symmetry was broken in the very beginning when what we call matter was
chosen against what we call antimatter – of course, what has been vanquished is
always labeled anti-something. Further on, just two kinds of quarks, up and down,
remained to dominate matter, with all others dispersed in occasional outbursts that
engender cosmic rays or created at great expense in elaborate constructions built by
highly evolved animals. Of all leptons, only electrons remained in neatly structured
atomic shells and molecular orbitals. Of all gauge fields, only light was pronounced
good on the First day of Creation and left to illuminate us ever since.
But already on the Second day the uniformity of matter was countered by divisions. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one
place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. This was a prototype of phase
transitions and the formation of interfaces separating what cannot be mixed. Redistribution of means and creation of inequality was already anticipated by elimination
of competitors to the standard components of matter, and presaging its social implementation, by the evangelical Matthew’s law: For whosoever hath, to him shall be
given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be
taken away even that he hath. Galaxies and stars were formed, as masses gravitated
to other masses to create high density contrast. In accordance with the same aggregative tendency, large droplets grow at the expense of smaller ones which evaporate
or dissolve; successfully adapting species displace others sharing the same niche;
stronger bulls gather larger harems to perpetuate their genes; bestsellers leave less
lucky books out of print and shows unattended.
Symmetry breaking and aggregation are powerful but crude tools. They served
well to create the amazing forms of the inorganic world, and they still operate on
higher levels as tools for pattern formation, most prominently in areas of scarcity,
creating vegetation patterns in arid landscapes, segregated neighborhoods in troubled cities, and extreme wealth inequalities in poor countries. But the emergence of
sophisticated forms in the later days of Creation required more refined instruments.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit
tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was
so. The key word here is seed. A seed implies memory; it carries a program transmitted from earlier generations. A living body does not vanish in vain but yields fruit
after his kind, whose seed is in itself. This is cooperation extending in time, and we
can add that cooperation, both in time and space, extends through life, to enzymes
unraveling genetic code, to signaling among cells, to language and society.
1 Morphogenetic Universe
some of which in due time heated up sufficiently to ignite nuclear fusion. The largest
clumps, overzealous in this activity, exploded, sacrificing themselves to create the
heavy elements indispensable for complex chemistry on cooler chunks of matter.
Some of these had the good fortune to be placed in a fairly constant orbit around a
moderately burning thermonuclear energy source, and eventually, as a miracle we
still do not understand, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms managed to
combine under benevolent stars into self-replicating structures that started to evolve
toward ever increasing complexity.
Neither good luck nor thorough planning are required to create variety and complexity, one just needs to wait. The first source of complexity is symmetry breaking
in its numerous forms: it may act to eliminate variety before recreating it on another
level. Symmetry was broken in the very beginning when what we call matter was
chosen against what we call antimatter – of course, what has been vanquished is
always labeled anti-something. Further on, just two kinds of quarks, up and down,
remained to dominate matter, with all others dispersed in occasional outbursts that
engender cosmic rays or created at great expense in elaborate constructions built by
highly evolved animals. Of all leptons, only electrons remained in neatly structured
atomic shells and molecular orbitals. Of all gauge fields, only light was pronounced
good on the First day of Creation and left to illuminate us ever since.
But already on the Second day the uniformity of matter was countered by divisions. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one
place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. This was a prototype of phase
transitions and the formation of interfaces separating what cannot be mixed. Redistribution of means and creation of inequality was already anticipated by elimination
of competitors to the standard components of matter, and presaging its social implementation, by the evangelical Matthew’s law: For whosoever hath, to him shall be
given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be
taken away even that he hath. Galaxies and stars were formed, as masses gravitated
to other masses to create high density contrast. In accordance with the same aggregative tendency, large droplets grow at the expense of smaller ones which evaporate
or dissolve; successfully adapting species displace others sharing the same niche;
stronger bulls gather larger harems to perpetuate their genes; bestsellers leave less
lucky books out of print and shows unattended.
Symmetry breaking and aggregation are powerful but crude tools. They served
well to create the amazing forms of the inorganic world, and they still operate on
higher levels as tools for pattern formation, most prominently in areas of scarcity,
creating vegetation patterns in arid landscapes, segregated neighborhoods in troubled cities, and extreme wealth inequalities in poor countries. But the emergence of
sophisticated forms in the later days of Creation required more refined instruments.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit
tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was
so. The key word here is seed. A seed implies memory; it carries a program transmitted from earlier generations. A living body does not vanish in vain but yields fruit
after his kind, whose seed is in itself. This is cooperation extending in time, and we
can add that cooperation, both in time and space, extends through life, to enzymes
unraveling genetic code, to signaling among cells, to language and society.