All living systems require energy to maintain their structures.  Inversely, in order to use this energy all living systems require a given structure, which is thus universal for all living systems. 

In relation to said structure, all living systems have to include the following minimum features:

 

1.- A sensor subsystem to locate energy.

2.- A subsystem capture tool, to capture the energy.

3.- A metabolic subsystem which transforms the energy and distributes it to the other subsystems (sensor and capture tool) whilst using some of the energy itself.  [1]

This schema is useful in reference to single-cell systems and to some large groups of multi-cell systems, such as fungi and plants.  Nevertheless, the structure of the living systems described up until now is rewarded by the appearance of a fourth  subsystem, a decision making system, capable of determining what to do with the energy available at any given time: whether to use it to find more energy or to capture the located energy, whether to capture or to flee.

fig.1).- Scheme taken from the book “Describing an Universal structure of living systems”.

All images and text in this article are copyright © Alfredo Colunga

 

The evolution of this fourth subsystem, in competition with others, leads to intelligence (a necessary consequence of the process).  An intelligence that will evolve in competition with others.

This fourth subsystem requires the appearance of memory, understood to mean the comparing of two successive states. Comparisons with previous states allow ever more precise decisions to be made concerning actions to be taken, surpassing the evolutionary stage of trial and error, and consequently accelerating evolution.

This schema, with the inclusion of intelligence (memory plus learning capacity for the capture of energy) has developed independently on multiple occasions. In fact, we might affirm that its inclusion characterises the animal kingdom.

From these affirmations we can conclude that where there is life, intelligence will tend to appear.

 

THE PRINT      

LIVING SOCIAL SYSTEMS

Intelligence is transformed into consciousness, or self-consciousness, when the living system becomes capable of establishing trends of energy availability: evaluating its own energy limitations and those of its competitors.  This step requires not only consciousness of previous experiences of the biological system, but also consciousness of experiences which occurred to previous generations of biological systems. It thus requires the prior creation of a social system which is able to store information. 

This social system therefore shares the same structure as biological systems: locating energy, capturing energy, transforming and distributing it to its subsystems. Thus allowing us to refer (in the strictest sense) to living social systems: individuals, families, tribes, or even companies and states.  Humanity as a whole is still not a living system, given that the manner in which it is organised does not match the above structure.

 

BIOLOGICAL AND POSTBIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

All living systems, by capturing energy from their environment, alter their environment.   As such, living systems have to invest, and have investment tools, which allow them to continue to capture energy in an altered environment.

The main investment tool of living biological systems is reproduction with modifications: the living system continues to capture energy, but via its successors.  Mortality is therefore essential to the process; though this has the effect, amongst other things, of resulting in the loss of a considerable amount of accumulated knowledge. 

(fig.2) Videosculpture “Tumulus for the last homo sapiens” - © Alfredo Colunga

 

Nevertheless, in the case of living social systems, the investment tools are such that individuals sacrifice themselves, but the structure of the system survives.  And also does knowledge.

The conservation of knowledge results in an increasing ability to create models, both of the system itself and its environment. These models increase the ability to analyse possible risks and limitations.  As a consequence, evolution in living social systems does not just signify a tendency to generate intelligence, as seen in biological systems, but also the increased robustness of the systems involved.

The existence of the word “innovation” is the expression of a new evolutionary process: social living systems do not merely adapt themselves to the environment, but rather actively seek out new energy sources and consciously invest in capturing energy from these sources by the development of suitable tools and their inclusion in the productive process. Innovation no longer solely depends on chance and trial and error which, in turn, accelerates the evolutionary process enormously. In such systems, the Darwinian notion of “adaptation to the environment” has been replaced by the post-Darwinian concept of “conscious creation of new environments”.

 

VIDEOESCULTURA - THERE IS A UNIVERSE

HOMO SAPIENS VERSUS SOCIAL SYSTEM

The individual is the mortal cell in a system striving for immortality.  If immortality exists, then it corresponds to the social system that mankind is creating.  Homo sapiens becomes a subsystem and is thus subjected to the rules established by the social system. Man forms part of the social system fulfilling some of its functions:  as a metabolic subsystem (in the modern-day world referred to as banking, transport, the processing industry or trade); as a sensor subsystem (researcher, artist); as a decision-making subsystem (governor); or as a capture tool (primary sector).   Homo sapiens is a teacher (investment tool) or doctor (homeostatic tool).  However, he can never adopt all of these functions simultaneously nor may the structure which makes them up be broken, except momentarily.  He changes from “homo sapiens” to “homo celula”, and the evolving living system is thus the social system.

(Fig.3) Videosculpture “Opyoum” - © Alfredo Colunga

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BEYOND

The universe, understood in terms of a matrix in which the living systems described above germinate (that is, systems which are progressively more efficient energy users and more robust) does not tend towards disorder, but rather towards structuring.

(fig. 4) Still  from audiovisual artwork by Alfredo Colunga

 

In terms of this description, the universe is therefore a structure capable of holding living systems which are rewarded for generating intelligence. Intelligence, in turn, is rewarded by the creation of increasingly complete models of its environment, allowing a greater ability to interact with the environment, foreseeing its limitations, and hence forming living systems which are increasingly robust.

In the limit, this tendency will lead to the ability to create a general model of the universe and execute it.  Even further, we can even speak of a “Causa sui” Hypothesis: in that moment (state) our universe will be created [2]. Nevertheless, the understanding of that process, which would result in the merging of science and religion, is beyond the scope of our current technological capabilities [3].

 

ENERGY

Astrobiology studies the possibilities of life in the universe, using the conditions for life on the Earth as a basis.  It would be of equal interest to create a theoretical model that delimited the classification of Earth as an optimal planet, not for the life which has thus far developed, but rather expanding this life beyond its current development.  Is our planet ideal for the unlimited development of life processes or, due to the characteristics of the solar systems and its location in the galaxy, is it merely an oasis of life on a tiny island in the midst of a vast ocean? Fertile, yes, but far from other coasts, and unable to propagate its success beyond its own narrow limits.

Living systems are not characterised by the use of energy and its degradation (Second Principle of Thermodynamics), but rather that each item of energy consumed is an opportunity to continue locating and consuming energy, either for oneself (individuals) or for the living social system of which one forms a part.

In the competition not only to increase the efficiency of energy consumption, but also to guarantee access to new energy via conscious innovation, accessible energy will be more and more abundant, and its use, by an ever more robust living system, increasingly efficient.

The quotient of energy consumed in comparison with energy degraded will grow; and the quotient of (future) located energy in relation to energy consumed will also tend to grow.  Living systems will separate themselves more quickly from a tendency for disorder (entropy).

But we are currently in an extreme historical era: globalisation means that whilst the secondary and tertiary sectors of our economy (metabolic subsystem) are becoming increasingly efficient and complex, the primary sector (capture tool), in terms of raw materials external to the living social system, is entering a critical period.  Each primary subsector knows the limits of the asset being disputed, which is presented as limited and not renewable. This means that the companies associated with the asset may only grow by buying other companies (not by discovering new reserves). This leads to concentrated ownership, the generation of speculative prices for said assets, and ultimately, the imposition of prices (not in function of supply and demand, but rather as a result of the extent to which the assets are controlled and the degree to which they are needed).

This process will only be reversed by the appearance of a new, apparently unlimited, energy source, which will also redefine available raw materials (which may be defined as the materials needed for productive processes and accessible in function of available energy) [6]. The process of energy renovation requires a pact with the current energy producers.

(Fig.5) Image from www.edayforenergy.org website - © Alfredo Colunga

 

WORKS

(1) DESCRIBING AN UNIVERSAL STRUCTURE OF LIVING SYSTEMS_ Essay. Ed. LAi (2008) This essay analyses how the ability to create models of the environment is rewarded evolutionarily, which leads to the appearance of consciousness.  Only available in Spanish.

(2) THE PRINT_ Short tale. The universe is destined for continuous expansion, thermal death, and the big crunch.  In this case, will we be capable of leaving our mark, proof of our existence for future universes, or, in other words, has anyone left proof of their prior existence incrusted in each particle of our universe?

(3) THE MISSING WORD_ Audiovisual. A genetic scientist, specialising in the study of a section of human DNA, discovers that he will soon be dead.   It is the moment when he reflects upon the fact that scientific constructs, solid in their foundations, crumble when faced with the individual and the impossibility of renouncing transcendence.   His last work, aimed at analysing this transcendence, isolates him from science.

(4) TUMULUS FOR THE LAST HOMO SAPIENS_ Videosculpture. A cube with polarisable glass faces, which alternate from an opaque to transparent state. The cube’s interior holds a human body after death.  It may be programmed in many different ways:  to remain permanently opaque; or to become transparent one hour per week; or one minute every century; or to remain in a permanently transparent state, yet turning dark if anyone should approach.  The way it is finally programmed will demonstrate the relationship between society and the death of the individual.

(5) OPYOUM_ Hypercube. Videosculpture. Four different faces and eight screens recreate two concentric virtual worlds which respectively show the individual and the group, as a means of representing the tension between our individual and social being.  The images flow gently from the four internal faces to the outer screens (and vice versa), without finding definitive equilibrium.  (Multilayered screen procedure patented by Alfredo Colunga/Manava)

(6) WWW.EDAYFORENERGY.ORG_ Web art installation. Awareness that accessible available raw materials are not going to grow is the dark side of globalisation.  The only option for growth by companies in the sector is to acquire other companies, which leads to concentration and price fixing, independent to the free market.  The rules of supply and demand no longer apply.  The only means of escaping this process is to find a new, apparently unlimited energy source, which allows available raw materials to be redefined.  Either on this planet or on others.

 

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