Biology Week 5: The Nature of Life
The characteristics that distinguish us from non-living things are a series vastly under appreciated organized patterns. In order to be considered "alive" the general rule of thumb is that we are capable of growing, breathing, moving, metabolizing, and reproducing. My pencil cannot do such things nor can an iPhone (believe it or not). We are continuously engaged in a process of self-organization and the systems in place to keep us classifiably alive cannot be removed. From cells to organ systems, our bodies work day and night to maintain this order. Fluids flush in and out, cells feed, reproduce and die, materials are taken in from the environment and excreted out as waste. Its a beautiful dance between living things and their environment, each player adjusting and reacting to one another, all the while maintaining an individualized integrity.
Every fifteen years most of our cells will have been replaced and yet we are recognizably the same human (give or take a few minor wrinkles and sags). This is living proof of this natural order that all living things possess. Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela coined the term Autopoiesis to explain this ability to "self maintain" on a cellular, chemical level. In their words, a living system "continuously generates and specifies its own organization through its operation as a system of production of its own components, and does this in an endless turnover of components." So, as we are transforming and constantly adapting to a shifting environment, we infallibly and ceaselessly return to ourselves.
This ability to self-refer has shown true to living organisms for billions of years, dating back our single-celled ancestors. However, we see that over time, the way in which we are organized changes simultaneously with our environment. What is it that inspires speciation and what are the mechanisms in place that causes such dramatic shifts. Anthropologist relentlessly search for a clear answer as to when and where we spilt away from the Chimps. But each week seems to reveal a new layer to ancestral map leaving us with not much more then a murky notion of our "creation story." Needless to say, this does not settle well for our western minds, hungry for answers.
On June 7th of this year, Ben Guarino published evidence on historical human-like fossils found in Morocco dating approximately 100,000 years earlier then any such African discoveries. Having a striking resemblance to modern humans, and not in the primitive sense, previous theories of a speciation date are suddenly invalid. But as Guarino points out, there is a tendency to isolate search areas where previous findings have occurred, in this case a Moroccan hill named Jebel Irhoud. In reality, there is a big chunk of Africa that has been unexplored, and then a larger portion of our planet beyond it, uncharted by anthropologists (as far as we know.) It seems glaringly obvious to me that we have only scratched the surface of understanding our lineage.
As we look at our existence on a larger scale, we notice that humans as a generalized species are not maintaining a symbiotic relationship with the environment. If we see Gaia (Earth) as a living system in and of herself, she is also self-referring and seeking her own balance. Our abusive tendencies towards Gaia's natural resources are not unlike cancerous cells operating autonomously from and disharmoniously with the larger system. Our unsustainable model will undoubtedly result in an observable backfire. Sadly, most modern humans will not get the clue until such planetary cries are of direct threat to their lives.
References:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/06/07/oldest-homo-sapiens-fossils-discovered-in-morocco/?utm_term=.6138f72c8cbc
http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/archive/fulltexts/1194.pdf
Every fifteen years most of our cells will have been replaced and yet we are recognizably the same human (give or take a few minor wrinkles and sags). This is living proof of this natural order that all living things possess. Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela coined the term Autopoiesis to explain this ability to "self maintain" on a cellular, chemical level. In their words, a living system "continuously generates and specifies its own organization through its operation as a system of production of its own components, and does this in an endless turnover of components." So, as we are transforming and constantly adapting to a shifting environment, we infallibly and ceaselessly return to ourselves.
This ability to self-refer has shown true to living organisms for billions of years, dating back our single-celled ancestors. However, we see that over time, the way in which we are organized changes simultaneously with our environment. What is it that inspires speciation and what are the mechanisms in place that causes such dramatic shifts. Anthropologist relentlessly search for a clear answer as to when and where we spilt away from the Chimps. But each week seems to reveal a new layer to ancestral map leaving us with not much more then a murky notion of our "creation story." Needless to say, this does not settle well for our western minds, hungry for answers.
On June 7th of this year, Ben Guarino published evidence on historical human-like fossils found in Morocco dating approximately 100,000 years earlier then any such African discoveries. Having a striking resemblance to modern humans, and not in the primitive sense, previous theories of a speciation date are suddenly invalid. But as Guarino points out, there is a tendency to isolate search areas where previous findings have occurred, in this case a Moroccan hill named Jebel Irhoud. In reality, there is a big chunk of Africa that has been unexplored, and then a larger portion of our planet beyond it, uncharted by anthropologists (as far as we know.) It seems glaringly obvious to me that we have only scratched the surface of understanding our lineage.
As we look at our existence on a larger scale, we notice that humans as a generalized species are not maintaining a symbiotic relationship with the environment. If we see Gaia (Earth) as a living system in and of herself, she is also self-referring and seeking her own balance. Our abusive tendencies towards Gaia's natural resources are not unlike cancerous cells operating autonomously from and disharmoniously with the larger system. Our unsustainable model will undoubtedly result in an observable backfire. Sadly, most modern humans will not get the clue until such planetary cries are of direct threat to their lives.
References:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/06/07/oldest-homo-sapiens-fossils-discovered-in-morocco/?utm_term=.6138f72c8cbc
http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/archive/fulltexts/1194.pdf
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