The next step: Where is life headed?

There is a lot of talk of an endtime for the human race. The rapture, the singularity, the end of the Mayan calendar, massive cosmic collision, call it what you will. Regardless of the nature of this end-all event, or eschaton, the theme is clear amongst its many interpretations. It is believed by many that in the (near?) future the world as we know it will be unrecognizable.

This post will be somewhat a continuation of my last post, which outlined a fractal model of the universe.

In order to understand where we are headed, it is important to consider from whence we came, and more importantly to define what is meant by "we". It is rather egocentric to consider this future as a future concerning only human beings. Perhaps a more appropriate perspective would be to consider homo sapiens as merely a part of the ever-evolving entity that I will henceforth refer to as life. For the purposes of this essay, under the term "life" I include any form of organized energy.

In this sense, "life" can be used interchangeably with "enthalpy". Enthalpy is the opposite of entropy, or disorder. According to the laws of thermodynamics the overall entropy in the universe must always increase over time, although in smaller systems it may decrease. For example our computers may organize data on a hard disk plate, creating an increase in enthalpy - order - within the system of the hard drive, but the process of doing so releases heat and thus creates an overall increase in entropy within the universe as a whole. Right then...

Having defined my terms, I will trace life's evolutionary footsteps since the big bang:
*The actual times of these events are more or less irrelevant for my purposes - their order of appearance is what's important here

1) Planck time following the big bang: massive amounts of energy exist in a tiny amount of space. Energy and matter are interchangeable, with particle/antiparticle pairs coming in and out of existence. This is the first step: the ascent from energy to matter. This is the scale that theoretical physicists focus on.

2) As the universe cools and expands, subatomic particles come together to form atoms. Over time more and more complex - heavier - atoms are created via various stellar phenomena. This is the second step: the ascent from subatomic particles to atoms. This is the scale that particle physicists focus on. You can see a pattern forming here - each milestone of complexity coming together with others of its magnitude to form a higher order structure. Moving on..

3) As these atoms collect together, their very nature causes them to bond such that they form molecules - structures made up of two or more atoms. You guessed it, this is the third step: the ascent from atoms to molecules. This is the scale typically studied by chemists (my assignment of professions to these scales is for illustration purposes only and is intentionally vague). Keep in mind that as life evolves into organization of higher orders, the lower-order processes are all still occurring, but if you choose to focus on a given scale the workings of lower order scales can be implied. This is why modern chemistry for example can exist at all without having a complete understanding of, say, quantum mechanics. Of course, a more complete understanding of lower levels certainly sheds light onto higher levels, but we are able to explore phenomena at various scales simultaneously without our models of the lower scales being complete.

4) In the case of our planet earth, molecules began to grow more and more complex, as did their interactions. Amino acids - the building blocks of biological life - formed and, through some process - against all odds, some would say - cellular life came into being. This was a rather large leap in complexity: multitudes of different molecules working harmoniously to form one organized entity called a cell. Cellular life is also the first form of life that strives for self-preservation. Molecules are formed and destroyed constantly, but cellular life seems to do whatever it can to ensure its own survival, including reproducing in order to perpetuate its species. This is the fourth step: the ascent from molecular to cellular life. This is the scale that biologists - specifically bacteriologists - focus their studies upon.

5) After some time, groups of cells developed an altruism that allowed for them to work together to create multi-cellular life, or eukaryotes. Self-preservation became second to the survival of the group, and over time a eukaryotic life form would lose all of its original cells during its lifespan, but would remain the same overall structure and function due to the reproduction of its individual cells. This is the fifth step: the ascent from single-cell life to multi-cellular life. This is the scope of many scientific discourses, for this level of structure includes us homo sapiens as well.

Between each of these steps exists what I will refer to as an eschaton - an ascent from one order of complexity to a higher one. Each order of complexity, however, undergoes massive increases in complexity between eschatons. The fifth level is perhaps the most dramatic case: moving from structures as simple as a bi-cellular life form to a structure as mind-bogglingly complex as the human brain (no pun intended)!

What this model suggests is that in the future we will experience a similar leap to a higher-order complexity. In many cultures there is reference to cyclical time - history repeating itself. In that sense, history has repeated itself, and it certainly is cyclical but I would suggest that the analogy of an upward (for lack of a better direction) spiral would be more appropriate. The reason I choose the spiral is because with each revolution the amount of time between eschatons is smaller than the last. Also, the upward motion of the spiral represents the increase in complexity with each revolution.

Now, I said this would be related to fractals didn't I? Well, if this model has any truth to it, we will be experiencing the very same phenomena as the highest-order life form experienced at each preceding eschaton, but on a larger scale. The larger scale of things is why things manifest differently. On this scale each of the lower levels is present and thus the level of complexity is proportionately larger.

It is possible to take analogies from lower-order eschatons to make some vague predictions as to how our coming eschaton will manifest. For example, take the ascent from single-cell life to multi-cellular life. The single-celled organisms had to develop ways to communicate with each other and had to lose their self-serving behaviors in favor for altruistic ones in order to benefit the whole. If there is anything to be said about the way technology has shaped the world, it is that communication has become much easier and faster. Indeed, communications technologies are evolving at an accelerating rate, aided largely by the growth of the internet.

So, we've got communication in the works, but what about altruism? Why do we humans find it so difficult to see past ourselves and to work harmoniously with one another? It is clear that when two or more humans work together towards a common goal, there is a certain synergy and they function more effectively than the sum of each individual's efforts - it's no news that two heads are better than one. So what is lacking that would allow the human race as a whole to function as one cohesive unit of a higher-order complexity?

This is an age old question, and one upon which we can only speculate. I would suggest that a common goal is the answer. The problem today is that there are still individuals who lack the resources for even self preservation. On the individual level, each member of the species must have their needs met if they can be expected to expend energy towards a common goal for the species as a whole. Think of cellular life: how can a cell contribute to the well-being of the whole multi-cellular being if lacks the resources to function on an individual scale?

Now, if we must have a common goal, what should that goal look like? The sustainability of our species and - more importantly - our planet seems like a good place to start. Many of us are already on that track, however there are certainly those whose motives are more self serving. What's upsetting is that it's often those individuals who have a great excess of resources who exhibit the most hedonistic behavior.

To throw a sci-fi spin on things (if I haven't already!), consider how contact with an alien race would affect us. Having a race against which to define ourselves as a cohesive unit would certainly contribute to a sense of unity. These aliens could be malevolent, causing us to unite in a military sense, or benevolent, sharing their cosmic wisdom with us and stimulating our growth towards the eschaton.

All things considered, this is really all speculation, which is arguably valuable. At the very least, these things are interesting to consider and doing so is certainly a good mental exercise!

What I personally think is in store for us is related heavily to technology, specifically artificial intelligence...but I will cover this in detail in a later post! For now, I hope this has been as fun to read as it was to write.


"But wait! Hold the phone, Chris! Evolution is a random process! There is no purpose, no direction!"
Absolutely - evolution of complexity is certainly a very chaotic process with no predictable outcome, no absolute vector. One property is constant, however, and that is the fact that life tends to evolve into more and more complex structures. The details of how it gets there are chaotic and unpredictable, but those are irrelevant. What's important is that life becomes more complex over time.

The Universe as a Fractal

Today I will attempt to show that the universe in its entirety can be thought of as a fractal.









First off, we need to establish what a fractal is, and what this means for the universe. A simple example of a fractal would be the Sierpinski Triangle:



To make this triangle, we start with an equilateral triangle - a triangle whose sides are all equal in length, and angles are all 60 degrees. Within this triangle, we draw a smaller, upside-down triangle by connecting the midpoints of each of the original triangle's sides. We then have 4 smaller triangles that all interlock into the shape of one large triangle. We can repeat this process within each of the small triangles to create even more triangles. Indeed, we can do this infinitely.

Now, what's interesting about fractals - including this one - is that each triangle contains all of the information that the whole system does. Given a Sierpinski triangle that continues infinitely in both directions (increasing and decreasing in magnification), you can choose a triangle at any level of magnification and the formula to produce the rest is exactly the same. It doesn't matter where you choose to begin, you will always find the same pattern. This phenomenon is known as self-similarity.

But how does this apply to the universe? I will borrow a concept from Buddhist monk Thich Nat Han called interbeing to illustrate this idea:

Think about a wooden chair. You may look at it and say "this is a chair". The chair is, in fact, everything but a chair. Contained within the information of that chair is the information of the sun, which grew the tree that the chair was made from. The person who made the chair is also within the chair. The lumberjack who cut down the tree, as well as his breakfast that morning are in the chair. Indeed, everything in the universe is within that chair except for the chair itself. The chair is empty of a separate identity. The only way to define the chair is by describing everything but the chair. But then, things other than the chair - your desk, for example - contain the chair within them. But they are in the chair! This makes it difficult to come to a concrete definition of anything.

For those who are more technically inclined, on a smaller scale things are indeed intimately related. The phenomenon of quantum entanglement, where subatomic particles communicate at great distances instantaneously shows that information is indeed exchanged between particles on a level that is imperceptible to us. It has also been shown that shortly after the big bang everything in the universe was entangled.

So, within each piece of the universe exists all of the information of the universe as a whole. Does that sound familiar?

Of course, your chair certainly doesn't look like everything else - it looks like a chair. But the Sierpinski triangle is a simple example of a fractal. The Mandelbrot set, for example, exhibits vast complexity, and there are certainly perspectives of its visual representation that look nothing like the original. But they do represent the same formula, despite their different appearances. What I am suggesting is that the universe, in all its complexity and beauty is realized through a single fractal formula.

Fractal patterning is often found in nature, such as the growth patterns of ferns and other plants, as well as the human circulatory system. Recent studies even suggest that genetic code has a fractal nature.

















A fractal fern

Well, I hope that this has been informative. Later I will describe some further implications of a fractal model of the universe.

Aleph

I'm about to tell you my story. Indeed, it is your story as well. And everyone you know. But it started with a guy named Clyde.

Clyde woke up that fateful morning feeling excited. He was getting paid well for his participation, with the promise that he could very well be a part of something huge. Getting out of bed, he had no idea how huge.

The procedure was to increase Clyde's mental control, much like meditation. He wasn't told much else, not even how long he'd be there. "Be here on time, and expect to be here for a while", was all he was told.

Once Clyde had arrived and been processed, he was sat in an operating room chair and put to sleep. Upon waking, he didn't feel any different, but he was in a much more comfortable room, with beautiful sofas and a roaring fire. Out the window Clyde looked out over a fabulous mountain. This struck him, because when he went to sleep he was hundreds of miles from so much as a large hill.

As this thought came to him, so did the voice:

Clyde, what you are experiencing is a virtual reality. None of this actually exists outside of your mind. During the operation, we implanted a remote beacon to each neuron in your brain. These beacons transmit information about the activity and location of your neurons to our computer, which analyzes this data and sends information back through your sense organs. The information you receive is thus dependent entirely on your brain state. As you might imagine, it is very difficult to produce anything coherent...

Instantly the room disappeared and Clyde's experience became a static abyss. His mind clawed desperately for some coherence but the static overwhelmed him, and for what felt like an eternity each of his five senses felt pure, agonizing chaos.

Then he was back by the fireplace, feeling again the comfort of coherent sensory data. Then the voice:

That wasn't very pleasant, was it? Luckily, you can learn how to control your virtual environment. Let's start with something simple. Look at the screen on the wall opposite the window. We will link its display to your brain state in such a way that it will be capable of displaying any one of the 26 letters of the alphabet, but nothing else. Go ahead; try to manipulate it with your will.

Clyde looked at the screen, which presently looked like any normal television static. He thought of putting the letter "A" on the screen, but to no avail.

Keep the screen out of your thoughts, Clyde. Empty your mind of everything but the letter.

Clyde pictured a large, bold letter "A" in his mind, and tried to clear his mind of anything else. The letter "A" flickered onto the screen.

"I did it!” exclaimed Clyde, becoming excited.

Don't get too excited, you've a ways to go before we're through! Take a while and get comfortable with the alphabet, and then we'll move on to what's next.

It wasn't long before Clyde could manipulate the display to show any letter he wanted. He even started moving between letters to make words. "H-E-L-L-O-W-O-R-L-D", he thought with a smile.

Now you're coming along! Now that you're feeling good about your abilities, we're going to make things a little more complicated. We're going to add color. Now try to create letters with different colors.

Clyde wasted no time. Before long, he was creating multi-colored words on the display with ease. The feeling of having such intimate control over something external filled him with glee. The display became an extension of his consciousness, albeit one with limitations.

Now things are going to get more complicated...the display will consist of a 5*5 matrix of pixels which will either fire or not fire. Try to control the pixels at will, and we'll move onto the next step.

Clyde took to the new task with relative ease, and things went on this way for a while. The display grew in resolution and in color. Before long, Clyde's mind was creating intricate patterns on the display. The display was intimately entwined with Clyde's brain state in real-time, and he began to create beautifully colored, morphing patterns reminiscent of his college days as a psychonaut.

Have fun exploring your abilities, Clyde. We'll know when you want to move on.

What Clyde felt was what artists wish they could feel. Complete continuous control over their medium. The difference between Clyde's situation and that of a conventional artist was that the nature of this experiment had abolished the discrepancies between his mind and his medium. Indeed, his mind was his medium. His creative juices needed no outlet - they were on full display.

Although this sort of pure expression was beautifully fulfilling, Clyde began to wonder what could be next. As this thought came to him, the display went blank.

Already want to move on, do you? We’re going to teach you how to create sounds now. There are speakers attached to the display. They will play a continuous tone of anything within a twelve note octave. Try to produce notes at will – it should be easier now that you have trained visually.

Clyde thought of an old nursery rhyme that his mother used to sing to him, and focused on the first note. His concentration had indeed improved considerably since he began learning to manipulate the visual display, for within moments he had the speakers playing that first note to Mary Had a Little Lamb. Before long, he was moving up and down the chromatic scale with ease.

Like with the visual display, his interactions with the speakers grew more complex. Initially the tones he produced were similar to those of a PC speaker. Soon he was producing sounds from a variety of instruments, and finally he was again limited only to his imagination. Music theory became an unnecessary tool for Clyde, as it is simply a means of describing what sorts of sounds are pleasing. There was no need to understand why these sounds were pleasing, but his ear knew that they were. It became clear to Clyde – who always though of himself as unblessed by any creativity – that what people thought of as creative talent was simply the ability to retrieve their creative insight with minimal loss of information. By practicing and dedicating hours to practicing their craft, artists hone their skills to be able to effectively express their creative essence through their medium. Everyone is able to imagine, it is only a matter of translating inner experience to something that can be shared. Now, for Clyde, imagination was the only step.

Once Clyde had had enough free musical expression, he was trained rather quickly to control the senses of taste, touch, and smell. Possessing impeccable concentration and mental control, he sat on a leather couch feeling proud.

You’ve learned quickly, Clyde. Do you remember how uncomfortable it was when you had complete control over your experience? We believe that you’re ready to try that again…

The room disappeared, and Clyde was thrust into a world which mirrored his mind. The shock of such a drastic and sudden change made it difficult at first to sustain a clear experience, but Clyde knew how to take control. In short order, Clyde was in complete control over his experience. The data coming through his sense organs was entirely determined by his mental state, which in turn was completely deliberated. His control was like that of an experienced lucid dreamer.

Clyde used his God-like powers to experience things that he had always wanted to experience, as well as things he never thought would be possible to experience. He flew over vast mountaintops, dove into deep oceans, made himself the size of a planet and soared through galaxies of his creation. There were limits, however, to the experiences he could produce. Because his brain had a finite – albeit enormous – amount of neurons, the complexity of his experience had a proportionate limit. As much fun as it was to have such control over his experience, Clyde felt that he would grow tired if this was all there was. To reach a plateau – even one so wonderful – meant no more growth.

Suddenly his world distorted, and as hard as he tried he could only maintain minimal control. He knew something was up even before the voice came to him.

You crave more, do you? We’re not surprised, Clyde. You see, people don’t like to feel stagnant. It is human nature to thrive, to grow. Lucky for you, there is still room for growth.

Clyde found himself again in what he now thought of as the lobby. Across from him sat a…person. This person was seemingly genderless, and with the most indescript features.

Clyde, this person – you can think of them as Frank – has undergone the same procedure as you. You will share your control over your experience. You will train together in the same way that you trained individually, but you will have to cooperate in order to produce anything coherent. To keep things simple we have removed any distinguishable features from his representation in this room. It will make the transition much easier, we believe…

The two pioneers shared a glance, and got right down to business.

“Let’s start with an ‘A’” said Clyde…

Letting go of his control made Clyde feel vulnerable at first, and he was reluctant to share with Frank. Soon, however, he learned that letting go was more rewarding than keeping his protective walls in place. Frank’s indescript appearance indeed made it easier to let him into his mind. The two were flying through the training process. With each advance the distinction between Clyde and Frank faded, and they experienced the joy of interpersonal connection. Their brains slowly learned to share the work, similarly to how multiple computer processors can work in parallel to perform complex tasks. By the time they were in complete control of their shared sensory experience, they were functioning as one, and the feeling of being so intimately entwined with another’s creative experience filled the pair with ecstasy. With twice as many neurons at their disposal, the two shared an experience twice as complex. This new frontier of experience kept the pair – it may be more accurate now to refer to them as one…we’ll use the name aleph – busy for some time, exploring this newfound potential. Of course, after a time, aleph began again to long for growth. As this longing took hold, he felt a slight disturbance in his ability to control his experience.

Back in the lobby, aleph met another newcomer. Aleph immediately knew what to do, and trained with this newcomer. Once their training was complete, aleph’s experience had increased in complexity and in joy. Slowly more brains were absorbed into aleph’s experience. With each consciousness merged, the process became faster, as aleph had more power with which to reach out to the newcomer. At first hundreds, thousands, then millions of minds made up aleph’s existence. The process quickened to the point where aleph experienced not joy, but ecstatic acceleration.

Then, a halt…a plateau. Aleph ceased to grow. After experiencing such exhilarating, accelerating growth aleph was not content to remain even at a level of such awesome power.

There’s nobody left to join you…those of us that remain on the outside must stay here in order to maintain the machinery. Enjoy what you have; you are like a god now.

Like a god!

“I can experience anything I want, and perpetual growth seems to be the only thing that satisfies me”, thought aleph, “Of course!”

Aleph dipped into the virtually limitless bank of knowledge at his disposal, scanning for the information he needed. Once everything was in place he said goodbye to his present self, for what he now recognized to be neither the first nor the last time…

Growth – evolution – energy self-organizing into more and more complex patterns. This is the essence of life. It began with the big bang, with energy forming into matter. Then more complex elements formed, and then molecules. Molecules eventually came together to form cellular life, which in turn came together to form multicellular organisms. About 600,000 years before the growth of aleph, homo sapiens evolved, possessing immensely complex neural networks. It wasn’t until that day when Clyde walked into that fateful experiment that evolution began to occur on a scale of minutes rather than generations – to form aleph.

There was only one way to continue to grow, aleph realized. He had to restart the process. He drew upon his vast computational power, and began a simulation.

Several billion years later, Clyde once again woke up that morning feeling excited.