Prosody

Up close, nature reveals the humbling endlessness of its fractal tapestry. These exoskeletal striations, jeweled with morning dew, were perched delicately over verdant strands of chlorophyll machinery. Hidden beneath this macro view, one can imagine invisible microscopic worlds, crowded neatly with organic and inorganic chemistries; creatures living lifetimes of metabolic histories. 

Still beyond these dimensions exist enigmatic physical forces -- fields of gravity and electromagnetism, which persistently hold together this arcane order of beauty even as the relentless forces of entropy ooze slowly out of this thermodynamically scintillating continuum of space and time. 

 

This play of light and colors, wavelengths and frequencies, engage excitedly with the retinal cells of our gorgeous eyes, spitting out composite images of sheer complexity, projecting it all onto the network of occipital neurons firing seamlessly in the corner of our ancient mammalian brains. Admittedly, these words are merely a poetic attempt to articulate the ineffable magic of this mind-boggling reality. But how else could we see?

Creative Connectivity.

From deviantart.com

One of the most fascinating aspects of social networking is the fact that the internet, a technology secreted by the human/animal mind - the evolving ape - has now become the burgeoning interface where human beings connect. This is a non-trivial observation when you truly consider the big picture view. In the light of evolution, the fact that the internet is a tool created by the monkey mind, unleashes a series of deep, and often existentially slick questions, in the mind. After all, why would the apes need to connect? 

The purpose behind our trend to connect may be explained in terms of what our history with technology has told us all along. Our past has revealed that the reason our monkey minds have been touching the edge, is to continue exploring. It is our peculiarity to keep connecting with information, which lies beyond our reach. We want to pursue the meaning that hides beyond our boundaries. We are constantly pushing the capacity of our ratiocination abilities.

But where do we go from here?

Our visions of the future are laced with interlinked wires of information flow. We envision a time when time itself will transform into something new. Binary codes and holographic scenes dominate our concocted clairvoyance. Some sort of strange attractor seems to pull at the seams of our curiosity, provoking our innate hunger to understand. We have transformed into creatures in search of meaning. We have become the hunters and gatherers of INFORMATION. We want to understand, well, everything!

Science fiction is the way we have traditionally surrendered our imagination to these future happenings. But where will these singularities flow? What will the future show?

A very important aspect of figuring this out involves creativity. 

Equal Parts

For all the pride and opinionated arguments that color our existence and inspire our sense of an independent individuality, nothing dilutes the ego like a perspective of the stars - the floating Infinite Continuum. Gazing into our origins we see our Selves dissolve in the ultimate reflection of the humbling impermanence. Eternity seems to be the only evidence for our immediate experience. A profound truth seems to linger at the edge of this realization. It is almost as if we are about to engage in some sort of a communication with this mercurial dimension. Trying to hold on to this noetic configuration is like attempting to grasp and hold the ocean. Metaphors seem to tantalize the mind at the horizon of such linguistic, mathematical allusions. It all gives the impression of some kind of a pun - intended for fun. And for its ratiocination, poetry appears to be just as effective as an Equation.

Make Sense

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." 

- Carl Sagan...probably.

Signals and Senses

As far as life in the universe goes we do not have any concrete evidence of whether there are other, extra-terrestrial forms of life out there...or not. At least not the kind of life forms, which can be easily categorized in the context of our own taxonomical classifications. However, the sheer scale of the universe and the huge amount of uncertainty associated with realities beyond the scope of human experience, make it highly probable that lifelike systems are likely to exist out there in the universe. Of course this view is only one (of the many) that can be presented in terms of human experience, particularly in regards to anticipating reality. But what does this really mean?

                  Given our descriptions of reality, we are constantly constrained by the instruments used by us to gather data from the world. At the simplest level - relatively speaking that is - our sensory organs form the basic input channels, which receive the incoming reality in the form of highly characteristic information. This information, as far as the senses go, comes to us in the form of light, sound, and various other configurations of matter. The senses of vision, audio, smell, taste, and touch correspond with the various tissue systems that comprise the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin respectively. These 5 physically and biologically defined sensory organs have evolved to function as portals for information to enter the body from the out side universe. Light and sound waves are the predominant modes of sensing, which give human beings the unique and colorful audio-visual experience of reality.
             
Equally significant are the senses of smell, taste, and touch, which depend upon the more denser, multi-specific particulate patterns of matter. Atomic and molecular signals manifest biochemical and physical properties that are conducive for the olfactory, gustatory, and tactile modes of sensation. Particularly, the nose and tongue experience a rich variety of smells and tastes by acquiring information in the form of chemical signatures. These chemical signatures depend on specific molecular properties, which in turn are a function of atomic traits, electron clouds, valency, mass, and the Avogadro's number, among many other factors. However, the relevant interface for sensing smells and tastes resides on the cellular surfaces of the respective sense organs, where receptors, composed of intricate protein structures, form the biological counterpart of the mechanisms which access material reality. Touch on the other hand, is a sensation which corresponds with the textures, state, shape, and size of matter that comes in full contact with the skin.
           When we walk through the flower fields of sweet smelling daisies, with the warm summer breeze in our face, chewing strawberry gum, and strolling through the food court as we pass by the perfume store, we are temporally connected with the flavors and essences of the invisible medium that occupies the space through which we move. When we step into the rain there is a distinct feeling of wetness, which transcends the physical aspects of getting H2O molecules all over the skin. We move and we sense, and we move some more to sense some more. For these functions to perform properly, we are endowed with a motor and a sensory nervous system respectively. The senses acquire data from the outside world and form a feedback loop with our behavior. Our movement occurs distinctly in response to waves of sensory impulses flowing in as we change, grow, and age in a vast ocean of scintillating information
           
Meanwhile, an invisible world continues to exist around us, beyond the limits of our vision, quietly lurking in the silence of sounds vibrating somewhere below 20 Hz. There are thousands of sensations that are beyond the grasp of our nervous system, a majority of which we are not even aware of at the conscious level. Myriad creatures move about the topology (and within the interiors) of our bodies, as if it were some great rain forest pregnant with life.
                These realities may appear bizarre and alien when viewed through our powerful instruments of observation or even through the lens of imagination. The texture of a cigarette paper suddenly transforms into a landscape of some crystal mine. A flour mite appears to take the from of a gigantic prehistoric creature from another planet.

Viruses and bacteria resemble advanced engines of technological impeccability. It all seems so unreal. But the truth is that this life, which thrives in the various hidden dimensions of our day to day existence is not only real but absolutely breathtaking in its complexity. When we point our powerful telescopes towards the sky we discover that the 3 dimensional model of the universe, generated from these observations, actually resembles neurons cultured in a petri dish and photographed under a high end microscope. It is as if when we look beyond the boundaries of our senses, we find our selves in an infinite loop that leads back to our own self. Or at least a sense of our Self.

link to larger image

                 There is a fairly popular idea in theoretical physics that supposes the entire universe to be alive. Others however do not support this idea and therefore conclude that it is not. Perhaps it (the universe) is like the famous Shrodinger's cat, both alive and dead. Or maybe it is a holographic super organism of some sort, still in the early stages of its embryonic development. There is certainly the quantum mechanical view of the universe being made up of countless bits of information. This of course implies that the universe is a thinking machine or a computer of some sort, which instantly leads to the idea that our own reality, with all its senses and signaling, is an output of such a machine. A simulation?

"If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, 

then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain." 

- Morpheus (The Matrix, 1999)

Duality via a view of Symmetry

Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two. 

- Gautama Buddha.

The numerical system is an amazing medium for the expression of reality. Numbers are remarkably congruent in translating the behavior of nature into a format that the mind can easily process for comprehension. The great device produced by Cartesian philosophy was the rigid grid of regularity, which could be superimposed over nature's curves and crevices to transform them into mathematical representations of some non-deified Order. This important historical development certainly made reality significantly palatable for the mind to grasp, without having the need to invoke complex feats of cryptic computation. At least for a while. It would take about another 300 years (and the invention of modern computers) for Benoit Mandelbrot to come along and reveal the squiggly infinity hidden in nature by transforming it into fractal dimensions on a computer screen. 

                   

Complex mathematics apart, the fundamental truth about Nature appears to be encoded in something relatively simple - duality. This property of nature can be illustrated through her many traits, which are observable in myriad natural phenomena. Around 460 BC, Democritus, the laughing philosopher, postulated that all matter is made up of indivisible particles called atoms. These atoms were later discovered to be composed of a finely tuned relationship between the positively charged  protons in the nucleus and the negatively charged electrons orbiting around it. Even though by the late 19th century it was determined that the atom was not indivisible as previously thought, the presence of electric charge, in terms of positive and negative polarities, had already unleashed the magical powers of electricity - the basic foundation of inventions to come. 

                Chiral molecules, sinister and dexter enantiomers with cis/trans type of configurations, optical isomers and zwitterionic forces, are symmetry motifs that form the foundation of some extremely potent chemistry. In biology, symmetry is evident in the complimentary properties of nucleotides in the DNA molecule. Adenine always pairs with Thymine and Cytosine always pairs with Guanine. Chromosomes usually come in pairs. Sex evolves primarily through the coupling between the male and female counterparts of a species - at all levels of anatomy, physiology, and psychology. There is a fine balance between apoptosis or programmed cell death, and cell proliferation, which is crucial for the sculpting of tissues and organs during embryonic development. 

                  

Meanwhile, to make matter more complicated the particle-wave duality pervades throughout the material universe, including light. Deeper dives into matters of matter in the late 20th and early 21st century, further exposed the tumultous tapestries of strings and super-symmetries that are thought to compose the basic fabric of the universe. The ancient symbolisms of yin-yang, the ‪Ardhanarishvara‬ dance between the feminine and masculine energies of the universe, the charming, and UP and DOWN flavors of quarks and antiquarks, the rising crests and dipping waves of unobservable uncertainties, were all suddenly integrated into a semiotic soup of quantum mechanics. Thankfully, these paradoxes of reality have some how found solace in terms of the complimentarity perspective. Nevertheless, the conundrums of continuity constantly continue and for ever. Space and Time, are supposedly two sides, of the same coin. 

              

Even our personalities are split between the left and right brained thinkers, the musicians and the logicians, the mathematicians and the wordsmiths, the abstract and the detailed, the scientists and the artists. Political parties segregate into polar world-views. Psychologists split between Jungians and Freudians. Reductionism thrives on the opposite side of the spectrum of Holism. 

              There is a past and a future. There is day and night. There is the Self and the Other. The black and white checkerboard of reality concatenates endlessly into greying areas of strings and SUSY. How then, can there be Symmetry without Duality? There is something strangely heartening about this particular complimentarity. Images invert to reveal the negativity situated so perfectly within the picture of reality. 

            

"Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things." - Heraclitus, (the crying philosopher)

On the origin of origins...

The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA.
Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music.
- Lewis Thomas

Information in Biology can be expressed in many ways, of which one of the simplest is in terms of DNA - the apothegmatic code of life. The familiar serpentine image of the spiraling double helix is a subject of much myth and mystery. It is also the centerpiece in the great puzzle of biology. Genes, genomes, and chromosomes are some of the fundamental features of form and function arising from the endless sequential tapestry of the DNA molecule. It is as if the entire hyper-structure of life on the planet is a manifestation of some musical form emerging out of the fecund potentialities of the cosmic background.  

             Repeating sequences (A, T, G, and C) of chemical motifs called nucleotides have, over a very large period of time, generated an astronomical variety of living systems. Accurately estimating the global census of all life on earth is a dizzying feat of taxonomical data collection. An astounding variety of shapes, sizes, colors, textures, tastes, smells, and sounds account for the myriad complexity of life forms found on earth. Even from a reductionist perspective, the immense intricacy of biophysical, molecular, and cellular details accommodated by living matter is absolutely breathtaking. And this is not to say that non-living matter is less complex in any way. After all, it is the apparently lifeless electrons surrounding the portent nucleus, which impart the much needed chemical proclivity for atoms to form molecules in the first place. 

  

              The most rudimentary ingredient of matter essential for terrestrial life to emerge is of course the planet itself, which was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The occurrence of this event in the history of the solar system is a significant point in the emergence of life as we know it. Everything that superseded after this event is comparable only to other natural phenomena that we are familiar with; such as the sprouting of a stem from a seed, buried in the soil, watered by the rains and energized by the photonic energy of the Sun. It may take a few years for the little plant to grow into a full tree, which would bear flowers, fruits, and more seeds, but for some imaginary observer, who has no concept of how this works, and has never witnessed the growth of trees from seeds, it would be an imaginably complicated task to anticipate the unfolding of the entire process of development. 

              Our situation, when working out the origins of life on earth, is sightly more complex than this hypothetical observer. It may not be a coincidence therefore, that the reiterative bifurcating pattern of the Tree of Life is essentially similar to that of any other tree. This of course brings us to the paramount issue regarding the important role of trees themselves in sustaining the delicate balance of life on earth. 

Darwin's first sketch of the Tree of Life.

I speak for the trees! Let them grow! Let them grow!

- The Lorax.

Tesla Recoil

Though free to think and act, we are held together, like the stars in the firmament, with ties inseparable. These ties cannot be seen, but we can feel them. - Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 - 7 January 1943).

He was the champion of the invisible forces of nature. He dwelled in the mysteries from where the logical and rational prowess of science emerged, leaving behind trails of abysmal wonder. Beyond, hovered the magnificent backdrop of oceanic infinitude - a buzzing pleroma of activity in an altogether strange realm of nature. 

              Imagination appears to form a link with these hidden dimensions, which exist beyond the default constrains imposed on ordinary levels of consciousness. Indeed, human imagination connects the mind to the very edge of observable reality. At this point there are few who make the choice to dive into the eternally fluctuating yonder. Fear is but natural. After all a vast terrain of uncertainty looms in the great lofty depths of the Unknown.  

             Information and Entropy play puzzling tricks on the minds of those who venture to explore deeper, question further, and think wilder. Only a few manage to walk the fine line between insanity and the profound vistas of kaleidoscopic realities, spread out so charmingly by the alluring Natura. 

Nikola Tesla was amongst the brave who precociously managed to bring back precious gems of genius from journeys embarked upon into the subtle, hidden, and articulately labyrinthine logos of nature. The ideas that developed in Tesla's mind embodied his inventions with the uncanny impetus of Space. He often emphasized with great passion that emptiness was pregnant with energy and a fertile source of infinite potentialities. Here is an example of what this means in his own words:

"A single ray of light from a distant star falling upon the eye of a tyrant in bygone times may have altered the course of his life, may have changed the destiny of nations, may have transformed the surface of the globe, so intricate, so inconceivably complex are the processes in Nature."

The life of this enigmatic personality is a message that still lives on through his legend. He probably epitomized the image of the mad-scientist. He rummaged in the contrasting and slippery regions of science and spirituality to bring about fantastic designs of instrumentation to life. He conjured images of machines that would plug into the omnipresent energy of the universe and forever solve humanity's problems of perpetual paucity and avarice. He used to say that our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world. 

               

In a fittingly strange way the circumstances in which Tesla was born somehow heralded the ineffable synchronicity underlying the unfolding of such an extraordinary life. Tesla was born 156 years ago, on a midnight while heavy lightening and thunder struck outside in the Serbian skies.

"He'll be a child of the storm," said the midwife who assisted with his birth. 

His mother replied, "No, of light."