"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."
- Carl Sagan...probably.
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| 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.
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?
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.
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| link to larger image |
"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)
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