To grasp the nature of life and intelligence, this article will focus on the concepts of clarity and order.
The conclusion of this article is that for clarity and order to emerge, there must be a feedback loop structure that involves self-reinforcement. Life and intelligence are supported by this self-reinforcing feedback loop structure.
We will explore this concept across various facets such as molecules, biology, intelligence, and society.
Perspectives on the Essence of Life and Intelligence
When we think deeply about things, we use words. While words themselves can be ambiguous, we strive to eliminate as much of this ambiguity as possible in our thinking. From this perspective, it can be said that thought seeks clarity over vagueness.
On the other hand, the biology and intelligence on Earth have analog and fuzzy qualities. Compared to computers and robots, which are adept at digital and clear processing, they seem to carry out more advanced and complex tasks. Hence, we tend to think that the essence of life and intelligence lies in these analog and fuzzy aspects.
This is because we view clear processing as the norm. As a result, we believe that having a fuzzy nature is particularly meaningful.
While it’s important to focus on the analog and fuzzy nature, it’s also essential to pay attention to the digital-like discontinuities and clarity that life and intelligence possess.
Life and intelligence exist between the ordered, clear world of computers and the messy, complex physical world of interactions. If we consider the physical world as the standard, life and intelligence appear very orderly and clear. From this viewpoint, analyzing life and intelligence becomes crucial.
In other words, focusing on the phenomena of order and clarity in the chaotic and complex physical world should be the key to understanding life and intelligence more deeply.
Bonding Between Atoms
When atoms bond, molecules form. There are several types of atomic bonds, but in any case, they involve a force that attracts atoms together. The behavior of bonded molecules has more order and clarity than individual atoms.
In atomic bonding, a feedback loop structure exists where attractive forces decrease the distance between atoms, and as the distance decreases, the attractive force strengthens. This self-reinforcing feedback loop structure enables atoms to bond and form molecules.
From Organic Matter to Life
Organic compounds, among other molecules, are the foundation of life. These compounds evolve intricately, and various evolved compounds collaborate to facilitate life processes.
The origin of life, namely the process from organic matter to the first cell, remains unclear. However, if we assume that cells arose from the chemical evolution of organic matter, I speculate that there was a self-reinforcing feedback loop involved.
Initially, simple organic compounds formed. If the creation of a slightly more complex compound was a one-time coincidence, no more complex compounds could emerge. If the newly formed complex compound enhanced the production of simpler compounds or more of its kind, then the production of these complex compounds would increase self-reinforcingly.
Here, a self-reinforcing feedback loop structure exists. My hypothesis is that this happened repeatedly, leading to the emergence of life.
From Life to Intelligence
After the birth of life, the narrative shifts to organisms and genes. Genes, the blueprint of organisms, can replicate themselves. As genes replicate, cells proliferate. This applies to both unicellular and multicellular organisms. Eventually, organisms gain the ability to reproduce and replicate their genes.
Here, too, there’s a feedback loop structure. This structure leads to self-reinforcing growth of genes and organisms. As a result, the population of a species grows until it reaches the carrying capacity of its environment.
Through the evolution of organisms, humans, with their advanced intelligence, eventually emerged.
Formal Knowledge
Formal knowledge refers to what can be expressed in words, diagrams, or tables. It is stored and maintained in an individual’s mind. As it is communicated from person to person, the number of people who remember this knowledge increases. As the number of people who remember it grows, so does the likelihood of its transmission. There’s a feedback loop structure here, causing the knowledge to spread in a self-reinforcing manner.
The origins of formal knowledge and language remain as mysterious as the origins of life itself. It’s likely that animals without language engaged in similar patterns of recognition, prediction, emotion, and communication, driven by what’s known as tacit knowledge. However, how they evolved to acquire language and formal knowledge is not clear. Still, one can imagine that some feedback loop structure and self-reinforcing mechanism were at play.
Consider if you see an object and simultaneously hear a specific sound. If, on another occasion, you see the same object and coincidentally hear the same sound, the two will start forming a linked pattern in your mind. Thus, the next time you see that object, even if the sound isn’t present, you might recall it. Conversely, just hearing that sound might make you think of the object.
When you try to mimic that sound, thinking of the object naturally brings the sound to your lips. This feedback loop between the concept of the object and the word might have paved the way for the birth of language.
Society, Academics, & Art
We form communities, organizations, and societies as collectives. These human groups possess unique knowledge, terms, jargon, culture, customs, rules, and disciplines. Even as members and generations change, these are passed down. Here, too, one can see a feedback loop structure being formed and self-reinforced.
Regular festivals or parties, for instance, are enjoyable events. Holding them leaves a shared experience of joy, motivating people to organize them again the next year. This cycle between shared experience and joyous activities forms a feedback loop that strengthens over time.
It’s not just about fun activities; the same applies to rules and penalties. If a rule is broken and a penalty brings about a sense of resolution, then that rule is likely to be retained. There’s a feedback loop between shared experiences and rules that becomes self-reinforcing.
In academics, if a theory is compelling, it’s replicated as knowledge. If that knowledge proves useful elsewhere or leads to deeper insights, its importance grows. Here, too, a feedback structure is formed between theory and its practical or applied aspects, strengthening over time. If one only looks at this structure, art shares similar facets.
Quantum Waves and Particles
This is merely a hypothesis, but there might be self-reinforcement through feedback loops observable even in the quantum realm.
Quanta exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties, and are thought to be in a superposed state. Their state becomes definite upon interacting with other quanta. On larger scales, where materials seem to be composed of particles rather than waves, this could be attributed to the interaction between quanta.
From our perspective, where the particle nature seems obvious, the wave-like behavior of quanta appears unique when they exhibit both wave and particle characteristics. However, it’s also possible to view the initial wave or superposed state as the baseline, and any state definition due to interaction with other quanta as a limited circumstance.
From this viewpoint, interactions between quanta could possess a feedback loop structure, which reinforces and nudges behavior towards a definite particle-like manifestation. If, upon the start of quantum interactions, there’s a locality in the superposition’s probability distribution that further promotes interactions, then a self-reinforcing phenomenon might exist.
With this feedback loop, quanta possessing locality might influence the surrounding quanta. This is an image of propagation driven by the self-reinforcement of quantum interactions. As a result, in spaces filled with quanta, they would mainly continue to interact as particles.
To draw an analogy, it’s like salt dissolved in water. While you can’t pinpoint where the dissolved salt is within the water, it certainly exists. And if, at some point, the dissolved salt begins to crystallize in one location, suddenly crystals form around that area, causing the previously dissolved salt to solidify.
Clarity and Orderly Phenomena
Even in the physical world with chaotic and complex interactions, if a self-reinforcing feedback loop structure is formed, it can be maintained. Furthermore, there are structures like genes and formal knowledge that can replicate themselves.
Genes and formal knowledge replicate their structures spatially. It can also be perceived that self-reinforcing feedback loop structures replicate their structures temporally.
Clarity and order are prerequisites for replication. In ambiguous and non-deterministic structures, replication is impossible or difficult. Of course, physical entities inherently have ambiguities and uncertainties, which lead to errors or imperfections in replication. However, if these probabilities are limited, replication will generally succeed.
However, in a world where 100% clarity and order are preserved, like the simple processes of a computer without randomness, new evolution does not occur.
The errors and imperfections in replication are well known to be the key to evolution in genes. Also, the continuous and random nature of the physical world produces various patterns and new combinations. These are the driving forces behind the evolution and development of molecules, organic matter, life, and knowledge.
In other words, both clarity and order, as well as chaos and complexity, are essential elements for life and intelligence.
In Conclusion
Convergence to molecular formation through atomic bonds, the emergence of life phenomena through organic matter production, self-replication of genes, and the formalization and transmission of knowledge. All these possess a self-reinforcing feedback loop structure and produce clear and deterministic phenomena.
In the physical world dominated by chaotic and complex states, phenomena with clarity and order are caused by the emergence of various self-reinforcing feedback loop structures. This is a critical mechanism for life and intelligence.
In this article, we discussed hypotheses about the origin of life, and the origin of language. The veracity of these hypotheses is uncertain. However, considering the assumption that a self-reinforcing feedback loop structure exists in each layer involved in life and intelligence, I believe it is an essential perspective.
