Sunday, November 4, 2012

Putting A Face On Machine Mutation - 3

The machine age came first
The oft asked question: "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" is actually a common mistake that both scientists and laypersons alike can make.

A more relevant question: "Which came first machines or biological organisms?" is less often contemplated, so, in this series we have been exploring the realm of time prior to "life", a time before a border line existed between machine and organic.

That is, before the border line between abiotic and biotic, which are defined as:

abiotic: a·bi·ot·ic [ey-bahy-ot-ik, ab-ee-] adjective-
of or characterized by the absence of life or living organisms. (Dictionary).

biotic: bi·ot·ic [bahy-ot-ik] adjective-
pertaining to life. (Dictionary).

As it turns out the "border line" between the two is actually a great chasm of not only space, but of time as well.

This is quite important because the biotic realm is carbon based, and therefore could not, according to cosmological evolution, come into existence prior to carbon having been formed in stars.

Carbon was formed in stars late in the abiotic epoch, via the Triple-alpha process.

The lighter elements had to first evolve from primitive energy, which cooled soon afterwards to a temperature too cool for carbon to form.

That whole early era of evolution is described and detailed by evolutionary cosmology, not biological evolution (On the Origin of the Genes of Viruses - 6).

It covers a vast amount of time compared to biological evolution, which only covers a fraction of the span of time abiotic evolution covers.

To illustrate, let's review some of that theory from zero to the advent of carbon in stars:

The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that describes the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the Universe to cool and resulted in its present continuously expanding state. According to the most recent measurements and observations, the Big Bang occurred approximately 13.75 billion years ago, which is thus considered the age of the Universe. After its initial expansion from a singularity, the Universe cooled sufficiently to allow energy to be converted into various subatomic particles, including protons, neutrons, and electrons. While protons and neutrons combined to form the first atomic nuclei only a few minutes after the Big Bang, it would take thousands of years for electrons to combine with them and create electrically neutral atoms. The first element produced was hydrogen, along with traces of helium and lithium. Giant clouds of these primordial elements would coalesce through gravity to form stars and galaxies, and the heavier elements would be synthesized either within stars or during supernovae.

(The Big Bang Theory, emphasis added). The Earth is said to have formed  "around 4.54 billion ... years ago" (History of Earth).

Therefore The Big Bang happened about 9.21 billion years before the Earth formed (13.75 - 4.54 = 9.21).

Biological organisms formed on the Earth about a billion years later, which would be ~10.21 billion years after The Big Bang.

Humans, homo sapiens,  are said to have evolved about 200,000 years ago, which would be ~13.7498 billion years after The Big Bang (13.7498 + 00.0002 = 13.75 billion years). Homo sapien evolution is a very tiny 0.0002 billion years of the 13.75 billion year story.

The abiotic epoch which preceded the biotic epoch involved a vast amount of "time" as we know it, populating vast areas of space with the atoms that make up chemicals, the subject of the scientific discipline Chemistry:



The most complex molecular machines are found within cells.



(Do Molecular Machines Deliver Toxins of Power?). The gist of this is that the era of the evolution of machines is just another way of saying the epoch of abiotic evolution.

Let's look at the sequence again:
1) universe exists as singularity like a hot plasma;

2) a big bang or explosion takes place;

3) parts of 'primitive machines' evolve (electrons, protons, and neutrons);

4) machines (atoms of "the elements") evolve from primitive parts;

5) elements/machines evolve into star machines (Suns);

6) star machines produce carbon, the basis of biotic forms;

7) finally, machines evolve into carbon based organisms (the biotic epoch begins).

This sequence may appear simple at first blush, but is not as simple as it first appears to be, because it contemplates an exploration of the border line between life and non-life:
The definition of life is as enormous a problem as the phenomenon of life itself. One could easily collect from the literature more than 100 different definitions, none satisfactory enough to be broadly accepted. What should the definition contain, to be suitable for all varieties of observable life? Humans, animals, plants, microorganisms. Do viruses also belong to life?

(What Is Life, The Scientist). Once we reach the cellular level, microbes, the jump to multicellular is easier to follow, in most cases, than the jump from abiotic to biotic (see Evolving Multicellularity).

Most scenarios one reads concerning evolution begin with biotic life already existing, then proceed from there.


Richard Dawkins interviews Steven Rose (minutes:seconds):

00:35 natural selection is only one process or part of evolution, not the exclusive process or part ...

01:20 organisms take part in the selection of their environment ...

03:30 Rose takes issue with the overuse of the gene as the most important element in evolution ...

04:10 entire organisms must change, not simply individual genetic parts of it ...

05:20 Rose does not think that genes pass themselves from one generation of a species to the next; rather he thinks the information is passed, but that the organism then produces genetic material from that information ...

05:25 Rose says the idea than genes replicate themselves is not true; the orchestra of the entire cell is what replicates the genes, the DNA ...

08:20 the cell decides which parts of the DNA, the genes, to turn on and off ...

10:30 Rose indicates that focus one only one molecule, the DNA molecule, the gene, leads down inaccurate pathways; the solution is to see the organism as an entire functioning entity with equal emphasis on the parts, not unequal emphasis on the genetics alone ...


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Darwinism is myopic: Link