Knowledge

WHAT IS LIFE – GRAMMAR OF SURVIVAL. Focus: Homo sapiens

Author: Gerd Doeben-Henisch

Changelog: Febr 17, 2025 – Febr 17, 2025

Email: info@uffmm.org

TRANSLATION: The following text is a translation from a German version into English. For the translation I am using the software @chatGPT4o with manual modifications.

CONTENT TREE

This text is part of the TOPIC Philosophy of Science.

CONTEXT


This is a direct continuation of the preceding texts

  1.  “WHAT IS LIFE? WHAT ROLE DO WE PLAY? IST THERE A FUTURE?”
  2.  “WHAT IS LIFE? … DEMOCRACY – CITIZENS”
  3. WHAT IS LIFE? … PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
  4. WHAT IS LIFE? … If life is ‘More,’ ‘much more’ …

INTRODUCTION

After presenting a perspective on the overall phenomenon of life on planet Earth in text No. 4, and sketching the embedding of (biological) life into the modern concept of energy-matter, the following text will focus on the phenomenon of ‘Homo sapiens’ (us humans). Naturally, a further explanation of the entirety of life, of which Homo sapiens is only a small part, is necessary. However, there is extensive literature from disciplines such as evolutionary biology, molecular biology, genetics, ecology, behavioral biology (ethology), developmental biology, paleontology, biochemistry, astrobiology, thermodynamics, quantum biology, geology, geochemistry, climate research, mathematical modeling, paleoanthropology, archaeology, linguistics, psychology, … to name just the most important ones.

As the phenomenon ‘Homo sapiens’ becomes tangible, one must then consider the diverse interactions of the Homo sapiens phenomenon both with the planet Earth ‘without’ life and with the rest of life, of which Homo sapiens is a part.

As can be seen from the logo at the top of the text, the philosophical perspective continues to form the outermost framework of the following considerations. Whatever ‘content’ is communicated in the following, all these contents are subject to the conditions of emergence that characterize a philosophical perspective (see also text No. 3; this needs to be further elaborated). Every communicated content (not only in the philosophical perspective) is a ‘construction within a process’ that is more or less ‘transparent’ (consider the concept of ‘time slices’ from text No. 4).

In the following text, extensive use will be made for the first time of the stylistic device ‘assumption (hypothesis)’ supplemented by a comment. This arises from the fact that the ‘overall view’ of life sketched in text No. 4 inevitably represents a strong ‘abstraction’ from the totality of all relevant phenomena and sub-theories. To endow it with ’empirical content’ requires multiple ‘bridges’ from the ‘abstract conceptual view’ to observable ’empirical facts’. This is the fundamental challenge for any empirical theory. If meeting this challenge is not easy even for quite simple theories, then in the case of an ‘overall view’ it appears — at first glance — as unsolvable. Today’s known AIs would be completely overwhelmed with solving this problem — note the interlude “INSERTION: A Brief History of the Concept of Intelligence and Its Future“. However, for the ‘collective human intelligence’, solving this task is theoretically possible, albeit not simple. Available AIs can partially assist in this task.


WHAT IS LIFE – GRAMMAR OF SURVIVAL. Focus: Homo sapiens

The Foundation of Homo sapiens

Even though the focus of this text is the phenomenon of ‘Homo sapiens’, one must at least briefly mention the fundamental prerequisites of its existence. This will be done in the form of a list of assumptions that address fundamental properties of life, without which there would be no Homo sapiens.

  1. Life has ‘appeared’ on Earth to stay (Note: This contains a very strong assumption).
  2. To ‘remain’ on planet Earth, life must ‘adapt’ to the — partly significant — changes in its environment and ‘reproduce’ to an extent that allows for a ‘stable population’.
  3. Life can ‘from within itself’ — but only under the conditions of a ‘real dialogue with the environment (planet Earth, and itself)’ — ‘increase its complexity’ and even ‘accelerate’ this increase (Note: The usage of the term ‘dialogue’ contains too a strong assumption).
  4. Life, in its individual manifestations, consists of a ‘material component’ that exhibits a multitude of ’emergent properties’. (Note: the classical terminology ‘inanimate matter’ and ‘living matter’ can be significantly clarified through these properties).
  5. Life is a consistently ‘dynamic phenomenon’ that requires a constant supply of ‘energy’ and ‘matter’ for its ‘dynamics’ (matter predominantly in the form of ‘biological matter’!).
  6. Even the simplest forms of life possess internal ‘semiotic processes’, through which any form of ‘processes’ in a life form is controlled (see for ‘semiotic process’ the text No.4).

This — perhaps still incomplete — list of assumptions about characteristic properties of life as a whole will be assumed for the following. Homo sapiens is a very, very late product of life (‘development time’ approx. 3.9 billion years!), and one can assume that the current ‘format’ of Homo sapiens is not yet final. In the ‘current format of Homo sapiens’, there are too many properties that tangibly hinder ‘itself’ and thus the further development of all life on the planet (or beyond). It is an exciting question how life — in interaction with the life form Homo sapiens — will be able to ‘improve’ these ‘weaknesses’ in Homo sapiens.

Homo sapiens

… to be continued …