An Atom is An Organism
Hear me out
It is.
Let me walk you through my argument.
This is the first among the many articles I’ll write about. I call it the Organism Series. You can find it on this list.
I had started by building a foundation. First was recognizing the difficulties in defining an organism. Next was defining evolution. Then I wrote about my definition of an organism.
From the structure I had described, it applied to what biology has always described to be an organism. But it does more than that.
The definition is not as specific as biology describes it. It is this specificity that makes it difficult to define an organism in the classical sense.
What I now tell you is that an atom is an organism. So, bear with me as I lead you through my thought process.
First, existence
For us to recognize an organism, it has to exist.
I have yet to come across a theory of evolution that stresses this importance. I mention evolution because according to Theodosius Dobzhansky, nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. Yet, no known theory focuses on existence.
Existence is necessary.
Physical existence to be precise. Thoughts exist inside our minds but they do not have a physical presence.
We can test for physical existence in three ways.
1. Subjection to a credible form of threat
I consider this to be the most crucial test for the existence of an organism. The other two are only complementary.
For instance, if you’re to squash a cockroach, it would skitter before you pin it down and turn its guts inside out.
Only when you subject an entity to a credible form of threat does it exert its existence.
As for an atom, there are various forms of threat. Previously, it was called an atom because there was no known way of splitting it. The development of nuclear fission technology has changed all that.
But splitting an atom is not a credible form of threat. All the attempts to split an atom before nuclear fission were credible forms of threat.
Thus, before the successful development of nuclear fission technology, all the other attempts were the triumph of the atom in avoiding annihilation. It is how an organism asserts existence.
Even though atoms can be split, the conditions have to be right for it to happen. Otherwise, an organism, such as our atom, will resist.
Organisms resist death. In the process, they maintain their coherent structure.
2. Coherence
For an organism to successfully resist, it has to maintain its coherence. This is the structure it is recognized by.
For the atom, it’s the nucleus and the clouds of electrons surrounding it.
Subjecting an atom to a credible threat is threatening to destroy this coherent structure. Even removing an electron from its cloud is a form of threat.
Thresholds have to be met before an electron is released or even added to its structure, to make it an ion. Once it turns into an ion, it is another organism.
If you destroy the coherence, you do not have the first organism you were handling. You have another. In the case of an atom, if you remove or add an electron, you no longer have an atom, you have an ion.
This example will have other far-reaching consequences. We’ll discuss them later in the organism series.
Coherence gives the organism structure. The organism tries to maintain this structure especially when it is threatened. It makes the organism to resist.
For this reason, organisms have a tendency to avoid annihilation.
3. Tendency to avoid annihilation
This is the other means of determining existence.
Thoughts can exist but they do not actively try to avoid annihilation. They also lack a coherent form and lack physical presence.
By resisting any form of a credible threat, organisms have this essential tendency.
I have captured this tendency accurately using probability. For an extensive dive into how I do that, you can read this article.
Second, organizational structure
After admitting the existence of an atom, the next requirement is the structure.
An organism has the structure of an open system. That is, it is thermodynamically open but organizationally closed.
Let’s unpack that.
A thermodynamic system means the system is open to receive and generate energy in a dynamic way. In the absence of energy, no such systems can exist.
You cannot run a car without fuel. You cannot admire someone without chemicals going bonkers in your brain.
Processes require energy. Systems have to be thermodynamically open for them to exist and most importantly, continue existing.
The other is organizationally closed. This one is pretty simple.
A system is organizationally closed if you can draw its structure with universality. For instance, you know that an atom is made up of a central nucleus and a peripheral cloud of electrons.
This is a closed structure, in terms of its organization.
If you add or remove an electron, you have an ion. This is another structure that you can draw.
Maintaining coherence means preserving this organizational structure.
Thus, an organism is any entity that is thermodynamically open and organizationally closed, with a tendency to avoid annihilation.
An atom bears this trait, as its processes cannot continue in the absence of energy, making it thermodynamic. It also has a closed structure.
Now, the final desideratum.
Third, the tendency to avoid annihilation.
I have already discussed this point.
It doesn’t hurt to repeat it.
Organisms have a tendency to avoid annihilation. Atoms do just that.
It’s why they remained unsplittable for as long as we have known them. Most atoms remain unsplittable. The unlucky few selected by scientists take the neutron bullet for the team.
Final thought
The first time I looked at my theory with deep scrutiny, this is what it implied. What we call simple particles are organisms.
It took a while to get comfortable with the idea. It wasn’t easy.
I’d always ask if people would take me seriously if I told them an atom was an organism. Old habits die hard.
I hope I have managed to convince you at the very least to consider these particles to have features similar to organisms.
They may not reproduce, but there are many organisms that have shed this property but are regarded as organisms.
Atoms, then, as far as the theory of Organismal Selection goes, are organisms.
Still in doubt?
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