Between 0 and 1 Lies a Whole New World — I’ll be your Tour Guide
A brave new world, from the last to the first
I am not referring to Peter Thiel’s 0 to 1. I’m referring to my definition of an organism.
Organisms are diverse. More diverse than we’ll ever know.
Some die in a single generation never to be revived again. Orchids are a good example.
They don’t fossilize.
Their beauty can only be appreciated by bees and maybe the gardener, if they are lucky. These details get lost.
And to have an in-depth idea about something is to know its details. And beauty is found in this search for detail.
Beauty is seen in detail
We might claim it is in the eye of the beholder. Scientists might comment on the beauty symmetry offers. ComedyChronicles might say how beauty is in simplicity.
I believe beauty is in the detail.
Somebody can be so entranced by a topic, idea, or person, that they get knee-deep in the details. Then they dig further.
Efforts to get more details only reveal one’s lack of knowledge about the fascinating topic or person. Reality then dawns on you — beauty is incomprehensible.
You can appreciate its existence, but cannot capture its full extent.
It’s what I found between 0 and 1.
From the right to the left— from 0 to 1
I never imagined I would describe or even define an organism using probability.
Probability expresses itself in terms of fractions. If there’s a head and a tail, the probability of getting either of the two is a fraction — ½.
You have two options and one outcome. The world of a coin can be captured in two options. Probability does this succinctly.
Probability then turns into certainty when there are no more options. Death does not give you options. When you’re dead, you’re dead.
But before you die, you have options.
You can either have X or Y. As long as there are options, you can use probability. As long as there are either heads or tails, there’s the option of either.
Probability captures, in a simple figure, the options an organism has. I’ll discuss this in detail below.
What probability doesn’t do
Before discussing what probability does to organisms, let us first see what it doesn’t do.
Probability does not explain the physiology of organisms. Physiology entails the processes responsible for the sustenance of an organism.
Digestion, secretion, and respiration are some of the processes studied in physiology. They are detailed.
Probability does not do this.
Probability does not also classify organisms as systematics do.
In evolutionary biology, different factions exist. A small group prefers to look at species from an origin point of view. These members subscribe to the phylogenetic species concept.
There are others who look at species from the processes these members undergo.
The same processes isolate the species. Within-species breeding to produce viable offspring is the central process these scientists use to distinguish species. It is known as the biological species concept.
It’s the concept most of us are taught in high school.
Then there are other fringe groups who look at the environment and how it isolates a particular group of individuals. Scientists of this faction subscribe to the ecological species concept.
There are other concepts but these three are the main ones.
What you will have already noticed if you haven’t is that probability does not talk about species.
According to E. O. Wilson, species is a level for measuring diversity. But the use of probability as I have defined it, only speaks of organisms as entities that tend to avoid death.
Death is the complete annihilation of an organism.
Organisms exist and tend to avoid death.
But if existence and a tendency to avoid death are the only metrics for defining organisms, then my theory does something more.
It redefines species. How?
Species exist and they also tend to avoid annihilation. They do that by breeding within themselves and producing viable offspring.
Because of probability, species and organisms are identical. So according to my theory, Organismal Selection, species are organisms, but of a higher level of organization.
Probability does more than define organisms. It redefines species.
A brave new world
The role of a scientist is to use a theory, define its logical consequences, and test it with experimentation and observation.
Through Organismal Selection, I have looked at several of its logical consequences. One of them is a redefinition of different levels of organization in biology.
Species exist. Species seek to avoid annihilation through various processes. Central to this process is the ability to breed naturally to produce viable offspring.
By my criteria, then, species are a form of organism, but at a higher level of organization. A higher level of complexity.
Remember what probability does — it gives you options. Species, just like other organisms, have options.
Since my theory links species with organisms from a single criterion, it speaks of a critical process in systems — robustness.
A robust system is one which remains fairly unchanged despite shocks.
A bicycle is an example of a system that remains intact even after going through a road bump or rumble strips. Cars are robust systems.
Biological systems are robust. They exist, and because they are robust, they have a tendency to avoid death inbuilt and emergent from the organism’s level of organization.
What this means is, by my criteria, there are different levels of organisms. The details are not the subject of today’s article.
What it also means is that my theory is not just a theory of evolution, but it is a theory of complexity. With complexity comes diversity.
Diversity — from the last to the first
Perhaps the most beautiful thing probability does is capture the infinite possibilities in a finite spectrum.
From the last to the first.
Let me use one of Zeno’s paradoxes to highlight it.
If you are to walk from A to B but have to walk half the distance at any given point, you will never get to B.
Let’s say the distance between A and B is 100 m. It would mean your first instance will be half of it. You would then walk 50 m.
It will be the longest you will ever have to walk because, after that, the next serial steps will only get shorter. Half of 50 then becomes 25m. At the next interval, half of the remaining distance is 12.5m. Then 6.25m.
You will continue to half the next serial intervals but never get to B.
In short, there’s an infinite world between 0 and 1. This is the infinite world of fractions or if you like, decimals.
Infinite is greater than the diversity of animals we know or are yet to identify. Infinity lies between 0 and 1. It captures all the organisms, from the last to the first.
It’s a brave new world, filled with bold organisms, between 0 and 1.
My theory, therefore, is not just a theory of evolution. It is a theory of diversity.
The active side of organisms — who will fight to the death, to the edge of the world
Probability shows that an organism has options.
These include reactions to stimuli, as understood in various disciplines.
I don’t subscribe to the idea of organisms reacting. Organisms act. It only looks like a reaction based on ideas such as classical conditioning.
In summary, the theory of Organismal Selection introduces a whole new perspective. A whole new world. A brave new world.
It’s a theory of:
1. Evolution
2. Diversity
3. Complexity
I’d want to revert you now to the article where I introduce you to my theory. I hope that you get to understand it at another level now that you understand, I hope, the world between 0 and 1.
I hope you get to see this brave new world. I really hope.
Because it is beautiful.
It all lies in the detail.
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