Could A Black Hole Also Be An Organism?
It only gets crazier, but please, hear me out
When I thought of writing the book, I knew I might be considered bonkers.
Who makes such conclusions? Ever?
I have thought it over for a long time. It seems crazy, but I honored a primary scientific code of conduct. That is, follow what the theory states and test it.
I am a doctor. I know life when I see it. I also know its absence.
When I conclude that a black hole is an organism, best believe I have thought about it for a while. Not life, but organisms. I make a clear distinction about that.
I have previously written about atoms, molecules, electrons, and even quarks. To show my firm belief in these articles, I stick to a single argument. You can see it clearly in every article.
It’s the same argument I’ll use to explain why black holes are organisms. That’s what this article is about.
Physical Existence
That’s the first criterion.
An organism must have a form of physical existence. Black holes exist. Physically.
Matter condensed in a small space can come close to warping the fabric of spacetime to create these entities.
To be roguishly simple, you cannot tear a fabric if you’re not made of physical matter. This statement can be nitpicked by scientists for its lack of precision, but I make it to drive a point home.
Black holes are physical entities.
How does that relate to organisms?
You are an organism. You exist physically. Kapish.
Name any other organism that biology has taught us about. They, too have a physical form.
Now, what about the theory of Organismal Selection? It too includes every organism as described by biology, and adds some more. Molecules, atoms, quarks, and other known physical entities are organisms.
There’s no point arguing about what is already conventionally accepted. The interesting bit comes from the absurd. Here’s an absurd question:
How do particles have organismal properties?
Good question. Glad you asked.
They share similarities with organisms in avoiding death. For particles, death is annihilation. Before you die, you need to exist. Not in the abstract sense, but in the physical form.
Physical existence, thus, is a primary component of describing organisms.
As far as that is concerned, a black hole qualifies.
Next is the property of organisms — avoiding death. Later, I’ll highlight one overlooked property that Fritjof Capra discussed when talking about living organisms.
The tendency to avoid annihilation
All organisms tend to avoid annihilation.
Whether they are electrons or bees. They have this tendency, even in the absence of a physical stimulus.
Let’s say you’re afraid of the dark, for reasons you cannot elucidate. You would want to avoid it. A simple way organisms avoid death is by avoiding things they fear.
Humans wouldn’t want to go back to the jungle and live their entire lives there. It’s highly dangerous. They’d prefer the comfort of their homes. Or their blankets. Or the warm body sleeping next to them.
The same thing goes for a storm. Once announced, almost everyone in the confines of a shelter stays inside it. Nobody would want to walk outside when there’s an imminent storm.
Organisms tend to avoid annihilation.
Even particles.
A typical oxygen molecule is made up of two oxygen atoms. They are merged by a covalent bond. Attempts to destroy them need a lot of energy. This is how they tend to avoid annihilation.
Blackholes too tend to avoid death.
Usually, they form from stars, which, by the way, are also organisms. When you start with this premise, it becomes easier.
Say the star, our organism, is dying.
It can either burst into a supernova, or it can transform.
Living examples of this are insects. A good percentage of them undergo the process of metamorphosis. Before a butterfly emerges, it goes through the caterpillar phase. Same genetic makeup, different body forms. The caterpillar refuses to die by transforming into another body type.
It’s a useful analogy to explain the metamorphosis of a star that refuses to die. Supernovae are a star’s way of going out with a big bang. Then they die.
But for those who persist, they transform into black holes.
The cores of these stars have a mass so dense that they convert into entities of insanely small diameters of packed matter. Imagine taking your bedsheet and folding it into a small ball. It’s the same mechanism, only this time, gravity does the folding.
Black holes, therefore are not holes in the general sense of the term. They are highly dense matter concentrated in a small corner of space. They are the physical evidence of entities that have refused to die.
They continue in their pursuit to avoid annihilation, like any organism.
Identifying an organism
For a while, I’ve wondered how I can confidently state that a black hole is an organism.
The best test to confirm the existence of an organism is to subject it to a form of credible threat. A threat to its existence, for instance.
I’ve imagined how a black hole can survive this test.
A mother can get tired of a crying baby. But when you try to snatch the baby, the mother turns into a monster. It’s a form of a credible threat. Thus, the mother and the child form an organism.
What of the black hole?
They are one of the largest physical entities, so how can you picture resistance? The first is how a star avoids death, through metamorphosis: transforming into a black hole.
The second could be what theoretical models consider when two black holes collide. They would first spiral around each other before merging in a blast of acceptance. Ripples of gravitational waves would then radiate out as the now-massive blackhole settles into its new form.
The other could be through avoiding separation.
The example of the mother and the child is the best analogy. The other is how quarks behave.
Quarks are the smallest particles known to man. They have a unique attractive force — the strong nuclear force. The peculiar property of this force is the further you separate the quarks, the stronger the resistance.
Separation is not welcome. It’s how quarks exist in stable forms. In threes. Unseparated.
We can have a similar story for black holes.
They have a gravitational wave so strong, light wouldn’t escape it.
Nothing moves faster than light. If anything should escape, it’s light. But black holes won’t allow it. Escaping means separation. But organisms prefer being intact compared to separating.
Thus, a black hole does meet this second criterion — it tends to avoid annihilation.
Here’s a third property you might never have thought about
Boundaries.
All biological life forms have boundaries.
The basic structural and functional unit of a life is a cell. Cells have membranes. The membranes are intrinsically formed by the cellular processes. They also serve as a barrier and a signal to other entities of the existence of their existence as living organisms.
Our understanding is digital. You are either there or not. Ones and zeros. A membrane signals your existence. Digital thinking has been an evolutionary concept long before we developed digital computers.
A membrane is vital in showing existence over non-existence.
A black hole has an equivalent of a membrane — the event horizon.
Event horizons are the boundaries of black holes.
They are the bars that keep light from escaping. They are also generated by the black holes just as the cellular membranes are generated by cells.
To take you back to the topic of this article — are black holes organisms?
I think I have given good reasons to believe they are, grounded in logic and scientific thinking.
As I close…
Black holes are largely not well understood.
But if we focus on the elements we know about them, they are hardly any different from organisms. That is, as far as the theory of Organismal Selection goes.
Black holes have a physical form of existence, they tend to avoid annihilation and like most living organisms, they have a boundary.
What more do you want?
Reproduction?
Not all organisms reproduce.
But they do physically exist and tend to avoid death.
So, do you agree with me that black holes are organisms?
PS: Unlike black holes, you can escape into my amazing newsletter’s archive, designed to edge you towards extreme value. Subscribe and join 40+ others.
